Whether you are a speaker, entrepreneur, or work for a small business, learning how to market yourself is one of the smartest things you can do. Marketing yourself is essential for building your audience, winning over leads, and forming relationships with clients – no matter how great you are at what you do.
Ready to level-up your self-promotion? Below we’ll cover nine useful steps to help you find your audience and share your expertise with them through intentional self-marketing strategies. In addition, these nine steps help you build trust among peers in your industry so you can connect with fellow experts and gain clients.
When you learn how to market yourself to build your brand, utilize social media platforms, and develop relationships, you’re well on your way to changing the world.
- Step 1 – Find Something That You Love
- Step 2 – Improve Your Expertise
- Step 3 – Find Your Audience
- Step 4 – Share What You Learned
- Step 5 – Build a Community Online
- Step 6 – Don’t Be Afraid To Speak In Public
- Step 7 – Share Your Stage With Others
- Step 8 – Network, Network, Network
- Step 9 – Organize Your Schedule
Marketing Yourself Step-by-Step
Self-promotion is critical because it allows others to understand what you bring to the table. No one cares who you are – they want to know what you can do for them. If potential clients don’t know about your product or service, they won’t know that you have the solution to their pain point, problem, or issue.
By following the steps below, you will discover how to articulate effective ways to market yourself and inch closer to success in sustainably promoting yourself. So let’s start at the foundation and build up from there.
Step 1 – Find Something That You Love
The first step in learning how to market yourself entails looking inside to find your talents, passions, and interests. To do so, ask yourself the following:
- What three words come to mind when someone asks what my talents are?
- What jobs or hobbies am I naturally successful in?
- What areas of life do I gravitate to?
Once you have a good size list, organize the topics from what you love most to least. Then, with the top three as your starting point, ask yourself which one is your most significant area of expertise.
Step 2 – Improve Your Expertise
One way to improve your expertise while learning how to market yourself is by gaining a certification specific to the area you work in. Sign up for courses, attend workshops, and dedicate at least one hour daily to read articles specific to your industry.
By following these strategies, you build your brand through knowledge and a growing immersion in your industry. There are various other ways to grow in your expertise, such as:
- Hiring a mentor
- Shadowing someone in your field
- Tracking your progress to determine which areas to focus on
Improvement is a journey that never ends. Set attainable yet challenging goals to succeed one step at a time and give yourself a deserving pat on the back in the process.
Step 3 – Find Your Audience
Knowing how to market yourself and spending hours engaging people on social media is helpful to the degree that you grow to understand your target audience – even (or especially) as they evolve. To effectively promote yourself online, you must conduct consistent market research. What is your audience’s:
- Average age
- Primary interest
- Online habit
Answering these questions will help you understand your audience at a deeper level. Once you know your audience, you can use your social media accounts to engage them in a relatable way. It may seem time-consuming to research your target demographic so granularly, but doing so enables you to effectively advertise yourself so it’s easier to build revenue.
Step 4 – Share What You Learned
When it comes to creating a brand, content marketing is non-negotiable. There are many creative ways to market yourself and get your name in lights online. Sharing what you learned comes back to promoting your personal brand, so be creative and have fun with it. A few ways to do so are through:
- Set up a speaker website
- Add email marketing
- Create short videos
- TikTok – here’s a full guide on how to grow on TikTok!
- Youtube
- Etc.
- Share short form copy to document your progress
- Instagram – here’s a guide on becoming an Instagram Influencer!
- Mini blog posts
- Etc.
This step may take brainstorming before diving in, so take your time but don’t forget — execution is imperative.
Step 5 – Build A Community Online
As you consider how to market yourself, your area of expertise will largely define where you build your online community and, therefore, what type of social media you use. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram are just a few options for social channels with pros and cons unique to your needs.
Building your LinkedIn account is similar to creating an online resume or business card. However, Facebook is a much more casual way to share your expertise, as traditional websites have primarily taken over Facebook Pages. Instagram is often used for lifestyle vlogging rather than simply sharing images.
Creating a following looks different on each channel but your strategy should always center around user engagement. The amount of time you invest largely determines how quickly you build your following and how effective the results are.
Step 6 – Don’t Be Afraid To Speak In Public
If the slow build of an online presence is intimidating, face your fears all at once and give a TED Talk.
Speaking for TEDx can sound nerve-wracking – but you don’t have to do it alone. Here at Thought-Leader we provide personalized coaching, a team to help you every step of the way, and are equipped to help you land that TEDx Talk! TEDx may be your next step if you are a potential speaker wanting to reach new stages.
