Why did you go to University and invested so much time in your studies? Primarily, I guess, because you wanted to do something for your personal development and of course to prepare yourself for your professional career. And then, probably you also hoped, that the Diploma or Master would boost your career. Having this high qualification would open doors for you and make it easier to find a good job. But there are two more possible reasons why people would take a University degree: It brings you higher status, credit or prestige and it entitles you to more money. But of course, you never thought about these factors!
Whatever your motives are, the bottom line is that you studied to enhance your career chances. And if we lived in a fair world people who studied more, who know more, who are more intelligent would get better jobs. Do you think we live in a fair world?! No we don’t.
In fact, the world’s most intelligent person, a South Korean by the name Kim Ung Yonga, is not among the richest on earth. On the other hand world’s richest billionaires like Bill Gates (worth $62.29 billion) or Warren Buffett (worth $55.9 billion) are nowhere in the list of the world’s most intelligent people. So, our knowledge alone will not bring us the success we are hoping for. Knowledge, skills and competence are the starting point, but in order to be successful, you have to know how to market yourself. Let me give you an example.
Barack Obama became president of the United States. Could we call this a major success? I guess we could. He is for sure highly intelligent, competent and skilled. But do you think that these are the only factors that brought him this success? When you look at the polls before the elections, Hillary Clinton was always ahead of Obama. Only two weeks before Super Tuesday Obama overtook Clinton in the polls. This matches the time at which both started their intense marketing campaigns. With a minor important difference: Obama outspent Clinton on advertising by 10.9 Million $ to 8 Million $. And not only he invested more money for his Self-Marketing but also he broadcasted more ads that tailored his message to the concerns of voters. In those parts of the country where polls suggested that economic anxiety is rife the ads decried Wall Street abuses and talked about tax cuts. In other parts of the country where antiwar sentiment appears high, the messages emphasized Obama’s early opposition to the war.
We can get two learning points from this. First: Tailored messages. For a successful Self-Marketing, we have to know our target market and point out to them that we are the right person for their needs. Second: Visibility. Obama spent more money than Hillary because he broadcasted more ads, meaning he made sure that people knew him and knew what he stands for. Do you know the needs of your target group? Did you prepare messages that are relevant for them? Are you visible in the market? If you cannot answer these questions with YES, you definitely have to work on your Self-Marketing.
Article originally published in 2010.
