Learning how to use self promotion today is essential for being in business and staying in business.
Every time I meet with a new client one of the first things I hear is that “I am not good at promoting myself.” or “I do not know how to promote myself.”
Then, after we talk about it I also learn they do not like seeing their own photos, or videos or hearing the sound of their own voice. After all, you may not want to end up with an egg on your face while promoting yourself!
Now, does this sound familiar to you? It sure does to me!
Table of Contents
How To Use Self Promotion of You – One Step At A Time
The key to self-promoting yourself is to become more comfortable and confident in what you do. If you are not confident in what you can offer others, how you can promote yourself?
One way to self-promote yourself is to make yourself THE business. If you are the business you are promoting the business vs. yourself. You put personality into the business.
People do love working with other people and not the business per se. So if you put your personality into the business it will help you to feel better about promoting it. Hence, it will give your business a personality that others will love.
What Is Your Personal Brand That You Need To Promote?
Whether your name is your business or not, you will need to promote yourself personally. Think about Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Warren Buffet. They all own a big brand but you also know their names and who they are.
It’s the image people see of you. A personal brand is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see you.
Personal branding is the telling of your own story, and how it reflects your conduct, behavior, spoken and unspoken words, and attitudes.
Therefore, if you promote yourself you get to tell your own story and not have others tell it for you. Hence, it’s imperative you get it right!
How To Use Self Promotion In A Digital World
Today you will need to have a professional photo of yourself to show the world you care. Image is important. If you have an unprofessional photo it will show through in your brand.
Tell your story through social media posts, videos, and blogs. Share who you are, what you do, and why you do it. People will feel like they know you. And once they know you, they will do business with you!
Last week I met with a client who told me “I feel like I know you from Instagram.” She actually contacted me right on Instagram to set up our appointment.
Let Go of Your Ego To Learn How To Self Promote Yourself
I’m a regular reader/viewer of Katie Lance and she says it best when she says “Don’t worry about how you look or sound, most people don’t like how they look or sound so get over yourself!”
I agree with her to just do it. The more you do it the better you will become at doing videos or having your picture taken.
If you wait for the perfect moment to make a video or shoot a photograph it will never come. Days will go by and turn into weeks and weeks will turn into months. – Lisa, Inspire To Thrive
Share Your Stories – Mistakes and Successes In Self Promotion
Sharing your own stories of how you made mistakes and what you did to overcome them may help others. They will see you as a resource, a mentor, or a person to follow and learn more.
If you are going to give advice be sure you are taking it too! Don’t do as I say but not as I act. Leading by example will set your personal branding up for success.
Blogging superstar Ryan Biddulph does this well – he tells a story in almost every piece he writes. He has no problem telling you about his mistakes so you can learn from him. Ryan also is out there promoting himself day and night. He really does know how to self-promote himself, right?
Sometimes, this may make you go outside of your comfort zone. It will help you to grow as you are helping others.
How To Self-Promote Yourself – Don’t Be Boastful All the Time
At times you will have to toot your own horn but don’t go overboard here. People will get tired of seeing you boast about yourself day after day. If you do, they will probably stop following or engaging with you. You may end up with egg on your face.
But on the other hand, you can’t wait for someone else to toot your own horn when you have earned the right to. Just don’t go overboard and say LOOK at ME, LOOK at ME!
Hence, this is where the 80/20 rule comes into play. Be sure not to talk about yourself more than 20% of the time on social media posts. 80% should be about YOUR audience.
In other words, Make it all about them!
If You Are Still Shy Hire Out for Promoting Your Business
If this all sounds too hard for you still, you can always hire an expert to help promote you. Sometimes it is best to have someone that can be a soundboard and watch out for you along the way.
Oftentimes, hiring out can save you a lot of time to do what you do best in your business. You will have to weigh the pros and cons. Just remember, time is money!
Be Sure to Monitor Your Brand
Lastly, be sure to monitor your brand along the way. Do listen to what others are saying about you and your brand online. As a matter of fact, Google alerts are no longer enough!
You need a brand monitoring tool like Brand24 to monitor various social media networks and blogs. Google alerts only cover news-type sites.
Conclusion: Why Self Promotion Is A Must
To wrap things up, self-promotion is not just beneficial; it’s essential. It bridges the gap between what you offer and those seeking your skills. Take action by confidently sharing your talents and stories.
Don’t wait for opportunities—create them. Remember, the world needs to hear what only you can share.
Do you have tips on how to self-promote yourself today? Of course, I’d love to know more tips and tricks in the comments below.
