Statistics and data are things I have been passionate about ever since taking a statistics course at Copenhagen Business School. In my program “International Business and Politics” I have come to acknowledge the differences between quantitative and qualitative work. Previously, I assumed that statistics rarely are useful, but last year I came to acknowledge that statistics can be highly useful if applied the right way.

When reading Sameena Kamdar’s blog post “Hoo’s Using Hootsuite”, I immediately saw a way to combine statistics with a highly important trend within marketing, namely social media. But how do you know if social media is important. Look at this blog post “The Evolution of Social Media (2008-2013) ~ An Infographic”, then you will see the usefulness of social media.

In a recent blog post I wrote, “Marketing Yourself”, I argued that marketing is increasinglyimportant for your career. But how do you know that your own personal marketing is working? This can be accommodated by statistics, and Hootsuite provides the tool to do exactly that.

As with marketing, marketing research is what makes makes a marketing strategy successful. You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody wants it, you won’t be able to sell. Consumers might not think that the product is adding any value the same way that you think it is adding value. A metaphor for conducting marketing research is when you have a dream. A dream is something you want to

achieve one day, but you don’t know how. By planning your dream, it evolves to a goal and it is much easier to achieve and the probability of success is increased considerably. In the same way, marketing without a plan results in low probability of success. But a marketing plan conducted on a solid fundament and solid research, creates a high probability of success.

You might think that posting on miscellaneous social medias automatically will infer in results when e.g. marketing yourself for a new job or marketing your blog. But often there is a gap between what you think and the actual performance of your social medias. Hootsuite provides a program that collects data from your various social medias, and by applying statistics to that data, you can find correlations between variables. In other words, you can find out how your various social medias perform and the reasons behind their performances. Think about how useful that would be.

Think about accomplishing something that has been a dream; something that moved from being a dream to a goal with a plan; something that would require so much of you that the process itself would move you personally many miles ahead. This is what can be done when completing an Ironman distance triathlon. I have had the pleasure to enjoy that feeling and personal development twice, once at Challenge Copenhagen in 2011 and once at Challenge Penticton in 2013.

Me as winner of Age-Group 18-24 at Challenge Penticton 2013

I know your time is previous, so I will spare you from reading about how amazing Ironman distance racing is. If you are interested in learning more and seeing a truly inspiring video, watch the video “2010 Ford Ironman World Championship”. You can also see how triathlon relates to marketing here in this interesting blog post.

The incredible marketing perspective within the world of Ironman distance racing is between the two companies, Ironman and Challenge. You have probably heard about Ironman, but what you maybe don’t know, is that Ironman is a brand. If you are to keep an Ironman distance race, you are not allowed to call it an Ironman because of copyrights. For many years, Ironman has dominated the world of triathlon and still does. But a new player has emerged, namely Challenge. This development exemplifies the importance of marketing and what marketing is. What Ironman has done for many years, is to create a business. That means you cannot cross the finish line with those you love dear; the swim start is a massive chaos with approximately 2,500 athletes starting at the same time. What you get is that you can call yourself an Ironman and you have the opportunity to qualify for one of the world’s most legendary races, Ironman Hawaii. To exemplify its exclusivity, many athletes spend between 10-20 years trying to qualify for Ironman Hawaii. Challenge does not have these opportunities, but is has still managed to establish a high brand awareness and develop a product with high demand. The question is why? And the answer is provided by marketing. Customer service has become increasingly crucial and that relates to customer responsiveness. Ironman has a great product, no doubt about it. But Challenge provides a much more compelling race that focuses on the individual athlete and it’s needs and wants. Instead of being greeted with the words “You are an Ironman”, Challenge greets athletes with the words “Welcome to the Challenge Family” at the finish line.

As discussed in my other posts, the application of marketing is wide. In this blog post I will discuss marketing interference with the private life. Previously I thought of marketing as connected to doing business. But when looking close at the definition of marketing, it can also be brought into your private life. A place you probably can recognize to have marketed yourself is at job interviews. But with today’s high competition in the job market, the role and influence of marketing has become bigger. As argued in my latest blog post, it is often not sufficient to have a good product. In this connotation, it is often not sufficient to just be good at what you do. According to the marketing mix, product excellence is important, but you also need to market that product excellence and show to future employers how exactly how add value. The tool for that is personal branding. You need to turn your unique talents into a winning formula.

Personal branding is relatively small in my home country, Denmark. Coming to The University of British Columbia, I can see the significance of personal branding. The university offers personal branding courses that focus on the power of social media, CV, Cover Letters and job interviews.
I will offer a reference to a book that has helped personal branding and give an example on personal branding through a highly recommendable blog.

The book Brand You by John Purkiss and David Royston-Lee offers advice on how to build your brand. In short, personal branding is about you! It shall be about telling your story to the world. You shall not point out why you are exactly like everybody else. Also, you need to actively manage it, be authentic and consistent.

An example on impacting personal branding is a blog written by the motivational speaker and my friend, Anders Hasselstrøm. While at the same giving advice on personal development, happiness, motivation, and success, the blog shows what kind of person he is and what he vouches for. Take a lot at it to get inspiration on personal branding, but also if you are interested in making yourself the best you can be.

Personal branding can help to turn your unique talents into a winning formula and thereby your brand into a valuable asset. Go brand yourself!

Marketing is a contested area that has been widely discussed in many forms. It involves many facets and occurs across many settings. Therefore marketing shall not be ignored from the perspective of a company and it cannot be ignored from the perspective of a consumer. In my experiences with marketing I have had two very enlightening insights: The importance of marketing in profits, and the importance of added value.

Firstly, the importance of marketing appeared to me in my work as a consultant in the company “Personal Workflow”. It offers workshops, courses, and private coaching about personal productivity and time management. The company was established in 2008 and today it has five employees. The company is growing and until now the marketing has mostly been by the word of mouth. Before learning about marketing I was sceptic of its importance. I had the belief that as long as a product was excellent, it would sell itself. The marketing mix with product, price, place, and promotion suggests otherwise. Product is only one component of marketing and the three other P’s also has to be taken into consideration when creating sustained competitive advantage.

Secondly, added value is important. Marketing has to be seen from a demand perspective, hence the consumer is very important. The key to adding value to consumers is marketing research. Here a marketing course adds value to my personal skillset. In a report from the American Marketing Association (Lord 2000) the top two of the most important discriminators between new product winners and losers were understanding of user’s needs and attention to marketing and launch publicity. The first describes that adding value to consumers is vital to the company. The value added by my company is energy, well-being in everyday life, and love of working. The second describes that market research is important. Today, a market research of the personal productivity industry would show that time is a scarce resource that needs to be properly managed.

In sum, just knowing yourself that a product is excellent and adds value does not mean that others think the same. You have to make proper market research and execute a well-planned marketing plan. These are important elements in achieving success in business, which I will take with me in further work and I hope you will too.