Sunday, March 18, 2007
Bragging101: Self-Promotion as a State of Mind
A few days ago, I was enjoying a weight-lifting “maximum sculpt” class at my local gym. OK, maybe “enduring” would be a better word. Our regular instructor “Valerie” had arranged for “Carlos” to substitute. Carlos’s style was somewhat different from Valerie’s but he was a great instructor. We got an awesome workout. As we were entering the final stretch (literally), Carlos said, “Valerie will be back next week. I promise! I’m sure you’ll be glad – I know my class was different.” Huh? Everybody loved Carlos. A few people muttered that they liked him better than Valerie. Others said they liked having a change of pace. Okay, I have a confession to make. I told Carlos he made a mistake. Bad move. But I couldn’t help it. Carlos violated one of my Bragging101 steps: “Never apologize!” OK, if you step on my toe, please say “Excuse me.” If your dog jumps on me, say you’re sorry (we both know you probably think it’s cute). Professional apologies are different. My teeth start grinding when a speaker says, “I’m probably putting you to sleep.” Or, “You all really want to go home right now, don’t you?” Or worst of all in Seattle, “I’m sure you’d rather be outside on this beautiful day when we’re not having rain for a change.” Give the best speech you possibly can. If you don’t think you have something great to offer, refuse to speak in the first place. Don’t insult your audience. We wanted to hear you! We made a choice. Nobody forced us. So what does this advice have to do with copywriting? Everything. When you put your copy out there, you have to be proud. No holding back. When you say, “Gee, I’m not sure I’m that great” your readers think, “So why am I wasting my time with you? I must be an idiot.” Wrong! They’re smart people. They made a wise decision to learn more about you and maybe hire you. |
Labels: bragging, confidence, self-promotion
# posted by Cathy Goodwin @ 9:58 AM 
