Saturday, May 30, 2020
5 Reasons You Should Hire Employees with Digital Marketing Experience
5 Reasons You Should Hire Employees with Digital Marketing Experience 37 Selling points for digital marketers, whether you are one or need one. No matter what industry you are in, digital marketing is crucial or will be crucial to your success going forward. Having a digital marketer in your company could take you from average to the best in your industry. Below are 5 reasons you should hire them: 1) Hard Working Competing in todayâs digital world is not easy, especially when the competition is multiple other digital marketing agencies. Without visible results, clients will go from one digital marketing company to the next. To keep clientele happy and successful, working hard is a must. Do you like when your employees work hard? Itâs contagious.eval 2) Revenue-focused A good digital marketer is focused on increasing a companyâs revenue. Isnât that what you want in your employees?eval 3) Research-oriented A good digital marketer knows everything good and bad about his/her clientâs competitors. Research is a crucial part of out performing competitors and finding new sources of revenue. Do you want to rise above your competition? 4) Written and Verbal Communication Skills There is a saying in the digital marketing world: âContent is Kingâ. Content is what drives results within any given (good) digital marketing strategy. Even technical SEO requires an understanding of content strategy. If someone can produce high quality and popular content, you can bet that their all-around communication skills are more than sufficient. 5) Tech-Savvy With the business world going digital, there is always something to fix or figure out. A good digital marketer knows his/her way around the internet, websites and social media platforms. Your website and online reputation will be in good hands. Finding a digital marketer is one thing. Finding a good digital marketer is another. The best way to research the quality of an experienced digital marketer is by seeing where he/she came from. Look into the company he worked for. Look at his companies clients. How does each clientâs online presence look? Call previous clients and see what their experience was. Good luck finding the ideal employee for your company!
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
How You Engage Will Influence Your Results - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career
How You Engage Will Influence Your Results - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The way in which we communicate affects all areas of our life. It is the basis for others to determine your sincerity and if they believe you may be trusted. It becomes the test for whether one should proceed in developing solid relationships with you on either a personal or business matter. Observed Communication: Body language Facial expressions Words Actions Deeds It is the direct and honest communication that serves us best when we meet face to face in meetings. The better approach is to inquire first as to the other personâs perspective on business at hand. Once you have an idea of their line of thinking, it will be far easier to carry on a meaningful conversation. Online Participation Online communication may be either direct or indirect. Using Twitter as an example, the online direct route is to include a link for where you would like to direct readers. The indirect route is to share your best insights to help others improve their strategy. Given it is attraction marketing that drives sales, it is best to adhere to the indirect route the majority of the time. All of the platforms have messaging systems in place. As you begin to receive messages on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, your response becomes another way to have a meaningful conversation. Meaningful engagement encourages forthcoming sales. In-person Communication Audience and client engagement via meaningful conversation, at every turn, is essential for building your personal brand, and sales. This touches every type of endeavor. For example: Speakers should focus their message to their audience interests Appreciation should be expressed at every turn Quick and direct responses to messages received further the conversation Your Engagement Take time to consider all of your communication practices. Do you: Make your communication personal yet professional? Train employees to do the same? Use consistency in all communication to best understand prospective clients? If you employ a team, be certain they are communicating as you wish. They represent you and your company. If you are using scripts for complex sales, train users on how to personalize these to sound authentic. Otherwise, prospective clients can hear the script being read. They then refuse further communication. Sales Tips: Be open-minded by asking many questions. As answers are provided, dig deeper with further questions for greater insight. Get to know the person and their motivation both personally and professionally. Ask why a new supplier is being sought such as whether there were issues with the current. When people say ânot nowâ, ask, âWhen will be better, and what will have changed?â Follow-up as instructed and remind the person of the instruction. When people ask to speak further via online messaging, research their profile to figure out where common interests may be. As a speaker, engage audiences with tales of hardships overcome, or funny stories to illustrate your theme. When networking, ask people about the types of clientele they serve to offer potential referrals. Become a helpful adviser. These suggestions will help lead you to the Smooth Sale!
