That trivializes it, I think. A ton of what people do related to their jobs is marketing at some level. A lot of people here probably resent marketing and self-promotion (to a certain level) but that's the way the world works. If no one has any idea what you do, either directly or through your manager, guess who is getting the chop if the company cuts back even a little.

That's fine.

I would also argue self-marketing is important when you have lazy or bad managers.

Good managers help but you’re ultimately responsible for your own career/reputation.

I think the key is that its high effort self marketing. Its proving you are willing to put in work which is hard to fake.

If I smell self-marketing, it reduces your credibility to me.

So okay for companies to market their products or services, but not okay for a person to market themselves?

It’s the same for companies when their presentation seems unauthentic (which is often the case).

If it’s good, there’s nothing to smell.

That’s a tautology.

There is nothing "just" about marketing. Whether for you or a company.