I’d also love to know if you find it hard to promote yourself too.
How To Learn Self Promotion Without Getting Egg On Face Share on X
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 12 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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Hi Lisa
Perfect info. In fact, self-promotion is really the name of the game online.
If you don’t promote yourself, then nothing’s going to happen.
I was listening to a talk by Ray Higdon recently and he pointed out how someone online was bragging that they were “the best kept secret” at whatever they were doing.
He pointed out… that’s like saying that I might be good at what I do, but nobody will ever know because I really suck at marketing… in this case – self promo.
-Donna
Hi Donna, thank you. Yes and I think it’s a place that many people struggle with including myself at times. Many of my clients don’t like getting in front of the camera. I have 2 recently that did and they got much better results for doing so. It’s really amazing. Thanks for coming by and for mentioning who was talking about it. I may have to look him up! Have a great day and weekend ahead Donna.
Hi Lisa,
Self-promotion is really very difficult for many people. The major reason is a lack of confidence. You really to boost your confidence, only then you will be able to promote yourself. You need to be passionate about your work and feel satisfied and joyful. Passion for your work motivates you to do better and grab more and more opportunities to reach your goals. This will ultimately boost your confidence.
Thanks & keep sharing motivational articles with us.
Best Wishes to you!
Hey Lisa,
If you are passionate about your work you will always do good in that, because it will give you energy to do positive things always.
Image is crucial in both sense because it provides you a authentic identity in front of world. Stories are considered as good source to make people understand about things in very simple and authentic way.
Eventually, thanks for revealing these informative facts.
With best wishes,
Amar Kumar
Hi Amar, thank you. Have you started to do videos yourself? I do wait until I have the positive energy to make my videos and then I do them in batches. It works out well that way. Thanks for coming by and for your input, have a great day and week ahead!
Hi Lisa,
Interesting (and consoling) to hear that other marketers were nervous about their voices and photos. I’ve had a bit of a phobia about my voice since moving to London and retaining my regional accent. I was ‘put down’ mercilessly, and even years later when I thought I’d lost the accent, people would still tell me ‘Oh, you’re from Yorkshire – I can tell that accent’.
Now I’m in Norfolk my semi-lost accent doesn’t stick out really, but I’ve never got over disliking the sound of my own voice!
Joy Healey – Blogging After Dark
Hi Joy, nice to see you here. Oh yes, everyone is nervous about that. I have a lot of real estate agents as clients and they too get very nervous about it. It takes practice to really get over the fear. I find it much easier today than I did a few years ago.
I can’t believe you were actually “put down” about it? Geez.
Thanks for coming by on this one Joy and have a wonderful day!
I can so relate to the whole sound of my voice issue. Funny, I never liked the way I sounded on any recording or video, so I shied away from doing videos for years.
Then I finally decided to just go ahead and get started anyway. Glad I did too because I’ve created a lot of content since I got out of my own way.
Hi Mohammad, I like that ” got out of my won way. ” Are you using the videos on YouTube or on your own website? I know I still don’t like the sound or look of my own videos but I try to overlook it and forge ahead. I still need to do more of them for 2020. Thanks for coming by and welcome to Inspire To Thrive!
I have a few things to say about this; of course I do! lol
First, to help people who are scared of promoting themselves, they should think about reading “Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It” by Peggy Klaus. It helped me overcome some of my hesitation, but not all of it; I’ll come back to that in a minute.
Second, I think the 80/20 Pareto Principle is a bit off; I’ve also written about this. I think if you’re working for yourself that you should be closer to 50-50. This doesn’t mean posting and promoting 24/7; it just means it’s important to promote yourself as much as you promote others. We sole proprietors own it to ourselves.
Third… coming back somewhat to #1, back in the day when I was a quasi-athlete, I won a lot in multiple sports. I won lots of trophies and accolades, yet I was always told that if I talked about myself I’d be bragging and that wasn’t the proper thing to do. Truth is, bragging is when you’re trying to tell people you’re better than them; promoting is when you’re trying to let people know how proficient you are. Nothing wrong with that in my book; that’s what most of the big names above you mentioned did.
Okay, let’s see if this comment goes through. lol
Hi Mitch, Yes, it made it through. Was it done on desktop or mobile? And what browser? Thanks. That sounds like a good book Mitch, thanks for mentionting it here to my readers.
Wow, really, 50/50? Hmm. That’s food for thought Mitch! Have you found it to really work for you? Maybe I’ll pump up to 30/70. Thanks for your valuable input on this one and I hope you are well Mitch. Have a great day.
