This is surely an age where even good things require a proper marketing strategy, to get noticed. We all have become so used to the thousands of messages being “thrown” at us by seasoned marketers every day that we no longer take cognizance, unless someone specially woos us. Our threshold of noticing things has gone up many notches; conversely we have to work that much harder to get others to notice whatever we want to put forth.

The results of a survey done in Mumbai are indeed interesting. This survey estimated that a person in this metropolis who travels for an hour to go to his place of work, “receives” on an average, 780 messages thrown at him/her every day, from billboards - TV commercials - railway tickets – magazines – newspapers - radio jingles etc. Out of these, he notices only 76 and remembers (after few hours) only 12. Three out of these 12 are actually remembered with a negative connotation. What this means is that while 780 guys are spending money to get their product or service noticed, only 9 are partially successful. What a colossal waste of money! Who knows whether this average Mumbaite remembers these nine messages while making the actual purchase (wasn’t that the intention of advertising, in the first place?).

Let us discuss today, dear readers, some honest methods of marketing ourselves.

Make a thorough list of your strengths and weaknesses.

Who could possibly know you better than yourself? Sit down with paper and a pencil and start writing all your skills and things at which you are good at. These points must be “bullets” (two or three words or a sentence at most) and not essays. Don’t go overboard by including attributes that you aspire for – include only those that you actually have, at this point of time. If you have some difficulty in deciding if a particular attribute should be included or not, try and remember an example to back up your claim. So don’t claim yourself to be “compassionate” unless you can recall an incident that exemplifies this trait. Similarly, don’t suddenly become “stingy” when it comes to listing down your weaknesses. Research proves that those who cannot identify their weaknesses are destined to repeat the same mistakes. Be ruthless with yourself, for good results later.

Decide which of these strengths need to be highlighted.

You now have to learn the art of “putting your best foot forward”. Depending on the situation that you are in (a job that you are applying for or writing a statement of purpose in the application form of a foreign university or discussing a franchise proposal that you would give your right arm for) you need to decide now which strong attributes of yours have to be specially projected? All strengths of yours may not be relevant for all the above activities and hence this exercise of selectively projecting them is vital. Have you ever noticed that some candidates while applying for a post that has been advertised, will actually use photocopies of the covering letter that was used while applying for the last such job and in which a line has been left blank, to fill by hand, the name of the new company? Just like every new job needs to be treated with the importance that it deserves, your strengths need to be selectively highlighted.

Don’t forget to mention your weaknesses !

Guys who cannot articulate their weaknesses are the ones who always get ignored by prospective hirers or business associates. The logic is clear. How could a guy who hasn’t identified his own weaknesses, improve the efficiency of whatever he is undertaking? In order to improve anything, it is necessary to possess skills to identify the weak links in the chain. The impression that you need to create is of someone who is trying his best to overcome these weaknesses. Be ready to give an example or two about how and when you did this.

What you speak is more important than what you write.

You will be evaluated more by the manner in which you present yourself than by what you have written. Learn therefore to speak about yourself in a cogent and convincing manner. You have heard about the Indian cricket team being good “only on paper” – haven’t you? Their exploits on the field are akin to your presentation of yourself. It will either support what you have written or spoil your chances because all that you wrote seemed so inconsistent after you opened your mouth. In order to efficiently “market” yourself, you thus need to master spoken skills. On many occasions, guys who have “very little under their belt” manage to stay ahead in this rat race just by good talking. So do not under-estimate the power of the spoken word. These skills need not be confused with oratory skills.

Master the L – P – A technique.

This is the Listen – Ponder – Answer technique. Master this to get startling results. What it simply means is that whenever you are verbally interacting with anyone else (whether in a formal interview or casual conversation), learn to first listen completely to what the other person has to say, then give an impression that you are pondering over the reply (even though you probably know what to answer) and only then to say what you want to. This technique is known to establish the seriousness with which you are treating the other person and this obviously produces good results.

Learn to be a good “networker”.

No person ever succeeded without developing his/her own “network” of friends, well-wishers and acquaintances. Some of us are loners and like to do most of the things ourselves, while some others operate primarily through their “network”. These people somehow seem to be able to get more things done with the help of this network. Research now proves that those in this latter category find it easier to market themselves. It stands to reason that a person who is well connected will be better recommended even if he is not as good as the other who sits engrossed in his own world. So start developing this network, right from tomorrow. It is not something you will be able to create overnight.

Be particular about your personal appearance.

Let me tell you about an interesting experiment that was once carried out in a kirana shop. Two heaps of well-known brands of toilet soaps were kept at two different places; the only difference between them was that the wrappers in the first heap were dirty while in the second one were clean, as they usually are. A notice was put up near the first heap saying that these soaps were being offered at a discount of 20% just because the wrappers had become irretrievably dirty. An assurance was also pasted there telling customers that the soap-cakes inside were absolutely clean and unaffected. After two days the off-take was compared. The cleanly wrapped soaps had outsold the dirtier ones by a very significant margin. Slovenly dressed persons have rarely succeeded in marketing themselves.

As in the case of an A-B-C analysis, concentrate on these seven points and I am sure you will do a fair job of marketing yourselves. All great tasks start with a small step. Let us take that first small step by accepting the fact that we all need to market ourselves. Don’t depend on destiny – be proactive.

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page." He can be reached at creative_ngp@sancharnet.in