MarketPro, a WBENC certified business, opens office in Philadelphia to serve customers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

We are excited to add this location to our current offices in Atlanta and Detroit.

MarketPro – Philadelphia

12^th Floor- East Tower

1500 Market Street,

Philadelphia, PA 19102

About MarketPro:

MarketPro is the leading marketing staffing and marketing recruitment firm in the USA.  Whether your need is interim / contract or direct placement, we provide top companies with talent that exceeds expectations both functionally and culturally.  Our recruiters know the best marketing talent, because they are experienced marketers.  MarketPro places talent all marketing related disciplines and does so in less time with a higher success ratio than anyone else in the industry

By Bob Van Rossum

A recent article on www.cnn.com, entitled “Say goodbye to full-time jobs with benefits“, discusses the trend we are seeing towards an interim workplace.  Employers are looking to simply get work done, not necessarily add to headcount.  The article does a good job of describing the trend and why it exists.  Ultimately it understates how high up the corporate ladder this change is taking place and for how long the change will occur.

The fastest growing part of our business is our interim marketing executives.  Not necessarily the Chief Marketing Officer, but every position reporting to the CMO is now open for a discussion on whether it needs to be a permanent headcount or whether the needs of the corporation are better served by an interim professional.

Historically our contract staffing business has been more tactical (junior level) professionals and our executive search group handled placing marketing executives directly into corporations.  Currently our contract staffing business is experiencing growth, but it is at the senior strategic level where we are seeing the biggest shift.  Now for every two senior searches we engage in, one is for an interim marketing executive.  

This shift is significant and logical.  The world is changing quickly and as a CMO, the talent you need today might not be the talent you need a year from now.  Are you sure you want to invest in full-time headcount when the world around you dictates their skills might be less relevant to you in a year?  Do you really need an expensive marketing consultant when an interim marketing professional with strategy and implementation experience is available to you?  

The shifts in the marketplace regarding an increased pace of change and continued pressure on costs are here to stay, which means this trend is here to stay as well, long after unemployment dips back below 5%.

 By Bob Van Rossum

After you know How to Prepare for an Interview you can learn some specifics about the phone interview. 

The phone interview is inherently challenging as you lose the non-verbal feedback you receive in a face-to-face interview.  Ultimately this leads to some common mistakes.  

Phone interview Do’s and Don’ts:

1. Do NOT under any circumstances have the pages of notes you have created about your career in front of you when you interview.  You do not want to use the notes as a crutch, you do not want to be fumbling through paper looking for an answer and most of all you do not want to sound like you are reading the answer.
2. Be in a quiet place where you can focus on nothing but the interview.  Door closed.
3. Do not be doing anything else, watching the news, sending an instant message, checking e-mail.  The interviewer deserves your undivided attention.  Television off, computer off, cell phone off.
4. Make the call from a land line.  Nothing ruins a phone interview faster than a dropped cell phone call. 
5. Be formal, interviews are naturally a formal process.  You need to be at least as formal on the phone as you would be in person.  Leave the sarcasm and wit for after you already have the job.
6. Do not feel the need to fill up every moment of silence with the sound of your voice.  Answer the question, fully and completely, demonstrating results / achievements and be quiet.  The interviewer is now deciding which question to ask you next, a common mistake at this moment is to get nervous due to the silence and spend the next 30 minutes giving the interviewer a running commentary on your life since age 2.  I have never seen this work very well, I have seen candidates do this after I have warned them not to. 
7. Do have 4 or 5 questions prepared for the end of the interview.  You should have approximately 3 questions prepared related to the company and the job. 
8. Most importantly, close the interview showing you are results oriented, you are interested in the job and ask for the next step.  While you are at it, go ahead and learn what the real job description is:

Phone interview Final Questions: (Separate yourself from the others)

The final two questions I want you to ask after you come up with two or three of your own.  The 2 or 3 of your own will be around the job / company / opportunity.  These are the standard questions about products, job, scope of responsibility, etc. 

The final two questions are important, just like an in person interview, people will remember the beginning and the end.  Your goal at this point in time is to be invited in for an in person interview.  Do not put the cart before the horse and ask for the job, they do not have enough data on you to award it yet. 

