You’re Never Too Important To Communicate Your Personal Brand
“I’m not a complete dinosaur.”
That was the sentence that first caught my eye.
The next words to grab me were, “ordering a snorkel from Wyoming and a budgie cage from Clacton.”
They were all in the opening paragraph of a mailout I’d received from the men’s clothing company Charles Tyrwhitt, after I’d bought a shirt from their online store.
Usually, when I receive any sort of promotional bumph I follow a three-step process:
Step 1 – Take a quick glance to check there’s not a money-off coupon attached
Step 2 – Tear off my home address and any other identifying details
Step 3 – Put it in the recycling
But as my brain began to register those opening lines, I changed my mind and fished the letter out of the bin to read further. The rest of the copy was just as engaging, but more than that, it came across as both personable (chatty and friendly) and personal (authentic and down-to-earth). You can read it for yourself here, if your zoom function is up to the task:
I was so impressed with what I read, I did something I hadn’t done before. I sent an email to the company’s founder, who’d signed the letter, commending him (or whoever in his marketing team came up with it) on a great piece of copywriting. In reply I received the message:
Dear Jennifer
Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
I have always thought that what we write is important and I do still write it all myself! Rather scary that it has been 38 years!
All the best
Nick
Nick Wheeler OBE, Founder & Chairman
And there it is in a nutshell: personal branding needs to be personal.
It makes no difference whether you’re just setting out in your career, or you’ve decades under your belt and an OBE to your name, what you write (or say, or do for that matter) is important.
So if your brand is flamboyant and humorous, reflect that in your communications. Or if it’s more deep and serious, do that instead – but whatever you do, bring your own voice to the table. You’ll connect with your audience in a way that keeps you out of their metaphorical recycling bin and in their figurative shopping carts, ready for whatever business or career opportunity might arise.
How do you feel about using your own tone of voice in your communications – even if it’s different from the usual corporate speak? What are the benefits you’ve seen? Or has it backfired? If you’re happy to share, there’s a comment box below ready for your thoughts. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this. An authentic piece that makes a refreshing change from the synthetic, AI enhanced marketing communications that we regularly see and is probably all the more effective because of it.
This AI thing is only going to get worse