Achieving a rewarding career is within your reach! Here’s knowledge that will help you “sell” your skills… [Tuesdays: Return Driven Strategy]
Miles Everson’s Business Builder Daily speaks to the heart of what great marketers, business leaders, and other professionals need to succeed in advertising, communications, managing their investments, career strategy, and more.
A Note from Miles Everson:
Welcome to today’s edition of Career Driven Strategy (CDS)!
As someone who’s been in the business of guiding and supporting independents for several years now, I highly recommend this framework because it helps you achieve your goals and boost your career.
Created by Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo, CDS is an application of the tenets and foundations of Return Driven Strategy (RDS) to the microlevel. While RDS focuses mostly on brands and business, CDS focuses more on helping individuals create a better personal life and career life.
In today’s article, let’s talk about marketing in the lens of CDS.
Continue reading to know how basic knowledge of marketing benefits not only those aiming for a career in this field but also those in other fields of expertise.
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Return Driven Strategy
Marketing.
―refers to the activities a company takes to promote the buying of a product or service. This includes advertising, selling, and delivering offerings to customers or other businesses.
Did you know that because of this definition, some people think marketing is only for those in the business world?
They think attracting prospects and maintaining good relationships with customers and clients are only limited to professionals working in similar fields.
THAT. IS. NOT. TRUE.
In fact, marketing is a field that benefits workers in different industries. It helps individuals―whatever their expertise are―move forward in their careers with a diverse skill set.
Allow us to show you how marketing is helpful in other fields or industries.
- It aids in self-promotion and gives you a more competitive skill set.
Self-promotion is crucial to success. By having knowledge of marketing, you’ll learn to effectively promote yourself and your work.
Additionally, the marketing-related skills and knowledge you gain will give you a competitive advantage in your career.
… and when you have this advantage, you’ll become more confident. This will turn you into a more in-demand professional that can present yourself and your product or service in a way nobody else can!
- It equips you with consumer psychology knowledge.
Consumer psychology is the study of all the elements that influence a prospect’s decision-making. As a professional who “sells” your skills, your prospect can be anyone―from a hiring manager to a client.
So… how can you effectively sell your value to them?
This is where the role of marketing comes in.
Marketing lets you understand how prospects make decisions about a product or service. When you use this to your advantage, you’ll successfully promote yourself and show your prospects how your offerings can be helpful in their lives.
- It provides you with more opportunities to grow in your career.
Different professions use different marketing principles, especially in today’s interconnected world. From communications to business management, many workers are using marketing in their work routines―whether consciously or unconsciously.
Examples:
Business executives need to know how to conduct market research…
Salespeople need to understand and effectively communicate why their offerings are good enough to stand out and make consumers’ lives better…
Those in product development need to be familiar with the core marketing principles to create an offering that will address customers’ demands…
When you know how to create a connection between your value proposition and your prospects, you’ll open more doors for career enhancement. Besides, marketing skills are versatile. When you have them, you can apply them to various situations.
Marketing as seen in Career Driven Strategy’s (CDS) Tenets 6, 9, and 11
Having knowledge of and applying the concepts of marketing can do wonders for your career. In fact, these concepts enable you to achieve some of the tenets of Professor Litman and Dr. Frigo’s Career Driven Strategy (CDS)!
Let’s specify:
- Tenet 6 – Brand Offerings
We mentioned that having knowledge about marketing helps in self-promotion―meaning, knowing how to market yourself and your work.
To effectively do this, you must brand your offerings―the work you do or the services you provide―and establish a distinct reputation in your field.
Once you positively brand yourself, your value, and your offerings, customers and clients will start associating a particular characteristic to the quality of your outputs. This will help you establish a long-term identity that your target market will remember you for.
- Tenet 9 – Engage Yourself and Others
Using marketing to understand consumer psychology enables you to engage yourself and others.
How?
When we say “engage yourself,” we mean you get to motivate yourself to do your best in interacting with your target market, serving them, and addressing their needs and wants.
Meanwhile, “engage others” means since you know enough about consumer psychology, it will be easier for you to identify the offerings that will solve your customers’ pain points or meet their demands.
… and the more you are able to address these needs or concerns effectively, the more you’ll compel your customers to repeatedly do business with you.
Who knows? These people could even partner with you or help spread the word about your brand so you get to engage with more people!
- Communicate Holistically
Good marketers are good communicators. However, to know how you can effectively appeal to people and convince them to transact or work with you, you first have to be a good listener.
Knowing how to listen = Another important aspect of great marketing
When you listen and understand your target market, colleagues, and others in your industry, you’ll gather and analyze helpful data and information, and make the right decisions at the right time.
Aren’t these part of holistic communication―approaching your target audience, listening to them, nurturing them, and creating something worthwhile and beneficial for them?
Understanding human interaction and what it means to each person involved makes a difference between convincing and cooperating with them and losing an opportunity to grow in your career.
Keep these details in mind as you look for ways to boost your career and achieve both your personal and professional goals!
As you constantly improve or reinvent your approach to brand your offerings, engage yourself and others, and communicate holistically, you’ll successfully market yourself in your industry.
These will help you fulfill the needs of others while achieving a rewarding career!
(This article is from The Business Builder Daily, a newsletter by The I Institute in collaboration with MBO Partners.)
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Tuesdays: Return Driven Strategy”
In the book, “Driven,” authors Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo said that the goal of every long-term successful business strategy should incorporate the combined necessity of “making the world a better place” and “getting wealthy.”
That is why they created Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy―frameworks that were built to help leaders and professionals plan and evaluate businesses so they can also help others achieve their organizational goals and career goals.
The frameworks describe the plans and actions that drive returns for anyone in an organization such as independent contractors, marketers, brand managers, communicators, and other people in any field. These actions lead to the creation of wealth and value for customers, employees, shareholders, and the society.
Every Tuesday, we’ll highlight case studies, business strategies, tips, and insights related to Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy.
In planning, building, or managing brands and businesses, these strategies, case studies, and guidelines will help you choose what specific actions to take and when to take them.
Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s “Return Driven Strategy!”
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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