First, desktop and Firefox.
Second, I think it’s helpful, but I’m also not doing all of what you do. You’re promoting clients as well as other content, but there are times when you’re posting 5 to 8 things in a row within minutes. If you’re going to do that, you should be popping more of your own stuff in there because you deserve to be recognized for what you produce for yourself.
Thank you Mitch. Hmm. I will take that into consideration and try not to post so many in that short amount of time. I do schedule a lot but also am on there live. The two may clash together especially in the early morning hours. I appreciate your feedback. Have a great day Mitch.
Hey Lisa
Certainly a good blog post.
Promoting the personal brand these days is something everyone should look for.
And to do so one has to come out of his/her comfort zone to show their skills confidently.
I have already taken my first step.
Thanks for the sharing
Hi Amit, Glad to hear you have taken the first step, did you do a video? You are right about getting out of the comfort zone. That can be hard but overcome too at the same time. Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful day.
Lisa: Do you want “fries with that” (egg)?! I don’t think you should “let go of your ego,” if you understand the philosophical meaning of the word, I in Latin. Without your ego, you can’t promote yourself, or somebody else, for that matter. You have to figure your true self, answer the “why” question, etc., in order to be able to promote yourself, your business, and brand.
In the paragraph under the tittle, Let Go of Your Ego To Learn How to Self Promote Yourself, you explain in a good way, why you should not think so much how you look or sound. I agree with you. You will become better with training and experience.
Best Premises,
Martin
Hi Martin, good point. I think like Ileane, do it for others. It will help them to learn or grow. That does make it easier to get out in front of people. Sometimes the more you realize you know more than others it helps to make you want to reach out and help others. Then there are times you realize the more you know the more you need to learn, ironic isn’t it? Thanks for coming by on this one Martin. Have a wonderful weekend.
Hi Lisa,
Great post!
I think of it as me helping people and if I don’t put myself out there those people won’t get the help they need. This mindset totally takes the focus off of me and put it on my audience.
You’re amazing!
Chat soon.
Hi Ileane, excellent point of view. I sometimes feel that way too after meeting with clients who don’t know how or why to do things to help them grow their business. Great way to realign your mindset! Thanks for coming by and sharing with us here Ileane, have a great weekend.
Hey Lisa Mam,
Excellent post as usual. Promoting ourself is an art and we can promote ourself easily if we are having a proper skill and knowledge. Being confident and comfortable is a great key to promote ourself, whereas being confident also increases our self confidence up-to some limit and boost our personality.
In digital world having image is crucial and plays a vital role, hence having an image for our brand really means a lot. Sharing our own stories will helps a lot. Yes we also do some mistakes but mistakes teaches us several things and makes us more better for an upcoming opportunities in our life.
As this post will motivate and help several people and readers to promote their self.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Aadarsh, you are most welcome. I agree about being comfortable and confident. Some days when you are not so confident makes it hard to do a video or promote yourself. Take advantage of your best days! I think we can help others by sharing our mistakes so they can learn from them. That is something I’ve done on Inspire To Thrive for almost a decade now. Thank you for coming by on this one and for your input. Have a great day.
Hi Lisa,
At first it took me a long time to start to promote myself. I had many hang-ups about what I looked like, my voice, my background, etc. But I put it in my head that I was the business and I needed to get out there and promote my business. It helped kick start my first periscopes and Facebook Lives.
But just like anything else in life, the more you do the more it becomes a natural part of you. I must confess that until this day after hundreds of live videos and written articles, I still have a small struggle with it. I have to constantly remind myself that I’m doing this for my business and away I go. lol
-Donna
Hi Donna, same here! I know I do need to be more consistant with it. It’s hard to watch yourself in pictures and video. I don’t know how actors and actresses do it with movies! Can you imagine? Must be weird.
I agree, the more you do it the easier and natural it becomes. You and Ryan are very natural today.
Yes, today I did some because I was inspired by comments here and on the social networks how people are truly afraid of doing it. I hope I can inspire them to move forward with it. Have a great day Donna and I hope you don’t get too much snow this weekend up there.
Hi Lisa,
Excellent post! Thanks for the mention, too. Promoting yourself is the fine art of being clear, without being cocky. Like, you feel good promoting self because it helps other people and helps you too. Products and services yield benefits for both parties. But it can never be boastful or self-centered, or, inward-thinking. These folks fear they ain’t good enough, try to overcompensate with bragging, and, repel people with their low self-esteem. Great balance in your strategies. Sharing now.