The last question you want to ask the interviewer will vary based on who you are interviewing with hiring manager or human resources. 

Time is precious in the interview and asking the right questions is as important if not more important than answering questions well.  Assume you are competing against other talented professionals and everyone will have strong answers for the interviewer, so far you are only equal to the others.  Now is an opportunity to separate you from the pack.  You will not receive the same amount of time to ask questions that the interviewer will so let’s make sure the questions you do ask really count.  

Hiring Manager:

Second to last question – [FIRST NAME], I really appreciate your time today.  The [INSERT JOB TITLE HERE] role is one I am very excited about, it is a great next step for my career.  I believe I can really come in and add value to the role and the team.  Let’s look out 12 to 18 months and assume I have been able to exceed ALL your expectations.  What have we accomplished and how is the company better off for the effort?

That is a long question but as I said, you do not have much time to communicate your questions.  With this question, you have actually accomplished 4 very important things.

1. You have shown interest in the specific role, the importance of this cannot be overstated.
2. You have shown you are team oriented.
3. You have shown you are results focused.
4. Most importantly if you listen carefully you are about to understand:
   1. The real job description
   2. How to be successful in your first 12 months.

The real job description is something you need to uncover in the interview process.  Chances are the written one was created five years ago by someone other than the hiring manager.  Uncovering the true needs of the position is going to help you prepare for your in-person interview. 

The first year on any job is your most critical time.  Of the people who do not succeed, sometimes it is truly a lack of ability.  Most often it is a misalignment of hiring manager’s expectations with what the new employee sees as important.  New employee is using the job description the hiring manager received from HR and never actually read.

Last question – [FIRST NAME], this sounds like a great time to be joining [COMPANY NAME].  I am impressed with where the company is going and what I have learned about the team.  Do you have any concerns about moving me forward to the next step in the interview process?

With this question you have accomplished three critical items.

1. You have shown interest in the company.  This is equally and important as showing interest in the job and almost always over looked.
2. You have opened a window for them to express any concerns / objections they might have and therefore an opportunity for you to overcome them.  Many times a simple miscommunication derails an interview process.  If they have already decided to take you to the next step or to eliminate you from the process they will not mention anything.  If they are unsure of their decision they will share a concern with you.
3. Psychologically it is harder to say no to someone who asks to go to the next step than it is to say no to someone who does not.

Thanks Elaine.

From the article in BrandWeek:

Marketers, then, may be worried, but Van Rossum said this new talent force is in no way a permanent replacement for or danger to the full-time CMO. 

“What we’re seeing is the CMOs themselves are looking for interim marketing execs to come in and fill in gaps in their current team,” he said.

By Bob Van Rossum 

We are seeing many companies invest in senior level strategists in areas of innovation, brand, e-commerce, etc.   This makes perfect sense as both large and small organizations need to compete in the current economic climate but do not want to add to full-time headcount.  Bringing in a marketing consultant for 6 months allows you to move your company forward but not permanently increase overhead.

So if you find yourself in the position of needing some top notch talent to consult on your marketing needs, what should you be looking for?  Interestingly, not a consultant, you need a marketing practitioner. 

Marketing has changed so much in the past 5 years and the velocity of that change is increasing.  It is moving so fast, a lot of marketers (not just consultants) find themselves in a place where their skills are irrelevant.  Ultimately, since 2005 the big changes have happened inside corporate marketing departments, not at consulting firms.  Therefore, you do not want to hire a consultant who has not seen any of these changes first hand.  What you need is someone who has successfully moved the needle from inside a corporate structure.  They will readily understand where your company is, what challenges you face and how best to overcome them.  You want someone from outside your organization to bring in innovation and to take your company to a place it cannot go with the current team.  Face facts: you cannot possibly be assured of success if you choose and individual or firm who has failed to execute something in the past 5 years or longer.  So where are we drawing the line?  Ultimately somewhere in 2005, if you are looking at bringing in an individual or firm, study their bios carefully.  If they have done nothing but consulting since 2005 or longer, they are no longer relevant as an expert marketer.  They have been removed from the corporation at a time when you cannot possibly appreciate all the change from the outside. 

