I felt compelled today to put a few words down about what seems to me to be a bit of a trend recently in marketing your business - sharing your personal story as a means of promoting your business.
I'm in two minds. I'm a big believer in personal brand being one of your strongest assets. It's so true that people buy from people and by sharing your personality with your clients and potential clients, demonstrating that there's a real person behind the business, you can create buy-in in a way that is unique - after all, there's only one of you!
Certainly for me, it has been a constant source of frustration that people view my business as part of a big corporate beast. In the early days, when I'd first bought my business, I still had the odd customer trying to go above my head if I didn't give a discount or asking to speak to 'my manager' if they didn't like a decision I'd made (clearly the girl in the office can't possibly be the owner!).
Having just invested over £100k in my business, this type of behaviour was nothing short of insulting so I set about educating the Sheffield market about who I was, what I stood for and what I was looking to achieve. I'm not completely there with this but I've made some serious in-roads and my business has changed for the better as a result.
What I'm not sure I'm so 'down with' is a growing propensity to tell what can come across as a sob story, a 'look how tough it's been for me' story - "please buy from me because things have been so hard that now I deserve some success".
Don't get me wrong, I love a 'rags to riches' story. It's life affirming, gives you something to aspire to and reminds you to keep going when things are tough.
However, in some stories I've read, the contents have been rather disturbing, maybe a bit too much detail, not unlike those horrific stories you read in such esteemed publications as Chat Magazine. In others I've felt something close to pity... but not in a good way!
I guess what I'm saying is that there are plenty of people out there who have had an extremely tough time growing up, people who have experienced awful things and come through to run amazing businesses.
Should the horrible details of your life be the thing that people remember you for? I'm not so sure.
Of course, clever copywriting, selective of the details and pitched in the right way can create the kind of story that makes people want to work with you.
In the words of the T Mobile advert, 'Life's For Sharing'. Just don't share everything!
What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/lifesforsharing
Until next time,
Sarah
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Good post, in my mind a good litmus test is to ask yourself what does the sharing achieve? Sharing personal experiences can be a powerful way of trying to help others learn from the episodes in your life and are usually valuable in this context (even then usually reserved for personal blogs away from your corporate presence) . However if it is about feeling sorry for yourself with no perspective then are other places than your professional web presence to get tea and sympathy!
ReplyDeleteCustomers put their faith in you and your brand, in my experience this happens out of respect, not charity.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Tim, and good points well made.
ReplyDeleteI think that going down the 'tea and sympathy' route can be a bit of a female thing. I'll probably get a bashing for making such a comment but being female, I reckon I can!
Women to women marketing is very profilic at the moment, and I think that it has it's strengths but I also think that women must be very careful not to play the victims in the business world.