00:00 - Sylvia (Host)
Hello everyone, and welcome back to episode 28 of the Serve First, sell Later marketing podcast.
01:43
So today we're going to be diving into a topic that could be a game changer for your practice, and I think many of you might be able to relate to this scenario. You're an expert in your field. You've spent years honing your skills, gaining invaluable experience and really building a wealth of knowledge to serve your clients, but despite all of this, you're not seeing the growth or recognition you deserve. And the question is why? And the answer most likely is connected to not promoting yourself and your practice. You're not sharing your expertise with the world, and that is a missed opportunity. So today I'm going to confront this fear head-on. We're going to explore why the fear of self-promotion exists, the real costs of staying silent and, most importantly, I'm going to share a step-by-step action plan to help you overcome this fear and start promoting yourself effectively. So, whether you're a lawyer, a mediator, collaborative professional, financial professional or other related professional, this episode is packed with insights and practical tips just for you. So why is this so important now? Simply because the longer you wait to solve this problem, the further away you'll be from reaching your ideal practice and for some, unfortunately, they may have to call it quits. So this is a consistent problem that I see amongst many professionals and really can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. But I wanted to create this episode so that you will be able to see how to resolve this problem and how to tackle it one step at a time, because there really is a better way to do this. So if this episode helps even one person get past this hurdle and start taking regular action with their marketing, I'll feel like I've done my job.
03:45
So self-promotion just isn't about bragging or being boastful. It's about sharing your value. It's about sharing your unique perspective and your expertise with those who need it most, and it's about making sure that the people and businesses who could benefit from your skills actually know that you exist. So if you're not promoting yourself, you're not just holding yourself back, you're also preventing those who need your expertise from actually finding you, and that is a disservice to both you and your potential clients. So think about it how many opportunities have you missed because you were too afraid to put yourself out there, and how many clients have gone to your competitors simply because they were more visible? So in this episode, I'm going to break down the psychological barriers that hold you back the tangible and the intangible costs of not promoting yourself and, most importantly, I'm going to give you a clear, actionable plan to start promoting yourself, one step at a time, so it doesn't feel overwhelming. All right, so I think we should start with the basics here.
04:56
Let's start by defining what self-promotion really is. Self-promotion is simply the act of sharing your skills, your achievements and your expertise with others. It's about letting people know what you do and how you can help them. Unfortunately, self-promotion is often misunderstood. Many people think it's about bragging or being boastful, but that's not the case at all. It's about communicating your value and making sure that the people who need your services can find you. So I think the bigger question is why is self-promotion so misunderstood? One reason is that we've been conditioned to believe that talking about ourselves is inherently bad. We're taught to be humble and to let our work speak for itself, but in today's competitive world, I don't think that's enough. If you don't promote yourself, you risk being overlooked, no matter how good you are at what you do.
05:58
So let's talk about some common fears and misconceptions about self-promotion, and I think one of the biggest fears is the fear of judgment. Many professionals worry that if they promote themselves, others will see them as arrogant or self-centered, and this fear can be paralyzing and can prevent you from sharing your achievements and expertise, and I see this a lot with legal and financial professionals. Another common fear is imposter syndrome. Now, I'm sure many of you may be able to relate to this. This is the feeling that you're not as competent as others think you are and that you're going to be exposed as a fraud. So imposter syndrome can make you doubt your abilities and hesitate to promote yourself, even when you have every reason to be confident. So, according to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, many professionals experience anxiety about self-promotion because they fear negative reactions from their peers and they worry that promoting themselves will make them seem less likable or that they're perceived as trying too hard.
