Market Thyself

A new initiative out of Concordia… Or in conjunction with Concordia is something called eConcordia. Many universities – mostly to keep up with the Jones’ – are looking at online learning (aka e-learning, aka studying in your boxer briefs) as a new revenue stream, a unique branding experience but ultimately a break from bureaucracy and the four walls from within it has stood for the past centuries.
Harold Simpkins, who runs the John Molson School of Business‘ marketing co-op, is a senior lecturer at Concordia, a Board Member at YES Montreal and a regular at the Montreal Business Book Club helped launch eConcordia’s first online course, Marketing Yourself. As I was interviewed for a segment within this course and discussed how to network with others online and how to “market yourself,” it became amazingly obvious to me that no matter how many courses you take at the MBA level, once you get that degree, you better know about everything else – including how to market yourself. What amazes me is how little new MBAs recognize this… and yes, I may be generalizing (but I doubt it).
Why is it important?
All businesses don’t care about you… or your degree. They want to know that you are going to have answers, increase productivity and generally add value to a business. This takes critical attention to how you position yourself and how you market yourself.
Ask yourself these questions:

• What would I say about me if I had the opportunity to have a first impression of myself? (Read this one over, it’s not as convoluted as it sounds)
• What does my look, the way I speak and the way I carry myself say about me?
• How can I make sure that when I get an opportunity… I make it count?
• What are the most powerful questions I could ask someone who can help me?
• How can I get them to think on the spot and ultimately recognize me as being the most memorable?
• How can I help make their business grow (i.e. introducing them to a new potential clients, etc…)?

Marketing Yourself… It may be only digital right now, but I’d argue that it’s more critical than ever. Maybe even more so than some of those traditional courses with textbooks from the mid-late sixties.