While you may not beable to fully grasp this idea when reading that chapter in the first week of the semester, it is nowtime to revisit this notion of “branding you”, and more importantly to practice marketing planningfor your career. Some employers are now also expecting their recruits to have a strongpersonal brand (https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2019/02/12/why-personalbranding-is-more-important-than-ever/?sh=7331a0582408), so this is also an opportunity toapply the concepts learned in this course in a practical way.Specifically, just like a typical marketing planning process, you will (1) evaluate the internal andexternal environments you as a brand are in, and (2) develop the segmentation, targeting andpositioning (STP) strategies that fit you best. To ensure the practicality of your STP strategies,you will also (3) sketch out an action plan for your marketing mix.1. Analyze the internal and external environments of you as the company:• Internal Environment: In a personal branding context, the “company” simply refers to you.Thus, assessing your internal strengths and weaknesses is not that different than doing thesame for an organization. For example, you can assess if you have some unique andrelevant motivators (e.g., a strong interest in numbers since childhood), strengths (e.g.,previous experience in leadership roles), and weaknesses (e.g., fear of public speaking) thatmay influence your future pursuits. Being aware of these motivators, strengths andweaknesses early on will allow you to further improve the skills you already have and workon those you are lacking.• External Environment: When analyzing your external environment, what types ofbackground, experiences, strengths, and weaknesses do your direct and indirectcompetitors have? Be careful to not define your competition too narrowly (e.g., yourclassmate sitting next to you) or too broadly (e.g., the entire population in your age bracket,say 20-30). To analyze your competitors, take a look at the LinkedIn profiles of those withsimilar qualifications and career aspirations. Also, examine how the demographic, cultural,social/natural, technological, economic, and political-regulatory (CDSTEP) environmentswould affect your competitions and career opportunities in the future. For example, manygraduates with liberal arts degrees are now going to vocation training-oriented colleges tocomplement their unique skills. What kind of threats would they represent to you?2. Develop segmentation, targeting