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Your Online Brand LinkedIn, or Just another Pretty Facebook - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career
Your Online Brand LinkedIn, or Just another Pretty Facebook - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Social media is all the rage. Even Fortune500 companies, who are always on the trailing edge of technology, are getting into it. How about you? Is your personal brand supported well by your social media footprint and activities, or not? There are dozens of social media sites, but I will be limiting this post to the two that have the broadest impact on most peoples personal brands. It has been my experience that LinkedIn offers the greatest online opportunity to build your brand, whereas Facebook offers the greatest online opportunity to subvert your brand. I say this because you can control virtually 100% of your brand messaging on LinkedIn and it is business focused, whereas your Facebook brand messaging tends to be more crowdsourced and the site is not business focused. Employers tend to use Facebook to identify potentially negative information. For these reasons, I recommend job seekers keep Facebook as sanitized as possible and focus their brand-building efforts on LinkedIn. This post emphasizes the latter. During my early days as a job search consultant back in 2003, someone told me about a new web site called LinkedIn. I logged on and started searching to see who was on it. I found there was a disproportionate number of recruiters present. It appeared that recruiters were establishing themselves on LinkedIn with the hope that the site would attract business contacts and evolve into a new platform for finding job candidates. So, I joined the site and began building my network of recruiters and other contacts. Fast forwarding to 2013, the site has grown to over 200 million users, it has become one of the premier online recruiting resources, and my three-level network has expanded to more than 30 million contacts. Today, over 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn to identify job candidates and roughly 50% of all site revenues are derived from recruiters. Here are some excerpts from Fast Track Your Job Search (and Career!) regarding expanding your visibility and enhancing your personal brand on LinkedIn: Find someone who is very experienced with LinkedIn and ask them to help you optimize your profile with keywords and other desirable content. Send requests to your contacts for recommendations Five or six is a useful minimum. Search Groups by keywords Decide which groups you want to join and apply for membership. Consider reaching out to people within professions, metro areas, etc. with whom fostering good relationships would be wise. Occasionally, post a question that is relevant to your industry and/or profession. LinkedIn can help you get a better job and get it sooner. It can help you build your online personal brand while increasing your visibility with recruiters and hiring managers. But, you must learn the system and invest the necessary effort. Invest five hours per week of your job search time in these areas and you will stand to reap rewards. What are your experiences using LinkedIn during your job search? Have you found it to be helpful, or not? I would love to hear your comments! Author: Richard Kirby is an executive career consultant, speaker on career strategies, and author of Fast Track Your Job Search (and Career!). Richard Kirbyâs earlier experience includes managing engineering, human resources, marketing and sales teams for employers that ranged from a Fortune 100 to a VC-funded entrepreneurial startup. For the past 11 years at Executive Impact, Richard has helped hundreds of executives and professionals successfully navigate todayâs transformed 21st century job market and achieve better employment for themselves. Richardâs expertise includes career assessments and goal setting, personal marketing/branding, resume enhancement, strategic networking and job interviewing, and âcontrarianâ job search methodologies. He is a Board Certified Coach (in career coaching) and a Certified Management Consultant (recognized by the ISO).
Monday, May 18, 2020
Discover Your Passion Learning How to Find Your Lifes Work
Discover Your Passion Learning How to Find Your Lifeâs Work Growing up, it was easy to decide what you wanted to do for a living. On a daily basis you would be content with the idea of being anything from a hairdresser to an astronaut. Adulthood seemed to be an awesome time when all your dreams would come true. In real life, however, deciding on a career can be a hair-pulling nightmare. College forces 18-year-olds who barely know how to feed themselves into choosing their lifelong passions. If you chose a major in college out of necessity, you may find yourself midway through your 20s or 30s, and adrift in your professional life. Your lifeâs work does not have to be as unattainable as it may seem. Included here are a few exercises that will allow you to follow your dream to a new career. Reconnect With Play Studies have shown that children and adults both learn through playing. Taking time to invest in hobbies you find enjoyable can help develop a passionate interest in you. Many adults spend less than an average of two hours a day, over the course of the week, on their own personal recreation. Many toys and games that children play can translate into adult careers. For example, word and number puzzles may result in long-term problem-solving and programming talent. Children who build with blocks may enjoy careers in architecture, and those who created crayon masterpieces may find purpose in graphic design. Take time as an adult to reconnect with things