Use your communication skills to market yourself

There are several communication channels, but I will concentrate on a few. I will begin with words. Preachers, comedians, teachers, musicians, marketers, or even those proposing marriage creatively use words to market their ideas.It’s sad that these days we have graduates who cannot even convincingly speak to an audience of one person! Recently, a Mass Communication graduate rung me and began: “As in, Mr. Bake…” before stammering into “what, what” and bla bla bla. For 2 minutes he could not articulate what he wanted, though I later figured out it must have been a job. I doubt he can stand before an interview panel and convince them to give him a job.Besides spoken words, we also need to learn how to powerfully use written words. Can you write a great proposal? Can you package your ideas into a book, a poem, song or movie script? Can you write an attractive CV? Can you write interesting emails to your customers, colleagues or business partners?The last channel I want to emphasise is non-verbal communication. The truth is that we can ‘speak’ without speaking. We can relay a positive or negative signal to other people without opening our mouths. If I meet you staggering I can tell you are either drunk or sick. If you can’t smile I’ll guess you probably have marital, work or financial stress.Your appearance is a tool of non-verbal communication. I’ve never forgotten this woman who put on in a net-dress and met someone who commented: “You slut, you are not just dressed in a net; you are a net yourself”. Her dressing was communicating.Mind your gestures. A friend told me how he was shocked to see a ‘respectable’ woman flashing her middle finger to abuse a taxi driver that had refused to give way to her posh car. She immediately ceased to deserve that kind of respect. Let’s learn to positively use our hands and other body parts to communicate.Don’t forget about eye contact and facial expressions. You could have looked for a job in marketing, customer care or office administration to no avail just because of parading a gloomy face. A simple smile might open many doors for opportunities for you.Your body movements also matter. Don’t walk like you’ve spent a week without eating while customers wait on you. Have you ever noticed that President Barrack Obama does not walk while going up and down the platform? He jogs. It’s a sign of fullness of life. It demonstrates his enthusiasm. It shows he has something important to say. Use your communication skills to market yourself. Some failure-minded people will call it blowing your own trumpet, but success-minded people know it is called marketing. In any case, if I you don’t blow it, who will blow it for you? Not that you should be proud. What I mean is that you are the first person charged with the responsibility of marketing yourself, your products, talents, ideas, image and skills. Robert Bake Tumuhaise is the MD World of Inspiration & Founder, Authors’ Forum – +256-704666851