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Posts Tagged ‘marketing’
The Importance of Knowing Your Market
12/30/2011 2:56 PM By Vince Font
You can find all sorts of full-time and freelance marketing jobs by working with a creative staffing agency like Artisan. But when it comes down to being the chosen one for all of the sweet gigs on offer, there are a couple of things you have to do to make yourself a truly appealing candidate. One of those things, and quite possibly the most critical of all, is to know your market. Knowing your market means:
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Having a concrete idea of who your client is and who their customers are. This involves recognizing both parties’ needs and wants, from both a business standpoint and as a consumer. What makes this product and service unique and how is it different than it’s competitors?
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Understanding your limitations as well as your capabilities. If you don’t have enough experience or conversely are overqualified, you may be wasting time and resources applying to certain jobs. A resource like Artisan can help match you with opportunities at your skill and experience level.
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Being able to assign a dollar amount to your services. When finding full-time or freelance marketing jobs, there’s no room for feeling a client out to see how much they’re willing to pay you. Have a precise price list for your services that’s based on knowing exactly what you’re worth to potential employers.
All of the A-list, cream-of-the -crop Talent represented by freelance marketer firms and staffing agencies must know their market or learn it quickly. If you want to join their ranks, make it your New Year’s resolution to start following these suggestions.
3 Important Things to Know Before Pursuing a Freelance Marketing Career
12/15/2011 3:11 PM By Vince Font
Marketing Director jobs aren’t exactly what you’d call a dime a dozen, but there are ways that you can improve your chances of finding work if you’re willing to explore the opportunities that exist in the freelance world. Being successful at finding freelance work, however, depends on knowing three very important things.
- You won’t always be your own boss. In fact, you’ll have many different bosses as you move from one project with one company to a different project with another company. If you don’t thrive on constant change, perhaps freelancing isn’t your bag.
- Just because you no longer work for “the man” doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly have a lot of free time on your hands. Quite the contrary—because your success rate at lining
up future assignments is dependent on your work quality, you may find that you’re putting in more hours than you would in a permanent office environment. - Finding work will become a full-time job in addition to your marketing director duties. You can make this a lot simpler, however, by working with a third party creative staffing agency like Artisan, which will help you line up assignments that you’re uniquely qualified for.
Working in the freelance world can be just the thing the doctor ordered for many fledgling marketing careers. Not only will it open the doors to a whole slew of employment opportunities you otherwise wouldn’t have had access to, but it’ll also help you rack up the kind of experience that it takes many people years to accumulate. If you want to try your hand at starting a freelance marketing career, don’t hesitate to contact us.
#SMMS Recap: Social Media Masters Summit
11/2/2011 4:28 PM By Julia Shiplett
Last Wednesday, we were lucky enough to attend the Windy City Social’s 3rd Annual Social Media Masters Summit at the School of Art Institute Ballroom. The day-long event was filled with engaging discussion about the power and future of social media from a diverse group of experts. Some of the most interesting topics included marketing to women, the strategy behind the Museum of Science and Industry’s Month at the Museum, small businesses with big impact and brands’ relationships with bloggers.
Here are highlights and key points we took away from the eye-opening experience:
- Women have incredible consumer power. Not only are there countless industries targeting females, but they often buy for every other market. One way for brands to successfully reach them while increasing visibility is pairing up with a cause or a different brand for twice the community. Two interesting case studies mentioned include Sear’s Kenmore Baking for the Troops program and Bluefly’s team-up with popular television show “Project Runway.”
- Campaigns work in mysterious ways. As the Museum of Science and Industry will testify, brands cannot always predict how a campaign will take off. After announcing their Month at the Museum competition in a local press release, they quickly received thousands of applications from every corner of the world. The response was overwhelming but also incredibly exciting – not only did they see a major increase in museum visits and web traffic, but they also found long-lasting qualitative effects, like kids becoming more interested in science. Using something like an event, competition or experiment can be an entry point of interest that brings focus back to your business.
- Tell a story. When companies allow for two-way communication with customers, it increases their brand’s authenticity by empowering consumers. Jockey proved this when they invited user-generated content interaction by asking people to submit videos of themselves dancing in their underwear. Obviously, something like this doesn’t work for everyone, but it demonstrates how a campaign can transcend a product or service and shift the focus to what really matters: human connections.
- Be quiet and listen: Social media managers feel pressure to pump out interesting, well-timed content everyday, but another key part of their job is listening to what others online are saying. This kind of quiet monitoring helps businesses gain insight about who their followers are and what they’re talking about and measure up against competitors. It’s also important to identify your advocates along with your detractors. A few valuable monitoring tools mentioned were Radian6, Brandwatch and Sysomos.
