People who know me well, know I’m the King of Self Promotion.  (Although they usually aren’t complimenting me when they say that.)  You may not necessarily work in a competitive business or have a competitve job like an actor or writer, but I think everyone will agree that business in general, and trying to climb corporate ladders is very competitive.  You might be a hot shot at work today and a shoe-in for that big promotion, but tomorrow they could hire someone younger and/or more knowledgeable than you in a completely unrelated position… and now you’re competing with him or her for favor with your boss.  Or maybe you are job hunting right now.  If you are then you know how competitive it is out there.  You’ve got to do everything you can to make yourself stand apart from the crowd, and to prove you know what you are talking about.  What makes you better than the last guy who had the same degree and experience as you?

Here are some tips to help promote you, as well as get you more visibility:

1. SEO Your Brand!

You are your own brand.  Your name is your trademark – so protect it!  You might notice that everytime I mention my name or post my name on a Website I use “Justin J. Dean” instead of “Justin Dean.”  That’s because “Justin” and “Dean” are both very common names, but the phrase “Justin J. Dean” is unique to me and maybe just a handful of others.  When someone wants to know more about me the first thing they might do is go to Google and type in my name.  So I try to make a strong effort to make sure they are typing in “Justin J. Dean” and not anything else, because that’s the query that will show the most results related to me.  Even my business cards include the J on them.  SEO is something you’ve got to keep in mind even offline.

2. Become an Expert in… Something!

If you know a lot about advertising and online marketing, start a really cool blog about it.  Share your insights and experiences with others.  It keeps your knowledge fresh, shows that you are a team player, and positions you as a leader in the field.  I’m just starting this blog out, but I’ve ran many others in the past and doing so really helps your creative juices to flow, and excersizes the parts of your brain that help you have an advantage over others.  When a potential employer Google’s you and finds that you are an active blogger in the field they are looking to hire you for, then that’s a huge plus.

If you are knowledgeable in a particular field you may even want to start writing articles, white-papers, guest blog posts on popular blogs, or submit them to site’s like Google’s Knol.  Here is an article on the basics of SEO that I submitted to the Knol.  I’ll be posting many others soon.

To become knowledgeable in something, start reading about it!  Pick a subject and start reading blogs, news, and books about it so that you are always on top of your game.  Setup Google Reader to make it easy to manage all the blogs you follow.  Or Google Alerts to notify you of breaking news in a particular subject.

3. Network, offline and online.

Just like promoting a Website or a product, no one is going to know about you unless you tell them.  Get out there and attend industry events.  Meet new people and share ideas.  It’s how you find new jobs and opportunities, as well as partners and friends who can help you develop products, or even find your next employee.  I live in Atlanta, and can usually be found at the AIMA (Atlanta Iteractive Marketing Association) meetups each month.  Find a networking group in your area that specializes in your field.

Maybe you aren’t a people person, or don’t have the time to go to parties and events.  Either way, you should also be networking and staying active online.  There are a ton of social networks out there – start using them!  When someone Google’s your name they are hoping to find out as much about you as they can.  Employers these days look at everything from your type of music, your friends, what you do in your spare time, whether you cuss, drink or smoke too much, etc.  – all the things that they aren’t allowed to ask you in an interview.  So make yourself visible, and be careful what’s public.

Here are some sites you might want to become active on:Create a Google Profile, LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, ReTaggr

4. Specialize

Be specific about what you do.  Experts get hired more often, and get paid more.  It might even mean turning people down, which is something you can’t be afraid of.  It helps establish you as being well-known for what you do, and makes you stand out among a crowd of generalists.  Take for example a saleman who says he can sell anything and everything.  He might sound like a confident person that will get the job done.  But then walks in salesman number two, who specializes in advertising sales and has done nothing but for the past 5 years.  He could probably sell you anything as well, but when you need someone to sell ads for you, who are you going to pick?  (That was probably the worst example I could have come up with, but you get the idea.)

To learn more about self promotion and branding, I suggest you subcribe to Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Blog.