Written by Karen D. Swim
All week we have been examining the topic of self-promotion. Why this topic and why now?
- Image by vividBreeze via Flickr
Why Self-Promotion?
We can hire people to sell for us or we can partner with others to cross promote products and services but none of this replaces the need for self promotion. Self promotion is sharing your capabilities with others. Whether you are a student, artist, CEO or employee, you must e able to tell others about your talents and abilities.
Our reluctance to self-promote is often rooted in false beliefs such as:
- Self-promoting is rude and overbearing
- Before we self-promote we have to know more or achieve more.
- We’re not that special or we have nothing new to offer.
- Self-promotion shows a lack of humility or modesty.
- It is disrespectful. No one wants to hear us drone on about ourselves.
- It is loud, obnoxious, and always unwelcomed.
Bragging versus Self-Promotion
Self-promotion is not shouting to the world, “Hey look at me, click my links and buy my junk.” Self-promotion is the ability to sell your ideas and your capabilities to those they can benefit.
Many of us have associated self-promotion with negative behavior due to deep-seated beliefs about what constitutes politeness. We have unfairly intertwined selling ourselves with bragging and they are quite different things.
Self-promotion need not be a hurricane. It can be a gentle breeze that softly lifts your hair as it whispers the notes of nature in your ear.
Why you should care?
Would you knowingly withhold information from someone who needed it? In addition to your unique gifts and talents, along your life journey you have collected a vast amount of knowledge and experience. No one has traveled the same exact path as you so it is unfair to assume that you have nothing special to share.
Our world has changed. It is bigger and noisier and wallflowers can get stampeded in the shuffle. In quieter times, the boss would notice your good work and promote you or the townsfolk all knew you and bought from you because of relationship. Today, we cannot keep track of who knows what as we struggle to categorize the daily onslaught of information. Learning to self-promote has become an essential skill set for our work and personal lives.
Self-promotion begins with a belief that we are capable. Your dreams will never come true if you don’t take the steps to make them happen. You may sing like an angel, but no one will know if you never open your mouth and let your voice be heard. So go ahead and sing just hold back on the bass.
How can self-promotion be of value in your own life? Is it a skill set that came naturally or did you have to work at it?
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Wonderful post, Karen. Ijust tweeted the link!
Amadou M. Sall´s last blog post..“Linguistically-aware Leadership”
Linking to your own posts in twitter and comments is a challenge. While folks like Problogger can do it all the time — they’re a little different from the majority of bloggers like me. I don’t link to every post that comes out — just the ones I think offer a little more than the norm.
Still trying to get this tweeting sweetly thing down.
Meryl K. Evans´s last blog post..Get in the Mood for Love
This is a great and timely article. I just moved to a new city and I have to shamelessly self promote.
Brad, what a great point! Not only must we believe in ourselves but have the strength to follow our own voice. If we try to emulate a style that is not comfortable the results will reflect that discomfort.
Rosa, I love your model of “tooting sweetly” and believe it is one we can all adopt. It was eye opening to have you reveal that you too still have to work at it! Thank you for sharing that, it encourages me in my own journey.
Interesting ideas … We all have to promote ourselves in our own way, and then learn how to do it more effectively. If you feel uncomfortable promoting yourself, it could be that you’re doing it in a way that doesn’t come naturally.
Brad Shorr´s last blog post..Premio Dardos Awards
I love this Karen: “Self-promotion begins with a belief that we are capable.” Bravo.
I think your question also contains my answer: “How can self-promotion be of value in your own life? Is it a skill set that came naturally or did you have to work at it?”
By that I mean that yes, I did have to work at it – and I still do, constantly. However as your series of posts points out so well, it is work on the self that has exponential benefits, and it is work we all share in this commonality of our humanity.
I look forward to reading more in your series!
Rosa Say´s last blog post..Read with me and kill boring