- Nothing beats face-to-face time. It’s a little surreal to attend a live event based on online experiences and realize everyone around you is simultaneously tweeting, blogging, checking in or updating their status. To demonstrate how strong the connection between people and their mobile devices is, Panelist Heidi Skinner of Critical Mass made us hand over our cell phones to a stranger – and half the audience looked about ready to cry. Yet at the end of the day there’s nothing like old-fashioned direct contact, which is why Katy Lynch of SocialKaty carves out a few hours of her workday to visit her clients in person.
Social media has proven itself a wonderful and transformative tool for businesses and individuals alike, but the truth is it could never exist without people’s fundamental need to communicate, connect and express themselves. Luckily for all of us, neither of these things is going anywhere anytime soon.
Are You Qualified to be a Marketing Communications Manager?
9/15/2011 1:13 PM By Vince Font
The job descriptions that accompany listings for marketing communications managers are often intentionally vague. This may be to appeal to the greatest number of interested parties in an attempt by the hiring management to look “outside the box” for the best possible candidate. But vague job listings can also backfire, as they lead people to erroneously think they’re qualified when they aren’t – or that they’re not qualified when they are.
Aside from specific work experience and education requirements, some of the basic qualities that you’ll need to possess in order to do well as a marketing professional or marketing communications manager are the same ones you’ll need to do well in most jobs. If you can say that you possess the qualities listed below and have the necessary experience to apply for the position, don’t let anything stop you.
• Good written and verbal skills. Being able to talk a mile a minute doesn’t qualify you as having excellent command of your verbal skills, just as being able to type 120 words per minute doesn’t mean you have xcellent written skills. To succeed at both, you should be able to express yourself eloquently and clearly, without ambiguity or insecurity. Essentially you need to be able to let people know exactly what you’re talking about at all times. Ironically, that’s far easier said than done.
• People skills. As you might imagine, having the affability to yuk it up with your coworkers over a few happy-hours drinks doesn’t necessarily qualify you as having people skills. The ability to get along well with both internal team members and outside stakeholders at all levels, while maintaining high work productivity is key, as is the ability to help mediate personal conflicts between others.
• A strong work ethic. Remember that having work ethic is very different from simply showing up and doing what’s expected of you. To have truly strong work ethic, you’ve got to be willing to exceed expectations by going the extra mile for your supervisors as well as those who report directly to you. This might mean staying late at work, triple checking details and basically doing whatever it takes for the best possible results.
• Be a problem solver. This means that you’re able to come up with creative solutions to address issues that impact productivity. If this is something you can do on a regular basis, you’re a problem solver. The great news about this is that hiring managers love problem solvers.
Getting a job as a marketing communications manager is all about having the right combination of experience, education and personality traits that make you stand out as an obvious candidate for the job. If you’ve got the near perfect balance, you’ll do well. On the other hand, if you feel that you need work in any of these areas, there’s no time like the present to reinvent yourself from the ground up. It can be done; it’s just a matter of knowing what needs improvement and taking action.
Digital Print Industry Needs Up-to-Date Marketing Professionals
8/15/2011 3:30 PM By William PirragliaDigital printing has revolutionized the industry and changed the opportunities for marketing professionals. While the need for some traditional titles remains, i.e., fulltime proofreader, other classic print industry workers may no longer be required, i.e. typesetter.
Although digital printing isn’t less expensive than traditional print options, in short runs it is eminently faster and easier to create winning copy. The plethora of desktop printing software allows some clients to produce final copy, download it to a CD or flash drive and deliver it to a digital printer for super quick turnaround (direct-to-plate).
Strategic sales and marketing professionals to generate revenue are in high demand. Certainly, the public focus remains on e-commerce and web copy, but direct mail and marketing demand fast, accurate, quality print materials. Those marketers with contacts and knowledge are valuable to aggressive print companies seeking new revenue.
As companies discard their recession-fueled survival mode, they move towards growth and revenue stream strategies. Experienced marketing professionals can also develop innovative pricing models that help both print companies and clients save money and time.
Marketing professionals seeking freelance or fulltime opportunities that might earn them competitive wages should be familiar with the following digital print and marketing components:
- Direct-to-plate printing
- Lead times for different volumes
- Helping print companies re-engineer and re-invent themselves
- Prepress requirements
- Some graphic design knowledge
- Project management skills
- Direct mail and marketing procedures
- Appearances at trade and industry shows
New jobs are also appearing from smaller printers who, before the perfection of digital processes, were relegated to predominantly local markets. However, the internet, electronic communications, interactive websites and, of course, digital printing have allowed small businesses to compete with larger printing houses. Needing talented marketing professionals, these businesses are another source of challenging employment opportunities.
