YOU are the product

YOU are the product is the message we hear. It sounds good. Promoting yourself makes perfect sense in today's marketplace. Yet, when we sit down to actually put a marketing piece together for ourselves, it's one of the hardest tasks ever!

There's a process I've used that's helped a great deal. Every product has features. Think about your smart phone. It's features include: easy-to-read screen, small size, multi-functional, great connectivity. Those features are what the product does. Your phone also has benefits....that's what the product does for you. So, the features of your smart phone would be that it allows you to communicate on different media. You can work from anywhere and you are more productive.

So, what are your features? Your education, experience, industry knowledge. people skills, communication skills, special training and talents all qualify as features. What are the benefits of these features to an organization? Your educational benefits are that you have reasoning and decision-making skills. Your experience means you can "hit the ground running". Your industry knowledge means less on-the-job training. People and communication skills means you are a team player and can explain ideas.

So, sit down and write a list of your features and benefits and create your marketing piece. You're a great product and we need you!