Page 161 - Free Yourself From

144 It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor

A Natural Way to Market Yourself

Marketing yourself isn’t something you always have to set out to do
in a bold, proactive way. There are other ways to market yourself
that might seem subtler and come more naturally to you.
For example, say you’ve been invited to a meeting of people from
different departments and you’re all there to share advice and exper-
tise. If a problem or question comes up that’s familiar to you, this is
your chance—by all means, let the others know you went through
something similar and this is how you handled it, why you were suc-
cessful, and what you learned that might be applicable here. People
like to learn from other people’s challenges and failures. Sharing sto-
ries is a natural way to let people know what you have done and to
show you can relate to their situation. And people remember stories
and anecdotes more than they remember you telling them you’re
good at one thing or another. Additionally, telling your own story sig-
nals that you’re confident enough in yourself to be open and put
yourself out there. That puts people at ease around you.
There are opportunities to share information about yourself this
way every day in meetings, watercooler conversations, and informal
situations. So keep your eyes open for them and speak up!

My Favorite Marketing Tool—The Elevator Speech

Think of any consumer product you like—cars, toothpaste, snack
crackers—and imagine all of the things the manufacturer wants you to
know about them. A snack cracker might come in a variety of unique
flavors, have health benefits, and have better taste and texture than the
competition. But in a 30-second TV commercial they don’t tell you
the life story of the cracker; they boil their message down to the most
essential things that will create an overall impression about the cracker
and hopefully pique your interest in learning more (or trying them!).