that you enjoy doing. What piques your interest? What is fun for you? Where do you find focus and growth off the clock? These things may lead to you discovering a passionately driven career that was born out of innocent play. Reevaluate Your Priorities Finances are one of the biggest obstacles in purposeful career choices. Most children do not grow up âwanting to beâ an investment banker. But once there are dollar signs in front of that job title, you find it an appealing career choice. People who are successful and passionate about their careers usually pursue them in spite of money. Nearly every entrepreneur who has found success had to suffer through the âstarving artistâ phase of their dream development. Evaluating your priorities to be passion focused and not money-oriented can help you find a career that is fulfilling long-term. Find a Role Model You may believe mentors and role models are only for troubled kids, but adults need role models just as much as children. Many of the jobs you are going to find through your passion have been done before; however, they may not have been done with the innovation, creativity and excitement you bring to the table. Take a look at your colleagues, coworkers and friends. Are they living out their dreams? Fulfilling their passions? You are influenced by those around you, and wasting time with other people who have âsettledâ will not push you into a passionate career. Find a role model who is out there living your dream. Figure out what drives them to be better, what makes them happy and why they chose their career path. Understand what struggles and disappointments they overcame to be where they are. Learning from a mentor who has already been through it all can both inspire and prepare you to follow your passion. Quit Your Day Job If you really need a kick in the pants to get started on your dream, take a leap of faith and quit your job. While this may not be a good choice if you have dependents, young, single people can easily go this route without too serious of ramifications. It may mean moving back in with your parents or sleeping in the office, but you can easily get started on your career if you devote all of your time to your passion. For people with dependents, pursuing your dream is just as possible. You will have to work even harder than other people, but your business can be started in the evenings and weekends. You will face many months of being stretched thin between your day job, side hustle and family responsibilities, but it will pay off. Image Source; Image Source; Image Source
Friday, May 15, 2020
Profile Resume - How to Write a Successful One
Profile Resume - How to Write a Successful OneA profile resume is an introductory letter that is tailored for a professional. It is specifically written to solicit recommendations and job application information from a prospective employer. The kind of resume a professional should send out as a profile resume is not the same as the kind of resume you would use for employment purposes. The one you give to a company for employment purposes would be completely different from the one you use for a profile resume.For a profile, resume, the individual will only send it to people who are seeking employment. The employer will be able to use it in future in the hope of getting an interview or job offer. People who are looking for a job will read your resume with a lot of interest. You are not going to get a thank you letter and some kind of bonus from them.The most important point about a profile resume is that it is not what you give to your friends. You will have to approach someone in a ve ry personal way if you want him or her to take the opportunity to work with you. You will never come across an employer who is going to tell a friend about a potential employee. The friend can not only advise the friend, but he or she can also help you negotiate a deal. This can only happen if the friend works with you directly.In addition to this, profile resumes do not really fit into the category of personal letters. This is because professional people know that the contents of a resume are meant to be used for hiring purposes. Thus, they tend to be a bit more professional than a letter that you write to say thanks. They try to sound like what a person who has been hired would sound like.As far as the tone of the profile resume is concerned, you need to understand that certain instructions should be followed. The resume should be professional in every sense of the word. It should not be personal and should not be too personal. In other words, the content of the resume should be c onsistent with the nature of the job that the person wants to do.The resume should not be tailored for the career objective but rather for the candidate who is applying for the job. If you are looking to get a promotion, then you need to write your resume differently from a resume that is trying to get an interview for a position. It is not enough to say that you want to work in this position, but the tone of the letter must be different.If you want to apply for a job in another company, then you need to be different from the resume that you used when you applied for a job in this company. Otherwise, the employer would think that you had used the same resume twice and would not give you another shot. If you are applying for a job in another company, then you must go through the format of the letter you used when you were in this company. The letter format will be different, so you need to learn about the style before you write the profile resume.Hiring managers are always looking fo r different ways to gauge whether you are capable of doing the job or not. They like to know that you are not just following the trends of the company but you are also innovating. If you have an opportunity to invent something new, then you have done something. If you have an opportunity to prove that you have done something new and innovative, then you have done something.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