07:10
Another study found that women in particular are more likely to experience discomfort with self-promotion, and I'll be honest with you, working with both female and male professionals, I can validate this, because we see this as well with our own client base. Now, this could be attributed to societal expectations that women should be modest and not draw attention to themselves, and, quite frankly, I can relate to this as well From personal experience. This does take time to address and I don't think it really ever goes away entirely, but you can take massive strides in conquering this, and the sooner you do this, the better off you will be. But here's the thing these fears are very common and they can be overcome. But it's important to remember that self-promotion is not just about being arrogant or selfish. It's about sharing your value and making sure that the people who need your expertise can find you. It's about building your reputation and creating opportunities for yourself and your practice, and there is nothing wrong with wanting that. So how do we overcome these fears? It starts with changing our mindset, and we need to see self-promotion as a positive and necessary part of our professional lives and, as I've mentioned before, we really need to recognize that promoting ourselves isn't about bragging, but about communicating our value and making a difference in the lives of others.
08:50
Okay, so I want to shift gears a bit and talk about the severity of this challenge and the it's cost impact. So let's start with missed opportunities. When you don't promote yourself, you miss out on both tangible and intangible benefits. So let me explain this a little bit further. Tangible costs include missed client opportunities. So if potential clients don't know about you, they can't hire you. It's as simple as that. For example, imagine you're a lawyer who specializes in family law. There are countless families out there who need your expertise, but if they don't know you exist, they'll go to someone else. So when I refer to intangible costs, that really includes things like a lack of visibility and recognition, because when you don't promote yourself, you do miss out on opportunities to build your reputation and establish yourself as an expert in your field, and this can affect growth and your ability to attract high quality clients. So, for instance, a divorce financial analyst who doesn't share their insights and success stories might be overlooked in favor of a competitor who's more visible and who's more vocal.
10:09
And speaking of competitors, let's talk about how they can take advantage of your silence. So in today's market, those who promote themselves effectively often gain a significant edge. That's simply the reality. They get the speaking engagements, they get the media coverage and the client referrals that could have been yours. So let's take an example A mediator who regularly shares their expertise on social media and maybe speaks at industry events is more likely to be top of mind when someone needs mediation services, and I know that sounds simple, but it really is effective and it does not need to be difficult.
10:56
It is a simple process to build visibility for your practice, but once again, it takes the courage to be able to overcome any of those visibility blocks that you may be experiencing. So I've seen this happen time and time again. Competitors who are proactive about self-promotion often become the go-to experts in their field, and so they build strong networks, they start to attract more clients and they grow their practices faster. Meanwhile, those who stay silent struggle to keep up, and I also want to point out that being the loudest doesn't mean someone is more qualified than you, but they often win the business over those who stay silent. I'll let you think about that a little bit, and I want you to honestly ask yourself how this is impacting your business. So it's not just about you and your competitors.
11:59
The reality is, not promoting yourself can be a disservice yes, you heard that right A disservice to potential clients who need your expertise. So there are people out there who are looking for exactly what you offer, but they can't find you because you're not visible, and by not promoting yourself, you're denying them the opportunity to benefit from your skills, from your experience in helping others just like them, and your knowledge. So I want to share a story to illustrate this point. I've worked with a divorce financial professional who was incredibly knowledgeable and had a real passion for helping her clients navigate the financial aspects of divorce. But, quite honestly, she was really hesitant to promote herself and, as a result, many potential clients didn't know she existed and they just went to other professionals who were more visible, and this was very frustrating for her. So as we started working together, she started to promote herself more actively. She shared her expertise through blog posts, through social media and speaking engagements. Soon she began to attract more clients who were in desperate need of her services and she was really pleasantly surprised to see the turnaround. By simply taking these steps and these clients that she started to attract, they benefited greatly from her substantial expertise and her practice grew significantly as a result.
13:39
So just to recap here not promoting yourself comes with some very significant costs. You miss out on client opportunities, you lack visibility and recognition and you allow your competitors to gain an edge and, more importantly, you're doing a disservice to those who need your expertise most. So I want to pull this together and help you create an action plan to overcome this fear and start promoting yourself effectively. Let's start with developing a strategy. So creating a self-promotion strategy is all about setting clear, achievable goals and really just working towards them in a simple fashion. So think about what you want to accomplish. Do you want to attract more clients? Do you want to build your reputation? Do you want to get more speaking engagements? Whatever your goals are, I want you to write them down and make them specific. So, for example, instead of saying I want more clients, you can say something like I want to gain five new clients in the next three months.
