I write this post as someone who struggles with self-promotion, and I know many of you do too. We might offer a few lines uncomfortably when prompted in a job interview. But that’s all.
Some of us have perhaps been scarred by someone who loved the sound of their own voice far too much, and we don’t want to be like them. But self-promotion doesn’t have to be about bragging.
On the flip, we may be introducing ourselves as ‘only a nurse’ or ‘only a technician’ – underselling our value by over-exercising our humility.
The reality of today is: there are too many things vying for our attention. So we cannot blame others for not noticing our work if we won’t talk about it.
Women are especially bad at self-promotion. It goes against our ‘good- girl conditioning’, which is partly why I have scoured the internet for worthy tips on how to make this easier (because unlike at school, hard work alone is no longer enough):
1. Thinking of self-promotion as being about the impact of our work, as opposed to us.
2. Owning our strengths and accomplishments: writing them down
3. Sharing our process. “Allowing for the possibility of people having an ongoing connection with us and our work”.
4. Always looking to improve, but letting go of perfection. Being concerned with collaboration: online and off-line.
5. Practising self-promotion within a supportive network (join one, or create one).
6. Talking about what we believe instead of what we did. Eg, I would say ‘I want to make the world a place where human development and wildlife welfare can mutually thrive’ rather than saying ‘I donated X amount to a conservation fund’. (If anyone wants specifics, they’ll ask.)
7. Being authentic, including talking about ‘failures’. Intellectualisation and logic take us so far. Others feeling a human connection with us, takes us farther.
8. Focusing on idea-promoting: ideas we truly believe in.
9. Sharing our work and ideas without selling (or bragging).
10. Sharing the work of others and not just our own stuff.
11. Learning to be comfortable with sharing honestly our accomplishments (by focusing on the positive impact of our work – point 1). Women judge other women, as we do ourselves, more harshly than men. Changing this conditioning by getting comfortable with our own self-promotion.
12. Remembering that no matter how honest or authentic we are, we won’t please everyone. Even those who measurably change the world for the better have haters and critics – and that’s unlikely to change for us mere mortals. Not worrying about the unsupporters.
13. Staying humbly determined. Not giving up.
That being said, I look to follow my own advice.
How do you feel about self-promotion?
Also see Unpacking our Self-Doubt
See these amazing References:
1. + 5. Stand out for Success: The secrets of self-promotion
2. Self-Promotion: How to Sell Yourself
3. + 4. The Art of Self-Promotion: 6 Tips for Getting your Work Discovered
6. + 7. 6 Ways to Get Noticed
8. The Cure for People who Hate to Self-Promote
9. + 10. 5 Things I Learnt about Self-Promotion
11. Why Women Struggle with Self-Promotion
small ways to Be More 