Does your career or business need a marketing makeover? Executive coach Laura Perez (www.epiphanycoaching.net) shares eight of her marketing makeover “treatments” from her career coaching sessions and seminars:

1) Know Your C.O.B.S. Before you market yourself, be clear on what you want - the Career you want, the Opportunities that are available, the kind of Boss you want to work for, and the Salary you are willing to accept.
2) Be a Problem Solver. Clearly understand and communicate how you can solve problems. Laura says: “Today’s companies want problem solvers, money savers and out of the box thinkers”. Make sure your resume conveys that.
3) Conduct Informational Interviews. Interview others that hold positions or work in industries or companies you are interested in. Ask about the job or business requirements, challenges, work culture, and so on. Laura says: “People will be surprised on how helpful others want to be”. People generally enjoy giving informational interviews.
4) Brand Yourself. Branding is not just for a business or company, but for an individual as well. Laura says: “How are you going to stand out? What are your unique qualities?” She adds: “What you perceive you can conceive”, meaning self perception and confidence are essential for portraying a positive brand or image.
5) Prepare and Practice Your Elevator Pitch. Most job seekers or business owners have 2 minutes or less to convey their pitch, which is essentially your brand. It should convey your goal, skills and what you need (click here for a sample elevator pitch).
6) Network Yourself. Force yourself to attend business mixers, network events, conferences and professional association events. Also, create professional or business pages on all the social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkIn, and Twitter.
7) Provide Useful Handouts. Customize and pass out helpful information and tips at mixers, presentations and network events. Find out what others need and give it to them in a concise, practical manner (click here for a sample marketing handout).
8) Explore Joint Ventures. Think about the needs of your customers or clients that you cannot serve; maybe you can connect with another business or professional that can. This will increase your network and cross referrals.

To learn more, you can watch Laura Perez on “Good Work NOW!” this Sunday, July 19, 7:30 – 8:00 PM on Access Sacramento Channel 17. An abbreviated, 10 minute version of the episode is available at www.goodworknow.com

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Good Work NOW! Is a weekly, non-commercial public access television show produced at Access Sacramento and is a volunteer effort by all involved. Its mission is to help viewers find a job, develop their career or business or improve morale or productivity. It airs every Sunday evening at 7:30 – 8:00 PM on Channel 17 and streams at www.AccessSacramento.org, with an encore broadcast/streaming on Monday, 11:30 – 12:00 noon. The purpose of this weekly column is to share key points and tips from each week’s episode and invite readers to watch the program if they want more details. If you have any questions or comments or have a story or expertise that will help others find or create good work, please email brianmoffitt@comcast.net.