The Art of Self-Promotion
For Founders, Leaders, and Creators
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Self-promotion.
Ugh.
I can already see your eyes rolling, feel your aversion, notice the impulse to find some way around it. No? Maybe it’s just me.
The truth is that the bigger your vision and the further you want to get, the more important self-promotion is to your work.
Be it promoting your company, your offering, or yourself for the next big promotion, the need to put yourself out there and talk what you have to offer is a central part of any ambitious person’s path.
So why does it so often feel like a deeply misaligned experience? For so many of us it feels slimy. Scammy. Inauthentic.
In episode 8 of No Clear Answers, we spoke about what it looks like to self-promote from a place of alignment, empowerment, and authenticity.
It’s an Offer, Not a Request
One of the biggest traps that arises when we promote ourself is viewing it as solicitation.
By solicitation, I mean asking for or trying to obtain something from someone else.
Be it a solicitation for money, a job, or a favor, we put ourselves in a position of powerlessness and others in a position of power, and then make ourselves and them victims to our request.
From this place you abandon your own value and make the whole process feel like, as Corey put it, you’re asking for charity.
Assuming what you’re selling isn’t snake oil, try seeing it from a different angle: that you’re making an offer, not a request.
You are offering someone to purchase, fund, hire, or promote something valuable. And the person, as an empowered adult, may consider that offer and decide what they want to.
While it may feel like you’re asking for help, it’s equally as true that you’re offering to help someone else.
You’re offering someone the opportunity to fund your business and benefit from the upside.
You’re offering someone to get the value of your product or service.
You’re offering someone your help in building their company or achieving their mission.
The difference between requesting and offering is the difference between disempowerment and empowerment—for both sides.
Create Surface Area for Luck
Beyond the obvious need to acquire customers for your product or convince people to hire you, the reason to self-promote is to create surface area for luck to happen to you.
It’s not always clear how self-promotion is going to payoff.
In fact in my experience, it rarely is.
But that’s not the point.
You don’t go out there promoting because you know exactly how it’s going to go. You don’t go out there self-promoting to make one specific thing happen.
You self-promote to create a large surface area for good things to happen to you. For people who are attracted to what you’re doing to opt-in for partnership, collaboration, and business.
In this way, self-promotion is a means to make the unknown work for, rather than against, you.
Purpose over Image
One way I commonly see people orient toward self-promotion is from image.
We want an image like the famous personalities we’re familiar with. Or we want an image where people will like and approve of us and think we’re competent, attractive, and put together.
When I see people self-promote from this place, it feels either fake or stiff as a board. Fake as they’re putting on an appearance, or stiff as a board as they’re overly concerned with not making a mistake.
I see this frequently with startup founders in fundraising. They’re so concerned with getting it right that the life gets sucked out of their pitch.
But take these stiff folks out for a drink, hit them with the right line of questioning, and suddenly they’re filled with passion for what they’re working on!
That purpose, the unique viewpoint your hold on why this work is important to YOU, is the best starting point for self-promotion.
The energy and passion behind it is infectious. And it’s oriented toward the change you want to impact, rather than the way you want to appear.
To shift from image to purpose, get clear on:
What do I have to offer?
Who is it for?
Why do I think it matters?
And remind yourself of that regularly.
Determine your Promoter Archetype
Everyone has opinions on how you should self-promote.
Pitch deck of style X. Investment memo of style Y.
On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Linkedin, Substack.
I want you to start by throwing all of that in the trash.
Before you determine where and how to promote, do some self-inquiry into what’s most energetically aligned for you. Ask yourself:
Are you more extroverted or introverted? Do you get more energy from self-promotional activities you do alone in a room or out in relationship?
Do you enjoy writing? Speaking? Conversation? Audio? Video? What sounds most fun and energizing to you as a starting place?
Are you more of a teacher? Storyteller? Inspirer? Provocateur? How do you like to show up when you share what you do?
What are you trying to do when you self-promote: Convince people? Attract people who already agree? Polarize people?
Getting clarity on all of these points points to the most sustainable AND impactful avenues for you to promote. Energetic alignment is infectious and keeps you going for the long haul.
I prefer to promote in relationship via audio and video, like to teach and tell stories, and want to attract people who my ideas resonate with. Hence my starting the podcast, and using that as the fuel for my entire promotion engine.
Build your Confidence Swipe File
Even the best of us have bad days.
Days where it’s hard to feel good about ourselves, our companies, products, and what we have to offer.
On those days, promotion can feel like a drag. We don’t believe in what we have to promote—so how are we supposed to promote it?
It’s helpful to prepare for those days. Something Corey, Rikki, and I all do is have what I call a Confidence Swipe File.
In Marketing, a swipe file is a file that you store inspiring marketing campaigns in to reference when you’re looking for creative inspiration.
A confidence swipe file is like that, but for your confidence!
Create a file where you store positive feedback, testimonials, and reminders of what you and your offering provide to people.
When you’re in a funk, return to that to remind yourself of why you’re here and what you’re capable of.
Final Thoughts
Self-promotion is a game most of us are inevitably going to play throughout our leadership journeys.
The sooner you acknowledge that, the sooner you can get started on creating alignment around it.
That alignment is beautiful as it frequently points to the most sustainable and impactful path.
So get aligned, and start building surface area for luck!
Cheers,
Justin
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exactly what I needed to read right now 🙏