Personal Marketing Plan

The Personal Marketing Plan is a 5-part, individual project. The assignments provide students an opportunity to view themselves as a “product” and apply key marketing principles in order to develop a personal brand and marketing plan. The intended outcome of the personal marketing project is to help the student better understand their competitive differentiation (what makes them “better” in the job market) relative to their competition (all the other people applying for the same jobs/pursuing the same career path). Students will complete a series of assignments that are intended to help them become more competitive in their selected job market. The assignment components include::

1. Part 1: Your Personal (Professional) Mission and Goals
2. Part 2: Your Personal (Professional) SWOT Analysis
3. Part 3: Your Professional Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies.
4. Part 4: Your Marketing Mix (“4Ps”)
5. Part 5: Your Go-To-Market Strategy (Implementation Plan)

Part 1 Deliverables: Your Professional Mission and Goals:

1. Identify a single career “path” you are interested in (for example, “marketing”, “accounting”, “management”, “baker”, “travel writer”, “yoga trainer”, etc…)
2. Identify exactly 3 different job titles that relate to that career path.
3. For each job title, find a matching job listing online. This can be anything from an internship to your ideal job (i.e. CEO, etc…). Provide a link to each listing and/or provide a copy/screenshot of the listing (especially if the listing might expire).
4. Describe what interests you about each of these jobs.
5. Describe the work environment you would like to work in. What makes it a “good” environment for you.
6. Identify the skills/tasks that you enjoy using/performing and/or are good at. Explain why.
   Here’s Some tips for researching job titles & job listings.
   • If there are companies/brands that you would like to work for, start on their job listing websites.
   • Search job boards like Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Indeed.
   • Look at the requirements for these jobs. You may find skills/tasks in the job requirements that help answer some of your questions.

Part 2 Deliverables: Your Personal (Professional) SWOT Analysis:

1. Consider the industry, job titles, and job listings that you explored in the Part 1 assignment.
2. List exactly five “Strengths” that you think will help you succeed along this career path. Provide a little detail for each. Try to think of things that will make you stand out against the competition. These may include:
3. Personal traits
4. Job skills
5. Interests
6. Experience
7. Now list exactly five “Weaknesses” that you think may hinder your success along this career path. These may include:
8. Lack of specific experience
9. Lack of specific job skills
10. Personal traits (that could use a little work?)
11. Now list exactly two “Opportunities” that you think exist in this particular career path. Remember, Opportunities are external, so you’ll be looking for things like increasing demand for this type of work, technology changes, job market changes, etc… you’ll need to do some research for this one (which means I expect to see some citations).
12. Now list exactly two “Threats” that you think exist in this particular career path. Again, Threats are external and typically include things like competition, changes in the job market, changes in legislation, etc…refer to the six elements of the macroenvironment in Chapter 5 for ideas about where to look for Opportunities and Threats.
    Here’s Some tips for researching Opportunities & Threats.
    • Use the database resources through the PSU library website.
    • Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook that the US government publishes with data about different occupations and industries.
    • Maybe check LinkedIn for people who currently hold the jobs you are interested in. What skills do they posess that will be hard for you to compete with?  
    Part 3 Deliverables: Your Professional Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies:
13. Consider the industry, job titles, and job listings that you explored in the Part 1 & Part 2 assignments.
14. Identify Market Opportunities:
    a. Segmentation:
    i. Pick a single industry (from Part 1 & 2)
    b. Identify 3 potential employers in your chosen industry:
    i. Name of company
    ii. Size of company (revenue and # of employees)
    iii. Location of company (location you would work at)
    c. Positioning
    i. Develop a positioning statement, elevator pitch, or value proposition statement. (Remember, you’re the “product”. How would you sell this “product” to a prospective employer? This could turn into the “summary” or “about me” section of your resume/cover letter)

Part 4 Deliverables: Your Marketing Mix (4Ps).

1. Identify “My Marketing Mix”
   a. Product:
   i. What services can you offer?
   ii. What product development activities can you engage in during the next 18 months to make yourself a better “product”? Think about the four product development strategies we learned about in class.
   b. Price:
   i. What pay & benefits do you expect?
   ii. What the geographic impact on your salary (based on where you want to work/live)?
   iii. What training & development do you expect?
   iv. What other expectations do you have?
   c. Place:
   i. Where will you look for work?
   ii. How will you apply for work? Think about channel marketing strategies on this one.
   d. Promotion:
   i. How will you communicate with your “target market”?
   ii. How will you network yourself?
   iii. How will you leverage digital/social media?

Part 5 Deliverables: Your Go-To-Market Strategy (Implementation Plan).

1. Working backwards from your planned gradation date, how are you going to obtain one of the target jobs at one of the target companies you identified in Parts 1-3 of this assignment? Include an internship in your plan (even if it’s not really in your plan).
2. Build a resume. If you already have a resume, do some research on “good resumes” and update yours accordingly. Review mine (attached to this dropbox). It’s not perfect, but it’s an example that might give you some ideas. There are plenty of resume templates online for purchase (about $10). Maybe you should get one? Include a copy of your resume with this assignment.
3. Build your LinkedIn profile. If you already have one, do some research on “good LinkedIn profiles’ and update your accordingly. Find mine and review it. Again, it’s not perfect, but it’s another example that might give you some ideas. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile with this assignment.
4. Explain your go-to-market strategy. How will you connect with people who are hiring for the jobs you want? How will you network with people at the companies you want to work for?

This assignment will probably be about 4-8 pages in length (not including your job listings). This is a general guide…don’t worry about page count as long as you complete the assignment as detailed above.
All assignments should be submitted as Microsoft Word compatible documents (except for presentations). Use single-spacing and a size 12 font with one inch margins. Use essay format (including an introduction, content, and conclusion…when applicable). Each assignment will typically be two to four pages in length with relevant research and supporting materials in an Appendix.
As research assignments, content should be cited and sourced. Students should select a single citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago Style, etc.) and utilize it for the entire project.
Late assignments are subject to a penalty equal to 5% of the total possible points per day. For example, an assignment worth up to 100 points that is submitted 3 days late will incur a 15% (15 point) penalty. Late discussion contributions will not be accepted.