Marketing Yourself

Marketing yourself. It is one of the most important forms of marketing everybody should master. This goes for resumes, cover letters, interviews, and really any other situation where you find yourself with an opportunity to grow. You must understand how to carefully network yourself with new connections, as to avoid boasting or being too humble. A creative post I found while browsing my Facebook feed is attached below. How awesome is that resume?! It demonstrates a fantastic way to originally market yourself, but also acts as an example of how you may possess skills in design. It really jumped off the screen at me, and I had to share it.

To expand on marketing yourself, I found a great article about understanding yourself. MarketingMag.com offers some interesting insight in visualizing data. The article explains that to see and understand your customers, you should first see and understand yourself. Big data and analytics are huge now, and can be of great assistance, but you must also understand the molecular interactions your marketing has with the customers. Interactions are key, and you must create a valuable exchange of information in your marketing. The article goes on to display multiple useful examples of how to carry out this exchange. The key takeaway, however, is that you must create a memorable, valuable and personalized campaign to increase brand awareness. To do this you must have a great understanding of your demographic, but furthermore, an understanding of how to market to yourself is vastly important.

Credit to Sam Bond on Facebook for the creative resume picture.

Sunday Night Football Feat & Soccer in the States

Browsing the Internet this afternoon I came across a couple of exciting developments in the soccer community. As you probably know, soccer is not the most popular sport in America but is by far the most popular sport in the world. Its popularity is growing exponentially here in the States, and with the growth in fans there will undoubtedly be a growth in the business sector. Having previous sports management experience through an internship with Georgia Soccer, I am very excited about what the future of soccer looks like in my country. That being said, there was also an exciting occurrence in American football last night.

Did you happen to watch Sunday Night Football last night between the 49ers and Seahawks? It was a great game, despite the one hour lightning delay. At the end of the first quarter the Seattle fans accomplished quite a feat, enough so that it is now a Guinness World Record! The fans in Seattle are referred to as the "12th Man", serving as both a football and soccer nickname. Seattle is very supportive of both their 49ers and their Sounders, holding an above average attendance rate for both teams. (It helps that both teams have become serious title contenders the past few seasons.) The accomplished feat? A world record for crowd roar. The crowd hit 131.9 decibels, beating the previous record of 131.76 set by soccer fans at the Ali Sami Yen Sport Complex Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. But wait, there's more. CLink Stadium's 68,338 went on to BEAT their own new record later on in the 4th quarter, hitting 136.6 decibels. According to the Decibel Comparison Chart by Galen Carol Audio, this is less than 4 decibels away from the unrivaled noise created by a jet engine. Fascinating stuff. Keep it up fans, you're the ones keeping the industry alive!

That was a nice transition to the real news I discovered today. According to ESPN, Miami is lagging behind Orlando and ATLANTA in their pursuit of the next MLS expansion. A suitable stadium is holding back Miami's bid, whereas Atlanta couldn't be more ready for an MLS team. With the Falcons set to open a new stadium in the year 2017 and Arthur Blank continuously supporting soccer in Atlanta, we can only pray that our bid is accepted and we are the next city to join Major League Soccer. My train of thought leads to me the career opportunities this would create in Atlanta. Long have I thought about working with the Atlanta Silverbacks, an NASL team, but having a real MLS team in Atlanta would surpass that opportunity incomparably. So... Here's to wishful thinking and a bright future in Atlanta sports -- God knows we need it!!

Atlanta Journal Constitution Article on MLS Expansion

Also, I've attached a picture of the current state of the MLS. Cities with an existing team show the team logo, cities with a prospective team show the MLS logo. 

Content Marketing Tips & Real Time Marketing

Creating and curating content is an important factor in any marketing campaign, predominantly seen in the B2C segment. Although I am not a professionally artist or particularly skilled in programs like Photoshop, content marketing appeals to me at a very high level. Content marketing is so appealing because it encompasses any content released to engage consumers. Say, for example, this blog was a well-known brand in the marketing world; I would be creating and releasing content right now! The content must be relevant and valuable to gain an attraction and eventually a profitable customer action. Content marketing is used to make the customer more intelligent, versus rivalrous forms of marketing which target less advantageous schemes. If a customer feels he/she can rely on your content, and even gain intelligence through consumption, this creates a serious attachment and greatly increases their willingness to buy from your brand. I found two articles today with notable discussions and tips regarding content marketing.

