Being the best-kept secret in your market is a disservice to you, your clients and the world. Most brands, like my clients, LOVE what they do. They also create great impact in the lives and businesses of those that they work with.
This inspires me and makes me proud.
It also makes me mad…
What? It makes you mad Jane?
I know this applies to some of your companies, my dear, talented readers….
The problem is…..
You may still the best-kept secret…
So… the best-kept secret I want you to meet is YOUR COMPANY! You have a gift, you have a message that needs to be heard. Your brand can make a difference in peoples’ lives, health, wealth…. And so your not being seen enough – that makes me mad – how can your brand share it’s gifts, services and products if the right people don’t know about you?
I want to help you so that more people know about you and what you can offer. Simple mindset shifts, as well as learning more about simple publicity you can do for your business can be both fun and profitable. Often the solution is simpler than you think!
So I have a question – what stops you? Why isn’t your company getting the word out, getting more visibility and reaching more people who want and need you and what you offer?
I have a sneaky suspicion…. As well as how to fix it… and I’ll share with you in an upcoming post. I am also going to be talking about this on Facebook, so please follow me there and like my page so you get notified when I add content or go Live. I’ve also created a new program to help you Magnify Your Message.
Of course, I love to hear from you… Please comment below.
The funny thing is that people often assume that some who brags a lot is very confident and outgoing, the fact of the matter is that they may actually be insecure and seeking outside reinforcement.
Ok. So you don’t want to be seen as a braggart.
If you don’t share your company’s offerings, your accomplishments, successes and milestones, how will your prospects and clients know about them? How will you share your gifts and service with more of the people who need them?
If a tree falls in the forest…
You do need to get the word out and promote yourself and your services on a regular basis. The great news is that there are ways to do it that won’t make you feel icky or a braggart.
5 easy ways to toot your own horn that won’t make you feel uncomfortable:
Talk about your business in the third person – a simple mindset shift
This is a common problem for soloprenuers. A simple trick to remove feeling uncomfortable about promoting yourself is to think of yourself or your business as another entity, a third party. Think about how much easier it is to share a friend’s accomplishment with others. Treating your business like that friend, makes it easy to talk about your business without holding back or feeling discomfort.
Make the customer the hero of your story
Focus your marketing and content on your client’s success stories [with their permission]. You solved their problem successfully. They are now raving fans. Create a case study, blog post or press release. If you focus on the client, the content you create will feel less like you are being self-promotional. It will also be something that the client will naturally want to share with their audience, garnering your even more mileage and visibility!
Be a customer educator and advocate
Offer great tips and information that will help your audience – both prospects and clients succeed. This will naturally position you as a knowledgeable resource, which will attract people who need your services. Don’t be afraid to give away your best content.
Just calling yourself the expert isn’t going to do it these days. Positioning yourself as an educator and an advocate for your customers success should be your major focus. When a prospect feels you are the source of valuable information, and they know you truly care about their results, then they will be the ones calling you the expert. – Jack Mize
Let others sing your praises – it carries more weight
It’s not what you say about you, it’s what they say about you. Prospects trust recommendations from friends and family, online reviews and the media; these sources directly influence purchasing decisions. Have an active plan for gathering testimonials, getting media mentions…and display them prominently on your website, marketing materials…
When someone asks what you do, you can quote a customer…For example, “Clients say we solve their ___ problems quickly and affordably”
Make it easy for others to talk about you
There are many great plug ins and tools that make it easy to share content from your website or blog. If the share buttons are always available next to your content, your audience is more likely to help spread the word, as it’s almost effortless. I love the Social Warfare plug in as it gives you many options to help people share your content including customized social media images, pre-populated tweets and posts.
Focus on the great work you do, and how you can solve problems and provide solutions. There are folks out there who really need your help and you are doing them a disservice by not letting them know about your services and solutions
There is a lot of talk in the news about introverts lately. It’s the topic of conversation regularly for my publicity shy prospects and clients, and me.
The stories and articles I am seeing sometimes make it sound like it’s a competition – the introverts vs. an extrovert, which always troubles me. Why not celebrate our uniqueness and each other’s?
Introversion or extroversion are not new concepts or ways of being. Carl Jung is credited with coining the term ‘introverted person’ in 1918. Susan Cain’s book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”, published in 2013, became a bestseller and has helped bring the conversation into the forefront.
The only reason that it matters if you’re an introvert or extrovert is that it can help you to know yourself better and help you leverage your strengths in your business, marketing and promotion, and in life. It can also help you in your interactions with other people by understanding their natural personality tendencies so you can communicate better with them.
