Thursday, May 21

…And May The Best Marketing Strategy Win!


Product Marketing is competitive warfare and the best marketing strategies win! What are the best strategies? Those that link product value and benefit quickly and painlessly to the customer need. In job seeking, that strategy may be your 15-second elevator pitch (similar “to point of sale” marketing) or any one of a number of marketing letters, including proposal format letters, or targeted person-to-person contact and more. These are not average times. According to some economists unemployment can rise to as much as 9-10% and consequently, average job search marketing strategies are not working. Average (generic) resumes are being auto-deleted by the thousands before reaching human hands. It’s war folks!


Generate maximum results with targeted resume distribution. “Blasting an unfocused resume describing work history to the greatest number of employers in hopes of gaining the highest amount of interviews is not effective marketing” says Marta Driesslien, Marketing Director for Waltham MA based R. L. Stevens & Associates, Inc., a 28-year veteran firm in career marketing. “Trying to appeal to those who have little or no expressed interest in what you are selling” she says “is counterproductive.”


Targeted resume distribution, however, is effective … targeted being the operative word here. Your resume reaches its destination and in 30 seconds conveys to the reader that you recognize and understand

· What it is that the s/he considers important

· The demographics of their marketplace

· Characteristics of their internal clients (employees) and external clients

· Type of business, product/service line, sales volume, competition… and more


This demonstrates you have done your homework on the company. (This is particularly important if you are re-careering and the firm is in a different industry than the one in which you previously worked).


Do not allow yourself to appear average–STAND OUT! Do deep-level research into the company. Also get into a habit of reading recent company press releases and annual reports, and viewing media coverage, industry blogs and social networking portals; and always consult with people you know and trust in your network. Learn to recognize market changes and recent effects they have had on the target company. Learn and understand not only the market and the competition but also how they have affected the organization, and ask yourself how has this also effected competitors and the industry overall? All of this information is helpful in identifying business strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, where a company may be looking to grow and develop, what needs they may have on their short- and long-term horizons; and consequently, provides you with the opportunity to sell your value-mix as unique, with direct and immediate benefit.


Differentiate yourself like never before. Believe your one-size-fits-all resume can still get you quality interviews like it did 5, 10, 20 years ago? Think again. This is the worse US economic downturn in two generations with a hypercompetitive, overcrowded job market and shrinking opportunities. It is not enough to just do the deep-level research and collect the data (i.e. company info; leadership; core businesses etc…), you must differentiate yourself from your competition, standout, and be recognized. So, process the data. That is, determine how to use it to your advantage. Look for kinks in their amour … think “covert”. Once accomplished your data becomes INTELIntelligence information on your target company with a big red “CLASSIFIED” stamp. You will be better equipped to effectively convey your value-proposition directly to a company’s business needs. You WILL stand out among your competition.


People buy your achievements and relevant successes, not your duties and responsibilities. (Long sentence coming) In your quest to standout and tie your achievements and accomplishments to the target companies’ business needs and strategies versus listing your job experiences one after another, you will have more than just a fighting chance to get to the next step – the interview, for the best marketing strategies always do. And when they DO buy, you will not come cheap! May the best marketing strategy win!


YT,

Rob

–ResumeProPlus.com



3 comments:

  1. I lost my job a while back and now my husband lost his. I've been reviewing your comments as well as others who you tell us about on your site and it's been very helpful. My husband has been paying attention because he was being supportive of me. When he got laid off and came home he had a smilre on his face and said, "I can't wait to put all that good stuff from job searching with rob to work!" I thought he'd come in depressed and came in excited about what he picked from your site looking over my shoulder. I thought you should know. Thankks for doing it. I give the a MUST READ

    Portland WA

    ReplyDelete
  2. I used ecompetitors.com to get an analysis of the industry. the information they provided was pretty useful and it did a lots of good to my company.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Rob,

    This is great stuff!

    I cannot resist getting on my Maaaaarketing soapbox and adding that Before the matching the value to customer need comes Marketing Strategy: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP - like the fuel/oil additive that improves performance and efficiency).

    Job seekers SEGMENT the potential employers by such criteria as location, size, industry etc. Next they TARGET which segment or individual employers within a segment to go after. Finally and very importantly they decide on their differentiation from their competitors and POSITION themselves accordingly in the targeted segment.

    Once STP is done they come up with a positioning statement (or elevator pitch) as well as a value proposition.

    Hope this adds to helping some folks.

    Bryan M.

    From 5/24/09 10:21 AM
    Posted...

    ReplyDelete