Effective Ideas for Self Promotion: It’s Not ALL About You

Have you ever answered the call of a telemarketer, trying to sell you a product you have absolutely no use for?

You politely tell them you’re not interested and a week later get a call for the same product using the same sales pitch.

Don’t be like that telemarketer!

We all want to succeed – gain attention, fans, followers. And yeah, sure – it’s a cutthroat competitive business world and if you want to be heard, then aggressive self promotion is called for!

But is there such thing as self promotion being too aggressive?

Think about that telemarketer that just called and see if you can answer that question… here are some ideas for self promotion.

Be Aggressive, but Don’t Be Annoying

You know what you want, so go after it!

But be careful – the last thing you want to do is appear needy and desperate.

Of course you want customers, and of course you want to make money, but don’t make it blatantly obvious that all you’re after is a cheap buck. Persistence is key, as long as you’re relevant. Don’t just tell them to come check out your business – give them a reason to!

There are thousands of businesses on the web shouting, “Hey! Come check us out!” Be the one that stands out.

Introduce yourself, but let the customer check you out a bit before you go into full force attack mode. Take the time to target your potential followers. Show that you are interested in them and why they specifically might be interested in your business, rather than just any other random guy or gal on Twitter.

Show them your confidence that once they catch a glimpse, they’re going to want to learn more.

And if one method isn’t working, try something else. People get easily turned off by repetitive pushing after they’ve made it clear they’re not interested, and you don’t want to push them over the edge, because once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.

Be Respectable, But Don’t Be Silent

Saying nothing at all is just as ineffective as saying too much, so make sure you keep talking. You don’t want people to forget about you!

Sometimes though, you need to let your content do the talking. You can brag about your company and talk yourself up all you want, but it means nothing until you can prove that you have something to offer.

So talk to your potential customers. Build relationships with them. Make them WANT to learn more about you, rather than feeling like they have to. Try not to be repetitive.

If one thing doesn’t reel them in, try something else. For your current customers, be sure to thank them and say hello every once in a while. They don’t need to be reminded by an ALL CAPS TWEET with seven exclamation points talking about how great you are every five minutes. They already know!

Just make sure they don’t forget.

Some Things to Consider…

Okay, so while you’re trying out all these ideas for self promotion, here are some things to remember:

• Promote your business at a reasonable frequency. Not too much. Not too little. Consider Social networks and email blasts.
• Show interest in your customer, not just what you want to get out of it.
• Have something valuable to offer. If you have a great product, word of mouth will kick in and the promotional process will fuel itself!
• Don’t just tell people what to do, make them WANT to do it!

That’s it for me, but now let’s turn it over to you…

Have you got any promotional pet peeves? Have you ever had a business totally turned you away from them rather than towards them?