Episode 136: Humanising Your Brand: Five Suggestions To Guide You on What and What Not To Share with Your Audience
In this coaching episode, Fiona talks about a question that she is often asked - how can you humanise your brand without sharing too much about your life? When does the information you share become too much for your audience? Listen now as she gives her five suggestions to guide you on what and what not to share about your life and your business.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Fiona’s year-end goal recommendations
When are you sharing too much?
5 suggestions to guide you on what to share
#1 Stay true to you
#2 Ensure that you are aligning to your values internally and externally, and then everyone in the business understands those values.
#3 Find five ways that you can humanize your business without stepping into territory that feels very wrong for you
#4 Set your boundaries
#5 Remember that most people don't care
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources Mention
Episode transcript:
It doesn't matter what the audience is. This question comes up every time without fail. And the question is, how can I show my humanity in my brand? Or show humanity, not necessarily my humanity, but show humanity in my brand without feeling like I'm sharing way too much of my personal life? And are there ways to humanize my business without sharing things or sharing areas that I'm not comfortable with showing on my business platforms?
Hello, and welcome to Episode 136 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. I am recording this a couple of weeks out, but the day that it comes out, so if you're listening in real time, is Thursday, the 23rd of September in Australia. And that is the day that all of my friends in Melbourne, myself, everyone I know is kind of waiting to see what is going to happen next. So if that's you giving you a massive hug, I'm in the exact same boat, I really, really hope that we get some good news soon.
So today, it is a coaching episode. And that's a longer episode with myself, where I kind of dive into one element of business that relates to small business owners, whether you're solo operators or you run a business with staff if you're lucky enough to have them. And today, I have to say that this is something that I have also grappled with, and what are the things that I talk about, you know, it's not like I'm immune to them somehow. I run my own small business, I go through all the same stuff. But definitely, it's something that I know comes up for so many small business owners, it's something I get asked about a lot in DMs, I get asked about pretty much every time I do a speaking gig on one particular subject. And so I thought I would share some advice if you are in that boat. And I think maybe now in particular, because we are going through what we're going through in this pandemic, this could be a question that's coming up for people quite a lot. So stay tuned for that.
Before I dive in, of course, I want to recognize and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which I am lucky enough to record this podcast. I live in North Warrandyte, which is where Wurundjeri people land, and it belongs to the Kulin nation, and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
The other thing I wanted to mention before we get stuck in is that we are almost at the end of the third quarter of 2021. I know some of you will be like, thank God, and others will be like, gosh, wasn't it just April? Yes, my friends, we are almost towards the end of the year. And I know for many of you, this all mean, oh my gosh, I really got to ramp up my e-commerce or I've got to get my systems in order because I don't want to repeat of what happened, you know, last gifting season, which you know, we all know happens at the end of the year with the biggest percentage of a lot of people's profit and sales coming in at that last quarter of October, November, December.
So if that is you, I have two products for you that will help you. So the first is my money mapping course. Now this is a really affordable course so many people have gone through it literally hundreds have gone through it. And it's sort of a one hour video with a bunch of questions that you need to work through. And in that will be things like your ATV, your frequency of purchase, things like bundles, and it gives you advice for figuring out your money. And I think even if you're like yeah, we've got all our revenue streams sorted. If you are coming into the gifting season, and you're thinking, Oh my gosh, I'd love to be making more or I'd love to be some way systematizing this so that we can get more product out the door with it not affecting our bottom line too much. Then definitely go on over to mydailybusinesscoach.com/shop, look for the money mapping course and start working through it, it will take probably two hours of your time. To do that it might take a little bit longer if you need to find out some figures from your accounting software. But I get every single week responses from people that are like I'm so glad I worked through that it completely changed the way I was looking at my business, it's allowed us to do things we hadn't done before. And sometimes it's as simple as going, you know what I need my ATV, which is the average transaction value to go up, I'm going to introduce bundles. And if you're using a tool like Shopify, there are plenty of bundle plugins, you literally plug it in, in the back end, and you create your bundles. And quite often people will see a massive increase because people are shopping and they're like, Oh, do I need to have this, oh, wait a second, there's a bundle, I could get the whole set, or, hey, I'm buying an eye mask. But actually, it comes with this other thing. And if I get them into bundle, I will save. Bundles can be amazing, as can subscription boxes, and all sorts of other things. But I'm not going to dive into that too much. If you want to get that stuff sorted, definitely check out the money mapping video.
