A common question I am asked is how I get marketing/PR work. I mean, I really only have 3 years of a history degree, not a full Bachelors in Marketing. Also, I have no agency experience, except as a consultant. In fact, I’ve never been *employed* by any PR firm in the 10 years I’ve been in the business. And, I took several years off to have my four beautiful children.
But, after being asked last week why I don’t take time to market myself I realized that by blogging, taking part in the conversation, and forum usage, I’m actually marketing myself to the point that I can’t take on any new business until April of next year without hiring additional staff. In fact, I actually posted my resume on Monster, Dice and on this blog for a time. I had to take it off the blog because social media is so new to people that I was getting ridiculous requests to 1-game Digg 2-set up fake blogs and 3-do stuff that I really am not capable of doing (like website design, flash and the like). It’s still up at the other sites, and I recently snagged a great marketing gig because of that.
I think the main reason I end up with so much work is not because I am so amazingly talented, but because I share my online experience and the passion I have for real, ‘user-value’ oriented marketing with everyone I talk to, be it a CEO or a waitress. In fact, I’ve been chastised more than once for helping people for no pay just because I want them to interact more fully with their customers.
My mother always said, “Why would anyone buy the cow when she gives out the milk for free?” My answer to that is that they’d buy the cow so that they can 1-get more milk and 2-ensure that no one else is getting the milk. I know you gutter-minds will go elsewhere with the story, but I’m sure you can get my meaning.
Marketing people complain about having to pitch, and possibly be turned down, but I’d never have gotten my foot in the door were I not happy to pitch and let the chips fall where they may. If my ideas aren’t good enough, then the customer will not sign, of course. But, that’s how I feel when I am a customer and someone else isn’t up to the challenge. I’ve, many times, ended a business relationship because I wasn’t happy with the results or service offered/promised and PR/Marketing is no different.
If you want to know how *I* get jobs and get noticed, and I’d say roughly 15% comes from this blog, 25% comes from people who read my posts on forums, 10% is continued interest in my resume or in work I’ve written on other blogs and 50% is repeat business or WOM from my former or current clients. Of course, the fact that I’ve been involved in social media since 1996 means I’ve met enough people online that I have never had to cold-call anyone. In fact, while I will respond to the occasional job offering, most of my work now comes from people contacting me, and that just points further to the importance of social media in marketing in the coming year.