Putting It Out There
5 Proven Archetypes for Fearless Self-Promotion
You’ve made progress on your personal or professional story and now you want to turn that into action. Where do you start, what does it look like. and what can you expect from the investment and the payoff?
I’ll share five proven approaches with specific examples close to me, and their pros and cons. Please note that before you choose a direction, there are also first five things to consider:
Goal(s): What are you trying to achieve? Is it securing a new job, a new project, or to build your reputation in an area as an expert? The more specific you are with the verbs and nouns of your intention, the clearer good/bad choices will become for you—and anyone wanting to help you.
Horizon: What’s the time frame for success? Some people need to make money right now to survive, others are scaling their foundation or moving into a new area from scratch. Two months versus two years has huge implications in what you choose.
Investment: How much time and/or money will you need to put in? Each choice will have some degree of investment, tangible or otherwise. My policy for side projects is to have them pay for themselves within 24 months. I don’t expect to make much money per se, but I hope to make back what I spend.
ROI: While these efforts usually have some degree of merit regardless of how directly it supports hitting a goal, I like to look at how the level of effort compares to the perceived level of impact. See my mapping near the end.
Capabilities: What skills and/or technology do you need? I find most pursuits tap a range of digital marketing and commerce capabilities and platforms. These help you do things that you previously couldn’t do on your own, although many have some fees associated with them hitting your investment line. See the capabilities ecosystem I’ve been using for my projects at the end as an example.
How to use archetypes
Remember that archetypes aren’t answers but shortcuts to solutions. The best approach is often a strategic blend of two archetypes tailored to your concept or need, but I recommend building from one anchor as a lead anchor from which you can add in others. Okay, here are the big five:
1. The Signature
This first approach is the hardest, but I’ve seen as the surest route to success. You focus on a signature achievement, recognizable expertise, or persona — and then market the heck out of it for years.
Examples:
Recognizable campaigns such as “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful” — the copywriter later creative director has been forever introduced by it. I worked for her as an assistant and saw this star power years after it first ran.
Humorously distinctive work such as The Marketoonist — Tom Fishburne is creator of popular and timely cartoon series about marketing which he’s turned into a business over 15 years.
Powerful speeches such as “What You Need To Know About Stalkerware” by Eva Galperin given at TedWomen. Told with authority and a personal narrative, talks like these turn heads, opens minds, and can get you hired.
Breakthrough point of view such as best-selling Atomic Habits by James Clear — his approach and methodology, honed over time, has become a best seller. He pairs a website of worksheets and infographics as you read along.
Awards, lists and groups such as the Cannes Lions, Crain’s 40 Under 40, and Chief. Publications and organizations have lists to be nominated for and being a board or committee member of a prestigious industry organization says a lot about you. Smaller accolades, award shows and groups can help, but it’s a signature big-name one that will stand out.
Pros: Makes it easy to get a job and speaking engagements; great for Linkedin profile and book platform
Cons: High degree of difficulty, plus it can take time and a bit of luck to strike a cultural nerve
2. The Show
Be your own Hollywood producer and create something you’re known for and that can be consumed by or engaged with others. There’s usually a creative idea or handle, and commonly appears as video or audio content. A show is a program, a series, with a plot, a goal, a muddle, sometimes even seasons to drive momentum. Another route within this archetype is to curate a community that people want to be a part of, perhaps behind a velvet rope.
Examples:
Unthinkable—Jay’s great at the show because he is an accomplished producer and showrunner. He also has a clear mission: “To help creators find their voices and make work that matters — to careers, companies, and communities alike. To do that, I’m focused on helping others learn how to resonate more deeply with their audiences.” Acunzo also teaches Growable Shows, which I took to improve my own.
Cidiot — My little regional podcast about moving from the city to the country has become a brand that I have carefully built and nurtured. It’s helped me build a local reputation, meet folks in the community, attract sponsors, and have a lot of fun doing it.
Serial Marketers — This community for marketers created by David Berkowitz has become multi-media, multi-platform that includes a Slack group, blog, newsletter, databases and tools.
Book Launchers—A YouTube series hosted by Julie Broad that’s a how-to for writers trying to get their book out there.
Pros: Great to build your network, gratifying for ego, plus revenue potential
Cons: Requires a hook, time intensive; potentially $$ investment
3. The Stunt
Advertising people know the power of the marketing stunt, a PR-worthy activity that captures the spirit of what your brand is all about or puts an exclamation point on the promise you want to make. This is right out of the Crispin Porter & Bogusky agency playbook but applied to individuals. Do what others haven’t. Be the first. Or the biggest Y. The [fill-in-the-blank].
Examples:
Jelly Helm Wants A Job — A classic self-promo from within the ad industry was when a young art director mailed a box with a personal check for $22,000 to potential boss Mike Hughes at The Martin Agency. The copy winked at a classified job ad he had seen. “I heard the Martin Agency is hiring art directors for $22,000.” It worked and Helm was off to become one of the most highly regarded creatives in the industry.
New York Subway Signs — Creative Team Rose Sacktor and Yosef Lerner got local broadcast and blog press by bringing a little light to New York City’s subway tunnels which I found out about watching the evening news. Here’s their video about it.
