My most frequent presentation topic is the same as the title of my first book: “Self Marketing Power,” which is my fancy term for “personal branding.” In today’s loud, crowded and fast-moving market place, personal branding is an essential skill. Regardless of what you do for a living, you must develop a personal brand, jealously guard its integrity and zealously promote it to your personal target audience.
Despite the necessity of personal branding, many professionals aren’t entirely comfortable doing it. They’re afraid they might cross the fine line that lies between healthy, effective self marketing and egotistical boasting. That’s a reasonable concern, because one of the first things a self marketer must embrace is the virtue of humility. Nobody likes braggarts, show-offs, know-it-alls and blowhards.
Never fear, you can avoid turning your self marketing efforts into egotisical boasting by following a few, simple criteria: 1. plan your self marketing efforts ahead of time; 2. be consistent in your personal-brand message; 3. make sure your self marketing tactics are carried out skillfully and tastefully; and 4. make sure anything you do for self marketing purposes is ethical, moral and benefits others in addition to furthering your own brand.
