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Building Your Marketing Tool Kit

Your resume will NOT get you a job. This is a well-known reality in professional employment and human relations circles. But, unfortunately, the myth lingers and is exacerbated by universities and counselors who don’t operate in the real world. The “CV Wonks” are often infatuated with paper work and the more voluminous the “curriculum vitae” the more educated and experienced the writer.

In the real world of business, a multi-page CV probably won’t even get read except in the coffee room to entertain the troops! In the real world of business, you’ll need an entire communications and marketing tool kit.

Your Objective Is To Get Interviews In Selected Companies.

Everything is designed to get the interview.

To reiterate, no matter how good, how well-constructed and to-the-point it is, your resume won’t get you the job. The purpose of the resume – and the cover letter – is to get you an interview. In fact everything in your marketing tool kit should be focused on this one objective . . . to get you an interview with the decision-maker at a company or organization where you want to work. At that point YOU are the salesperson. Everything you have done to get you in front of your prospect is part of the marketing effort.

The Resume Is Only One Piece of Your Job Search Marketing Tool Kit.

So, how do you use your Executive Resume to get you interviews with the companies you’ve researched and decided you would like to work for? Well, you may not want to use a resume at all! (We get into that in more detail.) But if you do, consider it a “brochure” or a sales aid. It’s just one of a number of tools in your marketing tool kit. Your personal marketing plan should include:

Accomplishments Library – This inventory of successes and achievements, quantified in time or monetary terms, is useful in every phase of your executive job search.
30-Second Commercial – Sometimes referred to as your “elevator pitch,” this is your headline or lead-in to a conversation about what you do. Absolutely imperative for networking events.
Personal Biography – Often used in lieu of a resume, this may take several forms, from short, one-paragraph versions to ¾ and full-page versions with different slants.
Profile Resume – Sometimes referred to as a “functional” resume, this document highlights your experience and capabilities.
Chronological Resume – When people request your “curriculum vitae” or CV, they probably will focus on your education credentials as well as the work history in chronological order.
Combination Resume – A hybrid version of your resume that is a little of both the functional and chronological resumes may be best when you’ve gained most of your experience at one firm.
Market Research – Learning as much as possible about a given industry, firms in that field and their products, officers and other information relative to their business.
Cover Letters –Letters of introduction, follow-up, interview thank you letters, queries and other forms of personal written communication are often more critical in gaining entry to an organization than a resume. Having several different versions in your marketing tool kit will make you more efficient when you begin making contacts.
Personal Stationery – Letterhead, envelopes, note cards, business cards, email address and email signature are all icons that represent you and your professional status.
White Papers – Articles you’ve written, transcripts of speeches you’ve given (or plan to give) are “extra credits” that highlight your knowledge or accomplishments.
Personal Website – For some, a personal website, podcasts, Facebook account and/or connections on LinkedIn or other professional electronic networking may be appropriate. If you haven't yet established your "web presense," take another look. LinkedIn, in particular, is fast becoming an essential piece of the executive marketing tool kit.
Telephone Tools & Techniques – How and where your telephone is answered, the way you come across on the telephone, how efficiently you return calls, etc. says a lot about you.
Organizational Connections – The organizations you belong to, positions held, panels served on and other professionally-recognized contributions add weight to your experience.
Networking Skills & Connections – Personal references are among the most powerful and important factors in finding and securing executive positions. Networking skills are absolutely indispensible to the executive in transition!

The Result: A Personal Marketing Plan Second To None.

We could add lots of small tips to this list, any of which could make the difference in a particular situation. While playing golf might carry a positive connotation in one instance, it might prejudice someone else against you. There’s no rhyme or reason to some of the prejudices that people harbor . . . positive as well as negative. That’s another reason to do careful research on any company (and its executives) that you target.

Managing Your Marketing Tool Kit.

With all this information and all these tools at your disposal, you can quickly become overwhelmed with tasks and activity. It’s critically important for you to be super organized and systematic in planning and executing your marketing efforts. Using scheduling tools such as Microsoft Outlook, that includes a way of keeping track of your contacts, calendar, meetings, etc., will be especially helpful as your schedule fills up. Learning how to use your local library and its remote log-in access to research materials can pay big dividends.

And don’t overlook the advantages of joining or forming a support group. Other executives in transition who are out there meeting people, interviewing and doing research will run across leads that could be valuable to you. In fact, this could well be the single most productive thing you do . . . even as you are building your marketing tool kit containing accomplishments library, executive resumes and marketing strategy.

And something worth keeping in mind is the old adage: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

Before you move on to the other tools in the Marketing Tool Kit, we recommend you read the Zen of Letter Writing. Then, go on to...

Cover Letters

eMail Guidelines

Your Personal Marketing Plan

Target Marketing: Business Categories

Your Value Proposition

The Job Search Sales Sequence

Sample Sales Sequence Diagram

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