Marketing Question

Assignment Overview

To demonstrate your ability to contribute to professional dialogue through your use of reflective commentary, you will be required to comment on several assigned articles and/or videos that present marketing–related material. Your task is to use your previously gained experiences as well as knowledge acquired from your courses to add to the dialogue from the perspective of your industry, your organization, your position, and/or your personal/professional experiences in order to contribute to the discussion of various marketing yourself aspects of the presented material. You will do this via both an original Comment (6 points) and a Reply to someone else’s comment or reply (4 points).

When writing your comments/replies, remember that you are representing your own personal/professional brand and, in essence, marketing yourself. Portray yourself as a professional in all interactions. Do NOT repeat the question prior to answering. Do NOT reference the course/classor refer to an “instructor” or “professor” because this may cause other readers to discount yourexpertise due to what will then be perceived as your “student” status. Remember that your brand is a professional one. All comments and replies should be of a positive nature and should be thoughtful, intelligent, and, when possible, incorporate concepts learned in the course. Disagreeing with the author/presenter is fine butdo so amiably and always on a professional level.

If you decide to share the article/video via social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to showcase your expert commentary, it would be best to share the article/video immediately after you make your comment so that your particular comment(s) will be more accessible at the time of sharing (rather than buried below other comments). You also might decide to use your comment on the assigned article/video toconnect (professionally) with other individuals by referringto their articles, videos, websites, etc. You can do this by mentioning their name or username (as a hyperlink in that platform) in hopes that they will be notified and thus see your comment, and/or you can simply copy and paste your comment into an email message and let them know directly that you mentioned them and felt compelled to promote their work. Previous students who have used this technique have been able to connect with top corporate executives, authors, popular speakers, and even some mid–level celebrities.

Your comments can be formal or casual butuse proper spelling and grammar as appropriate. Remember, you arerepresenting your own personal/professional brand.

Article/Video Topics

You will have to comment (and reply to a comment) for each of the following five short articles and videos. You do not need to be an expert on any of the topics butuse your common sense and personal/professional experiences to add to the professional dialogue.

•For PCA–1, view “Perception vs. Reality” on YouTube athttp://bit.ly/mmPerception

•For PCA–2, view “Master the Art of Conversation: How to Disagree Respectfully” on YouTube athttp://bit.ly/ToDisagree

•For PCA–3, read “Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg Says that You Don’t Have a PersonalBrand. Well, Do You?” on LinkedInathttp://bit.ly/NoBrandor view it on YouTubeat http://bit.ly/NoBrandYT

•For PCA–4, view “Using the Stages of Change (Transtheoretical) Model” on YouTubeathttp://bit.ly/Guess77•For PCA–5, read “Customer Lifetime Value” on LinkedIn athttp://bit.ly/GuessCLV

As you watch/read each video/article, consider how they could apply to your process of building and managing your professional brand.

Instructions –Part One: The CommentFor each of the videos/articles, use your YouTube account (for videos) or LinkedIn account (for articles) to provide professional commentary by writing two to four complete, compelling, grammatically correct sentences, using one of the questions below as aguide(do notuse the question word–for–word, but only as a guide). Note:for each video/article, you must use a different question as the guide for yourcomment.

1.Which part of the video/article resonated most with you (or you most connected with) and how could you use that information or concept in your professionallife?

2.What concept or idea from the video/article have you experienced in the past and whatwas your experience?

3.Which point of the video/article did you agree with the most, and why?

4.What is a “hidden gem” or something that few would notice in the video/article, that youfind to be noteworthy/critical/game–changing/enlightening/etc., and why?

5.What is an addition that you could offer to extend the concepts discussed in thevideo/article?

6.Howdoes or could the material in this video/article (or some portion of it) apply toyour industryor field or jobposition?

7.How could the material presented in this video/article inspire or influence you or someone else to change your approachto marketing, sales, personal branding, or behavioralchange?

8.What is an aspect of this video/article that gives you a different perspective on some aspectof marketing, sales, personal branding, and/or behavioral change?

9.Which point(s) of this video/article have you not considered before, and how could itchange your thinking about thetopic?

After you have made your comment, be sure to take a legiblescreenshot of the entire comment for later submission in the Assignment Dropbox.

Instructions –Part Two: The ReplyFor each of the videos/articles, you also will be required to reply to another person’s comment (or another person’s reply to a comment) in a manner that furthers the professional contribution of the idea or thread portrayed in the comment/reply. Remember, your replies also should be of a positive nature and should be thoughtful, intelligent, and, when possible, incorporate concepts learned in the course and from your experiences. Your goal should be to addto the professional dialogue. After you have made your reply, be sure to take a legible screenshot of the entire reply for later submission in the Assignment Dropbox.

Instructions –Part Three: Submit in Assignment DropboxComplete the following in a document and then save it as a single PDF:

1.StudentName

2.YouTube UserName

3.LinkedIn UserName

4.For each of the five PCAs, include thefollowing:

a.Which guide question did you use while formulating your comment for this articleor video? (Write the number and the text of the question, not just the numberplease.)

b.Screenshot of the entire comment. Import/embed the screenshot of the comment asan image in the document. Be sure that you size the screenshot large enough that the comment can be readeasily.

c.Screenshot of reply (note that reply screenshot also must include the referenced comment and/or reply for context in grading). Import/embed the screenshot of the reply as an image in the document. Be sure that you size the screenshot large enough that the reply can be readeasily.d.Save the final document as PCA–YourName and then upload it to the appropriate Assignment Dropboxlink

.5.Be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channels and connect with or follow the LinkedInauthors so that you can follow any dialogue that is inspired by your comments andreplies.

Remember that this activity serves not only as an assignment, but as an opportunity to market your expertise to your connections.