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Word Count: 489 Getting Started With Easy Self-Promotion
All selling starts with self-promotion. Before anyone will give you money,
they have to know something about you. They need to feel comfortable with you
and to trust you. This means that they have to get used to seeing your name and
your story.
When you're starting out with a new small business, you may feel uneasy about
self-promotion. After all, bragging is wrong, right?
If this is you, that's fine. You can become a superb self-promoter without
changing who you are. You find it difficult because you've been told stuff like:
"Good work speaks for itself", and "Do a good job and recognition
will come", and "Don't blow your own horn". Those aphorisms may
have worked 150 years ago. They don’t work today.
There's a reason Pizza Hut and Macdonald's advertise, advertise, advertise.
They have to do it to survive. If they have to do it, when they’re so highly
visible, it makes sense that you need to promote yourself as well. Everyone's
busy today. We've all got short attention spans.
YOU must tell people who you are, and what you do. If you don't do it, it
won’t get done, and that would be a tragedy, because you'll miss out on dozens
of opportunities which would have flowed into your life as a natural outcome of
your promotional efforts.
Creative self-promotion is an art, and it all starts with your attitude.
=> Enthusiasm: decide to have FUN with self-promotion
Your attitude must be based on enthusiasm. Nothing sells like enthusiasm. Are
you enthusiastic? If not, tell yourself that you are.
Keep telling yourself this at least 15 times a day for the next month --- yes, this is an affirmation, and affirmations work. Put a little note on the corner of your computer monitor, or on the dashboard of your car: "ENTHUSIASM--- I am enthusiastic!"
Your second affirmation for the next month is: "Self-promotion is
fun!"
You may feel silly at first, repeating your affirmations, but if you find
marketing difficult (promotion is an integral part of marketing) it's because
you're letting your attitude get in your way. And because your attitude is in
your mind, you can and must change your mind.
So for the next month, put the proper foundation under your future marketing
endeavors by working on your attitude. At the end of the month, you'll see a
real shift, I promise.
Author of many books, including Making the Internet Work for Your Business,
copywriter and journalist Angela Booth also writes copy for businesses large and
small, and consults on search engine marketing. Angela has written copy for
companies in many industries, ranging from technology and real estate to the
jewellery trade. Her clients include major corporations like hp (Hewlett
Packard), WestPac Bank, and Acer Computer. For copywriting services and
marketing advice contact Angela at angelabooth.com
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