Mastering the art of self-promotion is vital for entrepreneurs who are trying to earn clients and attract investors. However, confidently walking the line of self-promotion and bragging can be difficult, especially for business owners who are women.

In fact, studies show that women claim that self-promotion is the biggest challenge in their career development. When women don’t self-promote, their hard work goes unnoticed which can limit their opportunities for partnerships and investor backing. Less than 10% of venture capital-backed companies have a female owner. Largely due to the perception that women are less ambitious than men.

This systematic fallacy makes highlighting business accomplishments not only important but necessary for any woman who is developing her business. If you find that you struggle with promoting your recent achievements, try practicing these tips from ZenBusiness in conversations with your peers and learn to naturally and confidently frame your wins.

7 Ways to Self-Promote as a Female Business Owner

To sum it up, it is important, especially as a female entrepreneur, to learn the art of self-promotion. Statistically, 3 out of 4 women say that they struggle with self-promotion, and women are 8x less likely to negotiate their salary than men. But with a little bit of practice and by implementing the tips in the infographic above, you can improve your skills by mastering the 7 ways to self-promote.

The first way to self-promote is to be interesting! Think about what makes you stand out among your competitors and share that with your audience. Zen Business suggests building a compelling story about your experiences rather than simply stating facts. You want to capture your audience’s attention rather than bore them with facts.

The second way to self-promote is to craft your Bragalogue! Most of us grew up being told not to brag, so it’s not easy to adjust your mindset. However, bragging is not a bad thing! You’ve accomplished great things and it’s okay to talk about that. Craft some fun stories that incorporate your brags while also staying entertaining and informative. Your audience wants to know about your successes as it may determine whether or not they want to work with you in the future!

Thirdly, you need to practice positivity. As I mentioned above, most of us have been told to “stop bragging” when we were younger. But the kind of bragging that children tend to do revolves around an “I’m better than you attitude” and that’s not the kind of bragging that we’re endorsing. Stay positive and make sure you don’t ever put others down along the way.

Be sure to “ignore the qualifier” as ZenBusiness puts it. Basically, do not say anything along the lines of “sorry to brag, but…” as this calls attention to the fact that you’re bragging.

Also, be genuine about your self-promotion. Don’t shove your wins in other people’s faces, rather share your successes in ways that will benefit your audience.

Another way to self-promote is to show enthusiasm! You should be proud of everything you do, and you should share your genuine excitement with your audience. Give them an inside look at your positive attitude rather than sharing your brags as a matter-of-fact statement.

And last, but not least, learn to receive compliments. This is something I definitely struggle with! But it shows confidence when you accept praise from your peers rather than downplaying or deflecting their compliment.

A special thank you to ZenBusiness for providing this beautiful and educational infographic about self-promotion!

What are some ways you practice self-promotion? Let us know in the comments below!

Xx,
Katie