Being a business owner means putting aside your British reserve and bigging yourself up.
Every tweet, Facebook update, forum comment, brochure, website, email and newsletter is aimed at boosting your profile. But, how you go about that self-promotion will have an impact on how you’re perceived by others.
I am a God
Don’t be ‘that’ person.
You know what I mean. The one person you dread meeting. They are so ‘in to’ themselves, they think they are God. At networking events they shout about their achievements (and it makes you wonder that if they are as successful as they say they are, why are they at the networking event and not sipping cocktails on some far flung tropical beach?), all their online marketing talks about them and only them. But to you and everyone else they come across as being big headed and disingenuous – not someone you’d want to do business with.
Yes, you need to promote yourself, but let others do it for you. Testimonials and online reviews carry far more weight because your company will be seen as trust worthy, authentic and genuine because the praise is coming from third parties.
My products are a-m-a-z-i-n-g
If the only evidence you have for that is your own website copy, people are going to take your claims with a pinch of salt.
But having an independent writer, company or researcher review your product will add extra kudos.
You could even get permission from one of your satisfied clients to be part of a case study. This type of real life example of how you helped someone and the successful outcome shows potential customers not only what your product/service can help them achieve, but also the way you work with your clients.
No really, I am that good
Oh great, the networking bore is back.
Don’t you just hate it when you get stuck with the guy that’s always done everything bigger and better than you?
Their constant bragging makes them the most hated person in the room and does nothing for their reputation and they’re very unlikely to receive the holy grail of marketing – recommendations.
Recommendations are worth their weight in gold. In one conversation you will be conveyed as someone to trust, who is great at what they do and someone who cares about their customers.
So the moral of this article is that third party testimonials, reviews and case studies are like gold dust. Granted, you also need to let people know what you do, but do so through benefits and not bragging if you want to come across as believable, genuine and trustworthy.