Thoughts on the next chapter

What do I have to offer to my audience? This requires first defining who my target audience/ consumer is because all benefits must be defined by one’s consumers.

At this point in my life—retired from a productive Marketing career for over 10 years, former small business owner, current community volunteer on the Board of a non-profit heading up the Marketing Committee, married for almost 30 years to a terrific man who travels about 75% of the year, mother of two offspring graduating from college in the next 2 years, thinking about relocating to a warmer climate—I’m struggling with my next significant chapter.

While I love the freedom that not being employed offers, I’ve thought about finding a paying job that might benefit from my experience. However, my potential relocation eliminates a lot of options. An option that might be geographically transferable is teaching at the college level. I loved being a grad assistant while getting my MBA and probably have a lot to offer in the areas of strategic thinking and advertising. I’ve also thought about consulting, but don’t know whether I’d be happier if I did this on my own (start a new business) or joining a large firm. My age (56) and prolonged unemployment probably preclude the latter, but one never knows until one tries, right? Similarly, I have some interest in working on the Ad Agency side, especially in the area of strategy development.

So, let’s narrow it down— my audience will most likely be organizations who could benefit from my Marketing and Advertising experience. Further narrowing it down, I might need to craft separate benefit statements for: 1) colleges/universities with Marketing and/or Advertising programs; 2) Marketing/Advertising consulting firms; 3) Advertising Agency Management.

With two children in college who will be looking for employment in the next year, as well as some personal soul searching as to my next chapter, I’ve come to understand the importance of creating a compelling elevator pitch to clearly articulate a personal brand.

The elevator pitch used to be defined as an exhortation of who you are and what you offer to the listener that is more advantageous to him/ her than your competitive “elevator pitchers” in the time it takes to ride an elevator (1-2 minutes). However, with the growing importance of digital media and increasingly short attention spans, it’s critical to create an equally compelling 140-character or less digital elevator pitch.

Using my experience in strategic advertising development, I believe the best elevator pitches include three basic strategic components: 1) Your unique benefit stated in competitive terms in a way that’s relevant to your audience (what is your competitive advantage?) - This can and should include tangible and psychological elements built on insights into your listeners’ needs. -If it can be visualized, by all means, do so. 2) A Reason to Believe you can deliver this benefit. 3) An expression of your Brand Character - elements of your personality that truly help set you apart.

Hillary Clinton’s recent entry into the Twittersphere included an excellent example of personal branding via a digital elevator pitch in her profile: wife, mom, lawyer, women&kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, Sec State, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD… All of this below an iconic photo of her in sunglasses texting on her smartphone.

Granted, she doesn’t come out and say, “you should elect me the next President of the United States,” nor does she limit her pitch to 140 characters, but she does a darn fine job of communicating her unique Benefits/Reasons to Believe (her vast, diverse experience) in a humorous, “I can make fun of myself and don’t take myself too seriously” way, thereby expressing, visually and in text, her unique Brand Character.