33 image design
  • About
  • Web
  • Print
  • Current
  • Testimonials
  • Q&A
  • Contact
  • Blog

Self Promotion

4/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Self Promotion

How to brand without bragging

by Lisa Wirthman
Lisa is a freelance journalist covering women, business, policy and social good


Tip
Creating a personal brand is a great way to share your talents and expertise with both colleagues and customers.

But some people are uncomfortable with self-promotion and the idea that it may seem obnoxious to others.

So what’s the best way to sell yourself without alienating everyone else?

Be Authentic

We all have stereotyped images of success, such as the consummate professional or the charismatic entrepreneur. But your personal brand should represent your own unique qualities – not what you think other people want to see.

It’s easier to sell yourself when you’re being yourself, so be authentic about who you are. Focus on your strengths and stick to your own style of communication, whether it’s writing a weekly blog post for customers or sitting down with a manager to share your successes. Reminding people who need your services about how you can make their jobs easier is a positive message they’ll be happy to hear.

Stick to the Facts

Focus on facts and not interpretation, writes marketing strategist and author Dorie Clark in Harvard Business Review. It’s hard to argue with the facts if you say that you have a decade of experience in your field, a passion for what you do, or a certain number of social media followers, says Clark.

But calling yourself a guru, an expert, or a ninja is another story, she adds. Don’t invite criticism by trying to characterize your skillset. Do stick to the facts by describing what you have done -- and what you can do -- to help others. Providing relevant examples is a great way to drive those points home.

Share the Credit

When sharing your accomplishments, don’t be shy about sharing the credit with those who deserve it as well. A willingness to promote others indicates confidence in your own abilities.

“In my experience, glad-handing self-aggrandizement is rarely an effective technique,” says entrepreneur and author Seth Godin in an interview with the New York Times. “What works instead is a combination of relentlessly giving away credit and generously taking responsibility,” he advises.

Rather than focusing on entitlement, this approach focuses on your engagement with your work, he explains. Or in in other words: “Successfully tooting your own horn is more about the horn than the tooting,” Godin says.


Stay Humble

A great way to make sure your message is well received is to give more than you ask, writes Julie Parker, founder of an online training school for life coaches. Empowering others through your work is a great way to develop a reputation for being both smart and strategic, she says.

Then when it’s time to ask for that dream promotion or close a big sale, you can do so knowing that the value you’ve provided to others gives you the right to ask for more, Parker advises. It’s also important to remember that being humble doesn’t mean hiding your skills – only being sensitive about how you share your accomplishments.

In short, learning how to brand without bragging is a great way to advertise what you can do and to help others succeed by using you as a resource. It's a win-win for all involved -- and a message worth sharing.

Self Promotion
Download PDF
0 Comments

Brand Awareness: Nearly everything you need to know

10/26/2016

0 Comments

 
The basics of brand awareness

If nobody knows you exist, you don't have a brand. (No matter how great your logo is.) Learn how to make connections with customers, earn brand equity, and measure your progress online.

Once you have a community that trusts you, they'll purchase everything you put in front of them.  — John Rampton, entrepreneur and connector
by Marc Cinanni, Typeform
Why do you get along with the people around you? Think of your friends, family, and colleagues. Why are you close? Why do they contact you? Why do you meet up?

Something you did, something you said, or something you responded to genuinely connected with them. You touched on an important value, and that laid the foundation for trust—the basis of any solid relationship.
I’m also sure of what you didn’t do. Which was rambling off a list of traits about yourself, or why you’re such a great person. Yet some people do that. Ever notice how you tend to avoid them?

Brands are exactly the same.

Take milk for example…
You're in trouble if customers can't place your brand on the map. The worst thing is to blend in with the rest.  — Ewa Puchalska, outreach manager at GetResponse
Read the full article
0 Comments

The best marketing is when . . .

1/6/2015

0 Comments

 
The best marketing is when you don't know it's marketing
Excerpt blog by Mikael Cho

I hate when I know I’m being sold to. I tune out. And so does everyone else.

It’s not good enough to hammer your marketing message down people’s throats and expect them buy. This is especially the case today. As bestselling author Jay Bauer wrote in his book Youtility,

“Due to enormous shifts in technology and consumer behavior, customers want a new approach that cuts through the clutter: marketing that is truly, inherently useful.”

Networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feed in content at a high volume. Multiple devices for home, for work, and everything in between allows this stream of content to seep into every aspect of our daily lives. Your company messages are mixed in with photos and updates from friends and family. You are no longer just competing with other companies for attention, you’re competing with the people closest to your customers, notes Jay.

In order to cut through this noise, Jay states that you must create “marketing so useful, people would pay for it.”

This doesn’t mean you need to charge people for access to your marketing. It means that your marketing should be so good that people would gladly pay for it if they were asked.

To have customers and fans, you need to create value first. In today’s world, this is often much more value than you think.

When you create value first, people pay attention.

This is exactly what two University of Pennsylvania professors found when they looked at the New York Times most emailed articles.

The results of their study showed that people liked sharing stories that taught them something the most – even more than stories that might be surprising and interesting.


Giving someone something useful they can apply to their own lives has the biggest impact. After I read this research, I wondered,

“If a story with practical value could have this level of impact, what would happen if this practical utility could be applied to something even more useful than a blog post?”
0 Comments

    Author

    Debi Bodett is an independent graphic designer for print + web.

    Categories

    All
    Brand
    Business
    Current
    Marketing
    Movies
    Photography
    Resources
    Website Design


    RSS Feed


Getting around

Home    |    About    |    Web    |    Print    |    Current    |    Testimonials    |    Q&A    |    Contact    |    Blog
Picture
Privacy Policy
Join my list!

Inspired design for print + web  |  33 image design  |  Debi Bodett  |  Olympia WA  |  (360) 754-7345

share

©2022

33 image design