Hey it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business
and life you love and this is Q&A Tuesday.
Today's question comes from Lisa and she writes:
"Hi Marie.
I'm pretty clear on my business idea, but in my writing and marketing I keep freezing
up in the voice department.
I have a very in your face kind of personality, people say I'm funny, but it seems like the
minute I start trying to write on my blog I get stuck.
In my head I say, 'Ok, am I gonna be like Chelsea Handler and just put it all out there?
Or do I need to rein it in and be more professional?'
My question is, will my brand's voice still be authentic if I censor myself and hold something
back?
Should I show my real personality or come up with one that's more appropriate?"
Lisa, this is a fantastic question.
Now, the good news is you don't have to choose between your real personality and an appropriate
one.
Let me explain what I mean with a little story about something that just happened a few months
ago.
So I usually love riding bikes, but in the city I get a little afraid of bikes.
Why?
Because there's crazy cab drivers, everyone is always texting, no one's really paying
attention, and I really like my life.
Alright.
First sunny day of spring Josh is like, "Hey, we're going to the movies later.
Do you wanna go City Bike over to the movies?"
I'm thinking, "Beautiful out, I'm with my man, alright.
Why don't we give this a try?"
So I'm feeling safe, get on a cute little City Bike, Josh is on the City Bike, we're
riding across the city in the West Village, everything is going great.
We cross over, we're on Bleecker Street, right?
Josh is driving, all of a sudden a taxi pulls over into the bike lane, cuts off Josh.
Josh stops short, I stop short behind him, and then another biker behind me stops short
behind me.
Now, the moment I stopped short I hear the guy behind me start screaming at me basically
berating me for stopping short and not getting into an accident.
Without even thinking, not even a second went by, I turned around and verbally tore him
a new butthole.
I had no control over myself.
It was like an exorcist moment and expletive after expletive after expletive just came
out of my mouth.
Now, is that the authentic me?
Yes, because it actually happened.
But I don't speak like that every day and it's certainly not my brand voice.
Here's a thing that you need to get.
We all have multiple personalities.
I mean, I have my hanging out with friends personality, I have my MarieTV personality,
I have my Kuma Mama personality, and I have my City Bike personality and clearly she ain't
nice.
They're all authentically me and they're all slightly different, like different facets
of a diamond.
So, Lisa, you have to get clear on which facet of your diamond do you wanna showcase for
your business.
Here are two keys that'll help you decide.
Key number one is get clear on your dreams.
So I want you to think about it this way.
Do you want your business to be appropriate for cable or network or maybe even PBS?
Do you consider yourself more prime time or are you late night?
You brought up Chelsea Handler, who's an amazing example.
So Chelsea is clearly talented, she's very successful, and she has a very distinct brand
voice.
Now, the choices that she made may limit not only where she's shown but also who watches
her.
Now, for contrast consider Ellen Degeneres, another majorly successful, hugely talented
woman with a unique brand voice.
Ellen is super funny but she always keeps it kind and clean except for that one time
in '92, stand up routine, she did let out one f-bomb.
But she's clearly evolved her brand since then.
Chelsea is late night cable and Ellen is prime time network.
Now, one is not intrinsically better than the other and they're both completely themselves.
And, get this, both of those women have multiple personalities, they have just chosen the personality
that they most want to showcase.
Key number two is be clear on your audience.
So who do you want to reach and who are you ok repelling?
You know, about a year ago we started getting notes in from our viewers letting us know
that they love to watch MarieTV with their kids.
And I'm talking tiny, cute little babies all the way up through teenagers.
And once I realized that parents were watching MarieTV with their little munchkins, it really
inspired me.
It also got me more clear on our audience.
Since 98% of what we teach here on MarieTV is appropriate for any age group, it made
us more conscious.
So sometimes when I do let out a little Jersey, we add an adult language warning or, honestly,
I consciously tone down my language because of this fact.
Is this still me?
Yes, it's still authentically me, but I'm aligning my brand voice with the audience
that I wanna reach and the dreams that I have for myself and my business.
So there you have it, Lisa.
Two keys to help you make some clear decisions about your brand voice.
Now, if you want to dive deeper and learn how to write in a way that's authentic to
you and makes people want what you sell, go check out TheCopyCure.com.
It's a new training program I've been working on for years and I think you're really gonna
love it.
For now, let's wrap this up with something I really want you to remember and, yes, it's
a tweetable.
"Showing your personality doesn't mean you have to show everything."
That was my A to your Q Lisa, I hope it helps.
Now I would love to hear from you.
Do you ever struggle between what you consider your real personality and the one that you
show in your business?
What say you on this topic of brand voice?
As always, the best discussions happen after the episode over at the wonderful land of
MarieForleo.com, so go there and leave a comment now.
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Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world really does need
that special gift that only you have.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time on MarieTV.