Bragging is necessary for survival. —Harry Kavros, Associate Dean, Columbia Law School
It's All A Balancing Act
I'll bet no one ever told you that to be a good home-based
business owner you'd have to be an acrobat—or at least a juggler—as
well. Think about it: your whole life is a balancing act between personal
and business priorities, between spending too much or spending too little,
between coming on too strong or coming on too weak.
Perhaps one of your more strategic balancing acts involves
promoting yourself and your business, sometimes referred to as "tooting
your own horn." If you come on too strong—either in person or
in your advertising—people back away and think you're bragging (in
the negative sense of the word). If you fail to sufficiently promote your
skills, products, and services, no one will know you exist or have a sufficiently
strong reason to buy from you.
While the image of coming on too strong is the stuff of
jokes and cartoons (e.g., the door-to-door salesman, the used car salesman),
it has been my experience that most small-business owners err on the other
side and are genuinely uncomfortable talking about themselves and their
products/services in a way that might be construed as self-promotion.
They labor under some of society's myths such as, "a job well done
speaks for itself," or "it's not polite to brag" and have
been taught to feel that self-promotion was not proper and that to practice
it would turn people off.
The message of this article? GET OVER IT!
Why You Have To Be Your Own Best Promoter, Online
And Offline
The truth is that if you don't promote yourself and your
business, no one else is likely to. In reality, no one else can do it
as well as you do anyway because you know best what your strengths and
advantages are. Peggy Klaus, motivator and author of the excellent book,
Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It, argues
persuasively that at best, our failure to put our best foot forward makes
us look worse than we really are, and at worst "careers, relationships,
and opportunities languish as result." She maintains that only by
letting others know what you can do well will you make the kind of "win-win"
connections that successful people make all the time—using each other's
skills to leverage everyone's success rate. One reviewer of her book,
Susie Housley of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, agrees about the importance of
selling yourself:
"Finding the right marketing technique to sell your
skills is crucial. Survival is only for the fittest," she says.
Public Relations professionals have honed the art of promotion,
but few small or home-based businesses can afford to hire them. We usually
have to be our own public relations expert, so make it a point to learn
how!
Don't forget to apply the concept of positive self-promotion
to your resumé, as well as to your personal and business communications.
Think about what you've done that has shown initiative, creativity, or
skill. Remember that the skills you learned as a volunteer are just as
valuable as those you learned in a paid position, so the responsibility
you exhibited as treasurer of your church is a very marketable skill!
Promoting your business should be an ever-present mindset
for the online business owner too. Opportunities arise daily for you to
let others know about your online business. Be prepared to take advantage
of these opportunities and to give prospects the added reassurance about
the wonderful, real person behind the online presence.
Tips For Self Promoting Without Being Obnoxious
The good news is that the skill of effective self-promotion
can be learned, and there's no better place to start than with Peggy Klaus's
book mentioned above and in the Sources below. Besides the hard copy,
it is available as a digital audio download from Amazon.com
for under $10. Ms. Klaus has an easy-going, fun-to-read (or listen to)
style with lots of practical tips for things to do—and things NOT
to do—when you're interacting with others. Her book dispels some
old myths about self promotion and provides guidelines for developing
your own, personal, effective style for self-promotion.
- Be determined to look for opportunities to put your best
foot forward. This is a shift in mental attention that must be made
consciously.
- Send press releases when you or your business has achieved
a recognition or done something noteworthy.
- Make an accomplishment inventory list for yourself—personally
and for your business. Think about everything potentially interesting
about you to share with others. Use this to draw on for conversation
and marketing copy. If you haven't given this some thought ahead of
time, you won't have it available to you when the best opportunities
arise.
- Use a customer newsletter to spread your "good news"
in the form of product and service information.
- Make it easy for your customers to give testimonials
and get their permission to use them. Using testimonials in your ads
and on your Website is a powerful way to effectively promote yourself
through the "voice" of others.
- Write and memorize an "elevator speech"—this is an introduction of yourself and your business that is so short and effective, it can be told to someone while riding with them on an elevator to give them a snapshot of your business.
- Ditch the apologetic attitude. Genuine pride in your skills, products and services—combined with an equally genuine commitment to problem-solving and customer service—will do more for your image than you can possibly imagine.
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