Fortunately this is good news, with consultants come oversized mark-ups, bring in an interim marketing executive to improve results while reducing cost.

By Bob Van Rossum 

Building an effective online marketing team is all about creating flexibility.  Best practices dictate you bring the function in-house yet create a team that can change as fast as the market.  Best structure is to hire a full-time employee who knows enough about each area drive maximum ROI from the team and bring in contractors to execute / implement.  Contractors provide flexibility in a world that is changing rapidly.   Traditionally contract staffing has been associated with only execution/implementation as a way to retain flexibility and reduce costs.  Increasingly organizations are realizing that they can also bring in executive level interim marketing talent from a Creative Director to a Digital Strategist to maximize your online presence and / or use of analytics. 

Online marketing teams are different depending on industry but ultimately all organizations need some basic functions.  With the proper strategy and execution, your marketing dollars will go farther online than they can in any other form of media.

Digital Marketing Strategy

Strategy matters, too often the interactive world is filled with the “ready, fire, aim” approach and significant dollars and opportunity are lost in the process.  Depending on the size of your organization you may need a strategist full-time or an interim practitioner, not a consultant, to come in and move your organization forward.

Search Engine Optimization / Search Engine Marketing

It is amazing how few organizations are really doing this well, considering the potential ROI from doing it properly.  This is the most cost effective form of advertising available in any medium and the longer you wait to institute best practices, the harder it will become to get results. 

Your SEO / SEM expert(s) will provide both natural and paid search services, to maximize awareness / leads from a minimum possible investment.  Including but not limited to, keyword advertising / ranking, keyword bidding, copy optimization.  Doing so across multiple platforms, while reporting on success / ROI and managing continual improvement. 

Online Media Buying and Planning

The complexities of online media buying, planning, tracking and reporting are daunting, here there is no substitute for experience.  The latest in online advertising options include geographically and behaviorally-targeted marketing.  The challenges of building and launching a successful online ad campaign have grown as have the rewards of doing it properly. 

E-Mail Marketing

A well thought out e-mail marketing team, starts with the realization that subject matter experts are needed and in great demand.  The ability to take outside lead lists or an internal database and design, test, deploy, measure results and make necessary improvements is critical to long-term success.  And that’s not all, reviewing creative to make sure messaging is consistent with core brand and CAN-SPAM compliant, while being a project management guru is a lot to handle.  So in a nutshell: bring in the best to set strategy, plan and measure to maximize revenue.

Public Relations (Online)

This is much more than someone to write, manage and publish online content.  This position is responsible for online messaging, including using guerilla marketing to leverage social media.  It is also important for organizations to have someone who can help them to understand what makes content newsworthy.  In a rush to be online, too many organizations are publishing content for content’s sake. 

Analytics

It is vital to measure, adjust and ultimately continually improve.  Proper analytics gives you the knowledge and power to increase revenue and build a better online brand.  Proper analytics programs include, online tracking, predictive analytics and segmentation, strategy, execution and reporting.  Big question is do you have someone who can interpret the data and merge your online and offline analytics to properly focus your overall marketing mix?

By Bob Van Rossum 

Having an agency (ad, pr, digital, etc.) is great if they are truly presenting you with something unique.  If you are doing tremendous mass advertising and your agency has incredible creative then you are in the right place.  Unfortunately getting an ROI from your agency partner is becoming increasingly difficult and certain pieces of the relationship structure work against it.  The distance between you and your agency presents challenges with communication and speed of execution.  Truthfully only 20 percent of organizations using an agency really need one.  The remaining 80 percent of companies gain a competitive advantage utilizing top talent on a contract basis to insource your agency. 