The second thing that you may wish to get sorted if you can, before the fourth quarter, the final quarter I should say, of 2021 calendar year kicks in. And that is your systems and processes. So I have a short course again, super affordable that you can go through. It's about an hour, it's a training, and it will go through your systems and processes. So you can access both of those, like I said before, over at the my daily business coach shop, which you go to mydailybusinesscoach.com/shop. Now if you are experiencing hardship, if you are really struggling right now maybe for from the pandemic, maybe from other reasons, please reach out to us we do offer some discounts to people who are in financial hardship. We also offer discounts to charities not for profit, so just be aware of that and just send us an email hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com. So let's get into today's coaching episode.
So a while ago, it feels like years ago now because just never ending locked down really. But a while ago, I attended an event in real life with real people and people will like you know, hugging and not too much, I guess but sort of gently tapping each other's arms. But it was a really, really great event and it was called Small and it was put on by Kate Stokes of Coco Flip. And Elise Heslop of Plyroom. It was part of Melbourne Design Week. So it was some months ago now. And it was just a beautifully put together intimate event. It was a panel discussion all about kind of small and business and kind of intentionally staying small and looking at things like comparison and feeling like you have to get bigger. But it was just it's one of the best events I've been to in that space. In terms of the design space. There just was this level of I don't know maybe because it was locked down maybe because of the beautiful women who put it together and their brands, but it was just an amazing event. And I was lucky enough to go and I caught up with quite a few people. Some people who listened to this podcast who came up and chatted to me that's so nice. But I got to talking to lots of different people about all sorts of businesses from someone who just come back from New York who is starting a food company can't wait to hear more about that through two-year-old friends that I knew in the industry through to some wonderful women that from my group coaching program, so shout out to Carlie Fraser of Hygge Spaces and Design. She is just wonderful. And if you are in the Melbourne Bayside Mornington Peninsula area, definitely check her out if you're looking for renovations design, She's incredible at what she does.
And the other one of my clients who was there that night was Anne-Claire Petre from anaca studio, a beautiful furniture and showroom studio based again out of Melbourne. And we will link to both of their amazing businesses in the show notes. But yeah, I was at this amazing event really lovely chatting to lots of different people about all sorts of things that happen in business. And we were talking in one particular conversation with a couple of people about the idea of sharing and oversharing as a business owner, so particularly things like maybe putting things on Instagram that then you feel, I don't know, some kind of way about afterwards, maybe saying, you know what you think is too much in a conversation with a client or a customer.
Maybe kind of ranting about something that afterwards you're like, oh, why did I do that? Maybe you have things lie you know, children that you do I show them do I not? So I was talking about this with a couple of people and we kind of got more into the idea of what this can result in, which is a vulnerability hangover. And that's a term that I first heard from my friend, Kylie Lewis from Offkin. And I remember her saying, when I was saying something, and then she said, I, it's like a vulnerability hangover. And I was like, What is that, but that is the most perfect expression. And it's really, you know, those times when you share just a little bit more than you intended to share. And you can fall the next day into this sort of shame spiral. I always think of Clueless the 1995 film when I say that, but you know, you kind of can go down this shame spiral and think, why did I do that? What did I do all sorts of things. And like I said, before, it could be oversharing on Instagram story, it could be doing a Tiktok that later on, you're like, oh, it could be saying something. And oversharing. Again, I guess, in a podcast, so maybe saying something saying more than you meant to, it could be that you're on a panel and something, you know, like a speaking gig, and something comes out and you're like, Oh, my gosh, and you just sort of cringe inside. It could be relaying, like I said before personal issues to a client or customer. It could be you know, grabbing the phone and pointing it at you when you're like, ugly crying and, and you kind of felt like wanting to do it at the time, but then you don't feel so great afterwards. And really, it could be about anything, it could be something that you didn't mean to discuss, or that you didn't want to kind of define you or, or something, and you suddenly put it out with your business, or to something that you didn't really ever want to talk about. And suddenly it's come out and you're like, oh, gosh, I had made a promise to myself not to do this. We've all done that to some degree. And sometimes I'm like, go for it. If you felt like it at the time, and it felt good for you go for it. And other times, I can totally see where some people are like, Oh my God, why did I say that? Because now that's what people are going to remember or relate to my brand that I didn't want to. So we've all done it. And sometimes I think we give ourselves way more flak, then we really should, you know, vulnerability is one of the key elements to building trust and deepening relationships, whether that's with fellow small business owners, or our clients or our customers. And I know that when I was at that event, and as I've been at many, many events in similar situation, that when those people that were speaking on the panel at this event from Kate and the least, when they sort of like kind of laughed or, or shared a bit more of their realness their humanity, you felt more of a connection.
