I apologize if this isn't the correct forum to be posting this question in, but I need some advice. I am in the interview process for a company that produces large fabric tents. I am trying to get the role of Marketing Assistant, and today they asked me if I could develop a marketing campaign selling myself to their company. I have until this coming Monday (9/21). I have never created my own marketing campaign before, but feel very confident I could do so if given some advice, and a nudge in the right direction. What the position entails: Managing the companies social media presence Creating graphics for marketing campaigns Writing content for marketing campaigns What they want: Word document selling myself to the company. Focused more on bullet points, my cost, time commitment, etc. What I am thinking: Some sort of catch phrase: "Leave your doubts out in the cold." etc Small graphics around the page, possibly a graph of some kind with my "ROI". If anyone is interested the company is at www.aks.com Thank you for any advice you are willing to share with me.
So the company can now search for its name (as many companies do or they hire others to do it for them) and see that somebody has to go to the internet to solicit advice for a job interview? Your catch phrase idea is bad. Very bad. Your ROI graph only makes sense if you have experience before that you can use to show a proven ROI. Nobody wants fiction. It sounds like they want you to work long hours and do it for as little cost as possible. They are asking you to sell yourself instead of presenting ideas to sell the product. That strikes me as a little odd. Maybe they think if you cannot sell yourself you cannot sell anything else, which is not true. It is all going to depend on what you have to sell, what your prior experience is. And it seems they are more interested in your cost and time commitment than your ideas. How about selling yourself based on your willingness to work as a member of a team? To do what it takes to be successful and, more importantly, make the company successful?
I don't think there is anything wrong with asking for help with this. I'm not asking for anyone to do it for me. I just want general advice on how it should be laid out, and the categories I should include. I know how to sell a product. I just have no idea how a marketing campaign is suppose to look on a word document. what should be the different sections of the document? Why would the catch phrase be a bad idea? I thought relating myself to their product is a nice way to create an initial connection. I believe the reason they are having me sell myself, is to see how I would go about doing that, and the style I would be using. Part of the job is designing the graphics for the campaigns, and they might want to see some of that style, and layout.
You could go in and say, Hey dumbasses, I'm here to sell TENTS, not humans! Make sure you are dressed in a suit made from tent cloth, and tell them the tent cloth is so awesome you could wear it on your body. Eat tic tacs. Really do up a pitch just like you would for marketing their product, and then put yourself in as the product. Go zen on them. PS. Don't be afraid to look at other campaigns to get ideas.
There is no shame in asking for help, do not beat yourself up for that. I would say instead of empty word such the one you were thinking of, companies are looking for someone who can bring actual real world value to them. I doubt if they are looking for any "catch phrase" or slogans from a marketing assistant so forget it. You want to write about yourself and what you bring to the table for them. So first of all research an hourly rate in your area and make sure that you ask for something around that based on your working experience and the position you are applying for. Only write one paragraph as introduction and the rest bullet points, the first paragraph is the only chance you have to get their attention. When I hire, I read through the first paragraph of the resume or cover letter and then one or two lines of working experience, if it does not catch my eyes I'll pass. Remember we go through about 100 resumes in 2 hours to shortlist candidates. Use power words in the intro paragraph and do not lie, do not ramble about how great you are (I believe you are new to job market) and do not out yourself down as well. If you are good at time management say it, but also say you are enthusiast to learn more and be better.I would also do a bit of research about the person hiring (if you know the name) and would through some words in their area of interest to catch their eyes. For instance if the marketing manager ihas a financial background, I would mention my accounting courses and how they showed me the future value of money (just an example). Good luck and update us
I will need to start stitching together that suit asap. Maybe through a a couple utility pockets on it as well. Thank you very much for the advice. I am new to the job market, but it would be awesome to work for this company. Now to be more specific, I have already submitted resume and cover letter earlier. They gave me a call back today wanting the marketing campaign about myself. But they did mention the bullet point info, so I am sure it is more of an extension to my cover letter.
My point was not that you were asking for help, it was that you mentioned the name of the company while asking for help. They may very well find this thread. That is all I was saying.
If they ask for a marketing campaign I'd say take them through an actual marketing campaign process about you, once you start a marketing campaign you get people interested first, then introduce benefits and then sell them the product. You do not start by saying this product is the best before people are aware of the problems or know such solution exists. In you case I believe this applies, take a good look at job description and the company. Find what issues or in this case duties are they going to put on your shoulders and get started from there. There is the problem they want to solve by hiring you, now what is you solution (the way you would do the job). You can alto provide a bit of your own personal or work experience to say that helped you to understand to do this task well or the way they want it. Be benefit focused, for example if you are a mom and I wanna sell you a vacuum cleaner I'll tell you how powerful vacuum like this can suck 95% of germs and you kids will never be exposed to them, or how silent is it that does not wake up babies at night. You see it is focused on the benefits for you not features of the product.