Personality and My Blog

As the lecture advised, the level of your personality that you should let come out in your blog depends on your business, your customer, and the desired identity of your brand.

WHERE IT IS APPROPRIATE FOR MY PERSONALITY TO BE INCLUDED IN MY BLOG:

For my business (Manvolution), I am in the personal training and motivation business.  As such, my personality is a big component of the business identity.  My personal stories, particularly when speaking about my own health challenges and the rigors of disciplined exercise while working and raising a family, make me human, make me accessible, and adds to my credibility.

Since my target audience is men over 45, they don't want to hear about fitness from a twenty-something who  doesn't have family obligations, hasn't had any health challenges, and simply hasn't had as many miles on the road of life as someone my age. As such, I see several content areas where I can add in my  personal stories that my target will relate to.

• Balancing family, work and exercise commitments (I am the sole income generator in my family)
• Eating healthy with kids in the home (I have two boys 11 and 14)
• Surviving health challenges (I'm a cancer survivor)
• Motivation and language (I use language specific to men, including an occasional F-Bomb)

Alll of these content areas will not only relate my personal experiences, but I will attempt to use personal photography throughout to further drive the credibility piece.  Clients will see pictures of me heading to yoga at 5:30 in the morning, looking groggy.  Not all my photography will be glamorous selfies of me.  They will see the behind the scenes work involved with balancing work, life and health.  As advised in the lecture, making sure these picture files are appropriately named is a great strategy.

With marketing, you cannot be all things to all people.  With my personal training business, it's better for me to let my personality show in my blogs, since ultimately it is my personality that my target is hiring.  Anyone can eat right and exercise on their own.  They want a fitness buddy, someone who is going to kick them in the ass and motivate them to achieve their goals.   A ripped and narcissistic fitness model is only going to alienate these men.  They want a real dude.

WHERE IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR MY PERSONALITY TO BE INCLUDED (IN FULL STRENGTH):

My blog content will be personality rich.  But if I am approaching corporate clients, I will be more conservative in my presentation to them.  The same goes if I am providing editorial content to publications serving my target.  No F-Bombs, and more information rich in content.