Become a Shameless Self-Promoter (Without Becoming Obnoxious)
Founder + Partner + CEO
Published Tuesday, February 4, 2020
One of my favorite self-promoters is the late Pooch Hunter. He was a leading Realtor in the Central Indiana area. Pooch was infamous for his big personality and giving everyone he met a promotional pen. The Pooch Pen, as he called it, was nothing special but shamelessly promoted his real estate business and his love for animal rescue (which is how he received the name Pooch). It eventually became expected and cherished that when you saw Pooch Hunter you got a pen. As stupid and simple as it was – it worked.
We are told growing up that talking about and promoting yourself is a bad thing. Well, it is not. In fact, it is the only way you will make it as an entrepreneur. All great companies and products “talk about themselves”. One of the greatest myths about success is that eventually your business, abilities, or products are “so fantastic” they will get discovered and be embraced by the masses. It’s simply not true. How can people’s lives be changed by a product if no one knows the magical benefits it offers? Even the world’s most influential, life-changing products like the cell phone, the car, and the refrigerator needed some form of bragging to be discovered.
Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial, yet most underutilized, marketing tools the majority of business owners have at their immediate disposal. At ScreenBroidery we offer apparel and promotional products that can help promote you, your story, and your product. We look at a lot of things when pitching self-promotional products to our customers. Five components that made the Pooch Pen successful and will make all self-promotions successful are:
Be Interesting
Be Authentic
Add Value
Be Creative
Be Consistent
