The No-Nonsense Guide to Self-Promotion: Lessons from Lucy Werner

Why “Hype” is a Tool, Not a Dirty Word

For many of us, self-promotion feels faintly mortifying.

We’ve been trained — culturally, professionally, generationally — to believe that good work should simply speak for itself.

Especially those of us raised within the “stiff upper lip” school of parenting: keep your head down, don’t make a fuss, and certainly don’t appear too eager for attention.

But in a crowded attention economy, silence is rarely interpreted as depth. More often, it is simply overlooked.

In this conversation from Parents Who Think Podcast archives, I sat down with Lucy Werner.

Lucy is a PR strategist and the author of Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself. Her approach is practical, unsentimental, and notably resistant to the performance-heavy culture that now surrounds personal branding.

This conversation remains one of the most useful discussions I’ve encountered on how to become more visible without sliding into caricature.

Public Presence Without Self-Erasure

How Much of Ourselves Must We Share?

One of the biggest hurdles to putting ourselves out there is the fear that we have to “overshare.” We see the “human interest” stories dominating our feeds and think, I don’t want to tell the world about my deepest traumas just to sell a service.

Lucy’s take? Show a bit of ankle.

You do not need to make your private life fully public in order to build trust. And you do not need to invite the world into your living room at 7:00 AM while you’re scraping porridge off the floor. Think of your personal brand like a magazine:

• The News Section: Your current projects and expertise.

• The Features: Your deep-dive thoughts and industry insights.

• The Lifestyle Pages: The “horoscopes and recipes”—the soft bits.

It’s about connection, not confession.
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While I’ve become increasingly vocal on what I think of as compulsory intimacy online — particularly the pressure placed on women to continuously humanise themselves through disclosure — Lucy’s approach feels partially bounded. It invites questions about being visible without becoming entirely consumable.

Creative PR Strategies: Standing Out in a Crowded Market

The “Where You Don’t Belong” Strategy

My absolute favourite takeaway from our chat was Lucy’s challenge: “Where can I put you where you don’t belong?”

We often get stuck in the “industry standard” loop. If you’re a tech founder, you try to get into tech journals. If you’re a designer, you aim for design blogs. But real magic happens when you pivot and find unexpected audiences.

“It’s about finding those little bits in the business that you might disregard as being fun or quirky and pulling those out.” — Lucy Werner

3 Actionable PR Tips You Can Use Today

If you’re ready to stop “shit-talking” yourself and start stepping up, here are three non-negotiables Lucy says you need in your back pocket:

1. The Landscape Headshot: Get a landscape version of your professional photo. Most media environments are visually designed that way, and it simply works better editorially.

2. The 150-Word Bio: Stop winging it. Have a tight, 60-second introduction ready to copy and paste for podcast invites or speaking gigs.

3. The Spirit of Reinvention: Don’t be afraid to “shed your skin.” Your brand should evolve as you do.

Listen to the Full 15-Minute Conversation

Perhaps the real challenge is not learning how to become louder, but learning how to speak about our work without surrendering ourselves in the process.

My conversation with Lucy is such a practical discussion on navigating that balance: how to become more visible without slipping into performance, caricature, or compulsory intimacy.

Whether you’re a long-time listener or new to the show, this short conversation offers a thoughtful and refreshingly grounded approach to self-promotion in an age that increasingly mistakes exposure for authenticity. What do you think:

How much of ourselves should public work require us to share?

meet me in the comments

Till later,

ASK YOURSELF:
Where would people never expect to find me? That’s usually where you’ll stand out the most.