Businesses have long recognized the value of personality and strength profiling and have adopted the use of tools like the Myers-Briggs or DISC assessments as part of an interview process or during on boarding of new hires. Entrepreneurs have used Strength Finders to help assess their natural strengths in an effort to better understand and improve the way they work.
There is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert. Such a person would be in the lunatic asylum. Carl G. Jung
Meet the “Ambiverts”
I just recently came to understand that I am an ambivert – a combination of introvert and extrovert. I didn’t even know there was such a personality type or a name for it before I started exploring introversion in my publicity mentoring work. As I sought to better understand some of the resistance my clients were experiencing and how I could help them get better results for themselves by harnessing their strengths, I observed publicity shy folks who were introverts, extroverts and ambiverts. This initial foray into understanding introverts formed the research for my book Publicity for Introverts™.
I never would have thought of myself as being an introvert, even if only partially, as I am outgoing in social situations and like to talk about my thoughts and feelings [just a few of my extrovert tendencies]. That said, I really enjoy and need to spend alone time working, reflecting and recharging my energy [my introvert traits]. I actually never gave this much thought to this until it became part of my client work, but if I had to choose one team, I would have leaned toward extrovert.
Turns out that according to Jung’s analytical psychology each of us has both – traits of extroversion and introversion. One set of traits may be more dominant in individuals, and to make it even more interesting, people do not always behave according to their behavior type all the time.
I’m not a big fan of labels, but I do find them empowering as a tool, and use their associated traits to understanding myself and my clients better. It makes sense that our personalities aren’t all black and white, and it’s clear to me now that I am an ambivert.
How do you identify yourself, and what impact does it have on your marketing and promotion?
The biggest challenge I see with my clients is the way they think and speak to themselves about doing publicity. This includes a lot of ‘shoulds’, ‘ought tos’… and generally, unnecessary and self-defeating thinking.
What makes this self-talk abuse is the comparing yourself to someone else and how they are promoting themselves and their business. The only thing you should be doing is what is right for you, and then finding a way to do it that is empowering, and transforms it from a ‘supposed to’, to a ’want to’ and has you taking action, without the internal struggle.
I am a firm believer that life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.
The key is to figure out your own PR Persona™, which harnesses your own unique strengths and traits, as well as where you have decided you are willing to step out of your comfort zone [for a new action or strategy].
Writing this article made me think of a cartoon book I read years ago entitled, “I Am in Training To Be Tall and Blond”. You don’t need to be in training to be anyone but the best version of yourself!
If you’re interested in getting visibility whether you’re an introvert or someone who is spotlight shy, but the thought of it makes you uncomfortable, then let’s talk. I can show you ways to become more being visible and getting media attention without compromising who you are.
To your publicity success!
with love,
Jane
PS. After I drafted this article, I saw a copy of “I’m in Training To Be Tall and Blonde” sitting on the top of the free bookshelf in my apartment building! Synchronicity?
I just wanted to share with you the most surreal and amusing experience I had the other night, as I think you will appreciate this.
My daughter, a college student, went apple picking and was dropped off at our house to deliver my favorite McCouns – a local variety you only get for a short period in early fall. Yum!
After driving Mel back to her apartment at college the other night, I decided to go through a few local towns before getting on the turnpike to drive home.
As I was driving down the main street of this small New Jersey town, projected on the wall of a building was the image to the left.
Whoa. I did a double take. Was that Audrey Hepburn I was seeing? Good thing there were no other cars around, as my attention was drawn to her, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
You see, what makes this moment even more special and delicious, is that as I was researching material for PR for Introverts, I had just read the following:
“I’m an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did”, Audrey Hepburn was quoted as saying in regard to her role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which she referred to as her biggest challenge.
And yet Hepburn nailed that role and countless other ones, including serving as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador who-though an introvert-tirelessly spoke out for those underprivileged children who couldn’t speak for themselves.
So Audrey had been on my mind recently. Turns out , Highland Park NJ was thinking of her as well. It was outdoor cinema night there and they were showing the movie Charade, in which Hepburn starred alongside Cary Grant.
Coincidence, synchronicity? An introvert moment?However you look at it, it’s a moment I’ll always remember and enjoy. So much so I had to share it.
If Audrey Hepburn can go “feel the fear and do it anyway”, so my friends, can you!
Being the best-kept secret in your market is a disservice to you, your clients and the world. Most brands, like my clients, LOVE what they do. They also create great impact in the lives and businesses of those that they work with.
Mom used to tell me it’s not polite to brag.
There is a lot of talk in the news about introverts lately. It’s the topic of conversation regularly for my publicity shy prospects and clients, and me.