14:45
So, once you've decided on what you want to tackle, you need to adopt an educational approach to self-promotion. Instead of trying to sell yourself, I want you to focus on educating your audience. Share valuable content that helps your potential clients. This could be in the form of social media updates, videos, webinars, in-person speaking engagements. The key here is to provide information that is useful and relevant to your audience. Now, just to give you a quick example when we put on workshops virtual workshops I can't tell you how many people will write us back or send us a message on LinkedIn to say thank you so much for that workshop. I found it so valuable and I learned so much, and so the point I'm trying to make here is the more value you give in terms of educating your audience, the more appreciative they will be of you and your expertise. Okay, I hope that's resonating with you and it's making sense.
15:58
So let me share another quick example. Perhaps you're a family mediator, so you want to share tips on parenting plans and the importance of them during a divorce. You want to share tips on parenting plans and the importance of them during a divorce. If you're an estate planning lawyer, you could explain common legal issues around wills and how to best handle them. So building confidence in self-promotion is really, really critical. Start small and gradually build your efforts. As another quick example, you can begin by sharing one educational post a week on your social media platform. Whichever platform you choose to use, if you have more than one, post it on more than one, and as you get more comfortable, I want you to increase the frequency. Seek feedback from trusted colleagues or mentors to improve your approach. Remember, the more you practice, the more confident you will become. And I want to share a quick success story One of our clients who's a divorce mediator, was initially very hesitant about self-promotion. She started by sharing simple tips on divorce mediation on her LinkedIn profile and, as she gained confidence with posting more frequently each week, she started getting booked to speak on webinars and in-person events, and from there it just grew. And so today she's a lot more confident and she is a recognized expert in her field and has seen a significant increase in her client base. So this is possible. It can be done one step at a time.
17:31
Okay, let's discuss the role of social media in self-promotion. So social media platforms like LinkedIn, facebook, instagram, youtube X they are all powerful tools for reaching a wide audience. So make sure that your profiles are professional and they are up to date. Think about sharing industry-related content, engage with your audience and participate in those relevant discussions. So, for example, on LinkedIn, you can join groups related to your field and contribute to conversations. This not only increases your visibility, but also establishes you as a thought leader. You can also contribute by commenting on posts of others to share your thought leadership and get noticed.
18:19
So I've had the pleasure of working with many professionals who overcame this fear of self-promotion and saw some really amazing results. So it is possible, one step at a time, and I think overcoming the fear of self-promotion involves developing a very clear strategy using an educational approach first, building confidence through practice and leveraging social media effectively. I really wanted to just provide you with a quick action plan, with some simple steps, and I hope I hope that this episode was able to do that for you. So I want you to think about what's possible for you right now. Imagine being the go-to expert in your field. You're confidently sharing your knowledge, you're connecting with clients who need your help and you're watching your practice grow. But, more importantly, you're doing this in a way that feels authentic to you. And so, as I mentioned, these steps are not complicated. They start with what we talked about today.
19:21
Self-promotion is not about bragging. It's about letting people know how you can help them. Your skills and your knowledge can really make a difference, and it's important to share them. So think about what can happen when you overcome the fear of self-promotion. Imagine the clients you'll attract, the opportunities you're going to find and the recognition that you're going to get, and every step you take towards promoting yourself actually brings you closer to that dream or ideal practice.
19:54
So I hope this episode inspires you to start making changes today. Begin with small actions, be consistent and build your confidence over time. Use the tips and strategies we discussed to show your expertise and, most importantly, believe in your own value. The world needs what you have to offer and it's really time to let them know. So thank you for tuning in today and I do hope you found this episode valuable and, of course, if you did, I'd be honored. If you rate or review our show and if you're ready to take the first step towards overcoming your fear of self-promotion, start by setting a small goal for yourself this week. Maybe it's posting an article on LinkedIn or reaching out to a potential client. Whatever it is, take that step today. Thanks for joining in and we'll see you next time.