The first linked article today comes from the Engage blog regarding Google Analytics. Content creators should understand and utilize analytics systems (such as the one powered by Google) to drive more engagement and see where their web traffic is deriving from. The first tip offered is to engineer an organic keyword/phrase. Anything original that you can twist into your content will make search engine traffic greatly increase with higher quality visitors. The next tip is to look at the top performing articles each month. Investigate what styles, headlines, subjects, etc. that your readers most prefer. Content promotion is very interesting in content marketing, and can make or break your campaign. The final tip from Engage is to round-up old content. You don't always have to release new and innovative content. Sometimes followers simply miss out on a great post, or your style wasn't quite right. This gives you a great opportunity to curate this old information into a new and more appealing post.

The next linked articles comes from Post Advertising, and is about how to shine on Twitter. Real time marketing, through platforms like Twitter, is a widely utilized medium and is growing at an exponential rate. Real time marketing occurs at random, but is mostly seen practiced during major tent pole events (Oscars, Super Bowl, etc.). The simplicity of this form of marketing is what appeals to me, although it may be easier for the large brands with mass followings to utilize this strategy. For example, Oreo released a simple picture on Twitter when the royal baby was trending that stated "Prepare the Royal Bottle Service" with an Oreo next to a baby bottle of milk. It hits the audience as a random surprise, but comes with an awesome factor. This lets your audience know that you are in fact paying attention to the world around you, and that you do want to connect with them. You must stay on your toes during a live-tweet session in order to delight your audience and surprise them at any given opportunity. Twitter and real-time marketing are two of the most exciting strategies today. There will be pressure to release the correct content at the correct time but with an effectively designed strategy and witty workers, the brand will profit.

Entry-Level Work

Hi Blogger -- been a while since my last post. (Doubt I have any followers out there anymore!) It's been a busy summer here in Atlanta. Today marks my second day of unemployment since my graduation in May. I haven't posted about any of this yet, so I'll catch everyone up real quick. I began a post-graduation internship doing Sports Management work with Georgia Soccer Association, a state organization that administers everything soccer in the state of Georgia. I worked 40 hours a week and commuted about 45 minutes a day from my home in Marietta. I describe this work as a great transition from college, as it gave me my first real office experience (definitely valuable). I sat at a computer and helped whichever department needed assistance; this work would include spreadsheets, newsletters, accounting invoices, website advancements, and much more. The highlights of the internship included a one week chaperon assignment in Tuscaloosa for a group of 17 year old Olympic Development boys, and another highlight was working the 450-team Publix Atlanta Cup tournament over Labor Day weekend. I enjoyed this internship as it was very relevant to my interests, but unfortunately it is a small non-profit that doesn't have much room to "hire in". Following this internship, I went directly into an entry-level position with Marriott International. I had dabbled with the idea of working in hospitality, although I knew nothing about the chaotic industry. I got my interview, nailed it, and was hired as a Delighted to Serve Ambassador doubling as a Guest Service Representative. Little did I know, these positions were 100% service-based and required difficult schedules in a disorganized workplace. I pick up on things relatively quickly, and I could tell this was not for me. I left Marriott a few days ago, while I was still in my probationary training period, so it was on good terms with senior management as I explained my situation. Now I am currently seeking a position more relevant to my degree, where I know I can succeed and be an asset for a long time to come.

I found this article while browsing LinkedIn a few days ago, and thought it was relevant to my situation, as well as countless other graduates out there. It is titled Quit Before a Year? Here's What to Know, posted by JT O'Donnell. It is definitely worth a read if you are in a position like me. It explores the ideology and consequences of leaving a job within the first year. She describes that leaving the position should have nothing to do with the management or pay, and should be centered around your individual marketability. Criticizing your former company will not impress potential new employers, so you should carefully phrase your decision as follows. "You fear you won't be marketable in the future if you don't proactively move your career forward now. In short, show them you are a business-of-one who knows it's up to you to stay relevant and employable long-term." This quote from JT O'Donnell really hit home for me, as I knew I would not be given the opportunity to grow the way I wanted with Marriott. Staying in a stagnant position can hurt your future marketability and may lessen your chances of learning new skills as well. She finishes the article by explaining what most of us already know - that we should not make this a habit. My next course of action is to take the next couple days and really research what I want to do with my career. Find a company/industry where I will fit and be able to work for years to come. That being said, be wise with your decisions but if you know it's not a fit, then don't be scared to quit.