Chantal

1. No, you don’t need to blow your own trumpet

As a Marketing Consultant, I earn a living from telling people about how great my clients are. They pay me to blow their trumpets, so in this sense, the answer is definitely no. You can pay someone else to do it for you. If you’re not a copywriter, a website developer, a graphic designer, a telesales expert or social media guru, then you should pay a professional to do all that for you.

There are other people who can get your story out, by writing about you and your business, setting up a professional website for you and doing all the other things that need to be done, to get your message out there. They do that sort of thing for a living and know exactly how to blow your trumpet for you, to make you look and sound great. Paying someone else to do your marketing for you means you get a really professional job done, meanwhile you able to get on with whatever it is you do. You wouldn’t service your car or mend your plumbing unless you were a qualified mechanic or plumber, would you?

So now you can sit back, relax and let other people do all your marketing for you ? or can you?

2. Yes, you do need to blow your own trumpet

The alternative view is quite different. Whatever size business you run, you need to put some personality into your marketing. While you could sit back and allow someone else to do it all for you, your potential clients will still want to know about you and your team. Who are you and what makes you tick?

You need to get out there and meet potential clients. Can you imagine going to a networking event and meeting a ?networker’ who is there just to promote different people? How can you get to know that ?someone else’ if they’re not there? Especially if you run your own business, you need to go networking to meet people, face to face.

Marketing is not a magic wand ? you can’t just pay someone to wave it over your business and have great things happen. New clients won’t come flocking in overnight.

3. Yes and No

And then there’s the third view!

You need to go networking to blow your own trumpet rather than paying someone else to do it. And if you’re nervous about going or you’re not sure what to say, then get some networking training. Work with someone who can help you get over your nerves and help you develop a really clear message to deliver.

If you want to use a blog or Twitter to promote your business and you don’t like writing, then find a professional to do to it for you. Tell them what’s important to you and what you’d like to say and they can turn your thoughts into written words. While they’re doing the bulk of your writing, when you feel like adding your own thoughts, you can put up your own blog posts. You can add your own Tweets to tell your followers what you’re up to today in your business or comment on current topics.

So in conclusion, I believe that when you’re in business, you do need to be able to blow your own trumpet ? unless you’re not sure of the best way, or how to do it, then you need to get some professional help. Don’t try to do it all yourself (that would be like giving a trumpet recital when you’ve never had any lessons!) Don’t leave it to someone else to do it all (because you might get a violin when you wanted a trumpet!)

What do you think?