Marketers are notoriously bad at marketing themselves and yet I believe, it’s more important than ever to put your best foot forward. Marketing is a fast changing, growing area that is vital to most businesses and yet it’s also one of the first departments to be impacted when the market contracts or budgets get cut.
All marketers need to ensure that you invest sometime time in promoting yourself for the following reasons:
- You are only as good as people know you are
- Marketing is a competitive and measurable industry, you need to demonstrate your value
- When other people in the business know you are capable in your role, it will gain their trust and grow your influence
- Thought leaders benefit from industry recognition and are more likely to receive exciting opportunities for collaboration, input and more.
When I talk about marketing yourself, I’m not implying you should tell everyone you meet how good you are. Rather I recommend taking small subtle steps to demonstrate your value, ensure you are involved in industry conversations and that people making decisions know who you are.
What does a good marketer look like? I posed this question to a group of marketers recently and this is what they said:
- They have an updated LinkedIn profile (this should actually include a few sentences on what you do!)
- They stay up to date with industry changes
- They are often seen attending events and networking
- They share their knowledge and ideas and give back to others
- They have an opinion and are known for a specialty or interest area
It’s a long-term thing
Just like any other marketing project, marketing yourself is not something that you can do once and then stop. It requires some thinking upfront and a regular commitment to make it part of how you operate.
There are lots of first steps you can take (like checking your LinkedIn profile and giving it an update), but today I’d like to leave you with three ideas on things you can build into your week so that you can benefit over the long term.
3 things you can to start doing today
- Share your wins:
Make sure you have a way to share your wins both within your team and with your manager. Some teams have a dedicated Slack channel, others start their weekly meeting by discussing wins and there is lots of value in a team environment to share these positive vibes and acknowledge each other’s success. In your regular meetings with your manager, try to incorporate a section where you share your own wins. Remember, if you don’t tell them, they might not know the extent of your brilliance!
- Invest some time in LinkedIn
Invest some time in LinkedIn, it’s a tool that should be working for you. Start by visiting your profile and making sure it’s up to date, that you have a professional, recent photo and that you include at least a little bit about what your current role involves. Also consider your connections, and make sure you make a deliberate effort to grow these over time. Make sure you are connected with past and current colleagues and each week add people you meet (think of who you have met with, networked with or been introduced to). If you do a little on here each week, it will stay up to date and keep you connected.
- Read LinkedIn and Comment:
This is worthy of its own action as I’m really impressed at the amount and general quality of the posts on LinkedIn at the moment and it’s a great place to stop by to get updates on what’s happening in the industry. I recommend checking in with your LinkedIn feed a few times a week and better yet, leave a thoughtfully crafted comment as a way of starting a base contribution. Or if you’ve got other ideas, write your own post and start sharing your own content.
These three steps are easy, quick wins to start having some involvement in the industry and gradually raise your profile. Don’t forget to
add me as a connection if you haven’t already!