Marketing is creating a need where one doesn't exist. I didn't know I needed a Caramel Frappuccino Blended Coffee. I thought I could just say, "I want a cup of coffee." I didn't know I needed a Lexus LX. Of course, when I click their online button of "Which Lexus fits my Budget", my page comes up blank. Maybe I don't need a Lexus?

Well, marketing of yourself is not much different from marketing products or services.

Why do the New York Yankees need you? They don't. But then again, I don't need a Strawberries and Crème from Starbucks, but they have a great product, I love the ambiance of their cafes, and they seem to be on every accessible street corner.

Sophisticated marketing consultants or business consultants will advise you that before you "go to market" you must get the product properly prepared, packaged, and develop a great distribution system where people can sample the product, the product is accessible and easy to purchase.

Here's the How-to on Preparing, packaging and developing your distribution system of yourself.

Preparation. Let's make the ingredients great!

My 15-year-old son was told by his high school college counselor, the gentleman who tries to market the students to the right colleges, that grades and SAT scores are only part of the package graduating seniors bring to colleges. He says that to get noticed by spectacular schools you need to do something spectacular. But he's only 15! Get a job? Write a book? Save the whales? Hmm, maybe the fact that I started the Unicycle Club in high school got me into the University of New Hampshire early decision?

Michael Yormark, now COO of the Florida Panthers and Office Depot Center in South Florida, stressed to graduating students at the Miami Heat Career Fair last month that in order to be hired you need to differentiate yourself. He said that when he got an internship at the New York Yankees he wanted to be the first in to turn on the lights of the office and the last to leave. He was noticed. He says he hires an intern every year and will hire full-time anyone who impresses him - beat him in the office and leave after him. He's only hired one of these interns for a full-time job in his career!

To be selected into the NBA Team Jobs Fair, one of the most coveted by invitation only job fairs in which over 100 jobs were offered in March and April of this year, a person needed these credentials to be considered for an invitation. Over 1500 people applied for about 100 slots:

   1. Be a graduating student in this year or last.
   2. Have had an internship at a team or college in their athletics department - and not in public relations, community relations or game operations.
   3. Have had some sales experience - retail, telephone, selling Tupperware door to door
   4. Have a passionate, articulate, free from typo cover letter on why you could perform well in a sales position at a team and be willing to do anything asked to be successful.

So, to be prepared for a ticket sales job in the NBA, you need to have at least one if not more than one, but at least one internship with a professional sports team or college in the sales and marketing area; have had a job doing something in sales, be a recent college graduate who can appropriately articulate why they are good for this entry level, bang it out on the phones, ticket sales job. And if you have all these, you have a chance to be invited…then a chance to be interviewed…….

One of the most popular positions we see posted is a media relations coordinator with a sports team. Want to know how those get hired? Four years of working at a college sports information department and some national press relationships will get you to the top of the list over the 1000 others who may have majored in journalism but never worked at their schools.

A sports marketing agency was looking for a coordinator position to manage some of their corporate clients. They needed one year of experience. I found a fellow who for his graduate school internship worked at Radio Shack and helped negotiate sponsorships and make sure there was return on investment. In fact, an undergraduate intern at the Cleveland Browns also worked extensively with sponsors - many of them - and helped implement their sponsorship programs. He was an ideal candidate for the job.

A graduating senior from college with a sports marketing degree asked me why he is not getting any job offers after graduating from college. He had no sports internships, rather, chose to paint houses and do other things that probably made more money. I unfortunately had to respond, many of the students coming out of college today had more than one sports team internships. In fact, Steve DeLay, one of my interns at TeamWork about 15 years ago had worked for the Indians AND the Browns as well as the Cleveland Sports Commission before graduating from college. I hired him to work for me, and then sent him to the New Jersey Nets where he worked under Jon Spoelstra, and a decade later, he is still working for Jon Spoelstra, now at Mandalay.

But let's back up. It's that internship. How do you get that?

I'll let you in on a secret. Fall internships. They are plentiful. Everyone is applying for summer jobs. Well, many of the sports teams are so filled with applicants, they turn thousands away. Some major league baseball teams organize their summer internships a year in advance - or at least six months in advance. And that's only 30 teams.

What about all the other teams that begin play in the fall?

How do you get them? 1) Apply online. 2) Go to their offices and meet with their Human Resources directors. 3) Call the Directors of Ticket Sales and ask if you could help. Or be the first person waiting at the front door of the offices and walk in with the Team President, or someone like Michael Yormark. I've heard plenty of people being hired because they sat at the front door waiting for the first person in. Don't apply for internships that are not within your driving area or not close to home or the home of a family relative. Organizations want someone who knows how to get around the city.

Another secret? Try small sports marketing agencies in your hometown or college town. It's the one and two person agency that needs the help, and you get to do a lot of interesting things, or you can hear about a lot of interesting things.

Summer jobs? Well, if you want to qualify for a ticket sales job when you graduate, get some sales experience - what about a retail job? That gives you sales experience. Work in a sporting goods store. Learn the products. Meet the sales representatives of Nike, Wilson, adidas.

