You can call it branding or personal marketing, desenvolvimento professional or any other fashionable expression. In any case, finding a job or moving up the career ladder has everything to do with the investment that each of us makes in ourselves.
As a professional, you are a brand for yourself. The target market for the unique value it provides are employers who, in turn, are always being bombarded with messages from their direct competitors (other professionals in the field) who, in turn, are also always looking to innovate. Develop and advertise your personal brand using traditional marketing techniques.
The 4 Ps of Traditional Marketing
Even though the boundaries of traditional marketing no longer exist, largely due to online media and new digital technologies, its main tactics can be worked on to help you with your personal online marketing strategy.
The four Ps of marketing are product, price, promotion and point of sale. In the realm of personal marketing, you are the product for sale, which means you will have to successfully apply the traditional marketing model to yourself: the person, the professional and the brand.
Product: Be Consistent and Recognized
To develop a personal online marketing strategy, you have to determine who you are as a professional and build a personal brand based on your main strengths, skills and experience. What can you do that sets you apart from your competitors? Know your advantages and combine them to create a consistent brand around you, which is completed with a mission, objectives and easily recognizable visual elements. Today's hiring managers are social consumers who are more apt to hire you based on the experience you're selling than based on your performance performing this or that task.
Just like you recognize a can of Coca-Cola as soon as you see it (and know what to expect from it), your audience should also know exactly what's new and what they gain from working with you. Even if you promoted yourself as someone ready to manage a team, as an industry expert or as a consultant who provides new perspectives and innovates the way companies operate, be consistent. Decide on the main messages you want to convey and be faithful to the brand you created for yourself.
Price: Know Your Value
The importance of this element in online personal marketing goes two ways. In addition to counting the value you can add to an organization, you must decide what you, the highly motivated professional, are worth and what your minimum limits are, particularly if you decide to work as a freelancer.
Based on your experiences and achievements, your knowledge has a price that comes in the form of a salary. Decide what you're worth based on how much your direct competitors are being paid for the work they do, and be firm about how much you're willing to accept. Every time you enter a store and buy a product, the price is more or less the same and, therefore, your rate/hour or salary demands must be aligned with your level of experience and competitors in a similar way.
Point of Sale: Recognize your Niche
In traditional marketing, products are distributed across geographic regions. As a marketer, you are just one person. Therefore, it is critical that you select a sphere of influence and stick to it, whether it is based on your industry, expertise, or geographic location. Be realistic about how your target audience spends their time. Look for people who need your services and where they are online. Spreading the word in communities and niches where your products and services are not needed will only lead to more work and little reward.
Promotion: Communicate your Brand
This final step is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most important. How will you convey your message to the target you have selected? Selecting the appropriate media can mean the difference between being heard and getting lost in the shuffle.
To make this important decision, turn your attention to your target audience. For example, if you are a freelance programmer who provides services to agencies, promote yourself through an online portfolio and through redes sociais It's a more effective strategy than it would be for someone who makes a living doing errands for retirees.
Understand where members of your target audience are and make sure your messages are there too. Once again, this can mean different approaches that will depend entirely on who your audience is. For example, it can be a website presenting services or an advertisement in a local newspaper or on specialized blogs. Use everything you need in your personal marketing strategy to get the job done right.
New technologies have come to help define personal and professional interactions. However, for your personal marketing strategy to be adequate, you must also consider the precepts of traditional marketing.
Whether you're looking for a job or want to be considered an expert in a certain field, you can achieve your goals by building a brand around you and creating a memorable first impression that makes people want to know more about you.