How to Market Yourself Without Looking Like An Idiot

How to Market Yourself Without Looking Like An Idiot

When is the last time you thought about how you market yourself? Some people have a fear of putting themselves out there and some people just look idiotic or pushy, while doing it.

Marketing yourself will always be important, and here’s why:

• In selling, you must first convince someone that you are worthy, even before you convince them that your company is worthy.
• Personal branding has been all abuzz lately and for good reason. When people know what you stand for and what you are about, they are more likely to return to you in the future.
• Business and potential business. It’s all about the money, honey.

Next, let’s examine the ways a person markets themselves:

• Appearance.
• Reputation – Everything you do or have done
• Work – Yes, your work ethic can haunt you or help you.

Basically, the only time you aren’t marketing yourself is when you are either asleep or at home alone watching the Bachelor (assuming you aren’t tweeting about how much you watch the Bachelor).

Now to the good stuff, the meat of this blog post. How do you do this and not look like an idiot? How do you ‘push’ yourself without being pushy? Here are a few methods that should help:

• Conversation is key – if you are talking with someone else, listen. Engage and ask them questions. Get to know them and forget for a second that you are talking to them with an agenda (even if your brain is saying, “SELL, SELL, SELL!”)

• Limit bragging noise – Listen to yourself as you are talking, don’t brag too much and don’t talk too long. If you hear yourself listing your resume, name dropping or listing your skills, make sure you include an example and relate it to the conversation. And if you are dying to mention that you worked for ABC company last year and the opportunity doesn’t come up, please don’t even mention it. You are better off proving that you are a skilled person by speaking intelligently, offering others suggestions and engaging other’s opinions. Plus, you can always direct them to your LinkedIn, and that just looks smarter all around.

• Ask the person for their contact info: email, Linked In or even Twitter. Tell them you would like contact them in the future. Be conversational and be sure to let them know how to contact you.

Remember, if you are at an event or meeting someone that you would like to network with, then chances are, they are there to network too. If, on the other hand, you are reaching out to someone to network with them via social media or in person, remember what you bring to the table. Perhaps that person will benefit from networking with you too. Part of the “not looking like an idiot” is to realize your purpose, stay focused and be able to convey that purpose.

I hope this helps you! I would love to hear your feedback. Tweet to me @rockpolishpr or email me at info@rockpolishpr.com.