The growing application of the marketing philosophy in business activity has led to its entry into various fields and its diffusion among institutions of various kinds.
But it has always had special emphasis in the field of companies and institutions, that is, in what our law defines as legal persons.
The marketing plan has been revealed as a useful planning instrument for a wide range of private and public institutions,… but can it also be applied to people? Without a doubt, the answer is yes. As we are going to see, each of the phases of a marketing plan can be adapted to the sphere of the personal, of the individual.
To do this, we must first consider the individual from two perspectives:
- In his capacity as a human being, with a series of physical and psychological capacities that make up a set of aptitudes, attitudes and a scale of values. In his capacity as a “producer of services”, in an updated approach to the classic concept of the individual as “ work force"
It seems clear that both spheres are intimately linked and that each of them influences the other. Individual marketing represents the application of marketing techniques to the individual in order to help her achieve her personal goals, trying to reach a state of balance between her "sphere of values" and the need to integrate into the socio-economic environment.
In a very commercial concept, we could say that individual marketing aims to “know how to sell oneself” to achieve professional and / or economic objectives.
It is about applying the 4p's of marketing to the person:
- The product (product) is the individual himself (attitudes, aptitudes, creativity, knowledge, skills, etc…) Promotion / communication (promotion) is the way to make yourself known: (personal information, curriculum, etc..). distribution (place) represents the channel through which the individual can send the personal information they wish to communicate (mailings, job boards, networking…) The price (price). In this case we can estimate the «price» of our services, analyzing our value in the market (professional-labor)
Individual marketing can help the person in their evolutionary process, not only in the search for their first job, but also in the achievement of the different professional / personal challenges that arise. It should be noted at this point the great utility of "individual marketing" in its aspect of "marketing for professionals", as strategic planning of the liberal professions in the offering and sale of services (we must bear in mind that there are currently more than 1000 Colleges Professionals in Spain representing a group of close to a million and a half professionals).
To develop individual marketing, each of the phases of the marketing plan must be applied to the individual's sphere:
1- Analysis of the environment
External analysis:: At this point we have to reflect on everything that surrounds us, our environment. We start from the most external and general, such as the state, the economic situation of our country (economic growth, unemployment rate, consumption, etc…) to further narrow the circle that surrounds us: economic data of our community, province or city .. It seems clear that the socio-economic situation of the environment may condition the achievement of our objectives. Thus, if we consider a job change, the labor market situation will influence our planning of how to achieve the position we want. We will specify in the analysis of the sector to which our activity belongs. If the unemployment rate is higher or lower in the sector in which we work or want to work,expectations will be more negative or more positive than in the global labor market. We finalize the analysis with the study of the market we are targeting, looking for information on the companies that compete in it, evolution and future prospects of that market, the most demanded professional profiles, etc.
Internal analysis: This is about carrying out a self-reflection process to analyze our own individual characteristics as service producers.
We must try to be as objective as possible and even get the assessment of our aptitudes from external sources (people around us, co-workers, psychological tests, etc…), drawing up a descriptive "check-list". The curriculum itself is a starting point, in which we have to classify a series of information that defines us in many personal, training and professional aspects.
2- SWOT analysis
Once the external and internal analysis has been carried out, the next fundamental step to develop in the individual marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. This analysis is a tool that allows us to know and identify four concepts that will allow us to establish the final objectives:
- Two internal elements: weak points and strengths Two external elements: threats and opportunities
In the first case, it is the result of internal analysis and is configured as one of the fundamental pillars for individual marketing. At this point we determine what are our "differential advantages" and our shortcomings.
It's about making the most of our strengths and mitigating our weaknesses as much as possible. In many cases, our strategy will be based on exploiting the strong points or eliminating the weak ones to achieve objectives.
With regard to external elements, those situations that arise in our environment and that can favor the achievement of our objectives will be opportunities. On the contrary, threats represent an obstacle to our goals.
For example:
- We want to change jobs (objective) The internal analysis shows us that one of our strengths is the command of English In our environment, the great development of foreign trade makes companies demand the command of the English language within the profile of the position in which we want to work (opportunity)
In the event that we did not have knowledge of English, the third point would become a threat to achieve the objective.
1- Individual objectives
Goals can be diverse in nature and change throughout our lives. The most common is that they are objectives related to professional activity, but individual marketing can be applied to any personal area (I remember that one of my marketing professors at the University told us that we could use a marketing plan to find a partner…!)
Of course, the objectives must be clear and well defined; even quantifiable and measurable.
2- Strategies
The strategies must determine the lines of action that will lead us to our personal goals. In the personal field we can even apply some of the strategies that are used in the business world. For example, we can consider a specialist strategy that leads us to be a true expert in a certain area to achieve our work objective.
Or apply a communication strategy so that they know us in as many companies as possible (a highly effective strategy in the field of the liberal professions).
3- Action plans
In this phase we establish a program or set of activities that must be implemented to achieve the objectives set. It is important to keep in mind the following points:
- Quantify our objectives (as far as possible) so that they are not excessively subjective Assess the economic impact that the action plan may represent (For example, if to achieve our objective we need to improve our training, we must assess the economic cost that this will represent) Establish the expected time to carry out the plan. To achieve personal goals, it is essential to establish a calendar that motivates us to achieve goals (self-discipline).
4- Assessment / self-criticism
This phase must represent a process of monitoring and self-reflection of the development of the individual marketing plan. It is necessary to try to analyze if the pre-established objectives have been totally, partially or simply not reached. This critical evaluation allows us to identify possible errors or deviations from the plan.
We can even develop a "contingency plan" that includes execution alternatives in the face of possible problems that appear in the development of the plan.
In summary, we have seen that marketing is a discipline applicable to the achievement of the objectives that the individual may set, from a personal or professional point of view. Likewise, individual marketing is directly applicable in the field of the liberal professions (professional marketing), to make itself known to the potential market and to increase the client portfolio.
