The hidden danger of self-promotion
It seems everyone and their mother suddenly realised they should put more of themselves out there. I applaud this. As the structures that were meant to support us seem to slowly erode, you gotta learn what I call economic survival skills. Pitching. Selling. Delivering. And doing it all over again.
But this presents a challenge, especially once you start finding ways to stand out through your writing, presenting, event organising, or whatever your go-to-market strategy is. You start needing to navigate a fine line between showing your character, and becoming a caricature of yourself.
And the trouble is, sometimes the caricature is the entry point into people knowing the real character behind it. This is why some folks default to having a persona online, and then everyone expects that's just how they are. But this isn’t always true. I’ve met tons of industry heroes who look like one thing on LinkedIn (angry, distant, arrogant), and on a 1:1 environment they’re nothing like it (lovely, emotionally available, energy boosters).
So, if you’re self-employed and therefore need to stand out without feeling you’re selling out, I feel your pain. And though I can't promise to know how to resolve this every single time, this set of heuristics has worked for me:
What I talk about is born out of what the market values
How I talk about it is born out of what I value
Which is why, as much as I've tried before, I find it extremely cringe to do "LinkedIn hooks". Say I want to write about strategic arguments. I could just say “hey I have this weird theory about strategic arguments, let’s go”. Or I could say “most strategic arguments are ineffective, do this instead”.
One of them sounds like I sound. The other one sounds like what the AI algorithms want me to sound. And if there’s one lesson I learned in life, is that my body physically reacts against any form of gatekeeping. Our blind obsession with hooks is gatekeeping our own personalities.
I’m not saying don’t study hooks and headline structures and how to get people’s attention. What I am saying is don’t obsess with them at the expense of actually having something interesting to say, and an interesting way to say it. Best practices can’t replace a distinct and memorable personality.
So whether you’re starting out at self-promotion or are finding success with it, remember: the market is buying you. Not a caricatured version of you. Sure, there are little tricks to make your version of you stand out. Someone I follow on LinkedIn has been introduced as the “banana guy”, because he talks a lot about about banana distribution curves in buyer behaviour.
But this isn’t a hook, it’s an intentional focus on what might eventually become a distinctive asset. Something you think about when you want to buy marketing effectiveness advisory. And someone who probably brings a solid degree of rigour, sure, but also levity. I feel like it’s fun to work with this guy.
Because a hook is you conforming to what the market responds to without thinking about what’s true to you. But a distinctive asset is different, it’s a memorable thing that helps express who you really are. And it’s not in itself a replacement for tone either, but your brand is, as always, a combination of different factors. Message. Tone. Personality. Distinctive assets. A whole suite.
I've always loved this saying: “if you ain't busy living, you're busy dying”. The self-employment version could be something like this: “if you ain't busy crafting your own voice, you're busy commodifying it.” So when I argue more people should write, this is what I mean. It doesn’t matter if you have a unique voice, or not yet. What matters is writing is the process through which you find what feels like you. And then you do a little bit more of that.
