Rebirth 2003: Dominate the Tech World

After the interview of the core personnel of the Operations Department is completed, the next step is to interview the core personnel of the Marketing Department.

The Marketing Department is one of the most important departments of the company. As the saying goes, good wine needs to be hidden in a deep alley. Whether a product can be successful depends not only on its own product strength, but also on the marketing promotion of the product.

The first person to be interviewed is the Chief Marketing Officer. This position is quite important in Ye Yunzhou’s planning. He is a member of the company’s senior management team and reports directly to him, the CEO.

The main responsibilities of the Chief Marketing Officer include strategic planning and execution: mainly responsible for formulating and implementing the company’s overall marketing strategy, including brand positioning, marketing promotion activities, etc. Participate in the formulation of the company’s long-term development strategy and ensure that the marketing plan is coordinated with it.

Cross-departmental cooperation: work closely with other senior managers, such as product development, sales, customer service and other departments to ensure the consistency and synergy of the company’s goals.

External relationship management: responsible for maintaining relationships with the media, partners, customers and other stakeholders.

Data analysis and decision support: use market research and data analysis to guide marketing decisions and improve marketing efficiency and return on investment.

There were dozens of people who came to interview the chief marketing officer this time, and Ye Yunzhou and his team selected the best ones for interviews.

The first person to enter the small conference room for the interview was a girl named Ye Yao, from Dongshan Province. She was tall and her height on her resume was 176cm. In this era, this height was considered the top 1% of Xiaguo girls.

Ye Yao holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

From 1999 to 2001, she worked as a market research analyst at IBM and participated in market demand research and analysis for many large projects.

From 2001 to 2002, she joined Dell as a market development specialist, responsible for developing emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, and achieved significant performance growth.

From 2002 to date, as a senior marketing consultant in the marketing department of HP, she has developed precise marketing plans for the company’s many computer products.

The interview was very good. The girl was very cheerful and talkative, and answered all kinds of questions well, but she was still a little lacking in team management.

After communicating with her, Ye Yunzhou was willing to issue her a trial contract, but it was not a trial contract for the chief marketing officer but a trial contract for the marketing director.

The marketing director is one level lower than the chief marketing officer and is considered a middle-level manager of the company. He needs to report to the chief marketing officer.

The second person who came in for the interview was a man named Zheng Ze, who holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Tsinghua University.

From 1998 to 2000, he worked in marketing planning at Lenovo Group and participated in the domestic market promotion activities of many computer products.

From 2000 to 2001, he served as a marketing manager at TCL Company, leading the market development of color TV products in third- and fourth-tier cities in China and enhancing brand awareness.

From 2001 to 2002, he joined Haier Group and was responsible for the marketing of refrigerator products. He successfully planned a series of promotional activities and increased product sales.

From 2002 to date, he has been in the marketing department of Hisense Company, as an assistant to the marketing director, and assisted in the formulation of the company’s annual marketing plan.

This candidate is also very good, but he lacks team management experience. He spends most of his time doing planning work. He is definitely not suitable to be the chief marketing officer, but he is also a talent. After communicating with him, Ye Yunzhou gave him a trial contract for marketing director.

Because Xingyao Company will have many product lines in the future, Ye Yunzhou plans to recruit several more marketing directors to the company for training, and then divide them into various product lines in the future.

The third interviewee who came in finally made everyone’s eyes light up. This candidate not only has excellent appearance conditions, but also has a height of 1.85 meters, which is almost the same as Ye Yunzhou’s current height, and his resume is quite excellent.

Xu Yi, a master of marketing from Stanford University in the United States.

From 1998 to 2000, he worked as a marketing specialist at Motorola, mainly responsible for the promotion and planning of mobile phone products in the North American market.

From 2000 to 2002, he worked at Nokia as a regional marketing manager and successfully planned the launch of many new mobile phones in the European market.

2002 – Present: In Sony’s electronics division, as a marketing director, he participated in the formulation of the annual marketing strategy, which increased product sales by 15%.

This candidate not only has front-line sales experience but also has experience in leading a team, and his performance is also outstanding.After a brief introduction, the Q&A session began.

First, as Alphabet’s current marketing director, Lin Feng asked him a question about brand strategy and market positioning.

“Mr. Xu Yi, please share your insights on brand building and brand positioning, and how to create a unique brand image in a highly competitive market?”

