How To Get Noticed For Your Work

We all know that if you want to get noticed for your work, sooner or later you’ll have to market yourself. There’s no way around it. But the real question is how do you market yourself a) effectively and b) without sounding sleazy as hell? Turns out it’s a pretty common problem.

Marketing ourselves does not come naturally to most of us. Effective self-promotional strategies are all about finding the balance between demonstrating your skills and boasting about them. Too much self-promotion could easily come across as bragging – and that’s not good for your reputation. However, if you avoid any kind of self-promotion you could miss out on valuable opportunities to boost your career. 

Now, here are some simple ways to market yourself without really marketing yourself. And we start by explaining the most important one using Ridley Scott’s epic historical drama.

How To Get Noticed For Your Work: Brand Everything You Do

If you watched the movie Gladiator (and I sincerely hope you did) you know it can be described as a simple battle between good and evil. The hero, a betrayed General, now slave/gladiator is Maximus Decimus. He is famous for leading armies and conquering nations. His fearsome personal brand reputation goes before him. 

So when it comes to the new evil emperor to try and silence him, he can’t merely kill him as his legend will continue. Instead, he has to try and humiliate him and thus shatter his personal brand. As Proximo says memorably: “You have a great name. He must kill your name before he kills you.” And that right there is the essence of personal branding strength.

While it’s easy to assume that a “brand” is something reserved for big enterprises and companies, the truth is that everyone has a brand – even if they’re not aware of it. Your brand is essentially your reputation, or the perception that other people have of you, or your company. 

Each of the strategies you use to “sell yourself”, from your CV to your website and business cards, should all represent your unique “brand”. However, the brand is not just a logo or a product. It is a way of understanding your business as a whole.

Personal branding is powerful because it is based on authenticity and human connection. To get noticed for your work you must find your communication tone, build trust and tell your professional story from the heart. The motto here is “you are what you say you are.” So what are you going to say? 

How To Get Noticed For Your Work: Use The Right Social Accounts

Social media isn’t just for sharing photos of your breakfast and arguing over new Marvel projects. But you already knew that, didn’t you? 

There are plenty of promotional methods available that focus on improving your reputation offline. Things like networking or custom-made CVs. Still, many accomplished people today will say they have the best success with self-marketing on social media. 

Now, as with many things in the marketing world, you’ll need to determine which channels are most likely to get you the right attention. And you have to do that before you create your profiles. With close to 3 billion people active on social media in the world, I can confidently say that your target demographic will be using at least one platform regularly.

Facebook and Twitter are great places to start. However, if you want to get noticed for your work you might also decide to expand your reach into other, more niche groups too. If you’re trying to draw attention to your creative accomplishments as a self-employed artist, for instance, you might get a DeviantArt, Pinterest, Instagram, or even a Tiktok (its audience is massive and still growing) profile too. Of course, each of these platforms is designed more exclusively for “visual” businesses.

Just remember, no matter what network you’re using, eye-catching images will always draw more attention than plain text. Spend some time to put these visuals together, especially on Instagram, which was founded on the idea of improving mobile photos.

How To Get Noticed For Your Work: Share Your Wisdom

Sharing your wisdom doesn’t diminish your impact; it amplifies it. By sharing what you know and not keeping it for yourself, you create opportunities in your life. And most importantly, you and your work get noticed. 

Write prolifically about what you know to get your name in front of people as an expert. Contribute articles and blog posts any time you have an opportunity. Make sure it’s informative, well written, timely, and valuable to readers.

Identify opportunities to formally share your expertise and thoughts. Think about topics on which you could speak and who needs to know about you and what you have to offer. You can speak in person or online. You can record a YouTube video or be a guest expert for a webinar. 

You can package your wisdom and how-to advice (on any subset and in any field) into online training programs and courses or via more traditional methods such as books, speeches, seminars, coaching, and consulting. You can make our impact with what you know – and, yes, you can get paid for it, too. 

But listen carefully because this is the one that will smack you in the face. You can give people knowledge for free, or charge them for it, but very few will in fact take action. They will consume your knowledge and do absolutely nothing with it. So, to get noticed for your work and really make an impact – your goal should be not just sharing your wisdom but coaching people on how to use it. 

Get Out Of Your Own Way 

Sometimes we become the biggest roadblock to our greatest vision. When it comes to promoting work, usually, it’s ego and self-doubt that get in the way of kicking major goals. Sounds familiar? 

Truth be told, you would be able to tackle almost anything life throws at you if you could better manage your own expectations and limiting beliefs about yourself. In other words, if you could get out of your own way. The internal barriers you create rob you of the energy and passion you need to succeed. 

If you feel this creeping into your world, try taking a step back. Look at the bigger picture. Often, the vision is far bigger than you are and your purpose far greater than you, so feel free to stop thinking about all the reasons why someone won’t hire you (the slightly peculiar sense of humor, funky hair color, or the fact that you have a lot of tattoos), and zoom out to see what it is that you’re actually creating! What value are you adding to the world? Focus on that and forget your own stuff. Just do good work.

Wrapping Up

If you want people to care about you and your work, double down on its quality, your commitment to those who consume it, and your willingness to share your expertise with the world. To really get noticed for your work, you must be ready to work on yourself, and forget about the overwhelming threat of “making the wrong impression”. Otherwise, you could really miss out on valuable opportunities to boost your career. 

Until next time! And remember, what we do in life…echoes in eternity!