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Attracting employment through personal branding
16 Sep 2014
You may have read a lot of articles online about how to stay relevant in the marketing industry, so this is my perspective, which I compiled for you based on personal observation and research.
Kay Vittee
Marketing is more of a creative industry than anything. You need to be conscious of the fact that we are all competing against each other on a national and international front. This means those with diplomas against those with honours degrees, those with experience versus those without experience. A marketing graduate needs to be conscious that this industry is not like any other industry where you study then simply get a job because you sent a CV or 20, or better, be hired before you even graduate. It sure would be nice if that were the case wouldn't it?
Keep in mind
Here are a few things which I suggest to keep in mind:
This helps you build your portfolio, personal brand credibility and will give you a lot of confidence in what you do. If you are more of an ad creative, then think of teaming up with other graduates like yourself or even television students to create a project. Remember that you are all looking to create a name for yourselves, so let your great minds get to work. You can even go all out to product extension ideas and sending them to companies.
With the help of the internet, it is easy to spy on other young and experienced marketers to see what they are doing to get exposure without them ever finding out that you are onto them. You will find out who is doing what and what company is doing who. This is an opportunity to socialise with the right groups of people on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
This is important because many job descriptions I have seen lately require marketers to be able to drive web traffic to say the least. Being online will help give you the edge. It will inspire and give you ideas on how you can best sell yourself
From attending the conference, I have one more client on my books who is about to launch her new restaurant in the east of Johannesburg. Conferences are everywhere online, and some are free. A publicist friend of mine went with me to an Orgella Helping Hands campaign for Madiba's 67's - Feed the Homeless - and three months later she has three more clients. My personal favourite is Markex, which is held annually at the Sandton Convention Centre around May and June. There you will see products that have not yet hit the shelves. You will have the opportunity to network with other experienced marketers. The great part is that it's free! Oh, I think we said that already.
Take time to match your strengths with duties of the job. Write an appealing cover letter to go with every application. It's better to have three great applications per week than 20 simple applications. I took the time to respond to you in a form of a letter so that you can see what I mean by personal branding and a professional cover letter. (HINT: if you are not sure about something like the size of a planet or a peanut, a fact or spelling, always let Google help you out, no one will ever know you do not know how to spell.)
So do as I do; keep these points in mind or share them with others, but remember always to look at life from a positive side as there is always a better view there.
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