learnthe4ps.com - For students of marketing.

Brothers Dan and Chip Heath have just published their third book, The Myth of the Garage (link through for a free copy of the e-book).  I have not read this book yet, but I really enjoyed the first two — Switch and Made to Stick.  In this short article at Slate “Four Excellent Habits,” (September 12, 2011) the Heaths offer our principles that you might use to guide your career choice.  Many of you are thinking about your future career, perhaps writing your personal marketing plan.  I think you will find this article contains some good insights on that process.

Good question — especially if you think this might be a possible future career.  In this article, “How researchers explain their profession at a cocktail party,” (Quirks, November 2011), you can read a wide range of answers from those in the research profession.  Some of these are serious and some are funny (at least to researchers).  Either way, they give some insight into this profession and you might find it insightful if you are considering pursuing a career in market research.

Many readers of this blog are current or recent college students, who are constantly looking for keys to career success.  While it is never to late to learn how, youth is a great time to learn about and develop habits that lead to success.

A recent episode of the Harvard Business Review Ideacast (one of my favorite podcasts) included an 18 minute interview with motivational psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.  Halvorson talked about decades of research that lead to an HBR blog post, “Nine Things Successful People Do Differently” (February 25, 2011), that eventually became one of the most popular ever at the site.  Halvorson’s list includes:

1. Get specific.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals.
3. Know exactly how far you have left to go.
4. Be a realistic optimist.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good.
6. Have grit.
7. Build your willpower muscle.
8. Don’t tempt fate.
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do.

Halvorson subsequently expands on each of these findings in her short (but inexpensive at just $3.19) e-book, Nine Things Successful People Do Differently.   While the book is short — each of the nine “things” is expanded in just 2-3 pages in the short book — I think the subject matter is useful.  So if the blog post piques your interest, the book might be worth the investment.

What do you think of the “Nine Things”?  Do some of them surprise you?  How can you use some of them to become more successful?

Many readers of L4Ps are looking for jobs — or perhaps soon will be.  Social media is becoming increasingly influential in the job search process.  Most of you already know about LinkedIn — but you might want to think about Facebook and Twitter as well.  While these tools are especially important for marketing jobs, other job-seekers might want to consider the impact of social media on the job search.  I know the big public accounting firms have set up Facebook pages to interact with job candidates.

These days you have to assume that prospective employers will look at your Facebook profile.  So you might want to clean it up.  You might also want to “like” and follow companies you are interested in working for — and for many potential employers, Facebook is an easy way to do that.  Being informed about the company will help you decide if this is a good company for you — and will make you more knowledgeable in a job interview.  This short article at Social Media Today, “How Social Media Will Help Your Job Search” (September 18, 2011) is a good start and includes links to other articles for more insight.

For an extreme example of how social media, check out what Michael Epstein did.  Michael wanted a job at Google — badly.  So he developed a website to promote directly to Google — googlepleasehire.me.  Fun and funny — Michael didn’t get hired by Google but he received his “dream job.”  What more can you ask for?  Read more at his website. Thanks to my student Mike Selander for passing Michael Epstein’s story along.

What do you think of these approaches?  Do you have any other tips for how you can use social media in the job search?

As regular readers of L4Ps know, we like to offer tips for your own personal marketing plan. Many of you guys are marketing students who are currently — or soon will be — looking for a job.  We think that all students should consider developing a marketing plan – early in your college career if you can.  The earlier you develop it, the more likely you can address weaknesses with classes, internships, volunteer work, or student organizations.  If you talk to most career councilors, they will be quick to tell you that the best way to get a job is through networking.  You need to put yourself into new situations where you can meet potential employers or people who can introduce you to potential employers.  To make a good impression, you should know how to introduce yourself.  This is an opportunity to develop your own positioning (how an employer views you) — so don’t miss this chance.  Have a plan.

One of the many podcasts I listen to regularly is The Public Speaker – which posted “How to Introduce Yourself” (June 30, 2011) — the link will take you to a page where you can listen to the podcast or read the transcript.  Great advice.

Over at his Effective Marketer blog, Daniel Kuperman offers a nice summary overview of “Unleashing the Power of Marketing” (an HBR article from October 2010). His post, titled “Reinventing Marketing at GE” (July 7, 2011) provides a nice case study example of a company redefining itself around marketing.  Some of my college student readers might find access to the original Harvard Business Review article through their college library.

I think there is an even more interesting part of Daniel’s post that is relevant for today’s — and especially tomorrow’s (that is you future marketers) — marketing manager.  The blog post neatly summarizes four key marketing roles.  These roles don’t fall cleanly into our business school curriculum.  Are these skills you might be able to bring to a company?  Skills you could hone as you finish school and move into your first job?  Think about it.

As regular readers of L4Ps know, I have my students write a personal marketing plan.  The idea is to apply the marketing concepts they are learning to their future — whether that be in finding a job, going to graduate school, or whatever the next step might be.  My students find this to be a very valuable exercise — I encourage you to try.  Consequently, I occasionally try to post things here on the blog that will help them in job-hunting.  Students have heard all the warnings about the need to be careful with how they appear on social media sites — and that it could come back and haunt them in the job search.  This article, “Social Media History Becomes a New Job Hurdle” (New York Times, July 20, 2011) lays out just how deep that some companies can dig to find out more about job candidates.  Read and beware.  Oh, and if you are interested in that personal marketing plan, click “Personal Marketing Plan” in the categories column to the right.

When I graduated as a marketing undergraduate almost 30 years ago, pharmaceutical sales was one of my job targets.  I liked the idea of consultative selling of technical products.  I ended up in technical sales at Eastman Kodak.  Back then pharmaceutical sales was growing — and so was the sales force.  Not anymore.  Today many pharmaceutical firms are looking for technology solutions to replace their sales force — including iPad apps and other digital tools.  Get up to speed on this trend by reading “Drug Makers Replace Reps with Digital Tools” (Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2011, non-subscribers click here).

For those of you preparing your personal marketing plans — and trying to decide on your future careers it raises important questions.  Certainly technology is a threat to sales careers with pharmaceutical firms — but what other industries might face similar threats?  What does this mean for your career planning?

Seth Godin has a great post on his blog, “Selling vs. inviting” (May 9, 2011) about personal selling and marketing. As usual, Seth succinctly shares a useful insight. Many marketing students take a first job in personal selling.  I think you will find Godin’s perspective refreshing as it offers a simple comparison of marketing and sales.

As you develop the personal marketing plan that will guide your job search and future career, think about how this affects your perspective on personal selling.

Many readers of L4Ps are undergraduate students — most of whom are, or soon will be looking for marketing jobs.  Here are a couple of articles that might interest those of you in this category.  In “2011 college grads finding a better job market” (USA Today, April 22, 2011), you can read an optimistic update of the current job market for college graduates.  Let’s hope this positive trend continues.

I also found a second article that outlines five types of marketing skills that a startup might want to hire.  While this article targets small startup companies that don’t have a full-time marketing person, it suggests the types of specific skills that are in demand today.  These skills are in demand because not a lot of people know how to do them well.  You might want to develop these skills if you don’t have them – or if you have these skills they might highlight consulting opportunities for you.  These skills aren’t usually taught on your way to a marketing degree — they are too specific.  Yet, you can combine your understanding of marketing strategy planning, customer behavior, and marketing research with these more focused skills (which you might have to learn on your own) to make yourself more marketable.  You might also find an internship or part-time job that will help you learn these skills on the job.  See “5 Marketing Jobs Worth Paying For” (Mashable, April 22, 2011).