Like I know, there was one particular person, and I didn't know this person, and I was completely judging them based on what they're wearing, which is really bad. But in a good way. I was like, Oh my gosh, they're amazing. And the Sunday they perfectly put together and perfectly poised and you know, perfect hair, and just everything else like I. And then as they started talking, you know, some of it at the start. I was like, Okay, yeah, they're exactly as I sort of judged them. Let me be clear, that was really wrong with me to do but. And then they sort of relayed the story and started laughing. And I was like, Oh my gosh, it was like the whole room just took it exhale. And we're like, they're just human like the rest of us. And I love that. And I know that when people sometimes feel like they're oversharing, what they're doing is actually just allowing us another way to connect to them. And I know that I definitely felt far more connected, particularly to this person, then I had, if they had just sort of sat there and perfectly poised the whole discussion and just never said anything. That was you know, any way off the track of what they had hoped to say that night, and not really shared how they actually felt about things.
And this brings me to today's topic, which is really that, like, I do a lot of speaking gigs. I do master classes in other people's masterminds and group coaching programs and memberships. And I do a bunch of paid speaking gigs as well on various topics, and one of those is around humanizing your brand. And that is really bringing the humanity in, because that is going to be your USP, it's going to be the thing that that differentiates you from from other businesses out there. Every business out there has a competitor.
So the biggest thing that will differentiate you is your humanity. It's you it is the founder the figurehead, the origin story, the why, all of those good things. So when I do this masterclass on how to you know, bring humanity into your brand, I am quite often asked the same question or some variation of it at the end of that, and it doesn't matter if I am presenting that into a membership for health professionals. It doesn't matter if I'm presenting it to a membership, it or one time you know, chiropractor's and then you know, another time I was doing it to people in the banking industry, another time to women in business and other time to moms in business and other types of fashion retailers. It doesn't matter what the audience is. This question comes up every time without fail.
And the question is, how can I show my humanity in my brand? Or show humanity, not necessarily my humanity, but show humanity in my brand? without feeling like I'm sharing way too much of my personal life? And are there ways to humanize my business without sharing things or sharing areas that I'm not comfortable with showing on my business platforms? So it's a really common question. I can't tell you how common and even where you think you're say, for instance, moms in business where you think, Well, part of their whole shtick is that they do share their motherhood, their journey, all that stuff, it can still be a question of how much am I sharing? Do I want my children to be in this every single shot? Do they have the choice? Are they saying that they want to do this? Or am I pushing them into it? And how might they feel when they're older? And all these kind of questions that come up.
So I kind of thought I would share five things that I tell these people that I've now, you know, suggesting to you as well. And they're really tips that could help you next time, you are second guessing yourself. And even Actually, this came up recently, in a call with a group that I'm coaching, and I offered very similar advice in that these things, these five sort of suggestions or tips. If you can go through those, and then you share what you want to share, then you shouldn't ever feel that you are deep in a vulnerability hangover. Yes, it's natural, that if you're sharing something you've never shared before, you might feel a bit like oh, but you shouldn't feel bad about it, or shame around it. If you have gone through these five things. So what are they?
#1 Stay true to you.
Stay true to you. It is your business. And the your is, in neon lights for anyone who didn't catch that is your business. And if you want to share everything about your personal life, then go for it. Likewise, if you don't want to share things, you don't want to share your kids, your political leaning, how you feel about x, y z, then you don't have to do. It is your business. And this kind of comes back to your values and other things. And I'll get to that in a second. But you created this business, and you get to make the rules. So don't let people particularly when you're starting out and you're looking at your competitors, and you're thinking, ah, they've shared this, or, gosh, they really go into that I don't really want to talk about that, then that's fine. You know, everyone is on their own path. It's your business, there is not a guidebook that says you must share every part of your personal life, to be able to humanize your brand. Not at all. And I'm not for a minute suggesting that I definitely talk about ways to humanize your brand that don't cut into, you know, places that perhaps you feel, just want to keep that door closed on that part. So the first thing is stay true to you, it's your business, you get to decide what you share and how much you share.