I've been told my alma mater, Indiana University, has had to charge all students "student fees" to pay for the athletic department budget. And yet, there are still empty tickets to sporting activities at a college. Offer to sell them! One of the students profiled on NBA TV for the NBA Teams Job Fair sold group tickets at Robert Morris' stadium. She's got a full time group sales job with the New Orleans Hornets when she graduates. That's actual hands-on experience. The other gals who are juniors and sophomores will get a job in sports right away. You've got the opportunity right in your own school to get the hands-on experience you'll need to get that job with a major league club. Use it!

You prepare yourself for your sport. You practice, you take lessons, you watch videos, you read books. How do you prepare for sports marketing? The same way. You read books, talk to other people in the field, practice BEING in the business.

This fall, there will be a textbook coming out called "the Business of Sport" and written by George Foster and Stephen Greyser, two business school professors; the former from Stanford, the latter from Harvard. I'm reading the galleys. It's outstanding, as you can imagine. Mark Washo wrote a book that he self-published on ticketing (show) and Jon Spoelstra has written a number of books on sports marketing - How to sell ice to Eskimos is one of my favorites. Read my 1999 Harvard Business School speech on www.teamworkonline.com to get a grasp of how the business is organized. Read USA Today's sports pages cover to cover; ESPN's sports business; or subscribe to "Sports Business Journal." Read, ask questions, follow people around for a few hours in their work. Just shadow people in your college's athletic department. Volunteer to be ushers at games; work the concessions, sell ads in the programs. Try to find a place where you think you can immediately make a contribution. How can you help better than anyone else?

Packaging

Do you ever see a Campbell's soup can plain silver? It was just one of those days the product manager forgot to put a red and white label on the can? Why do you do that? There are books out there on "Dress for Success." Tell me how many 20 year olds read it? There are consultants at department stores that help people pick out clothing that will make them professionally presentable.

One of the NBA Team Jobs favorite candidates a few years ago sought out a career consultant at school who advised her to spend her last dollar on going to the NBA Teams Jobs Fair and dressing professionally, but boldly. She wore a blue suit. She had confidence and her long brown hair fell over her shoulders. She was the most sought after candidate at that job fair. She's since been promoted at an NBA Team.

I spoke at a local college in Cleveland a few years back. Almost all the students showed up in jeans, hair mussy, and looking like they just fell out of bed. I had no interest in asking any of them to work for me as an intern! I'm a parent, and I'm a hiring person. Pick it up. You dress nicely for this conference….get used to it. You'll need to dress like this all the time if you want to package yourself for success.

   1. Start getting into the habit of looking more presentable. You don't know who you will meet and how you present your package is your marketing.
   2. Build a wardrobe with basic essentials - things that go together. Spend money later on fancy one of a kind outfits.
   3. Hair neat, shoes polished - keep tidy.

And now "Distribution"

At 29 years of age, my husband, a Harvard Business School graduate, was using his education to help him find a possible woman to marry. He wanted to make sure he was meeting at least one new woman a week. Now, that's marketing yourself!

It's the same for you. While in school meet as many people in the sports industry and keep in touch with them regularly.

Most people meet someone once and then they never stay in touch with them again. Many people might say hello to me here, but it will be the person to keeps in touch - an email once every 3 months - that's the person who I will noticed - almost over and above some of the others, no matter what their skill!

Start creating a list of your distributors - who is going to be looking out for you? Keep in touch with them regularly, telling them what you have been doing. Make sure you meet new people and add them to your list. How about a file of everyone you meet from your freshman year to your senior year? You have email. You have phones. Use them. Keep meeting people.

Preparation, Packaging and Distribution. Now the promotion.

When the Colorado Rockies were first formed, they had a glass case with products and souvenirs from all the kids who had applied for jobs. Bats, baseballs and sometimes one giant shoe with a note attached saying, "I want to get my foot in the door." None of these people got jobs.

I have a mug by someone who had applied for a job with his favorite saying on it. I use it as a pencil holder. I'm sorry; I don't remember who the fellow was.

I'm not going to remember you because of some gimmick. If you have a neatly written resume chocked full of experiences in the sports industry, present yourself well and have a number of people who really want you to succeed - that folder of all of your distribution points; your references - I can assure you that you will be noticed.

Perhaps the toughest way to get noticed is online. There is no gimmick. It's straight text. If I'm looking for a group sales manager for a minor league sports team, I look for a graduating student who has the word tickets in his or her resume. I look for clearly written sentences or phrases. No misspellings in cover letters, and an energy and enthusiasm.

You know if you have good ingredients, meaning you've prepared the product really well, you have a great presentation, the ambiance is lovely, you are frequently out there - like all these Starbucks cafes, you don't need to market yourself.

Create your opportunities to get a job BEFORE getting out of school. Once you are in your internships, work hard, talk to everyone. Be a part of the team. Get into the action. Come'on. Get into your life.