Strategic Planning and Job Search

How to Write a Strategic Branding Plan in 10 Steps

A comprehensive strategic branding plan is typically a job for a professional. However, you can develop a basic branding plan that will aid you in your job search (and save you time and money in the process) by including these 10 components:

1. Goals – What are the goals for your applications/career goals one month out, a year out, two years out and five years out? Include monetary and personal objectives, such as more time for recreation.
2. Current Situation – How much is your monthly budget? What is your income? What are you spending on getting your next job/career? Assess where you are today.
3. Target Market – To whom should you be applying? Who will give you the best ratio of time spent to time/money made?
4. Competition – Who’s your main competition? How are they branded? What are they doing that’s working or not working?
5. Challenges – What challenges do you have to overcome to reach your goals? Do you need more education?
6. Position – How can you position yourself to be unique, and to be perceived as offering great value?
7. Specialization – In what should you specialize?
8. Strategy – What big-picture method will you use to build your career pitch, such as focusing only on technology?
9. Tactics – Which tools will you use to enact your strategy, from resumes to business cards to a website?
10. Needs – What will you need to get your plan rolling, such as a career coach or a resume service?
If you’re stuck – get professional help!
Never let your career sit on shelf longer than it has to – it means thousands of dollars every month in missed income that you should be making!  So if you’re not getting results, then get help.  Invest a couple hundred dollars in some professional advice wherever you need it –

* A Professional resume writer, or
* An interview coach, or
* Or a career coach

Great companies are ALWAYS looking to hire great talent – and that means you!  So, if you’re serious about getting into a new career, then follow these five tips, power up your confidence, and believe in yourself!  You’ll significantly increase your chances of getting hired, and decrease the time it takes you to move into your new job!
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For more info: Click on “Subscribe to Newsletter” and enter your email address at the tops of the page to receive notice of this weekly feature and other new articles. You may also email your Job Search related questions to Mark@MarkMontoya.com
Want more info? Try these articles:
Oprah Winfrey and Job Search
Passion and Your Career
The Essential Skill of Executive Branding
Why Get Personal, How Your Online Personal Brand Can Help Your Job Search
Job Specialization Development- A Great First Step in Your Job Search
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Mark Montoya has been working in personal branding for more than a decade for hundreds of online and offline companies, small businesses and individual service professionals. His focus has been toward improving the way jobseekers find employment on the Internet. He has synthesized his expertise by helping job seekers obtain their ideal choice of employment over the Internet on his sites MyOnlineCareerSpace.com and MyOnlineCareerCoach.com, and through his books 101 Tips Every Job Seeker Should Know and The Ultimate Online Job Search eBook. Learn more at MarkMontoya.com, on Twitter, Digg, or StumbleUpon.