If you are familiar with Hugh Lofting’s classic children’s stories about Doctor Dolittle, the doctor who could talk to the animals, then you have heard of a Pushmi-Pullyu. This two-headed antelope had trouble getting anywhere because it could never decide in which direction to go. Many executive job seekers have a similar challenge – do they adopt a push marketing program or try to attract potential employers with a pull campaign?
As noted in a recent post on Career Rocketeer by Sharon Cohen, an MBA Career Advisor at Robinson Business College, Georgia State University, pull marketing using a strong personal brand has a lot of advantages over push:
In push marketing, you ‘push’ your content or product towards the audience which may or may not be aware of it. Conversely, in a pull-marketing scenario, the customer ‘pulls’ your content or product towards themselves, because they are interested in learning more about it. Pull-marketing largely involves the active development of a highly visible brand. This encourages customers to actively seek you out, because they believe you can fulfill their needs. Methods commonly used include blogging, media interviews, conference speaking, syndication of your content and word of mouth.
Sharon noted that the power of pull was dramatized for her when, based on her blog posts on the hidden market for jobs, she had been contacted by one HR manager through LinkedIn, and two other HR professionals who had seen her blog posts and other online branding material. Her personal brand has proliferated, as planned, and the right professionals are starting to seek her out.
How do you initiate your own pull program? Sharon suggests the following steps:
- Develop your personal brand and actively manage it.
- Create quality profiles on the top networking sites, such as LinkedIn, and use outlets like Twitter and blogging to share your expertise.
- Use online methods to find your target market and share your expertise.
- Build relationships and contribute to your communities, both live and online (as we do with NETSHARE forums and area meetings).
- Become an Subject Matter Expert
- Don’t overuse push marketing, but adopt a pull strategy to attract business and job leads.
- Be patient. Planting an online seed using your personal time takes nurturing and time to grow.
