Personal Marketing Plan Content

The next step in developing your personal marketing plan is to provide a concise description of the product you are offering the company or graduate school program you seekyou. Think through the SWOT analysis you completed in Chapter 2 and think about your personal product offering. Focus on the specific value you would bring to the firm or graduate school. Think of the description as your elevator pitch, a 30- to 60-second description of the value you would bring to an organization. Formalizing this in your personal marketing plan will also help you identify specific jobs that match the skill sets that you offer. Your pitch might include answers to the following questions: What makes you different from other potential employees? Why is the company or graduate program better with you than without you? How do your skills and background fit into what the organization wants to do?

Your Task: Write a two-paragraph product description of yourself that you can read or present in less than 60 seconds. The description should highlight your value to a potential organization or graduate school. You have only a limited amount of time, so choose your words carefully to ensure they create the maximum impact.

For the next part of your marketing plan exercise, you will conduct a pricing analysis of your own future career plans. First, you should consider the costs you expect to have in the next decade, including things like repaying your student loans, paying your rent, saving for a house, or starting a family. Take time to consider the potential costs of these things on a monthly and annual basis. Then compare these costs with the career information you put together in an earlier chapter. How do they match up? Next, consider your market value within your company or industry, either now or after graduate school. The price elasticity you inspire in future employers will be an important consideration as you develop in your career. For example, if you possess a unique combination of experience, education, personality, and work ethic, demand for your services might well be inelastic. In this scenario, you might be able to negotiate a higher salary because the demand for your services is high. Conversely, if demand for your brand is elastic, you should understand your lessened bargaining power and work to develop unique skills or take on difficult assignments within your company to increase the value others place on your brand. Knowing whether demand for your personal brand is inelastic or elastic is essential. Too many employees undervalue their brand and work for less than what market prices would dictate, leaving money on the table over a significant period of their career.

Your Task: Develop a detailed list of the costs necessary to have the career you desire 10 years from now (e.g., student loans, training seminars, graduate school costs, or any fixed or variable costs). Next, compare these costs with the prices that organizations are paying for people with your skill set. Finally, determine your own personal break-even point for your salary level. Also, identify when you expect to reach the salary that you desire.