Bringing you into your business
Small business owners, listen up. Whether you like it or not, you are the core of your business, not the products or services you sell.
You, as the small business owner, bring your own values to the table when offering products or services to your prospective customers.
Here it is — bottom line: People resonate with people and not necessarily products.
As a small business owner, it is critical that you personalize any and all written content you produce. Personality matters. If your posts, website content or print collateral lack warmth or personality, people will read it as phony. They will suspect that a robot wrote it. They will click out of your page and never come back.
Infusing your personality into your brand and content will make you appear friendly, conversational and approachable.
It’s ok to tell your brand story to your customers like they are friends. You don’t have to share the intimate details of your personal life, BUT you need to communicate in a way that people will respond to. Remember, people respond to people. If they like what they’re reading, the chances are they will inquire about your products — and even become paying customers!
How do you infuse your personality into your communications?
Start with writing out your key messages. Can you communicate who you are and what you do?
- What are you good, better and best at? Write those down (up to 3 things).
- What do you want people to know you for? Write three things down- these are your core values or elements of how you do business.
- You may want to complete a SWOT analysis- Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. (A SWOT analysis helps you to define what you are and what you are not in your business.)
These messages, once carefully crafted, can be the main parts of your elevator speech or the copy on the home page on your website. They also provide the foundation for subsequent messaging you’ll need as you build your brand.
Quick tip: Make sure the key messages are written in your own voice and reflect your brand lexicon — you don’t want to use words your target audiences won’t understand or respond to.
I often teach small business owners how to craft their brand language and key messages. Fall workshop dates are forthcoming. In the meantime, if you’d like to know more, contact me via email for more information.
