The below analysis shows that successful managers spend 48% of their time in networking, reason is that they want to promote themselves. This below finding emphasis on the fact that promoting yourself is must in today’s dynamic environment.
Recently, a friend of mine shared with me that, "I'm really good at what I do. I don't need to market myself." In fact, he is quite good at his profession, but the problem is that not enough prospective people (internal as well as external) know about him. Like many professionals, he is reluctant to talk about his accomplishments. "It feels like bragging," he says. "Doesn't it make me seem unprofessional?"
If thoughts like these often cross your mind, ask yourself this -- who are the biggest names in your profession? In your line of work, who might be considered unquestioned experts, those with maximum credibility? Now, how did you get to know about those people's work? Did you read an article or book they had written, hear them interviewed; learn about them on the web? Or perhaps you were told about them by others who had heard them speak or read their words.
The point is that these well-known people became well-known because they showcased themselves, usually in multiple ways. They shared blogs, examples, and ideas about the work they had been doing with a wider audience than just their friends and family. You know about their work because they showed it off. And I'll bet it never occurred to you to call them unprofessional for doing it, but some people have the habit of finding negative points in all the activities and only those people will show finger at you and say “She is trying to show herself because she is not very intelligent”. Do not listen to such people because their aim is to pull you down no matter how good you are in your work.
Showing off your work doesn't have to sound like, "WOW ! I m great?" "Only I could have completed the work" "Company can not run without me" All the above statements have a hint of bragging. There are hosts of very dignified and appropriate ways to let a wider audience know how good you are without ever saying so. Here are a few suggestions which you can try.
1. Writing articles - Putting your expertise in writing and sharing it with your target audience ( Your colleagues, friends, family,) reads is a powerful -- and very professional -- way to let more people know about your unique talents. Submit your articles to both print publications and web sites that serve your niche and watch your visibility grow.
2. Become speaker in conferences – One of my ex boss always use to encourage me to become speaker in conferences but somehow I was not very confident as I thought I will not be able to justify the position as speaker but I was wrong. Whatever position you hold, one should try his part as speaker. Appearing as a speaker allows you to broadcast your expertise with three different audiences -- the people who attend your talk, the people who are invited by the sponsoring organization but can't attend, and the people you tell about it before and after. If standing in front of a room makes you too nervous, serve on a panel of experts instead. You'll get to sit behind a table and speak from notes.
3. Testimonials/Recommendation - Whenever you do a good job in office, ask your boss or clients to write you a simple thank you note describing what you did to make them happy. Then make their words available on your web site, brochure, or other marketing materials. Let them tell others about your value, and you won't have to say it yourself.
4. Creating your portfolio - It's not just artists that should capture their best work to show off in a portfolio. You can collect photos, examples, and other evidence of your accomplishments and display them on your facebook, LinkedIn in a marketing kit, or with a PowerPoint presentation. You don't have to sell people on your abilities when they are seeing for themselves what you can do.
5. Creating the product “You” - Packaging your image to the world as product to your prospective bosses can help them a compelling way to discover your real value. Products like ebooks, white papers, and audio recordings allow you to showcase your expertise and increase your credibility. They can often be advertised more widely than your services can, giving you another avenue for getting your name known.
So what are you waiting for?? Choose one of these ideas to pursue and make a plan to showcase what you can do for a wider audience. If you truly want to spend less effort on marketing yourself, start letting your prospective bosses know your worth J because after all you are metaphors of diamond, so let people know that you are priceless diamond.
No comments:
Post a Comment