Don't Resort to Shameless Self-Promotion! Do This Instead

“Jason” is brilliant at what he does. His unique genius lies not in the technical (although he ranks amongst the top in his profession), but in connecting the dots between his expertise and his clients ’ dilemma.

He’s exceedingly direct while being deeply insightful, which means he is able to cut through even dueling C-suite teams to illuminate a pathway to success.

He becomes their brain surgeon, brought in for bet-the-business problems. He’s a professional with some serious creds and more than a little gravitas. But he’s also warm, thoughtful and a natural story-teller.

His dilemma?

How to keep growing his consulting business—and his client attraction system—without resorting to what feels to him like shameless self-promotion.

Sound familiar?

Even the smartest consultants and advisors struggle with how to parley their one-to-one success to the larger world. How do you grow your business AND build your reputation without coming across like a self-promoting narcissist?

In a sentence: remain consistently true to your belief system and your market positioning.

That means you align your message—and how it’s delivered—with the core of who you are and how you best serve clients.

It means playing to your strengths and speaking to your sweet-spot clients and buyers.

For Jason, he learned it meant using stories with warmth and humor in addition to his beloved data. When his articles and videos started showcasing his take-no-prisoners style, he started pulling those who appreciate that about him closer still. And handily turned the others away.

No one will EVER mistake him for a carney-barker “consultant”.

Now to you.

Like Jason, you are a bona-fide original.

Related: Your Sweet-Spot and How to Find It

If you’re not consistently growing your practice, chances are you’re missing one (or more) of five key planks in your brand and business:

Have you positioned yourself in a unique corner of the market that dovetails perfectly with your experience, talents, passions and a marketplace willing to pay for it?

Have you developed the services and products that your sweet-spot most values?

Are you pricing yourself and your products in alignment with your market position?

Have you honed your messaging so that it’s clear and resonates with your sweet-spot clients and buyers?

Have you aligned your stories, actions and visuals to tell a consistent story about your value?

Getting there is not magic—even though once you’ve arrived, it feels rather magical—it’s a process.

It requires some digging into what makes you and your work slam-dunkingly different (and highly valuable to your sweet-spot).

Side benefit: you’ll emerge feeling powerfully in synch with growing your business and ready to put yourself out there.

At the end of the day, this is all about paving your own path, not copying someone else’s.

You’ve got this.