How To Sell Yourself With Style
Finding the balance between humility and confidence is difficult, but if you’re in business, self-promotion is key. But how much is too much? Find out here…
Nobody wants to be the one who talks themselves up all the time, (or worse to be the ‘one upper’ who is better than anyone and has done everything first!) but there is a time, place and technique for self-promotion.
Steuart H. Britt once wrote that “Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”. Self-promotion through marketing, social media and networking is integral to creating the brand recognition that you deserve.
Balance is the key to being a healthy braggart. Without wanting to generalize, women can be terrible at taking credit for their hard work and talents. So let’s take some time to focus on how to make a plan to put yourself and your brand out there to get the recognition you have earned.
Steps to stylish self-promotion:
Give credit to get credit:
Recognizing others’ achievements can give you the opportunity to link yourself and your brand to good work. It sounds strange to congratulate your competitors but it’s a tactic being seen more and more. Not only does it show that you are a good sport and promote goodwill but it also helps to nurture relationships within your social circle or industry. Phone companies hate each other until they are presented with a common enemy (go net neutrality!). But by banding together they have created a united front (even if that is a front to end the free internet as we know it but you understand the concept).
Get a wingman:
Business relationships are quite like Twitter relationships: ‘you follow me and I’ll follow you’. Once the relationship is created you can work together on collaborative projects you can promote together. As the old saying goes, two heads are better than one. A synergistic relationship like this is of great value because this way you receive recognition from a source other than yourself. We all know it means much more when someone other than yourself recognizes your achievements.
Have accountability:
Taking responsibility for actions works in two ways. When you make a mistake the responsible action is to be accountable for your unwise choice. Similarly, when you make a good decision you also get to take responsibility for your wise choice. By owning up to either you can gain the recognition deserved, whether it be positive or negative. In business, own your good decisions and celebrate them. Throw a party for your employees and talk about it or give loyal customers an added perk. It’s good to celebrate reaching your goals and who better to tell than those who pay you for goods and services?
Create a platform:
It wouldn’t make sense to send out a flurry of texts every time you beat a level in a videogame, but it would make sense to talk about it in a chat room dedicated to video games. This is acceptable because you are in the right environment and have the right audience. A self-promoting space can be created with these same two factors, and what better place than a website? By creating a website dedicated to your achievements you are making an appropriate space and audience. Building a website is easy, affordable and allows you the creativity you need to tell the world just exactly how awesome you are.