The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Landing a Job In Sports Marketing
Landing a job in sports marketing is difficult because it is a limited profession the same way that many high paying athletic sporting jobs are high paying. It is not the sort of job you can wander into. This article shows you how to land a job in sports marketing in three steps.
Target Audience
Your starting point is getting to know the people that your future employer sells to. The sports marketing company has a target audience. You need to learn that audience better than they do, and that doesn’t mean simply becoming one of the target audience. Understand what makes a target audience buy and then prove you can wield that power to make sales or gain interest on your own. You could show how your research skills helped you gain this interest, and you could explain how your skills will help you sell to those people on the company’s behalf. They would be crazy to turn you away if you did that, and all you need to do to get to that point is learn all about their target audience.
You have to make yourself known to all the companies that undertake sports marketing projects. You need to attend the conferences they go to, make friends with their staff on Facebook, link up with them on LinkedIn, visit their place of work, get to know their work and how it is produced, and pander to them as a 17th century courtier would court a British king. It is not enough to simply apply for one of their jobs and hope you get it. You have to call up for an appointment with a manager for some bogus reason and then sell yourself at the appointment.
You need to show exactly what you are prepared to do and tell them you are going to market yourself to them to show just how good you really are. You are going to make bold claims to that person and follow them through. You may even offer to work for free and tell them you will sell batches of their product for free in your spare time. When you are guerrilla networking, you have to make claims about your ability. It is not enough to be seen or even enough that people know your name, you need to have a claim or numerous claims so that you can be recognized for them. For example, would you rather be known as, “Jed, that guy that we know,” or as, “Jed, that guy that can convert at 25%.”
Live Up To The Claims You Have Made
Living up to the claims you make should be the easiest part of this entire process. Every encounter you have with your potential new boss or with the potential marketing company is proof that your marketing works. You are an excellent salesperson to the point where you can market yourself with consummate ease, and every time they have contact with you, it proves you are good at marketing yourself.
Get to know the target audience that the marketing company you want to work for is selling to. Once you know their target audience well, you can start using that knowledge to exploit them and make a few waves with the company you want to sell to. Do not show up simply asking for a job, show up demonstrating that you are already doing their job and that you now desire a paying role so you may continue. Living up to your claims will help establish you as a marketing expert, so you become known for what you can do as opposed to simply being known. If you are as ruthless as you are daring, then it should be easy, and having the will to live up to your more grand claims will win you your job.
About the Author
Michael McPherson is a graduate student from Boston University, freelance blogger and a regular contributor at http://www.topreviewstars.com. You may follow him on Twitter: @McPhersy
