[Creator Briefing] How to hype yourself and generate buzz
A Q&A with Lucy Werner.
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sits down for a Creator Briefing Q&A.If you’re looking for practical, no-nonsense advice and strategies to generate your own buzz—especially with limited resources—then you need
in your corner.From sharing everything she knows about growing a newsletter, to pulling together 66 outlets looking for guests and even how to pitch an opinion article workshop with a journalist, she’s out to help founders get famous. (Yes, you too!)
Lucy is the writer behind the Substack Top 60 business newsletter,
, and the founder of HypeYourself.com, an educational platform designed to help individuals build their brand and amplify their presence.With over two decades of communications experience, Lucy has shared her expertise with hundreds of entrepreneurs through workshops, resources and courses at notable institutions such as The Futur, Bayes Business School, Courier magazine, and the University of Arts London. She is also the author of two bestselling books, Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself.
And today, Lucy joins the Creator Briefing with more on her journey, why she chose Substack for community-building and her approach to self-promotion. She offers practical tips for building your brand, overcoming the fear of self-promotion, and finding inspiration in unexpected places.
*Plus: Don’t miss a special invite below to hear Lucy teach next week!
As an expert in PR, having worked with global brands and small businesses and even leading your own boutique agency, why did you become a content creator? In short, what’s your story?
Short version: Running an agency takes a lot of time and I’ve moved to a new country, with three children under the age of 6—and the traditional retained client-agency model is still not an affordable way for a lot of solopreneurs and small businesses to work with PR and branding specialists.
I see myself less as a content creator and more as writer, speaker and teacher. I like to be a walking example who only uses self-promotion to build their business. I want to show other solopreneurs that not only raising their profile can compound as brand-building activity over time to become the go-to in their expertise BUT you can also open doors to alternative income streams.
You’ve publicly set a goal to reach 1,001 paid subscribers by September 2026. Why Substack? And how does this platform fit into your overall content strategy? What is your creative process?
I’ve tried multiple ways to run the one-to-many format over the years and never found a natural fit. For now, Substack as a platform is a really easy way for me to facilitate the writing and live community element.
I have a list of topics my audience asks me about, a list of topics from my own 52 PR Tips prompt cards and a list of articles of things I want to talk about. Behind-the-scenes, I have a rough editorial schedule and when I sit down to write each week I pick one that feels good in that moment. I like to use a blend of expert articles, prompts and personal essays.
What does it mean to “hype yourself,” and why is it essential for anyone who wants to share their work?
Hyping yourself is a brand-building activity so that when your target audience is looking to buy the thing you sell, you are front of mind. It isn’t necessarily about sharing your work. It is giving us that pinch of personality, what I call a bit of ankle. If you want to make an income from your work of expertise, people need to know what it is you do.
It can feel terrible and terrifying to promote yourself and build your own brand. But it's impossible to make any impact without doing so. So how do we get past this icky feeling and do it anyway? What’s the best first step?
The trick is to find the sweet spot of what makes YOU feel good while doing it. If speaking on a podcast or talking to your phone fills you with dread then don’t do it. But if you love writing, then doing a written Q&A such as this one is an easy step forward for you.
Your greatest branding asset is always going to be your face. It doesn’t have to be a professional photo shoot or a selfie but giving us a glimpse of you working at your desk behind the scenes is a really simple and small way you can start to let us into your space.
What are you currently feeling inspired by?
I’m in a real French men phase at the moment, actually…
Louis Grenier and his build-in-public book writing process.
My French teacher, Jean-Louis, who is dragging me through my paces ahead of my French DELF A2 exam next month.
Mark LeRuste and the amazing speaking gigs he is securing off the back of his book launch.
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And come to The Content *Spark* Summit on June 27 to hear Lucy teach a keynote FULL of creative ideas to start hyping yourself. Grab your free ticket here!
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Thank you! I pour a lot of love into this space and I hope you can feel it. It wouldn’t be the same without YOU! 🫶
Lucy is awesome.
That is all
So good 👌👏