Step 7 – Share Your Stage With Others
When you think about effective marketing, do you immediately wonder how to market your skills? Of course, this is a large part, but if you focus strictly on the question “How can I market myself?” you’ll miss collaborating with an intriguing community.
Drawing in the participation of others is crucial to your success and the longevity of your career. Others will love to collaborate with you by creating podcasts, giving them space to write on your site, starting a forum where the community can ask questions, and a myriad of other options. So share your stage, build others up, and remember that it takes a team to be successful long-term.
Step 8 – Network, Network, Network
The importance of networking cannot be overstated when you’re strategizing how to market yourself. Interacting with new people leads to new opportunities further down the road. At any stage of your journey, networking can help get you to the next level.
Intentionally sign up for industry events like trade shows or conferences, meet with others in your field, and introduce yourself to everyone you can. These self-marketing ideas can take you further and faster because you now have a network of individuals around you.
Additionally, the more people you meet, the higher your chances of becoming a known expert in your field. Gaining a well-rounded sphere of influence will help give you a solid understanding of your topic and its nuances.
The right network can take your brand to an even bigger audience, give you the credibility to become a keynote speaker at future events, and spread your message faster than ever.
Step 9 – Organize Your Schedule
Each of the above points is crucial to marketing yourself. Each step is interconnected and they play off each other. Now that you know these eight steps, it’s crucial to execute them with this last point: Organize your schedule to ensure you make time for each one on a regular basis.
Because it’s so important to make time for all these steps, a well-organized calendar is essential. Organization is vital, whether it means you purchase a paper calendar, hang a whiteboard on your wall, or use the calendar on your phone or computer.
More Self-Marketing Ideas You Can Use
Whether you want to use personal branding to make more money as an author, a speaker, or an entrepreneur, there are a few more tips you may find useful in these situations while strategizing how to market yourself.
People often consider marketing to be a solid social media presence and well-defined brand. While this is part of good marketing, three contributing factors should be considered: Your logo, bio, and promotional materials
Each of these plays a unique role in your marketing efforts and can drastically impact your influence on the audience you hope to reach.
Create A Brand With A Logo
Having a brand with a definite logo makes you stand out from the crowd. You may want to consider creating your own logo or brainstorming ideas for one. If graphic design doesn’t happen to be your area of expertise, consider hiring this part out because a quality logo is critical.
A great logo is:
- Simple
- Easy to understand
- Can be remembered
For example, while wondering how to market yourself, think of successful brand logos – like the Nike swoosh logo. It may seem like just a check mark but because of its strong branding, the swoosh is an effective marketing tool. When people see the symbol, they immediately think of the Nike brand.
Write A Compelling Bio
Your bio details all your accomplishments so it’s critical when planning how to market yourself. Write a formal bio in third-person and don’t be shy about your achievements. Your bio is also concise way to share a snippet about you on various channels such as:
- Social media
- Website
- Guest post author bio
Again, if copywriting isn’t your area of expertise, don’t miss out on this way to conduct self-promotion. Find a great copywriter, share your shining moments, and let them create a compelling bio so you can share your expertise.
Get Promotional Materials
If you are a public speaker or on your way to becoming one, using materials like brochures, business cards, or newsletters can be helpful for in-person events. A plethora of websites let you create professional-looking business cards.
Brochures and newsletters are helpful for greeters to hand out at your speaking engagements. In a worst case scenario where your audience members stuff them into a bag during your event, they’ll find them later and remember your speech.
Well-crafted promotional materials can go a long way in upscaling your marketing and making it memorable.
What’s The Next Step In Promoting Yourself?
It’s essential that the next step you take, you personalize to your specific goal. While it’s up to each individual what strategy is best for them to follow, the crucial point is to stay focused on the ultimate goal.
How do you maintain focus, day in and day out? Creating a clear plan to achieve it. The above nine steps are yours to use in any way that best supports you, your needs, and the success of your goals.
Promoting your work takes time and effort but the results are always worth it. Marketing is not just about building a brand or bringing in more revenue, although both are positive factors. In addition, effective marketing has the potential to reach the masses and change individuals’ lives – and the world – for the better.
You believe in your product, your service, and your business. That’s why you want to understand more fully how to market yourself and reach those potential customers. Now it’s time to believe in yourself enough to take your next step.
Do you need to flesh out what you love or find your audience? Perhaps it’s time to share what you learned via an online community or even speaking in public. Whatever your next step is, take it boldly — you are now equipped to do so!