Cidiot Anthem — To expand the reach of my Cidiot podcast, in 2021 I worked with a local music to create an original about moving from the city to the country and released it on the main music platforms and nabbed some good regional press.
Pros: Single effort, very PR-friendly
Cons: Single effort, could fail, hard to follow up
4. The Machine
This is the archetype most people assume is a given but I think it really needs to be intentional and purposeful to succeed. It’s a workhorse approach, that believes sweat and consistency pay off. Post every day on Linkedin. Write an article every two days on Medium. Share stories and link them back to careers or work. Create a newsletter on Substack or Linkedin. “Habits build Empires” says writer Tim Denning.
Examples:
Timeless & Timely— Well-known social and communications strategist Scott Monty puts out a thoughtful weekly newsletter (he warns you it’s “erudite”) to make you think. Each week, he pairs the past with the present for advice on leadership, communication, and relationships. I like it so much, I support it through Patreon. Consistent with the spirit of timeless virtues, he also has a podcast Timeless Leadership.
Total Annarchy — Every two weeks, content expert and author Ann Handley shares her newsletter of writing tips and marketing thoughts. In addition to the distinct voice and material within, the cadence of bi-weekly intrigues me in providing a model of consistency without the churn of daily or weekly.
Tim Denning — An Aussie blogger with 500k followers, Tim publishes daily across publications on Medium and elsewhere on writing, personal development and finance. It’s insane how prolific he is and how easy he make it look.
“Ask A Cidiot”— My advice column in The Red Hook Daily Catch which helps support my podcast is a cautionary tale. Sure, it’s fun and has attracted more local listeners to my show, but it’s hard for me to keep up with it and my inconsistency (originally weekly, now monthly) is now causing dissatisfaction with the audience not to mention my editor who counts on me. Don’t do it if you can’t be reliable.
Pros: Plenty of role models for how to do this right, plus likely revenue from subscribers and/or advertisers
Cons: So many out there doing this, it’s hard to break through; also a grind and there’s little glamour in this much sweat
5. The Team
This fifth approach is my newest: Don’t go it alone. Instead, team up with folks who are complementary and collaborative. It could also be an individual, a trio, or a village that works together. It can be more fun than going solo. It’s also far more rare.
Examples:
The Holderness Family videos — This husband and wife team have kept me entertained throughout the pandemic with their hilarious and well produced video series, always timely. With 740k subscribers, I hope they’re getting a lot out of it. I think they’re currently competing in The Amazing Race.
Unf_nish_d Biz — VMG Partners Robin Tsai and Wayne Wu co-host this podcast focusing on the highs, lows, and challenges of being a founder. It showcases great small brands getting their funding and footing through I like how they do this as a team.
Rising: Conversations With Leaders On The Way Up — I took my own medicine and partnered with Josh Boaz of Direct Agents to interview marketing leaders on their careers in a monthly podcast series. Our firms share expenses and we share the spotlight.
Fearless Brands — Greg Monaco’s community is built on the idea of people supporting each other. This article came out of a talk I recently gave there, and I love the way that, beyond the conventional Slack threads, he’s set it up for people to problem solve, actively help each other in their pursuit of doing the work they love. (Want to join? I just did. Here’s my code).
Pros: 1+1=3; Savings on costs, time efficiencies and expertise gained from working together
Cons: Alignment on goals and strategy, egos, coordination time, accountability
Potential ROI
In my experience, each archetype has a different return on investment when you consider the level of effort and level of impact. Obviously, you want to avoid things that are high effort, low impact and low effort yet low impact.
Supporting With The Right Capabilities
Here are few highlights from my ecosystem of platforms to enable my programs for Cidiot for example.
Distribution: I distribute Cidiot and Rising via Anchor, owned by Spotify. It has some basic editing and sound effect features and is free to use with some basic analytics. Via its RSS feed, each episode find its way to nearly all podcatchers.
Website: To host information about my podcast, I use the podsite service Podpage, which I absolutely love.
Editing: Pros might laugh but I love Descript, a transcription tool, to record and edit WYSWIG each episode. I export the segments and then upload to Anchor where I finish putting it together.
Mailing list/CRM: Mailchimp handles my mailing list, email newsletters, surveys and select landing pages, plus a small website for my book
eCommerce: Gumroad sells my adorable Cidiot trucker caps and any digital products. I also use two on-demand printers for items I don’t want to carry inventory on such as t-shirts, notebooks and stickers.
Links: To help people navigate the multiple things I promote, even on disparate platforms, I use a paid version of Linktr.ee for Cidiot and a free version for myself generally.
Social: No surprise, Instagram is the biggest driver (according to my listener survey data as well) of engagement for the show followed by Facebook (fading) and Twitter (more for news). I also tap some smaller community platforms such as NextDoor and Upstate Curious.
Music: Distribution of the Cidiot anthem to Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Music etc., is through Distrokid, gratefully managed by the music team El Seuco and The Don at Space Studios.
Get out there
Hope this helps you make better choices about where to spend your time, money, and creativity. Will update this as I find better examples.
Happy to answer questions or make suggestions where I can. Encourage people to consider joining my buddy Greg Monaco’s Fearless Brands mentioned earlier to get some team support behind your dreams.
