Let me be perfectly clear when I talk about self-promotion and bringing in the noise. I’m not talking about bragging. “Brag” is a dirty word that our society frowns upon. There is a huge difference between bragging and self-promotion.
Donald Trump has built a very large brand both for his company and his own personal brand. Although there are a lot of things Trump does well to build his brand, he is too boastful about it. He takes credit for things he had little to do with and constantly claims to be the best at anything he does.
Don’t be the guy or gal who brags all the time and is a show-off. No one likes that person. Maintain a sense of humitly. Even though it’s “self-promotion,” it is not about you. It is about your target audience.
Marketing that is purely ego driven does not generate results.
Your brand and marketing campaigns should never be just about you. Yes, it is self-promotion, but you are promoting yourself because you have value to add to people’s lives.
Self-promotion needs to be geared towards and focused on what makes you remarkable, different and ultimately better than what’s out there. Self-promotion works when people see you are doing something that benefits them.
This is going to sound a bit contradictory considering we’re talking about self-promotion. A big secret of self-promotion is to promote others more than yourself. We at The $100 MBA often talk about our friends in the industry and our favorite clients. Talking about how good your customers are is still self-promotion because it’s still about you. Let them do the talking through testimonials.
The more you focus your self-promotion efforts on showing others what value you bring to the table, the more people will be convinced you are worth paying attention to. You don’t really matter. What you can offer you audience does.
In conclusion, don’t be this guy…