Why It’s Sometimes Necessary To Talk About Ourselves On Our Business Blog, And How To Do It Without Making Your Audience Want To Stab Their Eyes Out
Face it. You’re boring. No one wants to listen to you drone on. The things that interest you about your business or your personal life are not going to be the same things that interest those who are forced to listen to you.
Speaking of those who are forced to listen to you…Don’t confuse them with the people who read your blog, or visit your website, or view any of your marketing materials. Those are people who are there voluntarily. They can (and do) leave at any moment.
Awhile back, there was a move made about a world where no one could lie. They didn’t have the capability. So people greeted each other with things like “My you look fat today,” or “Those clothes look terrible on you.”
We all look at lying as a bad thing, but there are subtle occasions where maybe the person we’re talking with doesn’t need the whole truth. Talking about yourself in your marketing materials is the same way. There’s a whole lot of gray area, and you don’t want to do it to the detriment of others.
So when is it ok to talk about yourself? You’d think after the argument that I just laid out, the answer would be never. But like any good grammar or communications rule, there are exceptions.
A small disclaimer: Copyblogger recently ran a blog post with similar exceptions on when to talk about yourself. These points are so universal, and so many businesses struggle with them. I wanted to touch on each one because knowing when to break the “Never talk about yourself” rule is what will give you a personal touch and differentiate you from the thousands who also do what you do.
These exceptions are so important because without them, our marketing material would all read like stale encyclopedia entries. It’s these exceptions that give our writing life. So use them wisely and don’t become a total bore.
It’s time to get personal:
When it benefits your audience – So…who are you to have established yourself as an expert in your industry? When you make a bold claim, that’s exactly the question that your readers are going to want to know. If you’re like me, any time you end up in a bookstore perusing your industry-related reading, you flip to the back cover and check out the about the author. If the credentials are strong, it bolsters the ideas behind the book. The same is true with your marketing materials. For instance, I’m allowed to occasionally remind you all that I merged a journalism degree with a web design certificate, to start a freelance marketing business.
When you’re working to build connections – The Internet’s a crowded place, and we’re all working to differentiate our businesses. There needs to be something unique for your customers to grab on to. When you’re a Bears fan, health nut, or lover of bacon, it’s time to tell the world. Let them in on who you are as a person, and they’ll be more likely to remember what you do as a business. It’s the way the digital world works.
When you’re telling anecdotes with a point – Let’s say you’re a personal trainer who owns a health club. Maybe you’ve got an interesting way that you lost 40 pounds to become the person that you are today. It’s OK to tell people how you did it, in a way that will benefit them. A post that comes off as a self-congratulatory pat on the back will sink like a lead balloon. A post that outlines a specific plan that people will see as an outline toward success on their potential goal? That has value. Your readers may just like that.
An Anecdote on Anecdotes
A few weeks ago in one of my networking groups, we paired off and talked with our partner about anything for 30 seconds straight. Then we switched roles and listened. Most of us had a much easier time talking than listening. That short attention span carries over into written materials online. So before you start telling us about all the baseball trophies you won as a kid, your experiences riding horses, or even your work awards, make sure that:
1) You have a point.
2) It’s something that people might care about.
It’s a good thing to tell us a personal story from time to time. Tell us a little about your family, hobbies, or whatever else you want to share. It gives us that window into who you are. Just make sure it ties in with the larger message, and make sure it’s not boring.
Matt Brennan is a Chicago-based marketing writer and copy editor.
