How to master self-promotion without losing your soul in the process

Hello my dear marketing friend, and congrats on being here, as I know self-promotion has a bad rep and can bring up soooo many feelings (usually not great ones).

This month, I'm on a mission to give you all of the tools you need to put yourself out there and promote the 💩 of yourself, so the rest of the world knows how awesome you are.

🙋🏻‍♀️ I'm Anaïs, your dedicated career strategist and without further ado, let's get this show on the road!

Why self-promotion matters:

Let's be honest with each other here: what's the first thought that comes to your mind when I'm asking, "How do you feel about putting yourself out there and self-promote?"

🥴 Are you cringing?

🫣 Feeling uncomfortable?

🥳 Getting excited?

🙄 Maybe blasé?

Whatever the feeling is, I've got some interesting data for you:

1. 79% of professionals agree that networking is valuable for career progression

2. 91% of employers use social media to screen candidates

3. LinkedIn profiles with professional photos receive 14 times more views*

So whether we like it or not, career growth and opportunities involve others - from future employers, colleagues, friends from uni to recruiters and headhunters, just to name a few.

We might as well decide to be intentional about how the world sees us.

But what is self-promotion?

Well, funny enough, it depends on who you ask!

Even dictionaries are giving us a wide range of answers:

🟥 The negative one: "The act or habit of trying to make other people pay attention to you and think that you are interesting, important, successful, etc" Cambridge Dictionnary (UK-based)

🔷 The neutral one: "The act or practice of promoting one's own interests, profile, etc" Collins (UK-based)

🟢 The positive one: "The act of furthering one's own growth, advancement, or prosperity: the promotion of oneself" Merriam-Webster (US-based)

So amidst this large spectrum of interpretations possible, here's what I believe self-promotion is about:

1. It's personal

It involves you as an individual - whether it's purely from a professional lens or including all of your various and complex traits, there's no self-promotion without you behind it.

And that's where the line is for some people, as it can feel like sharing too much information.

2. It's about being visible

Whether online or offline, on social media, at networking events or 1-1 coffees and lunches, there's no such thing as self-promotion if you're hiding in a corner. It's about putting yourself out there - and we'll cover what that practically entails further down.

3. It involves being proactive

The name of the game with self-promotion is about creating opportunities for yourself, whether you know about them or not. It involves making sure people can either share these with you when they see them or mention your name to the people who are behind such opportunities. So it's not a "one and done" approach; it very much needs to be dynamic and evolving, but it does not have to be draining - more on that later.

Self-promotion do's and don'ts based on personal experience 🫠

As someone who experienced burnout at age 23, made multiple career transitions to then start a business age 26 before a global pandemic I thought I'd give you a quick rundown on things to consider (or not!):

Do:

1. Listen to that intuition of yours when it comes to "putting yourself out there". I'm a projector in Human Design (more on this here) which means I have to wait to be invited when it comes to business 🙃

   At first I was finding it so hard to just "reach out to people", now I know I can do cool things like writing this column here and if you want to reach out to me because you liked what you read, then you can! (#MerciSophie)

2. Be genuinely curious and interested when meeting new people - apply the 20% speaking / 80% listening if you can

   Throughout my coaching qualification I spent hours practicing my listening skills. Turns out, it's really hard to simply listen to someone without thinking about what you're about to say next. But if you're mastering this skill, it's going to supercharge the quality of your interactions.

Don’t:

1. Print 2,000 postcards saying, "Are you happy with your job? If it took you 2+ seconds to think about it, we should have a chat." and distribute them 1 by 1 across town.

   If your messaging is not clear, you don't have a clear CTA and/or you haven't narrow down who you want to reach out to, guess what? You're going to hear crickets 🦗(literally...!) I know I did.

2. Pretend to be someone you're not, whether because you're influenced by someone you see at work or follow on social media.