Changes in the publishing industry also generate new freelance and full time proofreading openings as publishers still need many classic prepress functions. However, instead of risking large dollars in printing books that may never be sold, publishers can now capture complete novels in “memory.” They can then order print runs based on firm orders from customers and booksellers. Prepress and marketing needs are strong, but printing risks have lessened dramatically.
The Many Roles of Today’s Account Managers
7/13/2011 3:28 PM By William PirragliaAccount manager jobs can take widely different forms. Usually, the specific duties and responsibilities vary with industry or employer type. In general, the common thread is that account managers serve as the primary contact for clients or customers to offer high level, professional service and communications. However, their individual duties typically will be business- and/or product-specific.
For example, some production managers are the primary contact for customers, serving as de facto account managers. Particularly in the design and print industries, after the sale is made, production managers often manage the account from that point forward.
Contrast that situation with account manager jobs for a public relations or advertising firm. Depending on the company, account managers are often responsible for the sales function as well as the client management and customer service tasks.
Customer retention and satisfaction is the common number one objective. Advertising and public relations firms can create pressure-packed environments for account managers in their highly competitive industries. Some other industries generate less stress and allow account managers to enjoy more stable marketing careers.
In the digital age, many new account manager jobs have appeared with more diverse duties. Instead of relating to their accounts over classic “two martini lunches,” digital account managers spend more time evaluating analytics, clicks and “stickiness” of clients’ websites and content. Communicating with clients via email, cell phone and LinkedIn, an interactive marketing manager may serve as the primary contact for customer retention.
Whatever they may be called, account managers are defined more by responsibility than their titles. Keeping customers happy and loyal is always the account manager’s focus. Whether they perform their function in person, via telephone or through modern digital technology, account manager jobs have a common purpose: Do what it takes to keep clients satisfied with company services.
The Reality of Social Marketing Jobs
7/12/2011 3:55 PM By Jeff Orloff
The internet is filled with self proclaimed social media gurus. However, social marketing jobs require a person to do much more than build hundreds of followers on a social network. Unfortunately, there are myths that surround this field making people believe that social media marketing is easier and less expensive than traditional forms of marketing.
True social media specialists know that social marketing is not about simply growing fans and followers. Success in this new type of marketing comes from the ability to engage communities surrounding a business or product and getting the community to do much of the marketing for you through crowdsourcing. With this technique you not only get your community to spread the word, but you can harness the trust their family and friends have in their opinions and transfer some of that to your brand.
Social marketing jobs can be tough when it comes to managing communities, as well. Not everyone on the web is going to be your biggest fan, and this platform gives them the opportunity to share their thoughts about your organization, even if they’re negative. True social media experts will take this “bad press” and respond to it in such a way that it benefits their company and frames them in a positive light.
Another reality of social media as a marketing tool that many don’t understand is that it is not a way to cut back on traditional marketing expenses. That misconception comes from the belief that through crowdsourcing, the goals of a marketing campaign can be met without having to pay a team of marketing professionals, writers, designers or data analysts.
The truth is social marketing jobs can be very rewarding, exciting and fast paced. However, they do require a great deal of flexibility and dedication to be successful.
Essential Skills for Freelance Marketing Professionals
6/7/2011 1:06 PM By ArtisanIn order to be a successful freelance marketer, there are a few skills that you need to compete for jobs in the digital age. These are ones that many claim to have, but few can really say they are experts in these areas. By working on these skills and becoming confident in them, you will expand your professional horizons.
- Search Engine Marketing: Getting your client found by search engines is one aspect of search engine marketing, but it isn’t just that simple. You will need to know how to get your client’s website found by visitors as well. Using on-site and off-site search engine optimization techniques, content marketing, link building and pay-per-click strategies will effectively boost your client’s presence on search engine results pages.
- Landing Page Design: Landing pages are usually the first page that a visitor sees when they arrive at a website. This is different than the home page because the landing page is optimized to get people to act. Knowing how to design landing pages to entice visitors to make a purchase, sign up for a service, opt in to receive email or do anything else that helps your client is all part of a good marketing package.
- Copywriting: Content is one of the most important aspects in both traditional print marketing and digital marketing. So the ability to write across both platofrms can really boost the demand for your skills.
Sometimes the soft skills are just as important as the hard in freelance marketing, and these three assets can increase your opportunities. Whether it be a freelance marketing director, manager or copywriter, you will be able to step up and help drive the project and the results in a positive direction for you and your company.