5 Creative Strategies for Career Branding - Sterling Career Concepts
5 Creative Strategies for Career Branding 5 Creative Strategies for Career Branding In todayâs competitive and digital-driven world, your personal brand has a tremendous impact on your career. Just think about it, whatâs the first thing you do after meeting someone at a business event? Typically, you look them up online. The way you present yourself online, as well as offline, defines your personal brand. Whether youâre just entering the workforce or are an experienced professional, itâs crucial to develop a personal brand that will have a positive impact on your career. Creating a strong personal brand, however, requires a lot of time and effort. You need to be able to develop creative strategies for crafting an image that will better position you in the job market and boost your career opportunities. There are many strategies that you can use to help you establish and grow a successful personal brand. Here, we take a look at five proven strategies to help you get started. 1. Build your Brand Every great brand has a brand statement, and your personal brand is no exception to the rule. Your personal brand statement should be as unique as you are and memorable in the eyes of your target audience. This self-promotional tool is a short, concise statement that describes who you are and what differentiates you from others. To develop your own personal brand statement, consider the following: In what areas, industries or topics do you excel? What types of projects do you most enjoy? What types of projects do you find most stressful or overwhelming? What specialist expertise do you have to offer? What differentiates you from your peers? Once youâve identified your brand statement, practice it with your friends and family. Be open to honest feedback and remember that every word in your brand statement needs to earn its place. Try to avoid cliches and focus on what matters most. 2. Be Authentic Authenticity is key when it comes to career branding. Your audience is buying into you, after all. Be consistent with your personal brand and stay true to who you are. Just like corporate brands, your personal brand may evolve over time as you progress in your career. 3. Focus on your Expertise Many job seekers tend to position themselves as knowledgeable on a broad range of topics to suit the varied needs of todayâs employers. However, this approach of being an expert on everything typically tends to backfire. Rather than showcasing your breadth of knowledge, focus on your depth of knowledge. Hone in on one area where you possess the most expertise, and then focus on how you can use that to help build value for the company from Day One. 4. Promote your Brand As with any brand, itâs important to promote it! A great way to promote your personal brand is by starting a blog. Thereâs plenty of website builders available today that allow you to quickly and easily create a blog. The key is to focus on quality, rather than quantity. Take the time to create blog content thatâs insightful, informative and showcases your expertise. Consider setting up a social profile on LinkedIn where you can then promote your blog content, as well as your experience and expertise. Your LinkedIn profile can be an excellent way to establish trust and credibility with hiring managers. As you set up your LinkedIn profile, be sure to include the following: A professional profile picture A concise, impactful profile headline An insightful and engaging profile summary Recommendations from former colleagues Highlighted experience and projects Published works and articles As a thought leader in your field, you may even become popular enough to develop a large following of people who want to support you offline as well, for example through lines of branded clothing, stickers or other promotional merchandise that your brand ambassadors will cherish as an extension of yourself, and which will give you another source of income. 5. Embrace Networking Source: Unsplash Your personal brand extends far beyond digital. In-person networking is a great way to expand your professional circle. Connect with like-minded peers and industry leaders by attending trade association events, local business chapter events or informal networking events. When you make connections, you gain the opportunity to expand your own network and benefit from othersâ skills and knowledge. However, remember, networking is all about relationships; you must be able to give something back in order to build long-term relationships. While you may meet a lot of connections at events, itâs important to continue to build the relationship after the event concludes. Connect with people on LinkedIn, or make it a habit to send helpful articles to key contacts. Also, donât be afraid to ask for informational interviews or to meet for a casual coffee. Networking is all about spending the time to get to know others and developing a mutually-beneficial relationship. Conclusion Building a successful personal brand takes time, effort and also requires a bit of patience. However, with the right strategies, you can craft a unique personal brand that will help you stand out in the job market and boost your career in the long-term. Just remember, just like corporate brands, your personal brand will continue evolve as you grow and advance in your career. It just takes a bit of courage and commitment to get started!
