I’ve seen a lot of talk in blogging forums lately about developing your blogging voice.
But developing your voice shouldn’t be restricted to blogging. It applies to all your online activities, and it’s a powerful part of the way you brand yourself in the crowded world of marketing online.
Your voice is the style in which you write.
Shakespeare had a writing voice, so does Robert Ludlum, so did Dale Carnegie.
Developing your voice takes time and effort, but it’s important because it’s part of your brand. It’s part of what makes you unique.
I read lots of Robert Ludlum books because I like the way he writes. Same with Tom Clancy. But I do not read the books written by their proteges – the ones that carry Ludlum’s or Clancy’s name but are written by someone else.
I’m surprised, often, that Ludlum and Clancy are happy to have their name on a book that reads so differently from their own styles.
It dilutes their brand.
Branding yourself, and strengthening your brand, is the most important way you can set up your stall online.
Why?
To be successful you need to stand out. To stand out you need to have a unique brand. The easiest way to uniquely brand yourself is to be yourself.
Being yourself makes it easier for people to connect with you, and once people connect with you they’re more likely to buy from you.
Here’s an often-quoted piece of advice:
‘To become more successful online you need to watch what the already-successful people are doing and copy them’.
But I disagree.
The theory that if you do what they’re doing you’ll also be successful is flawed, because what works for them will not necessarily work for you.
And if you copy what they’re doing you’re not being unique.
You need to watch what they’re doing and then work out how to adapt it to your own unique style.
The Third Tribe was set up precisely to address this point. It shows people how to take the strengths of traditional Internet Marketing, as seen in those long sales letters full of yellow highlighting, and adapt them to their own style.
It’s about developing a combination of proven marketing principles and personal branding, which you use to connect with people.
So whether you’re writing sales letter pages, blog articles or a sequence of email messages, make sure you’re being yourself, not a clone of someone else.
Develop your writing voice and use it as an important part of growing your unique personal brand, through which to connect with people.
Cheers,
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