#2 Ensure everyone knows your brand values.
Ensure that the values that you know underpin your business and that you kind of built your business on and that you share on social media like these are our values. This is what we stand by things that you might put on your website and kind of like your About Us page, your story, all of those things, and that people know about your business, ensure that those values are a known about by everyone in your business. So if you don't know your brand values, I have a free values checklist you can find that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/freestuff. But you want to ensure that everyone that works for the brand, understands the brand values understands what are our values, how do they underpin the business? How do we kind of work from those things. And also make sure that those values are not just externally aligned, but internally aligned. And that is that the people in your business, whether it's you, your staff, everyone that's enrolled in your business is actually living up to those values.
So for example, if one of your values is freedom, then you might want to show how that value is aligned in your team culture in the way that you hire in what you're doing internally to aid in things like equality for you know, race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, all of those things. If freedom is one of your values, then you want to be showing how you are living up to that, not just externally with like, Yay, I'm putting up this tile that I should put up, or I feel that I should put up, because you know, this is what my brand stands for, but that you're actually doing the work behind the scenes as well. So that could be updating your policies around kind of discrimination. It could be making sure that if you're talking about empowerment, you have things like domestic violence leave that you have places for people to have milk, if if they are coming back from maternity leave, that you look at paternity leave and maternity leave in the same vein that, you know, people who have to work flexible hours to pick up children from childcare or or other things are not disvalued in any kind of discussion in the business, important meetings aren't put at the end of the day when people may need to go and pick up children.
So all of those things, so you want to ensure that if you're sharing things, they are aligned with the business values, and everyone in the business is across those things.
#3 Do not step into territory that may not feel aligned with your needs as the business owner.
You want to think about ways that you can humanize your business. So really bringing that humanity into your brand. Like I said before, this can be such a big USP for different businesses. But you want to do so in a way that is not stepping into territory that may not feel, or that may feel like it's not aligned with your needs as the business owner. So for example, instead of feeling like you have to show your kids more, to show kind of more of yourself, you may decide to show more behind the scenes videos from the making of your products. So it could be an interview with one of your suppliers, it could be in a day in the life of it could be, you know, showing the tools or the platforms you use to work with your clients, as well as kind of any quirky habits that you have. These things will give people insight into you. But they are done in a way that you still feel safe, you still feel that you're not going into a place that feels uncomfortable for you. And not uncomfortable in like, you know, a growth way, but just where you're stepping into a territory that you don't wish to be in. And I guess things like, you know, you might think oh my gosh, I have to start doing all this stuff you don't like so often, people feel that humanity in simple things that we do everyday that we don't showcase. So things like going to the cafe that you always go to, to get your morning coffee from or hear a list of songs that always get me out of a funk when I am in lockdown for the 700th time. Or these are the podcasts that my staff are addicted to right now, or this is the trashy reality TV show that we've been discussing in the office this week, or other stuff that is just making you human is your real life, but isn't going into a territory that feels uncomfortable or say for instance, you know, if you don't want to share your children, then you don't have to share your children like, I know that's a big, big one for parents that run their own business as well. So there's so many ways to add humanity to your business, without giving up on the things that you want to remain private. And again, that was number three. So find five ways that you can humanize your business and start even having a look at what kind of content you like and that you feel a connection with from other brands. And quite often you'll find that it's not always just when they talk about their products or services, it is them talking about themselves. It is their staff talking about something it is them sharing the behind the scenes a day in the life of those types of things can really, really help a brand feel more human, the audience feels more connected to them. And it's not going into an area where you're going to feel really queasy, or that you've you've sold out or or that you haven't kept things private that you that are really important that you wish to keep private. So that's number three.
#4 Set boundaries.
