The second concept of wave marketing is all about building credibility, something which is crucial to your personal branding efforts. Before we look at the theory, however, let me just ask what you would do with a direct mail letter which arrived through the post and which listed endless features of a product and gave the writer's opinion, as well as the opinions of others?
The answer is that you would probably consign it to the trash can, and for several reasons. Firstly, as we have mentioned before in relation to selling, people don't buy features, they buy benefits, so the list of features would immediately be a turn-off to you. Secondly, you would have no reason to trust the opinion of the writer he would, after all, have a not-so-hidden agenda in terms of the product that he was trying to sell. Thirdly, why would you trust other people's opinions of the product? You don't know these people and their judgment may well be flawed.
So, if this approach to marketing doesn't have the desired effect, how can you approach it? Consider this, but this time in the context of a job search:
If you don't communicate with potential employers or networking contacts, you cannot possibly convince them of your credibility
If you do it well, the more you communicate with them, and the more you show them the benefits of you, the more credible you can become
The more credible employers and fellow networkers perceive you to be, the more they will listen to you
If the communications that you put out to these audiences match the perceptions that they already have of you, then they will be all the more inclined to listen to you
The more credible you appear, the more they are likely to trust you as being the expert in your particular field
The more they trust you, the more inclined they will be to refer you or to employ you
Taking the one shot approach to job seeking, by sending out your resume to a complete stranger, or communicating on an irregular basis with your networking contacts, leaves your audience having to make a huge leap of faith. A steady approach which builds over time, like the building of a wave, however, earns credibility and trust.
As I said at the start, combine this approach to wave marketing with the technological approach, and you can start off with a whole series of ripples and end up with a tidal wave!
Wilson Chua Intergity Career Transitions www.integritycareertransitions.com 750 South Shipyard Drive, Suite 300, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 Toll Free: 1-302-442-4100 Tel. No.: (302) 504-9960
Tags: career, career transition, career counseling