Applying for a Job

No, I am not applying right now. I have a job. But this is about the process of applying for one. I am not including campus placements here.

When do you feel like applying for one? Usually there is either a positive or a negative reason. You may be motivated by something on offer (salary, location, job challenge) or trying to escape from something- a bad boss, bad colleagues, subordinates you cannot handle, bad location, etc.

Your search begins. You apply. This in earlier days involved getting a CV typed by sitting next to someone, later morphed into typing your CV and printing it, and further has changed to emailing it or posting it on a  job site.

Then, you wait, with no news until you suddenly get an invitation to an interview. Then you try and figure out what the interviewers want to hear-How you love challenges, you are a quick learner, dynamic, and all the rest. If you speak the truth, you generally stand no chance.

So, if the process encourages deceit, you may have to go with the flow, and once you get hired, revert to your real state, whatever that may be. And get found out, and resume the search, ..for the next job..

Games People Play- My Digital Marketing Course

This was the title of a best-seller of days bygone. It described some psychological 'games' that people indulge in. But who says the pyschos should have all the fun? Digital Marketers can have fun too.

So it was that we played this game involving bidding for a good position on a digital search platform. The bidding happens against a keyword which you think people will use to search (online) for your product, and if you want your advertisement to show up on the search results.

One can, of course, be found without paying, if your website content is the most relevant to the search query/keyword, but paying for it assures you a position in the top few advertised spots.

Anyway, the game was quite useful as a learning device and the class was able to articulate a few takeaways from only two rounds of playing it, with a real company-Golftripz- being the subject used, on whose behalf the bids were made.

We are also trying out an ad film for online use on Youtube or elsewhere (blog, webpage), for marketing your brand online. Let's see how that goes..

Digital Marketing- A Primer

This is a term that is used to the point of abuse. Every third guy you meet is a digital marketer, just as, a few years ago, every second guy you met was a web designer.

anyway, as it happens, our digital marketing consultant was here to discuss our plans for the coming year or so, and I gathered a few useful facts from his presentation which was livelier than many I have sat through over the last few years.

There are essentially three types of media that you have a choice of using for digital marketing/communication-

Own media- properties that are 'yours'- a website (personal or corporate), an official/personal page on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter, a blog, etc.

Paid media - these are ads on Google Adwords (Search can be free too, subject to your activity level and relevance to keywords that a searcher types in), or any of the social media that permit ads. Email campaigns might also fall into this category, if you are paying either for address capture or the process of mailing and follow-up.

Earned Media- These include things like Word-of-mouth, sharing of your blog, facebook post or tweet, or pin.

Some of these media (paid mostly) offer a targeted campaign by any demographic that they measure and you can think of. Return on Investment is easily measured too. Lead management system can be integrated with some of these, to follow up on people who have clicked and filled up contact details.

Enlightening; there may actually be light at the end of digital marketing tunnel!