A brilliant colleague of mine, Geoff Livingston, wrote a blog post entitled "Play the Long Game: Impact Over Self-Promotion" where he discusses the merits of focusing on making an impact versus self-promotion. In his post, Geoff, makes a valid point that your impact has a lasting effect on on people an organizations.

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When considering business opportunities, think about the potential impact you can have for a team, for an organization. Impact matters far more than the potential accolades received via self-promotion. This is true on just about every level, personal, spiritual, and career trajectory.

I agree with him. If you can make lasting contributions to your community that you can refer to when looking for a change, is much more impactful than blatant touting your qualities.

There Is A Place For Self-Promotion

With the advent of the influencer and influence generation, self-promotion doesn't have much stigma as it once did. We all know that person who is so good at promoting what they do, that opportunities seem to flock to them. Because of this there's a market for influencers. Is it necessarily a good thing? It depends.

What we have to watch out for is the the rose-colored glasses of social media. It's these glasses that hide the minutia and the had work that goes on behind the scenes for most influencers. Many times we forget that on social media, even in the B2B world (ie. LinkedIn), we only see the good stuff: promotions, accomplishments and trips. These are just to accolades we see online. We don't see the long nights, and hard work that led to the end result.

Even with the hard work that goes into self-promotion, most of the time, we need realize that many of these efforts are just a flash in the pan. Focusing on making an impact lasts much longer and leads to better value for everyone involved. Is there some self-promotion involved in the overall impact, sometimes, but it's only one component of the overall effect.

So Is There A Happy Medium?

Possibly. Influence can be fickle. One day someone might have some influence on a group, the next day it's someone else. But in the end, focus on yourself and the impact that you bring to your tasks and roles both professionally and personally, you should see better, longer lasting gains, than the quick hits that over-self promoters get.

What do you think? Is there a happy medium? Hit the reply button and let me know! 🚀

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Marketing Quote Of The Week

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"Content is fire and social media is gasoline." — Jay Baer, Founder of Convince & Convert

Podcast Of Note

Endless Coffee Cub with Matt Bailey Album Art

Do you like podcasts where you feel like your at a table in a coffee shop drinking a warm beverage (I don't like to assume coffee is your drink of choice), having a great conversation for hours?

This is exactly what is Matt Bailey's podcast the Endless Coffee Cup.  Matt has this Midwestern charm and exuberance that comes through in every episode he has with marketing leaders. The show is approachable and like a good cup of coffee, it can't be put down. Have a listen, you won't be disappointed.

The Latest From Entrepreneur's Enigma Podcast

Joe Monzo Album Art Entrepreneur's Enigma

Joe Monzo is a good friend, client, and incredible entrepreneur. He has built his video marketing business from the ground up. He serves companies, non-profit and private schools with absolutely amazing and engaging videos to help them grow.

Check out the episode: https://socl.bz/ee-42

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