Personal Visibility: How to Take Charge and Create Buzz for Yourself
or Your Business
by Regina Barr
Published on this site: June 13th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
Personal visibility is critical for success no matter what business
arena you work in. Many women make the mistake that if they work
hard and do good work, that they will be recognized for their efforts.
This is just not so.
Take a look around you at the people who seem to buzz with success,
no matter what they do or what they touch. These are the people
you read about in the paper and who seem to be at all of the right
networking events and know all of the right people. They are also
the people who are in demand to speak at events and whose articles
appear in your local paper.
What do these men or women know that you don't? They have mastered
the art of personal visibility. I spoke with a woman that fits this
description shortly after she had signed on to do her own radio
show with a local station. I asked her what her secret of success
was in terms of personal visibility. The main thing she told me
was that you can't sit back and wait for visibility. Instead, you
have to go out and find it.
Here are some practical tips you can use:
- Send News Releases:
Send out a news release for anything noteworthy that you might
do. Signed a new client? Appointed to a new board position? Remember,
local papers are often searching for stories with a local angle.
Be sure to include a photo.
- Write Articles or Editorials:
This is a great way to become recognized as an expert in your
field. Remember to develop relationships with your local editors.
Contact them with your ideas and help them when they are looking
for resources.
- Speak at local events:
Many chambers of commerce, professional organizations and other
non-profit organizations look for local speakers knowledgeable
on a range of topics. Find the organizations that might be interested
in your area of expertise and get on a panel or facilitate a program
for them.
- Allow reporters to interview and quote you:
Reporters are always looking for third parties to corroborate
or refute information that they include in their stories. Many
women do not like to be quoted because they fear that their words
will be misconstrued or misrepresented. Women need to get over
this fear and make themselves more available to be quoted in public.
This serves to position you as an expert in your field and gets
your name into the public eye.
- Volunteer for visible projects or committees:
This can be either internally at your organization or externally
within your community. Then use this opportunity to advantage
by using tips 1-4 above.
- Get nominated for an award or recognition list:
Typically women sit back and wait to be nominated by someone.
However, if there is an award or recognition that you think you
are worthy of, let someone know that you are deserving and ask
if they would be willing to nominate you. Even if you don't win,
you will still receive visibility.
- Teach a college class or seminar:
This allows you to get out in front of your peers or a target
audience that you are interested in getting exposure from. This
not only gives you visibility but may also provide you with your
next business referral or job opportunity.
These are just a few ideas. If you have other ideas, we'd love
to hear about them. Email them to us at mailto:[email protected]
and we will share them in next month's newsletter.
In the meantime, remember, to get ahead in business you need to
take charge of your own visibility. For those that do, the possibilities
for success are endless.
Regina Barr is a management consultant and speaker with
a special passion for helping women achieve leadership success.
Regina helps companies develop strategies to attract, develop and
retain women leaders. Her consulting firm, Red Ladder, Inc., also
helps organizations and their leaders develop their full potential
through strategic project management and coaching. For more information
visit: http://www.RedLadder.com
or http://www.RedLadder.blogs.com
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