Whether you like it or not, self promotion should be an essential tool in your business box of tricks. Some people might be uncomfortable with the notion of ‘blowing your own trumpet’, but it’s a competitive market out there and if you aren’t blowing your trumpet, unless you have a publicist working for you, no-one else will do it for you (and worse, all your competitors will be doing it for themselves). So get over it!
As Dan Schawbel and other Personal Branding exponents have argued, you need a strategy in place to manage and communicate your professional identities to your target audiences. You may not call it a ‘Personal Branding Strategy’ but inevitably you’ll have a website and/or blog, you’ll have a business card, you’ll have a Facebook or LinkedIn profile, and I bet you’ve emailed your contacts with what you have been up to from time to time. Managing all that is about Personal Branding.
So shout about what you’ve done and what your business is all about; BUT do keep it relevant and do keep it focused.
Tim Ferris, author of ‘The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich’ is a serial self-publicist. His commitment to promotion has made his book an international bestseller. 12 months ago no-one had heard of Tim, now he’s everywhere. He’s in London tomorrow and 100 people he doesn’t even know are turning up for a drink with him (I even said I would turn up). That's the power of self promotion.
Wired.com have just voted Tim the greatest self-promoter in the world. And as Wired said in their announcement to him,
“… it's clear that you've done your self-promotion work so well that you no longer have to do it yourself. You've got legions of fans tooting your horn for you, and that -- more than recognition on the pages of Wired.com -- is the most valuable prize a self-promoter could hope to win”.
In the meantime, the rest of us are going to have to do this self-promotion stuff ourselves.
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