Xu Yi must have thought about this aspect of the question. After listening to the question, he thought for a few seconds and answered: “Brand building is to give the brand unique value and personality through a series of activities and communications.”

“Brand positioning should clarify the target customer group and its needs, and differentiate from competitors. In a highly competitive market, we must have a deep understanding of consumer psychology and tap into the brand’s core advantages and unique selling points.”

“Through integrated marketing communications, including advertising, public relations, social media and other means, the brand image is conveyed to consumers, and it is continuously strengthened and maintained.”

Ye Yunzhou nodded. He also did marketing-related work before his rebirth, but if he was asked to answer, he might not answer as well as Xu Yi. His answer was close to the standard answer.

After several people finished scoring, Li Mi asked a question related to marketing planning and execution capabilities.

“Mr. Xu Yi, assuming that the company launches a new product, what kind of marketing plan would you develop to ensure the successful launch of the product?”

This question is not difficult for Xu Yi, who has practical experience. He paused for two seconds and replied: “First, conduct market research to understand the needs of target customers and the situation of competitors.”

“Develop product positioning and value propositions, and determine pricing strategies. Plan online and offline promotion channels, such as holding new product launches, social media preheating, and cooperating with e-commerce platforms.”

“Develop promotional activities, such as limited-time discounts and gifts to attract consumers. At the same time, establish a training mechanism for sales and service teams to ensure that they can effectively introduce and promote products to customers.”

This question is not difficult for Xu Yi. After he answered, Ye Yunzhou immediately raised a question related to resource allocation and innovative marketing capabilities.

“With a limited budget, how do you develop marketing strategies to achieve maximum market coverage and sales growth?”

This question was asked by Ye Yunzhou’s boss when he was interviewed at a Fortune 500 fast-moving consumer goods company before his rebirth. He remembered that he did not answer it very well at the time. After returning, he posted this question on the Q&A website at the time, and many great people gave wonderful answers.

This question is still difficult. Xu Yi thought about it for about 20 seconds before answering: “First, focus on the core target customer group and concentrate the limited budget on the most effective channels.”

“Use content marketing to create valuable content to attract potential customers and reduce advertising costs. Carry out joint marketing activities with partners to share resources and expand influence.”

“Encourage word-of-mouth communication among users and stimulate old customers to recommend new customers through reward mechanisms. At the same time, continue to explore new low-cost marketing channels and methods, such as Facebook community marketing.”

After answering, Xu Yi felt a little nervous because he felt that he did not answer well. However, in Ye Yunzhou’s opinion, his answer was very good, close to the standard answer on a certain Q&A website 20 years later.

In the end, several people gave him scores of more than 95 points, which was the highest score among the people interviewed today.

“Mr. Xu Yi, welcome to Xingyao Company. You will be proud of your choice today.”

After signing the contract, Ye Yunzhou said to Xu Yi.

“……”

The chief marketing officer was finally confirmed, and then Ye Yunzhou signed two marketing directors.

One of them is Cheng Hao, who has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Shanghai Jiaotong University and an MBA from Harvard University.

From 1999 to 2001, he worked as a marketing representative in the consumer electronics department of General Electric (GE) and participated in the marketing promotion of multiple product lines.

From 2001 to 2002, he worked at Apple and conducted in-depth research and analysis on the Asia-Pacific market as a market analyst.

From 2002 to August 2003, he worked as a marketing director in the hardware product department of Microsoft, responsible for the global marketing promotion of products such as mouse and keyboard. The reason why he resigned from Microsoft was also because of the high-level power struggle in Xiaguo this year, and he became one of the victims.

The other is a girl named Su Jin, who has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Yenching University and a master’s degree in marketing from Columbia University.

From 1998 to 2000, he worked in marketing at Changhong Electric Company and participated in the marketing promotion of color TV products.

2000 – 200In 2001, she joined Gree Electric Appliances as a regional marketing manager, responsible for market sales in South China, and achieved good results.

In 2001-2002, as the marketing planning supervisor in Midea Group, she successfully planned promotional activities for a number of air-conditioning products.

In October 2002-2003, in the marketing department of Konka Group, as a senior marketing consultant, she provided marketing strategy advice for the company’s mobile phone products.

This girl is actually very good. The questions she answered in the interview gave Ye Yunzhou many different perspectives. In the end, Ye Yunzhou directly signed a trial contract with her as a marketing director.

So far, the marketing department has recruited a chief marketing officer and four marketing directors. It is the strongest department among the newly established departments.