Don't be up yourself!

Reading my bible is a daily challenge, but it's one thing I enjoy, but only after the exercise. Anyway this particular day I read in Proverbs 27:2. Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you. I stopped and thought about this for some time and realized the truth is especially important in a business marketing context.

God, is stating that we should not self promote, but let others do it for us, and in my experience this is true, making sales easily, faster and getting those all important calls or enquiries and we must resist the temptation of thinking that we should tell people how good we are. it's like our CV that's us self promoting, and that's why prospective employers contact and interview referees and past employers. A good book written specifically about this was by Al Ries "The fall of Advertising and the rise of PR" His premise in his book was that large firms that appear to have built their position or reputation by creative advertising, actually built it early in their life cycle on the back of some very good PR and all that advertising does is maintain or strengthen that market perception.

... So then how can we improve our reputation?

1. If you have a LinkedIn page then get other contacts to write recommendations. This is very easy to do if you've taken the time already to connect with many business contacts.
2. Join networking groups, like the chamber of commerce, The Cycling Cluster, BNI and get to know other business people that will actively recommend you.
3. Build a blog so that people the ability to comment on your posts, this has others see that you have people following you or social proof (take a hint people write nice things please ;-)
4. Post in Facebook and Twitter regularly asking questions that inspire others to comment, just don't be like me and go too contraversal
5. Here's a big one: DO A GOOD JOB! all the tricky tactics in the world don't work unless you or your business aren't delivering good value.
6. Avoid all tactics that have you stand out from the crowd, they'll be the reason people remember you, for potentially all the wrong reasons
7. Become world famous, write a blog, post in the social networking arena, or like my good friends at concentrate.co.nz, write articles for the local media.
8. Be easy to talk about, my anadotal evidence as a marketer involved in networking groups, is the businesses that are the easist to understand get the most referrals. This requires a deeper understanding of what you do for your clients, not what you do! (If you need help call me 03-974-9230 and I'll steer you in the right direction)

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