Marketing Mix: Selling You

When pursuing a job one must realize that employers look for qualities in you that they would benefit from, much like the products we buy. Understanding how to sell yourself is very important in today's competitive job environment. Marketing yourself involves four parts; product, place, promotion, and price. These four P's of marketing all revolve around the customer (employer).

Product: In this case the product is yourself. You must show the employer that you are of higher quality than any other candidate, as well as offer skills necessary for the position. This may involve a full resume, showing interpersonal qualities that fit the job, or even that you have a fast learning curve. An over looked part of product is support services. These services include, friends, family, former employers, or mentors, anyone that can be listed as a reference to show that you will continue to hold the value you started with.

Place: When considering place, you want to address three major areas; location, transportation, and costs. Given the choice you obviously want to work close to where you want to live. The location of your work is very important. Transportation links with costs and are potentially the most important factors. Whether transportation is private or public, there will be some costs. The costs depend on distance and means of transportation. You want to work at a location that makes sense financially.

Promotion: In general, promotion is selling yourself. You must educate your potential employer on why you are a good candidate and why the qualities you posses will benefit their company. As far as advertising, you might say that your resume and cover letter are your personal billboards. They are the first impression of you to the potential employer (customer).

Price: Depending on the situation price can vary. You may be able to give a set price depending on the demand for you is. How ever, in most cases you must take what is given in order to make it in the market.

Overall, understanding how product, place, promotion, and price can be used to market you as a job seeker. Getting your foot in the door is half the battle. Once inside you can prove yourself, but with out good marketing you may go unnoticed.

Response to Eric's Type A Response

Eric's First Entry

I agree with what Eric says about marketing and advertising. In using Fenway Park as an example he creates a good visual. How ever, I disagree with what he has to say about propaganda. I believe propaganda is very similar in style to advertising. It differs in the sense that it is based around untrue facts. Say that Ford sign said, "Buy a Ford because Chevrolet is racist" Yes, this could be true (though extremely unlikely), but there is no evidence to support it. Yes, it may pull customers away from Chevrolet (those that believed the statement to be true), but clearly their advertising slogan of, "Built Ford Tough" is much more truthful and potentially more effective.

This may be an extreme example but I hope you may be able to see what I believe to be the difference more clearly.

Marketing, Propoganda, and Advertising

In their book Marketing Express, William M. Pride and O. C. Ferrell define marketing as, 

      The process of creating distributing, promoting, and pricing goods, services, and ideas to facilitate satisfying exchange relationships with customers and to develop and maintain favorable relationships with stakeholders in a dynamic environment.

Essentially, marketing covers all areas of making a product or service ready and available for sale, as well as, making them well known. I believe that propaganda and advertising fall under the promotional part of marketing. They both get the name of the product of a good or service out there, but in very different ways. Propaganda tends to be a more direct assault on the opposition or a tactic for personal benefit (Merriam-Webster.com). It can be as simple as an idea or complex as an elaborate rumor. Propaganda is usually seen in poor light because it is typically built upon lies or unproven facts. My first thoughts of propaganda are those of Hitler's during his reign. Usually we think of it as promoting a bad idea but this isn't always the case. Many times propaganda is used for the greater good but can still be built upon lies regardless of the motives. Advertising, on the other hand, is a marketing tactic that has grown tremendously over the years. There is a sickening amount of money spent on advertising each year. It is all around us. You can not go a day with out being subjected to some sort of advertising. Advertising basically shows off a product or service and tries to convince you to choose their product or service over someone else's. It is built on more truthful facts. Rather than trying to get you to think poorly about the opposition, they typically just flood you with immense amounts of cues leading to their product or service. Think of how many McDonald's or Dunkin Donut billboards you pass on a long stretch of highway. 

In the end, I believe that both propaganda and advertising fall in as part of marketing. They are two distinct tactics of promotion. Marketing is its own entity in its self.