Personal Marketing Plan
In this age of globalization, the competition amid products and services is intense and dynamic, and the impact has also been felt on the job market, in view of the fact that, the saturation in jobs is immense and with so many candidates the market to get the one coveted position, it is imperative for candidates to make a personal marketing plan to promote their professional and personal attributes in a manner that makes them stand out amongst the crowd.
As a student of ABC University, enrolled in the business management department with majors in Marketing Management, the need is to create a personal marketing plan to be able to stand out even before graduation by sending the profile to recruiters and companies with possible vacancies for the skills set required in marketing and management with complete understating of personal strengths and weaknesses. The positions that are most sought in view of the expertise level are of management trainees (MT’s) and Marketing or Account Executives with the primary focus to understand the mechanics of marketing from a professional view point from a 360º standpoint.
The need that the marketing plan will fulfill, will be to showcase, the writers skills set, starting with a proactive attitude bordering on confidence and interpersonal characteristics , and to portray an ability to go an extra mile to achieve an objective that in this case is getting a job in the marketing department of a reputable organization just before or after graduation.
The endeavor will also make a positive impact on the search process in relation to having a clear mind set in the lookout for a potential position, and will help in understanding the key aspect of marketing i.e. setting a unique selling proposition (USP) to be able to kick start the professional career with the right approach and organization.
SWOT Analysis
The following is a personal strength, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis:
Strength
The primary strength is being proactive and the ability to tell a story in a compelling manner i.e. good interpersonal and communication skills, multitasking as a character trait will help in juggle multiple jobs at the same time, with the key to being effective is to handle jobs in a pressure situation; being able to multitask studies and handle the marketing student union responsibilities has helped immensely. From an academic perceptive being a top student, has helped in getting hands on information on marketing case studies and text book information that may come in handy while on job. Multiple language speaking skill (English and French) & writing ability with excellent remarks on the reports shared on different topics, besides, experience as a freelance editor and content writer.
Weakness
The most significant weakness is the lack of work experience in a professional marketing set up. From an operational point of view, the expertise is only in Microsoft word, and basic exposure to excel, power point and other related software’s that will be the primary communication and work points on the professional front. From a personality viewpoint, hastiness in terms of getting the required results is a weakness since it leads to sometimes overlooking the obvious facts required for the successful completion of the job. A basic profile on social media on few channels is a major weakness, since recruiters nowadays check out the online presence of a candidate to kick start the candidate positioning.
Opportunity
Threats
The market situation is the biggest threat in getting an opportunity due to global economic environment. The batch mates are also a direct threat to an entry level marketing job, people with initial job experience in marketing are also a major threat as companies prefer candidates with some experience.
Competitor Analysis
The main competition will be from the graduates of the last semesters, since, not all the graduates start working immediately and it takes around 4-5 months to get the desired job hunt results after graduation, they will also have the added advantage of a strong network and market mechanics to land a job.
The current batch mates are also competition, however, by taking steps i.e. social media presence, connecting with recruiters and responding to job vacancies, will help in getting a head start amid the competitive batch mates.
Finally, the graduates from all the local universities and foreign graduates coming to work in the city will also be a significant competitive threat, and the need to up the ante is imperative in relation to standing out in the midst of such strong competition.
Personal Analysis
The main USP is the ability to understand and create a personal viewpoint of the subject matter i.e. strategic thinking in relation the job briefs shared on an initial level and the ability to understand quickly; as an extrovert who likes to connect with new people, it is important to connect with the managers in the first job and make a positive impression as it will lay foundation of how the rest of the career will pan out.
As a brand, the personality in view of the aforementioned facts boils down to the following traits, i.e. imaginative, energetic, rational, extrovert and dependable.
The positioning statement is as follows: ‘Ambitious individual to learn and grow and be part of the way forward of an organization in a sustained and longer relationship.’
The focus of the positioning statement is to state the attribute as an ambitious individual who wants to learn, as the first experience is always for learning purposes, the long term part is to showcase the commitment, since, organizations prefers candidates who spent some time in view of the investment in relation to training and development.
Brand Equity
It is important to follow up on the marketing plan by taking steps to improve the brand equity, the first step will be to build and grow and online presence, by writing blogs and connecting and engaging with popular company and influencers discussion pages and forums to create a strong online identity.
The second step will be to add new skills in the profile, by doing courses, such as social media, content writing, SEO management, as the in current times the ability to multitask increases the equity significantly.
Finally, it is imperative, to follow up with all the recruiters and company, as it showcase the individual as someone who is responsible and increases the likeability in relation to a potential sales jobs and business development job.
