5 Promotion Tools for Your Personal Brand: Market your career, don’t just search for a job.

A prominent career management coach told me several years ago “it’s not a job search anymore—it’s a career marketing campaign. As we have written in recent weeks, that suggests jobseekers ought to use elements of the “marketing mix” to advance their search for new opportunities. Elements of the traditional marketing mix include product, price, promotion, and place. We have explained in previous posts how each element translates into a piece of your career marketing strategy.

Today, we are focusing on promotion. Much of what we do when seeking a new job revolves around promoting our service as an employee to potential employers. The key tools we use include, but are not limited to:

1. A resume,
2. Job search letters,
3. Our LinkedIn profile,
4. An elevator pitch, and
5. Other social media.

Self-promotion is uncomfortable for many of us, especially when we come from the Federal Government, universities, or corporations where others have promoted our work for us. But, as jobseekers, we are marketing a personal brand to prospective “buyers”—our next employer.

Large companies, and even some public agencies, promote their brands through expensive mass media advertising campaigns. Smaller companies, not-for-profit organizations and others use less costly social media and websites to promote their brands.

Mass media advertising is not an option for jobseekers. But LinkedIn and other social media offer affordable, and often no-cost, options. Traditional resumes and letters are also affordable  promotion tools.

A resume is still important.

Your resume continues to be a foundational document for your job search marketing campaign despite digital transformation of the job application process. According to experts I’ve spoken with, it is the document that employers will store in their applicant tracking software (ATS) and related HR databases.

A big advantage of the traditional one-page and two-page accomplishment-based business resume is that you send it to each employer. They do not pull it from a public database such as LinkedIn. This means that you can and should customize it for each prospective employer.

All your prospective employers will see the same LinkedIn profile, but you can send them a different version of your resume.

Job search letters are important, too.

Traditional cover letters also continue to be an important promotional tool. The letter, or an email variant called an e-note gives you an opportunity to address the hiring manager by name and explain specifically why he or she should select you for an interview.

A few years ago, I found a hiring manager and sent her an email in addition to entering my resume into her ATS system. She returned an email informing me that she was deleting my resume because she was only allowed to consider applicants through the formal HR process. But then I was called to the interview anyway! My personal approach may have helped despite the “CYA” denial.

Your LinkedIn profile is crucial.

Perhaps the biggest change in job search and talent acquisition in the last 20 years has been the advent of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is probably the world’s largest database connecting hiring managers, networking contacts, jobseekers, and even buyers and sellers of B2B products and services. So, it behooves you to be there unless your current employer has a stringent social media policy that forbids your use of the platform.

Today, some companies employ recruiters to search LinkedIn for candidates instead of advertising for jobseekers to apply for positions.

Think of LinkedIn as a form of advertising a jobseeker can use. Your LinkedIn profile should have elements of traditional big-budget ads. It can explain the benefits of acquiring your services and include a call to action, for example. But you cannot customize the profile for each employer. You will have to do this using a resume and letter.

Prepare an “elevator pitch.”

People hire people, so you will have to leave your computer and smartphone to promote your personal brand to potential employers. A good starting point is to have a 30-second speech, or pitch, explaining what you do. But do not lead with your job title. Tell your listener what business problem you will solve for them. How do you reduce expenses as a cost accountant, or increase customer satisfaction as a customer service rep?

Promote your brand on other social media.

Last, but not least, promote your personal brand on other social media platforms in addition to LinkedIn. For example, I have landed clients through chats with former coworkers on Facebook.

Of course, when social media such as Facebook or Instagram becomes part of your brand strategy, your presence has to have a professional image. The bachelor or bachelorette party photos may have to go! This “social media audit” is a good idea in any case because prospective employers will look at social media before they hire you. Last-minute school and employment rejections because of “inappropriate” posts are not unheard of.

Concluding comments

Think of yourself as promoting a brand rather than searching for a job. It’s a different mindset for those of us that have spent years in bureaucratic government agencies or corporations. But adopting basic brand marketing strategy may help you get the job you want at the salary you deserve in less time.