How to make yourself marketable

In the past few years people all over have been struggling to hold on to jobs as well as to get new ones. When thinking of how to make yourself more attractive to a potential employer it may help to look at it from a marketing standpoint. Marketing employs the four P's when trying to make a product more attractive to a potential buyer, why not use it for yourself as well? Consider yourself a product, you have your strengths and weaknesses. When employing these to the four P's we can start with the actual product which in this case is the worker. Being a well rounded, responsible person are good product qualities to have when "promoting" yourself to an employer. Secondly, the price variable can be favorable either way. When applying for a job that may not require a certain expertise it may be helpful to not have a huge price on the work you provide, while if you are applying in a highly specialized field the cost of your services can be directly related to the quality you will produce. The distribution variable can simply be the amount of hours in which you are available as well as what locations you are willing to work in. A more flexible employee will be more likely to be hired because they are more easily accessible. The promotional variable would apply to how you present yourself during an interview and in your resume.  Being a well put together, professional person is important and can lead to being hired. Also your resume can be a huge step into a job. 

Although these may all seem blatantly obvious it is important to see how almost anything can be promoted by means of marketing. Using marketing concepts can lead you to the goals you seek by other means. By looking at a job search from the perspective from a marketer you may gain an advantage over someone else. 


Have you ever used any of these techniques when applying for a job?

The difference between marketing, advertising, and propaganda.

When first posed the question in class "what is the difference between marketing, advertising, and propaganda?" I thought they were all the same. After thinking about it after class I realized that they are all the same but with different goals. Marketing, advertising, as well as propoganda all attempt to promote a product or an idea. They hope by making the information available to the public that their product or view point will be attractive to others. It can inform people about things that otherwise would not be known without the use of one of those three means. Marketing seems to be a way to keep people informed about a product that already exsists. This can be thought of when looking at insurance companies. Insurance companies have a product that relies on name recognition, so the continual use of marketing helps keep the name in peoples mind as well as promoting people to use their services. Advertising seems to promote new products. While you can use advertising for old well known products, an advertisement tries to show the public a new product. An example of this product would be when the ipad first came out, advertising was used as a means to introduce the public to the product. Propaganda seems to stand out the most in its differences. While it is showing the public a product it is almost always used as a way to promote political ideals. The movies made by the Nazi's are a perfect example of promoting ideals in interesting ways.
Whether you realize it or not, what type of promotions do you think have made an effect in your life?