Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How an Introvert Got a Promotion by Building a Personal Brand
Transcript
- Lucas: So Sarah Chen was a senior product marketing manager at a large enterprise software company — think a company you'd find on the Fortune 500. She'd been in her role for about three years, getting solid performance reviews, but she kept getting passed over for the next level. Luna: Which is a really common frustration. Good work, good reviews, but somehow the visibility isn't there. Lucas: Exactly. And Sarah is what you'd call an introvert. She wasn't the person raising her hand in all-hands meetings, she wasn't schmoozing at company off-sites. But she had this one superpower: she was a fantastic writer. And she decided to use that. Luna: So she started a blog? Or internal newsletter? Lucas: Both, actually. She started publishing on LinkedIn — not about her personal life, but about the competitive landscape in her industry. She'd analyze competitor product launches, parse their messaging, and point out what they got right and wrong. She did one post per week, every week, for about two years. That's roughly 48 posts. Luna: That's a serious commitment. And did anyone at her company notice? Lucas: They did. But it wasn't immediate. For the first six months, she had maybe 200 followers on LinkedIn — mostly friends and former colleagues. But then one post got shared by an industry analyst who had about 10,000 followers. That post was about a competitor's pricing change, and it was really data-driven. From there, her following grew to about 12,000 over the next year. Luna: So she built an external audience. But how did that translate to a promotion internally? Lucas: That's the interesting part. Her VP of Marketing, a guy named Tom, found her LinkedIn profile through a shared connection. He started reading her posts and realized she had insights that the team wasn't leveraging. So he asked her to start an internal blog — a weekly digest for the marketing org, analyzing competitive moves. She did that for another six months. Luna: So she created her own visibility without being pushy or networking in a traditional sense. Lucas: Right. And the numbers tell the story. Over those two years, her posts led to three cross-team collaborations — product, sales, and customer success all reached out to her because they'd read her analysis. That's three internal projects that directly raised her profile. When the senior product marketing manager role opened up, Tom sponsored her for it. She got the promotion. Luna: I think a lot of introverts hear 'personal brand' and they picture public speaking or networking events. But writing is a lower-friction entry point. You can sit alone in a coffee shop and do it. Lucas: Exactly. And Sarah's story isn't unique. I've seen similar cases where people used internal wikis, documentation, or even just thoughtful email threads to build a reputation as a subject matter expert. The common thread is consistency and adding value publicly. Luna: Let me push back a little, though. What if you're not a confident writer? Or what if your company culture doesn't really reward external thought leadership? Lucas: Fair point. For the first concern, writing is a skill you can practice. You don't have to be Hemingway — you just have to be clear and useful. There are plenty of frameworks, like the 'one big idea plus three supporting points' structure. For the second concern, you can start internally. Write a weekly project update that goes to your team. Document a process that others find valuable. That builds your internal brand without ever posting on LinkedIn. Luna: So the principle is: pick a medium that fits your personality and do it consistently. For Sarah, it was writing. For someone else, it might be recording short video updates, or even just being the person who asks thoughtful questions in meetings. Lucas: Exactly. And here's a concrete data point: according to a LinkedIn study from 2023, employees who engage in 'knowledge sharing' — posting, commenting, or sharing articles — are 40 percent more likely to be considered for internal promotions. That's not a small effect. Luna: Forty percent is huge. But it's also important to note that Sarah's promotion didn't happen overnight. Two years of weekly writing is a significant investment. Lucas: It is. But she spent maybe an hour per post. Over two years, that's roughly 100 hours. Compare that to the time people spend networking, attending events, or preparing for interviews they never get. It's actually quite efficient. Luna: I think that's a really practical takeaway. If listeners are considering building their personal brand, they should start small — maybe one post per month on a topic they genuinely care about. You don't have to go all in like Sarah did. Lucas: Absolutely. And the key is to focus on providing value, not self-promotion. Sarah never said 'look how great I am.' She said 'here's an interesting thing about the market.' That's much more effective. Luna: If we've helped you think through a career move or decision, we want to mention that this show is completely ad-free, and that's thanks to listeners who support us on our donation page. If you find value in episodes like this one, it's at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, but it's what keeps us going. Lucas: Yeah, and honestly, building a personal brand — whether it's on LinkedIn or internally — is a lot like that kind of small, consistent investment. You don't see results in a week, but over time, it compounds. So thanks to anyone who's helped us do the same. Luna: Okay, so back to Sarah. She got the promotion, but she also said the writing changed how she thought about her work. She became more analytical because she was constantly looking for things to write about. Lucas: That's a great point. The act of writing forces you to clarify your thinking. So even if you never post anything, the discipline of writing a weekly analysis for yourself could make you better at your job. It's a meta-skill. Luna: So what's the one piece of advice you'd give to someone who wants to start building a personal brand but feels too introverted or overwhelmed? Lucas: Start with a single internal email. Pick a project you're working on, write a one-page summary of what you've learned, and send it to your manager with a note saying 'thought this might be useful for the team.' That's it. That's your first step. Then do it again in two weeks. Luna: I love that. It's low risk, no public exposure, and it builds the habit. Over time, you might feel comfortable sharing more broadly. Lucas: Exactly. And remember, Sarah started with zero followers. She didn't have a grand plan — she just had a curiosity about the market and a willingness to share what she noticed. That's available to anyone. Luna: Thanks for joining us on The Promotion Memo. We'll be back next week with another story.