We asked UAL student Călina Muresan to attend our Shameless Self-Promotion event and share her top tips...
Graduate Futures Week is UAL’s annual programme of industry-led events, talks and activities to help you to get ahead in the creative industries.
Part of Graduate Futures Week 2019, this practical session was run by Sandra Fearon (who has more than 20 years of experience in the fashion luxury and media industries) and Genevieve Muwana (a certified breakthrough and style coach talked about promoting the best version of yourself, without feeling guilty).
What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘shame’?
Being shameless, means being confident in your abilities and showing them without constantly thinking what others will say. You’ll be judged anyway, whatever you do, but your purpose is not to serve anybody. So, promote the best version of yourself, no matter what.
So, what is self-promotion exactly?
- Marketing yourself to the right people in the right way
- Conveying the right information about you
- Telling people about the value you add
- Crafting promises based on your values, interests, strengths, personal qualities and using them to distinguish yourself
- Self-promotion is your responsibility
- Self-promotion is necessary if you want to advance and succeed
When promoting yourself there is a model you can follow. Sandra and Genevieve presented the AIDA model:
- Attention
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
First of all, you need to grab attention. Our attention spans can be limited, so start strong. After this, you have to get people interested and curious about you and your work, so you can lead them into desire. After someone has displayed a desire to work with you, there comes action, which means following up, fulfilling your promises and being proactive when you’re working together!
Self-promotion, is not only about you selling yourself, it’s also about you helping your audience or clients to make their life easier. To promote yourself, you need to answer these 3 question:
- What does the market need?
- What problem do you solve?
- Why you?
Many times, lack of confidence in our abilities and fear of failure causes us to under price our products and services. This is a dangerous path to take because it undermines the unique value you bring to the table and opens up the possibility for other to take advantage of you.
To boost your confidence apply the LIP project:
- Language - be polite and use positive words
- Internal dialogue - don’t let the internal voice demoralise you, encourage yourself and stay upbeat
- Posture - always sit up straight
Sandra and Genevieve finished the session by providing some final tips:
- Have a positive attitude
- Trust in yourself
- Know your accomplishments and strengths
- Take risks
- Learn from your mistakes
- Create your own opportunities (they’re always around you)
- Plan
- Do what you are scared of
- Be proactive and passionate
And there you go, you have the tools for success! It takes practice to become shameless. It’s the same as going to the gym – the more you try to put yourself out there, showing your qualities, the easier it will be the next time. Haters are going to hate anyway, so you be yourself and do things your way because some people need you for that.