Look at Me! Can You Say Those Words?

I just spoke for a local business group the other day. The topic was: Successful Marketing on a Shoestring Budget. And let me tell you, I am fired up! I’m fired up because people are actively looking for the message I speak. I’m only saying this because I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life uncovering the core of marketing and my message’s time has come.

One of the keys to great marketing is the ability to be self-promotional. That is, the ability to say, “Look at me!” After my presentation, a couple walked up to me. They told me they were 18 months into their new restaurant. Ironically enough, before the speech, another business owner happened to bring up how wonderful this couple’s restaurant was and that people from outside the area plan special trips to eat there. This man was not telling me about his business but, instead, about how wonderful this couple’s restaurant is. Now that’s great marketing!

To give you a little background, during the talk I spent a fair amount of time discussing the art of self-promotion. People connect with people, not companies. It’s the people that make up the business. Therefore, you need to tell people how great you are. You need to share with people stories about your past that brought you to where you are today. You need to engage.

When the restaurant couple introduced themselves to me I said, “Hey, I heard about your restaurant from another attendee. They said people are traveling quite a ways and your restaurant is really becoming a destination.” The wife replied meekly, “Oh, really?” She seemed to be flattered. Her husband said, “Heck yeah! We’re the best,” practicing his skills of being self-promotional.

I’ve talked about this before and you’ll hear it from me again and again. We need self-promotional business leaders. We were raised to: mind our own business, don’t be pushy, don’t talk about yourself because it’s arrogant. I’m here to tell you to start screaming your story to the mountaintops! Some of you struggle with that. If you are that person e-mail me and I can lead to resources that will help you identify your talking points. There’s a system to everything, and yes, a system to comfortably talk about yourself so you can feel great saying, Look At ME!

Joe Kiedinger –

ACTION PLAN: If you’re working on your brand story, which is a reflection of you, we can help you affordably. Check out PM Institute on our website for upcoming classes!