Chances are, you do business in a crowded field. Establishing authenticity by using a distinct voice is a great way to achieve some visibility amongst the competition. Your blog is a great place to let people get to know you, and develop some credibility and trust with your audience.
It’s a great way to get the buy in from your audience that you need.
How to Use Your Blog to Establish Authenticity:
Discuss your interests – Sure you are a business, and the number one goal is to sell. But personal touches can go a long way. It’s OK to bring up your kids, your interests, or your favorite sports team once in awhile. My Twitter profile picture is the outside of Wrigley field. That has sparked numerous conversations with baseball fans that I’ve ended up doing business with.
Use contractions – Separating every word in your blog post gives it a stuffy feeling void of that personality you are trying to create. Formal and professional are not the same things. Sometimes going after that professional feel can cause a void between you and your audience. So go ahead. Smash those words together.
Write how you talk – This is the key to authenticity. Really pay attention to the way you talk. Picture yourself telling a friend or a customer what you are about to write. If it’s not how you would explain an industry concept to a customer, don’t write it that way on your blog.
Use the simpler word – Academics feel pressured to write in a way that proves how smart they are. We know you’re smart. We like your business enough to read your blog, after all. Here’s a personal example. When I worked at my college paper, I used a keyboard that the last guy probably dumped his lunch all over. The “X” key didn’t work and I needed to tell our faculty advisor. “I discovered it typing the word approximately,” I told him. “This should also serve as your reminder to use the word about,” he replied. He was right. The simpler word will almost always do.
It’s OK to break the rules – Go ahead and make your high school English teacher cringe a little bit, if it will make your readers feel a little bit more comfortable. Begin a sentence with a conjunction if it will help the flow. And of course, a preposition is OK to end a sentence with.
Developing a rapport – Credibility is essential for trust to be born. How do you do this? Stress the benefits. Offer deals that convey the value, and stress that you believe in your product. Highlight your testimonials. Consider talking about a negative aspect of your product, while shedding some positive light on it. Honesty in marketing goes a long way.
Evaluate your jargon – Sometimes you may need to use a word or phrase your reader may not be aware of to explain your point. When it can’t be avoided, don’t assume your readers know what it means. Use the extended version of an acronym the first usage or two. Define a word or concept that might be foreign to your audience. If your reader doesn’t understand a word or concept, they may not stick around.
Doing these things in your blogging and content marketing can help establish an authentic voice for your business. They will help your writing come off as more genuine and likable.
What do you do to establish authenticity?
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