Ryan
Hi Ryan, thanks and you are welcome. You really do know to promote yourself! Oh yes, if someone starts bragging away I’ll shut it off usually. You do need confidence but an over abundance of it can be bad. Thanks for coming by Ryan and for sharing. Hope you have a great rest of the day there.
Easily the single hardest thing about my marketing. Its so easy to overthink it and not post anything, always looking for the perfect post/photograph. Need to channel my inner Gary V!
How many videos of you did you have to post up before you found your rhythm?
Hi Liam, welcome to Inspire To Thrive. Great question: I would say it took me about a dozen or two dozen times. And with each I had to do about 5-6 before I got one right.
As I got going it now only takes me up to 3 takes to get 1. It does get easier in time to find that rhythm! Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful day Liam. I’d love to know once you do get a video up online.
Hi Lisa! Fantastic article on personal branding!
In the past I had a lot of issue with video, I was very self conscious of the way I look and sound and still am to a degree. It can be very paralyzing and I avoided YouTube for a long time because of it.
I do think the issue is largely psychological though, we are our own worst critics. Most people just don’t care about the flaws we pick out in ourselves. When the goals you’re striving for become important enough to you, it makes it a lot easier to push through this fear and discomfort. Video is so powerful these days it’s hard to ignore it – I’ll probably be putting out more video than text content this year to be honest.
Now TikTok… that is one platform I’m not sure I’ll EVER feel comfortable on hahaha
Hi James, Oh yes, I’ve felt the same doing video. You are correct about being our own worst critics too. I haven’t tried TikTok yet, it seems to be a very young audience and not really my target. But I’m watching what is happening with it as it’s the fastest growing social network today. Thanks for coming by with you input on this James. Have a wonderful day!
After creating a video for my YouTube channel, I am one of those people that would never want to go through it to edit it.
I would rather go ahead to post and publish it.
I am one of those that don’t like listening to my voice.
I will rather deliver my message and hit publish.
Hi Emmanuel, that’s a different approach – thanks for sharing that one with us here. How many videos do you have on your YouTube Channel?
Not the best video out there, but I have a total of about twelve (12) videos on my channels. Do you have a youtube channel?
Hi Emmanuel, I do, it is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQi6HZp4yCXCimEBIzGnxOg/featured?view_as=public I hope to be adding more soon too! YouTube has made it easier in the past few months.
Good
Hi Lisa,
Promoting oneself is an ideal way to build your brand. But one needs to be mindful of how he is promoting his brand. Storytelling has been around since the beginning of time and will continue as one of the most effective ways of promoting a brand. But or positive results, marketers must tell exciting stories, that is why I agree 100% with Nikola. that you must have a skill most folks don’t have. Put differently, tell a story that has not been told before.
Hi Moss, I like that one “tell a story that hasn’t been told before.” Sometimes hard but then again we are all unique and we each have our own “story.” Thanks for your input here Moss and do have a great day! I appreciate your shares of this one too!
The best way to promote yourself is to have a skill most folks don’t and then to use that skill to your advantage. Onlookers who’ll want similar result will be left with a choice, either learn it themselves, or pay you to do it for them. Most will choose the latter.
Hi Nikola, yes it does take some skill and know how but it can be learned too if someone takes the time to learn how. Otherwise you are correct paying someone else to do it for you is a great option too. It will give you time to do what you do best in your business. Thanks for your input and shares Nikola. Have a wonderful day.
Hey Lisa,
I can so relate to the whole sound of my voice issue. Funny, I never liked the way I sounded on any recording or video, so I shied away from doing videos for years.
Then I finally decided to just go ahead and get started anyway. Glad I did too because I’ve created a lot of content since I got out of my own way.
Funny (and surprising) thing, though, is that I’ve actually gotten a TON of compliments on my voice from viewers and students. I never would have imagined that.
Just goes to show how much we criticize ourselves when it’s possible (and probable) that others don’t see or judge us the same way we judge ourselves.
So cool that you put this out there. Self-promotion is tough for so many of us. I still struggle with it, but at least less now than I did.
Hi Dana, thank you. Yes, you have a wonderful soothing voice on video Dana. I can see why you received the compliments. You are right, most of us are over critical of ourselves. A great point. I am like you in that I felt better once I starting doing more videos. But lately I’ve had sciatica pain and find it hard to do them with the pain but I will get over that too.
Thanks for coming by on this one with your input Dana. I hope you have a great rest of the week there.