Friday, May 8, 2020
How to lose your fear of being fired - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog
How to lose your fear of being fired - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Last year, my friend Jakob got a job he really likes in a medium-sized IT company. His boss is a great guy, his co-workers are competent and fun and his clients are all terribly nice people. Theres only one fly in the ointment: Jakobs boss boss (one of the VPs) is less nice. He tends to summon all his employees to meetings and chew them out collectively and loudly for whatever problems he sees. Hes abrasive and unpleasant, always complains and never acknowledges his people for the good work they do. His emails to his underlings are a case study in rudeness. And, of course, hes known for summarily firing people who cross him in any way. Now, while Jakob likes his job, he doesnt need it. Hes independently wealthy and so skilled he can always go out and get another job, and therefore has zero fear of being fired. Where other people in the company feel they must watch their tongue for fear of the consequences, he feels free to say and do exactly what he thinks is right. And heres the thing: When Jakob stands up to this VP and tells him that he wont stand for his unpleasant approach and exactly why his abrasive style creates problems for the company, he listens. Nobody has ever told any VP at the company these things before, and for the first time the company has an employee that is totally unafraid of doing so. The result: This particular VP is slowly changing his ways. And he certainly pulls none of his usual attacks on Jakob, who he knows simply wont stand for it. The risk of being fired is the biggest axe a company or a manager holdes over employees heads. Its a mostly unstated, but well-known fact of working life that if you as an employee get too far out of line, youll be fired. Or terminated/axed/given the chop dont you just love those terms, with their unsubtle flavor of death? And of course we have tacitly accepted that being fired is a terrible thing and should be avoided at all cost, which is why many of us will accept bad conditions at work and otherwise go to extraordinary lengths to keep our jobs. Do this, or else People who live in fear of being fired tend to: Take crap from management Follow unethical or immoral orders Stand for bullying or harassment Go along to get along Mask their real personalities Hide their real opinions Accept too low or unfair salaries Kiss butt Avoid complaining about any problems they see Wanna bet how many people at Enron had a sense that something was wrong long before the company was exposed, but kept it to themselves out of fear of losing their jobs? So I say its time we take the stigma out of being fired. If you can rid youself of that threat (or at least reduce it greatly) then you grant yourself much wider lattitude at work. Trust me, our workplaces will be better and happier for it. You say Im fired like its a bad thing And when you really think about it, whats so embarassing about being fired? Here are some of the most common reasons people are fired, and why that doesnt reflect badly on the firee: Personality mismatch So you didnt fit in at that one company. Guess what, there are millions of others. There might just be one somewhere that is a good match for you. Besides, who says you were the problem? Skill mismatch So you tried out a job, and you didnt have the skills for it. Big deal. Again there are millions of other jobs. Refusing to go along I say good for you. If thats why you got fired, be proud. Downsizing Thousands of people are downsized every day. Unreasonable If you were fired for being pregnant or any other unreasonable excuse, then theres certainly no reason to be ashamed. The exception is people whore fired for harassing or abusing others or people who are repeatedly fired over the same problems. These people need to take a closer look at themselves! Make being fired less of a problem Of course being fired can create problems, but you can deal constructively with many of them, and thus reduce or eliminate the consequences. Here are some typical problems of being fired and how to mitigate them. Economic uncertainty This must be the biggest problem that results from being fired. How will you pay your bills, your mortgage and your kids college savings. There are two ways to reduce the financial problems of being fired. You can increase your employability and make it easier for you to find a new job. This is a matter of keeping your personal and professional skills up to date and of cultivating a good network. The second way is to keep your private expenses low, so that youre not 100% dependent on that pay check every month. I love this approach myself, and wrote about it in a post called The Top 10 Advantages of Low-Rent Living. Trouble explaining being fired to next employer But how will I explain to my next potential employer that I was fired? If you believe that being fired is embarassing and that it reflects badly on you, then this will come out in your CV and in your job interviews. But if you hold your head up high and explain exactly what happened and why youre not ashamed, then this will help convey the impression that Yeah, you were fired, so what! Some employers will care, some wont provided you explain it right. Shame Many people feel a deep shame at being fired and at being unemployed. Thus being fired from your last job is typically not something we mention in polite dinner conversation with strangers. But why not? Why must being fired or being unemployed be so darned embarassing? It doesnt need to be! You decide for yourself whether you need to be ashamed or not! Dont let others force shame upon you, if you have nothing to be ashamed of. Loss of relationships For many people, their closest relationships are with people at work and losing them can be painful. The best way to mitigate this is to have many positive relationships outside of work also. And of course increasing your employability lets you quickly find a new job and new relationships at work. Wrap -up Reduce your fear of being fired and you increase your freedom and happiness at work. At the very least, you can stop being ashamed about something that happens to hundreds of thousands of people every year, is perfectly natural and which may not be your fault at all! Im not saying that companies should never fire people. Some people fit in, some people dont, and companies need to say goodbye to those people who are not contributing or learning. In fact, for some people, being fired from a job turns out to be a great thing, that allows them to move on to a job where they become much happier. The important thing is, that we as employees should put ourselves in a position where being fired is not a terrible thing. That way we rid ourselves of the fear of being fired and grant ourselves new freedoms at work. Are you going to do that, or are you going to spend your work life going along with just about anything, simply to hang on to a job that isnt good for you in the first place? If you liked this post Im pretty sure youll also enjoy these: Extreme Interviewing Top 5 reasons to make your startup a great place to work The time I learned to say NO at work Happy at work in 6 minutes Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related
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