How To Use Direct Marketing Techniques To Get The Marketing Job You Want - A Guide For College Students

By Karl G. Dentino

Preface

Landing a first job in any industry, and particularly in the marketing field, is never easy. But there some very specific things you can do that will make your task easier and more effective.

That's what this guide is all about.

In the pages that follow you'll learn how employing a systematic approach and using direct marketing techniques can dramatically improve your chances for success.

You'll also learn how to stop thinking of yourself as one of several thousand job seekers, and start thinking of yourself as a marketing manager with a valuable product to sell: yourself.

While the author draws from his expertise in marketing and advertising to illustrate his points, a job hunter in virtually any field can benefit from the application of these techniques.

About the Author

Karl Dentino is President of Rosenfield/Dentino, Inc., a leading direct marketing agency specializing in the application of direct marketing techniques to non-traditional environments. He has created successful direct response programs for clients such as CHemical Bank, Citibank, The Prudential, Caesars Hotel & Casino, and John Hancock.

He formerly worked as a management supervisor for Wunderman Worldwide in New York, where he supervised direct marketing programs for General Foods, CBS/Columbia House, and Merrill Lynch. He has also worked for Benton & Bowles Direct (where he was involved in helping Procter & Gamble launch its first direct marketing venture) and for The Direct Marketing Group, Inc.

Dentino was named 1989 Young Direct Marketer of the Year by the Direct Marketing Association. He achieved renown early in his career when he won a DMA ECHO Award for his post-college job-hunting campaign in 1979.

A graduate of the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation's Collegiate Institute, Dentino now leads this four-day seminar for college seniors. He has lectured at other DMEF programs and for the DIrect Marketing Association, the Bank Marketing Association and the Financial Institutions Marketing Association. He was graduated from Glassboro State College.

Introduction

Few companies want cookie-cutter marketing types.

Nobody hires oddballs.

It was the fall of my senior year. I'd just returned from a resume-writing workshop on campus and I was confused. Most of what I'd heard contradicted what I'd read in the job-hunting manuals. The only thing clear to me was my dilemma:

If I followed the conventional rules, my resume presentation wouldn't be distinctive; I'd risk getting lost in the crowd. If I created an unusual resume presentation and dared to be different, I'd risk being misunderstood or perceived as an oddball.

To make matters worse, my career expectations were quite ambitious. I'd read books by two direct marketing legends, John Caples and Bob Stone, and I was intrigued by the idea that everything a direct marketer did was measurable, accountable, and driven by direct consumer feedback. I wanted nothing short of a career in account management at a prestigious New York City direct marketing agency.

But Madison Avenue was a long way from the small state college I would soon depart, and the obstacles seemed insurmountable:

• The economy was faltering, and the job outlook for college graduates was discouraging.
• My academic credentials weren't especially distinguished. I was an A-B student, but my school wasn't Harvard. It just seemed unrealistic to expect the biggest and best advertising agencies in the world to even consider someone like me. There appeared to be so many more qualified undergraduates and MBAs emerging from better known universities.
• The only person I knew who had anything to do with direct marketing was my mail carrier.

As I debated everything from the color of paper for my resume to whether I should forget the whole idea and go to trade school, a startlingly simple connection occurred to me:

• Direct mail is the primary medium used by direct marketers.
• Direct mail is also the primary medium used by job hunters.

I knew I was on to something. Suddenly the color of paper stock was insignificant, and trade school was out of the question.

I realized that the best tools available to anyone seeking a job in marketing are those used by direct marketers--so why couldn't I use direct mail to get interviews just as a direct marketer uses it to make sales presentations? That would give me a competitive advantage over virtually all other job hunters.

Suddenly, I was no longer a college student; I had become a marketing manager.

My resume mailing used several time-honored, proven direct response creative techniques, including a postage-paid reply card, testimonials, enumerated copy points, and classic mail order design.

What followed in the next few months you just can't make up. I received more job interviews than I could keep up with. I met some of direct marketing's most famous and influential people (including John Caples and Bob Stone). I earned a Direct Marketing Association ECHO award for my resume direct mail campaign. (The ECHO Award is the direct marketing community's most coveted honor, reserved for the world's best professional direct marketing campaigns.) And most important, I got the job, plus the career start I wanted.

There is no foolproof scheme when it comes to job hunting, but if you follow the guidelines in this book and diligently apply yourself to the job hunt, I guarantee two things: (1) you'll maximize your chances for a successful job search, and (2) you'll learn a lot about direct marketing along the way...an important skill to have as the world moves into the 21st century.

CONTENTS

Section 1: Getting Off On The Right Foot

Developing The Right Perspective
Understanding Direct Marketing

Section 2: Getting Started

Preparing Your Marketing Plan
Setting Your Objectives
Getting To Know Your Target Prospects
Developing Your Database

Section 3: Rolling Up Your Sleeves

Lead Generation: The Resume

Section 4: Rolling Down Your Sleeves

Selling The Interviewer

Section 5: Closing The Sale

Follow-Up Communications

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