The key to self promotion is awareness. This is achieved by having a clear perception of your strengths and weakness, recognizing how your words and actions impact others, and understanding how to manage your behavior in a positive way. Each of these will allow you to promote yourself without turning others off.
Always factor in your industry. Some industries reward being bold while others value being humble. Professional athletes, influencers, and performers are pushed to be trending often choosing less desirable tactics. Comparatively educators, healthcare professionals, and civil servants are expected to be more humble and project knowledge and professionalism.
Consider your role. When choosing how you will self promote, always consider your role.
Current Employee: Review the company's mission statement and stay within any boundaries that exist.
Prospective Employee: Familiarize yourself with their values and how they promote their company and current employees.
Company Owner: Determine how you want the public see your brand and consistently push that to your audience.
Self Promotion, done right, can make the difference in being promoted, finding your next job, and growing your business. Below are strategies that can be used by individuals or companies to help.
Find your Unique Identifier If you have ever worked with a CRM, you may be familiar with unique identifiers. They are a distinctive set of letters or numbers assigned to a contact or company to separate it from others in the same group. Finding your unique identifier means identifying characteristics that separate you from everyone else. Look beyond degrees and certifications, they are not unique. Each of us possess an unique skill set that sets us apart from our competition. Determine what you bring to the table that is unique to you and promote it. Experience, approach, superior product or service, whatever you do better than everyone else needs to be the focus of how you market yourself or your business.
Grow your Outreach Growing your outreach is the purpose of self promotion. A few simple places to start can be expanding your knowledge, certifications, and experience. Although these may not make you unique in your industry, they are a great way to expand your network and have ways to promote yourself. Attend tradeshows, write articles, participate on a national and regional levels in your industry, and look for opportunities to be an expert in your field. If you are asked to participate in an event, consider how you could utilize the opportunity to promote yourself to a new audience.
Be Genuine Authenticity can been seen in social media. Be authentic in what you present to the public. Overexaggerating skills or experiences will not net you the results you desire. Choose to be honest about who you are or your company. This is the only way to build trust.
Compliment Others Recognizing, thanking, and promoting others can be used in self promotion. If you were part of an event, tag the organization and thank them for allowing you to let you participate. If there are others in the same industry, repost and/or comment on their accomplishments. It shows shared goals and your professionalism in the industry. Although you should avoid promoting direct competitors, there is a way compliment similar industry professionals to help promote yourself.
In a digital society often inundated with information from all angles, promoting yourself begins with you. Be self-aware, understand your industry, and know your role. Find what makes you unique and grow your outreach by being genuine. Being able to promote yourself can be the catalyst to allow you to stand out from others in your field.
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