The 5 P's. . .

Intigued? Well, yes. The 5 P's are basic Marketing 101. Flashback to Business College and Marketing class with that smelly professor who wore birks and tyedye.

The 5 "P's" of marketing include:
Product - The products or services offered to your customers/clients.
Price - The strategies you use with regard to pricing your products or services with the goal of making a desired profit margin.
Place (Distribution) - How you get your products or services to your target market.
Promotion - How you communicate the features and benefits and endorse your products or services to your customers or clients.
People - The value your people bring to your business by providing service to your customers and clients.

So you're asking yourself what does any of this have to do with finding a job? Well, everything.

Product-Refers to you, your qualifications and skills that you have to offer an employer. What skills and qualifications do you have and what are your strengths and opportunities? Focus on the opportunities and how you can make these better. Maybe it means taking a Crystal Reports class at the local vo-tech.
Price-What salary range are you willing to accept? Research the local job market, the unemployment rate, the industry, and top companies you are interested in working for.
Place-Consider the methods to deliver your resume either by informational interview with your top companies, using your network, job boards, or job fairs.
Promotion-Tools used to promote yourself-resumes, coverletters, myspace pages, and business cards. Get these and make them look professional. Realize that these can hurt you too. A racy myspace or friendster page can be viewed by just about anybody. Companies often google candidates. Consider this.
People-What value has your skill brought to previous companies? For example, as a Sales and Marketing Director you saved the company $300,000 in expenses in the first two quarters of 2005 streamlining the sales and marketing strategy for your fitness center. Shout this accomplishment from the rooftops and list it as a bulleted point on your resume. I do this very same thing in my resume and companies have often contacted me because of one bullet point that peaked their interest.
Use buzzwords on your resume. This helps several different ways-1. It gets the recruiters attention. 2. Your resume is flagged as a possible candidate from what I call their buzzword software. The buzzword software then passes your resume on to the recruiter. Very high tech, huh?

You are your biggest asset. Develop a marketing strategy to market yourself.

Next week. . . The Coverletter