Self-promotion
Some of you have written to me saying that “selling yourself” is one of the challenges you face now you’ve left corporate life. And while I sympathise, it’s not really anything new.
Climbing the greasy corporate pole requires its fair share of self-promotion. You have to keep telling the right people why you’re good and deserve to be noticed.
I sound cynical I know, but it was always annoying to see Big Talkers do better than me. Of course, I maintained my integrity when passed over for promotion - or at least that’s what I told my children, as I made them pick between Netflix and Disney+.
I did ok. But I suspect the fact I hadn’t become really good at marketing myself has made life much harder now I’m out in the real world. Maybe it’s the same for you.
More competition
We’re in a much bigger pool of talent today than we were in our corporate jobs. And that pool has plenty of people who seem perfectly at ease shrieking about what they can do brilliantly. Many who had “scarce skills” inside the corporate may find they’re less scarce outside and it’s hard to stand out.
Rethink marketing
But retreating into ourselves is obviously not an option. The work, the job offers, the networking opportunities won’t appear by magic. We have to learn how to market ourselves.
Not bombarding every contact we know with our credentials or cold-calling randoms on LinkedIn.
Because this is lazy marketing, fraught with awkwardness (and only for the Big Talkers). And it’s likely to damage your relationships and reputation.
As my good friend says in probably my favourite marketing book:
So any kind of broadcast promotion, though very easy today, is going to fall on (mostly) deaf ears.
Only promote yourself to those likely to need what you’re offering.
It’s such common-sense that I wince writing it. But I do because it’s so poorly applied. Partly because we secretly put our faith in the Law of Attraction (don’t), partly because we’re impatient and partly because we don’t like hard work.
But try we must. Because the goal of good marketing is to help someone. Helping takes effort and it doesn’t always happen immediately, just because you’ve decided you’re available.
Here’s some tips to help you market yourself, by building a new mindset around self-promotion:
Don’t look for quick wins when it comes to promoting yourself. When they happen it’s great, but promoting yourself takes patience, commitment and selflessness – see this as a twelve month investment in you. It’s also why you need to start now – i.e. before you feel ready
Get really clear what you want – and also what you offer. We’ve all had those calls where you put the (metaphorical) phone down thinking “That didn’t go as I expected” or “They didn’t seem to understand what I was getting at”. That’s almost always our fault. Make time to get clear what you want and offer - and make it specific before each call.
Pick a place to promote yourself – it might be LinkedIn which is pretty friendly and has a high tolerance for both self-promotion and staggeringly dull content (stand out opportunity!). Instagram is a very supportive community for those of you exploring coaching or consulting. Or you may prefer networks and communities, on or offline. Experiment a bit then pick one. Life is too hectic to be multi-channel – at least when you’re starting out.
Make yourself visible, because we’re all busy. We’re all distracted to the hilt by notifications on a hundred devices, emails, slack, children off school, bloody Amazon deliveries every two minutes. And even when we genuinely like someone and want to help, we just get busy. It’s not personal. Step out of your lurking habit on LinkedIn and say something rather than just Like something. And don’t be afraid to follow up.
There’s a golden rule on Instagram that you get bored of yourself way earlier than your customer. Partly it’s these wretched algorithms that only show your posts to a fraction of your network, partly it’s because your customer isn’t always concentrating or caring just then. So, don’t be afraid to repeat your marketing efforts – one-off makes you look half-hearted. You need to sustain your personal PR.
The main thing I want to say is that self-promotion is a necessary evil of working for yourself as an entrepreneur, just as much as it ever was climbing the greasy corporate ladder.
But don’t see it as really evil; instead it’s an opportunity to use your skills and experience to help someone who may need it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon, and - if you’re lucky - for the rest of your life.
Finally, we’re all in this together – share your tips with each other. What works to open doors, clinch a deal or make someone come back for more?
Thanks for reading this - if you know someone leaving their corporate job, by choice or otherwise, please share it!