Top Reasons to Insource your Ad Agency:

1. 35% – 40% Cost Savings:  Why pay your agencies rent in addition to your company’s rent?  Looking at an agency’s overhead and markups, it’s easy to see how you can insource and push money to the bottom line. Or use this to your advantage to do more marketing and increase your top line. 
2. Higher Quality Marketing:  When you hire an agency, you are really hiring one or two people and paying for others you were unable to select, but have a real impact on the work.  As part of our insourcing model, you select exactly who you want for each role.  This provides greater depth and breadth of experience resulting in better work.  If you have someone who is no longer able to provide the level of work you require due to changing needs, you are able to immediately bring in someone new who can.    
3. Confidence:  The CMO who insources their marketing shows tremendous confidence in themselves.  What you are saying to the others on the Senior Management Team is you do not need to lean on your agency like a crutch.  You having confidence in yourself in turn is rewarded by the organizations increased confidence in you.  A natural byproduct of providing additional ROI.
4. Flexibility:  All areas of business are going through massive change that is simply magnified in marketing.  Utilizing on-demand marketing talent provides you the flexibility to turn on a dime.  Giving you the freedom to bring in new resources as your marketing mix changes, your business grows or needs to cut costs or a new area of expertise is required.  It is significantly easier to change out one or two team members as your needs change than to switch agencies and get the new agency up to speed.  In the end you are buying an opportunity to get the work done and saying good-bye to a fixed monthly retainer. 
5. Knowledge:    Imagine a marketing department and agency relationship with zero knowledge gaps.  Completely possible when you insource the agency, retaining the right to bring in the knowledge you need for only the time it is required.  From top creative talent to digital strategy to execution, you can have all the talent you need inside your four walls without the commitment to them as employees. 
6. Velocity:  What a treat to walk down the hall and talk to your Creative Director.  Opening up communication and encouraging collaboration between what has traditionally been your agency and what is your internal staff decreases the time it takes to get great work done.  The inhouse agency will hit the mark the first time more often. 
7. Better Communication:  In addition to increased velocity, having the MarketPro team at your location increases their ability to interact with your team and gives them access to knowledge about your company that it is impossible for someone at another location to have.  This increases the quality of the work, speeds up execution all while saving you about 40%. 

By Bob Van Rossum

Now is a great time to give your company a Talent Advantage.  At a time when most companies are scared to make permanent headcount additions, you can hire an interim CMO on a full-time or part-time basis for less than you can imagine.  Need someone to set online marketing strategy, no problem.    Top companies are not running scared but using the opportunities available in the marketplace to strategically improve their marketing programs for years to come.

Outside experts bring valuable experience to your company.  Now is the time to move your company forward not sit idly and wait out the tough times.  It is time to utilize contractors / consultants to evolve your business. 

Top reasons to move your company forward with outside talent:
Many companies are finding that they get more bang for their buck by consulting with outside experts instead of hiring new staff people. Here’s the logic:

·    Executive Level Talent without a long-term commitment. Most companies avoid hiring the senior level talent they need due to the long-term overhead commitment.  Bring in an executive to set a new course and when they hand over the new plan you existing staff can execute.  If you are expecting your existing staff to get you any farther than they already have, you are likely expecting too much.

·    Ability to insert an entire team.  Many organizations have an area of their business that is behind the competition.  People on your team are already too busy to fix this, but you can easily insert an outside to completely revamp an area of your organization.  We have found many companies have failed to keep pace with web / online marketing.  Good news is help can be on the inside of your organization in about a week.   

·    Ability to scale up or down at will.  Having contractors on staff is much more like dating, as opposed to marrying a full-time employee.  If your needs change, so can the people you have working for you.   

·    Fresh Ideas.  The new team comes from a variety of experience and backgrounds. All companies suffer from group think and limitations based on what they see.  Outsiders avail you to an entirely new set of thoughts and ideas.  They will provide a unique perspective that will increase the productivity of your existing workforce.   

·    Peace of mind.  Would you like a chance to try before you buy? The risk of hiring someone into your organization is significant.  The reality is you can try before you buy at most any level of the organization.  Hiring an employee into your organization means you have made at least a short-term commitment.  If you hired your CMO or web designer on a contract / consulting basis and they are not a culture fit, making a change is fast and easy.   

The concept of outsourcing your CMO is new, while outsourcing your CFO or CIO is more common.  Ultimately outsourcing the CMO function makes more sense.  Companies with more than $ 1B in revenue must have a CMO, about half of smaller companies are better off with a strong VP and they bring in an interim CMO for 3 months a year to set strategy.  The quality of your marketing will increase and the cost saving is tremendous.  

By Bob Van Rossum 

www.marketproinc.com