This week we go back to our survey results on the Roadblocks to our career success as we address our ability to outshine the competition.

Roadblock #9: It’s more and more difficult to 'shine'

Sometimes no matter how hard we try to get a little recognition for our efforts, we just can’t seem to raise even one single eyebrow.

Is it because nobody saw it? 

Could it be everyone felt it wasn’t much of an accomplishment? 

Or perhaps they are just jealous?

Most likely you’ll never find out the reason why….but there are some steps you can take to create a little more buzz about yourself.

1. Create a marketing plan.  Many of us want exposure but fail to plan it.  This is critical because you need to control what gets communicated about you.  Ideally, you would want to advertise the skills upper management would like to see. 

2. Build a marketing team.  It’s really hard to advertise yourself.  Talking about yourself only comes across as arrogant.  However, when others talk about you, it comes off as legitimate. 

3. Implement your plan.  Use the team to help you accomplish your marketing plan. They can also help you identify the best methods to get the word out on you.

4. Measure your progress.  Just like most marketing techniques, your methods will only do so much for your career mobility.  The best way to improve your results is to measure how well your methods work.  Then improve them.  You may have to try several things but people respond better when they are hit by techniques coming from many different angles.

Marketing yourself through others is a great way to improve the impressions others have of you.  Of course, the impressions won’t form correctly if your actions conflict with what your team is saying.  In other words, it’s hard to reinvent yourself completely this way but you can improve what people think of you.

The real key to this method is that most people are busy in the workplace.  Companies have reduced headcount so much that everyone is heavily tasked.  Managers don’t have time to follow their employees around to verify what they do on a daily basis.  Typically, they will form opinions from what they hear from others or read in emails (assuming you copy them on the emails).  Companies are not only geographically dispersed, managers are growing more separated from their workforce.