Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Dear Keliason,

You're in the one of many right places. But what you may want to figure out is what aspect of marketing?

Brand-based? PR? Direct response? Large corporation? Small business? Consultant? Teacher? Advisor?

What might you DO with your certification, were you to get it?
And with technology being what it is, you could work anywhere.

Your best asset right now is your desire to learn and I suggest you search for a local connection first. Which companies within your area could you ask for advice? Who might you seek out as a mentor? What group might you join as a member of a mastermind group?

Taking six months to a year to complete a certification course is a good beginning. But going into the workplace, you'd be starting pretty low down the totem pole.

What are your skills and interests? Are you good with people or better with copywriting, concepts, or management?

Above and beyond everything else, marketing is about meeting the needs of customers and connecting goods and services with felt needs, desires, dreams, and aspirations.

You also need to do as much reading as possible. Books by Dan Kennedy, Roy Williams (The Wizard of Ads), and others will cut through most if not all of the BS you'll hear about synergy this and synergy that. So seek out their stuff and move from there.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Start by looking at your end goal. Have you thought about your ideal job/company/location? If you know (or even if you're unsure), invest your time in doing informational interviews. Find out what people who are doing things that look interesting/fun to you did to get their job, what they're looking for in new hires, and paths to success. You might get lucky and find someone willing to mentor your learning process or even find an intern possibility (to try out the field before spending time/money taking classes).

Dear Keliason,

The portion of the e-mail you sent to the person in marketing? My dear, it’s doing you NO favours AT ALL!

One of many of the golden rules in marketing is to think of your message from the recipient’s viewpoint.

As a general rule I’m sure that most university tutors don’t teach stuff like this, but they bloody well ought to!

At the moment your message talks about you, you, and you.

Your reader doesn’t really care about you dearie; they care about themselves and what it is that you can do to help them.

With me?

What your message really needs to do is talk about the things you can do for the reader. The tone of your message needs to instill commitment, credibility, belief, and trust; it must project enthusiasm and benefits to such a degree that your reader feels compelled to dive across their desk to get to the phone. That’s what your message needs to project and that’s currently what you message does not do. So you need to fix it.

You’re doing a lot of reading on marketing? Good. Now, crank up those efforts. Consume marketing. Live, it, breathe it, eat it and sleep with it.

I mean this. You MUST, ass you point out in your post, you MUST get a better understanding on how marketing works and not seem like a complete dunce on my first day working somewhere. THIS IS VITAL. Read your buns off and MAKE NOTES. Then re-read your notes and let it all sink in.

If you feel going back to school will help and if you can afford it, then by al means, do so. But your background in journalism? I’m going to upset a lot of people with the following statement, but it’s my considered belief: journalism is not marketing.

A background in journalism might give you a decent grounding in writing, but being able to write in journalize is NOT the same as being able to craft a compelling headline, a list of subheads, a list of benefits and values, offers, calls to action, and risk reversal that all SELLS the product or service to the lead or customer.

Journalism is about reporting facts and often, about putting one’s own angle on things. Marketing is about selling through compelling, effective persuasion. Song writing and poetry are similar, but again, the two things are NOT the same.

As well as your first point above, you need to find a mentor, (or several mentors) in your local business community, or via your contacts at college. Don’t haunt these people, but ask for help and, more importantly, ACT ON THEIR ADVICE.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

I'm in the same boat as you are. I've finished my GE at a city college and am trying to figure out where I will go with a degree in Marketing. I still have about 2-3 years until I get a degree, but with the economy I need a job. So I figured I would start off at the bottom and get a couple of certificates as I continue my degree. This is one of the best sites I've found with the tools and blogs. Seeing as you have a degree in journalism you might look into PR or consultant. I have found sales as my expertise. Dealing with clients and their consumers.