Self-Promotion: How to Be Your Own Brand

Self-promotion: how to be your own brand

Make no mistake: self-promotion is one of the most delicate arts there is. It takes finesse, tact and strategic thinking. Double the difficulty of each, and you have the rules of entrepreneurship and personal branding in business. It all comes down to one thing: making a positive impression as a person (and as a brand) without forcing yourself on your audience in a way that feels fake or unwelcome. The line between the two can be razor thin.

So how do you do the first and avoid the second? How hard is it to build a personal brand? And where should you start?

Let’s look at the basics of good self-promotion, the kind that brings success, respect and personal satisfaction.

How to market yourself as a brand

Think about it for a moment, and you’ll see that each of us is a “brand,” and we all offer ourselves as a product on one big market called society. We “sell” ourselves to people before they ever buy our product or service. But the price isn’t paid in Bulgarian leva, dollars or euros. The currency is different. It’s called reputation, and it’s counted in fans, followers, likes, shares and media mentions. The better known and more popular you are as a professional and as a person, the better your odds of success. And that’s not just true for celebrities. Any of us can become a recognized professional or expert in a field without ever making the headlines.

Before you start promoting yourself as a professional brand, ask yourself a few questions:

• What sets you apart from the people around you? What skills and interests do you have, the things you don’t just do better than average but do really well?

• How do the people around you (friends, acquaintances, colleagues) actually see you? If someone polled them, which of your qualities would they name?

• What are your goals? What do you want to achieve, by when, and how?

• Who is your audience? What does it expect to hear from you, what problems does it face every day, and how would it like you to deliver the solutions?

These are the four “pillars” to think through before you fire up the self-promotion machine. Get them wrong, and you can easily damage your credibility (and your success). Picture a conservative, by-the-book business consultant dropped into an ad agency that demands offbeat, even crazy ideas. It probably won’t end well, right? Don’t put yourself in that position.

Dating works the same way. Once we’ve picked someone, a lot depends on our presentation (looks, clothes, accessories), our approach, the words we choose, whether we meet the other person’s needs (or whether the object of our desire is already taken and not looking), what their friends know about us (our reputation) and so on. If we fail to meet the expectations of our target audience (the potential partner), we’re doomed from the start.

Promoting your brand on social media: the finer points

Let’s be clear about one thing: you can’t build a personal brand without a strong presence on social networks of every kind. Not with the internet the way it works today.

You already know Facebook and Twitter, but it pays to expand your social media portfolio to platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and maybe even Pinterest. For developers, GitHub is invaluable, and people with a design bent have Behance and Dribbble.

First, your personal information has to be consistent across every platform. Contact details, names, website: they should look the same everywhere. Short, accurate, clear and professional.

The second element is focus. Once you’ve defined how you market yourself as a brand (those four pillars above), stick to the same parameters on social media. Your Facebook or Twitter profile shouldn’t clash with the image you want to build. Instagram is the perfect way to “furnish” your brand with the right visuals: photos, short videos, images with useful tips and so on.Each of us is a “brand,” and we all offer ourselves as a product on one big market called society.

Consistency on social media makes a strong impression. Set the right expectations for your online persona, and the results will be great. Confuse your audience with scattered, contradictory posts, and people simply won’t take you seriously. Your image will take the hit.

LinkedIn and Facebook are also great places to stand out, thanks to all the niche groups and communities they host. Take part regularly, and you’ll get useful discussions with other specialists in your field, plus valuable visibility and authority.

How social causes help you promote yourself

Look at popular personal brands in the West, and you may notice how many of them are involved in volunteer work. The truth is that social causes of every kind (volunteering, working with nonprofits, joining civic campaigns and movements) are hugely important for building your personal brand.

What’s one of the first things that comes to mind when someone mentions Angelina Jolie? (Besides the fact that she has always been one of the most attractive women in film.) Chances are it’s her work on a long list of UN humanitarian missions.

As with social media, though, be careful about the messages your social work sends to your audience. It’s best to choose initiatives and organizations that complement your personal brand rather than clash with it.

Of course, some people reach for scandal as a handy trick in their self-promotion bag. As tempting as that sounds (scandal is, after all, the most intense and promising way to push a brand), it isn’t always the smartest move. Why? Because the public backlash can be brutal, and among other things it puts you under serious psychological pressure.

There will always be someone who can stir up a bigger scandal than you. But committed, high-quality work on volunteer projects and with nonprofits is a far smarter long-term investment, both for you and for society.

Is it hard to be accepted as an expert in your field?

The short answer is no, not at all. But that answer comes with three very important conditions. First, you need to know the subject you’ve built your personal brand around. Second, you need to be willing to show up at lots of events and be comfortable speaking in public. Third, you need strong presentation skills: presenting your topic skillfully and interactively, connecting with the audience, using good body language and so on.

You won’t prove yourself as a leading professional in your field in a week or a month. Keep that in mind, and treat earning other people’s trust as a long, complex process, but far from an unpleasant one.

Some of the more popular formats for showing what you can do:

• Presentations

• Training sessions (in person or as online video courses)

• Seminars

• Lectures

• Panel discussions at industry events

It may sound like a lot of work, but it’s the most effective and respected way to prove to your audience that you know your stuff. Better still, events like these are an excellent place for business networking. You may well walk away with a new fan, or better yet, a new client.

Almost all of my current clients either met me in person at an event like this or were referred to me by someone who knows me as a professional in digital marketing and e-commerce (even though I don’t think of myself as an “expert”). Thanks to that reputation, my company (Tendrik) doesn’t have to spend a cent on advertising to win new clients in Bulgaria.

As I said, self-promotion is a fine art. It takes precision and a healthy dose of initiative. The good news is that the hardest part of building a personal brand may be the very beginning. Once you build momentum, growing your brand becomes a smooth (if demanding) ride. The comfort of the cliché “just be yourself” is a wonderful feeling. But turning that comfort into a business and building a successful brand is far more rewarding.