Generally, personal marketing goes beyond the personal sender and influences the message itself.
The last email we received from Fabienne Fredrickson, the founder of Boldheart, started with a personalized greeting, shared some of the things she’d been up to, and then delivered a useful nugget of business advice. The advice she concluded with stuck with us because it felt like it was coming from someone we knew — and someone who knew us.
To move people to buy, remember that personal is powerful. As you consider your own personal marketing, it’s a good idea to think through the ways you can make the communication more human. That doesn’t mean you have to pretend to be best buds with your clients and prospects. It just means there should be a face associated with your message. The reason we use a personal cover story for our newsletters is because it builds a meaningful connection with readers.
Word to the wise: Getting “personal” does not mean you need to share your thoughts on controversial topics, even if you have strong feelings regarding hot-button issues like religion, politics, or sexuality. Those don’t need to be attached to your business. Personal marketing should be about uniting, not dividing.
Instead, you can do your best personal marketing by writing in a conversational tone.
That means using contractions, shorter words, idioms, and slang. It includes sharing pictures from your life, highlighting real details about you and your family, and describing the thought process behind some of the major decisions you’ve had to make. It also means addressing the recipient by name. Details are crucial here, and humor can work wonders. Take a look at these examples:
- I was watching “Seinfeld” on the couch last night, and it’s amazing how relevant that show remains today.
- I’m a huge Yankees fan, but I grew up Boston, which means I’m used to being a black sheep.
- There’s nothing better than homemade margaritas to kick the summer off right. Once you’ve perfected a recipe, you can never go back to grocery store mix.
Not only do these details add character and depth to who you are, but they’re also conversation starters.
For your piece of personal marketing communication, work on a conversational tone, include a story, and add specifics. As you take steps to personalize your message, you’ll be amazed by the response! When you want to create memorable marketing, getting personal gets results.
Think about the emails you read, as opposed to the ones you simply click on and ignore. Ask yourself what the important ones have in common. The biggest similarity might not be in the body of the email, but rather who it’s from.
Odds are, the emails you actually care about are sent by a person, not a brand or company.
People with a specific voice and perspective author the most popular business communications. This doesn’t happen by accident. Human connection makes all the difference when it comes to developing a bond with personal marketing, especially for large companies.
Here at Newsletter Pro, we subscribe to experts like Ryan Deiss at DigitalMarketer — people who are synonymous with their brand. In our personal lives, we subscribe to all kinds of non-business email lists as well, from people like life coaches and fitness gurus. The personal relationships we cultivate with these leaders are part of how we stay engaged.
When two businesses decide to work together, it’s because of the people within those companies.
Corporations may be people in the eyes of the law, but they certainly aren’t people in the eyes of their customers. That’s why sales representatives and account executives play such a vital role in courting and keeping new business. Even if you work with a giant company, it’s your contact that makes you feel cared for and secure.
Admittedly, there are a few exceptions to this “personal” rule. HubSpot emails show up in your inbox with their company names attached — but they’re also an enormous brand that puts out content on a daily basis. In effect, they have become like a person to you, in that you trust and appreciate the value they deliver. And you feel they’re as familiar to you as a friend.
Some of the best-loved brands, though, have achieved their fandom by associating a human face with their values. When you think about Apple, you think of Steve Jobs. The same is true of Amazon and Jeff Bezos, or Virgin and Richard Branson. In effect, these people are the embodiment of the companies they lead, not just their public face.