   The best conversations & opportunities I got - either online or IRL - where when I stayed true to myself. At first I tried to be a career and business coach, then a career coach. Now I own the fact that I'm a career strategist (with a coaching qualification) who specialises in career transitioning. So yes, I can help you with your CV but my sweetspot is very much about the mindset work that happens before!

3 tips to self-promote in a way that works for you:

1. Be crystal clear about your intentions and motivations

Whether it's an internal promotion, building your personal brand, maximising your chances to land a new role, starting your own thing... There's no point in putting yourself out there if you're not clear about why.

Here are some questions to get you started:

• What career next step(s) I'm interested to take?

• What would a successful self-promotion "campaign" would look like for me? What would have happened?

2. Don't be afraid to experiment

Self-promotion does not have to be posting on LinkedIn every day or being the loudest in the room. And whilst there's nothing wrong with either of these two options, make sure that you're taking the time to explore the different options and avenues available to you.

Here's a non-exhaustive list to get started:

• Get in the habit to celebrate AND share achievements - whether offline or on social media. There's nothing too small and the keyword here is habit.

• Tidy up your online presence - whether your Linkedin, website or blog. Make sure it includes the latest information about you and anything relevant that has come up in point #1 above

• Engage with others on social media - as mentioned, you don't have to post daily, as commenting or messaging people 1-1 can be as (if not more) effective

• Engage with others in real life - whether it's following up after a networking event, sending a personalised thank you or birthday card, volunteering to a local project. Practice going out there and building genuine connections; you'll be surprised!

• Organise networking lunches or meetups - can't find an event on a topic you're interested in? Be the one who brings everybody together

• Offer free consultations, advice, webinars or workshops - whether you're collaborating with someone who has a need or an audience, or you're keen to get more exposure and experience by yourself, that's a great way to get started

• Give and seek testimonials or reviews - you know the good old saying "you need to start giving before taking?" well, that starts here! Think about who in your network might benefit from a review and before you know it, one will land on your profile without you having to ask for it

• Pitch yourself - to your plant, manager, friend, cat, partner, a stranger, to a group, you name it. The more you do it, the less you'll have to think about it

3. Make it an easy habit to implement

There's no point in committing to attending 10 networking events per week or messaging 100 people in your network if it's going to be just a one-off thing.

As mentioned, self-promotion is a habit, and we want to make sure it supports you and your goals, not suck all of your energy.

Here's a framework for you to work with:

• Consider your annual initiatives when it comes to self-promotion: anything you want to achieve by the 31st of December this year?

• Then think quarterly goals: what would you like to happen in the first trimester of 2025?

• Now let's break it down to monthly goals: what does that mean for March?

• And my fav' of it all: how does that translate into weekly habits?

To summarise:

• People will have opinions about you - whether based on what they see, read or hear, you might as well use this opportunity to be proactive and decide what key message(s) you want to convey

• There's no one way to self-promote: you get to decide how this works best for you, just make sure you have fun in the process

• Consider self-promotion as a habit supporting your career growth and development, not something that you have to get done. That simple yet very effective mindset shift can make all the difference

If you're keen to explore the topic further:

I see you, reading all the way to here (yet again!), wondering what's happening next!

Here are some extra resources if you're keen to work on your self-promotion skills further:

• 📗 One book: Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, by Adam Grant

• 👋 One person to follow on Social Media: Stefanie Sword Williams, author of "F*ck being humble" (and yes, that's another book to add to your list too!)

• 🎧 One podcast: How to fail with Elizabeth Day - whilst there are fantastic shows out there which are all about the success stories, I have loved her approach and the authentic, honest and funny conversations she's having with her guests

And as usual, if you want to chat things through when it comes to your career and self-promotion strategy, book some time with me here! 🙋🏻‍♀️

Food for thought:

Who around you nails self-promotion? Is there anything you can learn from it and apply to your own situation?

Anaïs Comot

Career Coach, DEI Trainer, Speaker and Women Empowerer.

Meet our contributors