This is a big one. And a past podcast episode. I think it was Episode 84. It's one of our most popular episodes. I spoke to Beatrix Bakes founder, Natalie Paull, and we spoke about the fence of No. So this was something that she mentioned on the podcast. And if you're interested in that, after this one, go and listen to Episode 84. But she talked about what she would do and what she wouldn't do. And she said there is a fence of no and everything before that fence. Yeah, I can accommodate everything outside it. Nope, not going there setting my clear boundaries. And so this is really a great idea when it comes to thinking about where your boundaries in terms of sharing oversharing so you might take some time and decide what are you comfortable talking about what he not comfortable talking about or showing or putting up on your website or those sorts of things. And once you have that list, which might also end Things like even the topics that you will and won't talk about. Once you have that list, then take the time to dissect it and decide, am I not doing those things out of fear? Or ego? Is that what's stopping me? Or is it because it really doesn't align with who we are as a brand who we are as a business.
And again, there's no wrong or right here, like there really isn't, this is more about making the time to decide what's right for you, and not setting a blanket statement or feeling like you should do something or not do it because of other people's opinions. That's number four.
#5 People do not care as much as you do.
Remember that most people do not care, what you are posting about on your social media, or in your email, or on a live that you did anywhere near as much as you do. So it might sound super harsh, but is definitely worth remembering, we might post something and think, Oh my gosh, everyone saw that everyone must be talking about it, when in actual fact, it might have been 10% of our followers or 10% of our email subscribers, even if you had a higher open rate, you know, that saw it that actually took it EME and all of that, maybe only 3%, like, took the time to read it to reflect on it, to think about it. Before moving on to the next thing. You know, it's it's like that old saying about what is it yesterday's? What does it like? Oh, gosh, no, remember that it was like, you know, today's newspaper ends up as tomorrow's fish, fish and chip paper or, or goes into the cat litter or something.
So I guess it's to think about if you find yourself in a vulnerability hangover, to really spend a few minutes asking yourself, why do I feel so bad? Is it fear and ego? And sometimes it can be those things? And you just need to push through that? Or is it something bigger? Is it something where I've really crossed a line here, and I didn't want to do that. And then take the lesson that the situation is presenting to you and move on, you know, move on, no business owner is perfect. No one who has a business for any kind of decent length of time gets by without feeling at some point that they have over shared, or they've posted something that feels too personal. Or they've said something to a customer or client that they wish they hadn't have said, we're human, nobody gets through this perfectly without ever feeling that. But if you're in that space, you know, go back to the first point I made, which is first and foremost, stay true to you. It's your business, and you get to decide on these things. And remember that it's your business, you know, you may not control the outcome of what has happened after your post or your panel discussion. But you can control what you do next, and how you react. All of us are learning and we're growing. And often those two elements of business learning and growing really result from moments when we feel the least comfortable.
So I hope that has helped. I'm going to recap those five points.
#1 Stay true to you, it is your business.
#2 Ensure that you are aligning to your values internally and externally, and then everyone in the business understands those values.
#3 Find five ways that you can humanize your business without stepping into territory that feels very wrong for you.
#4 Set your boundaries.
#5 Remember that most people don't care. Most people are not going to scrutinize things in the same way that you are scrutinizing things.
And I guess I should say with all of this, it really depends on the topics that you're talking about and your values. But I know that there may be some times that you're going to have to get uncomfortable and awkward and share things. But that is growth. And that is where sometimes your ego and fear will get in the way. But there are other times when in all honesty, you share something and you really feel bad about it you wish you hadn't any don't want it to be a reflection or define who you are. And that's perfectly fine as well. So I get asked about this, like I said so often from people when I talk about bringing humanity into your brand.
When I do that speaking gig when I talk to people through coaching calls, as well as just you know, strangers that send a DM through Instagram and if you're a stranger and you're like, I would like to send you a DM, please get in touch so we can't be strangers anymore. You could do that at @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram.
But yeah, I hope those five tips help you to consider what it is that you want from your business, and how much or how little you wish to share. And remember, it is your business. And I think that the more that you can have confidence when it comes to humanizing a business without feeling the vulnerability hangover, afterwards, the better.
So that is it for today's coaching episode. If you want to find a copy of the transcript, you can find that over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/136 is Episode 136. And like I mentioned at the start, if you are looking at kind of next quarter of the year that's coming on and you're feeling a bit stressed or you're feeling like it would be a great time to review your revenue streams or your systems and processes. You can find short courses on both of those over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/shop and we will link to those in the show notes as well. That is it for me.
Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful, please share it with a friend. And if you really found it useful and you feel so inclined. I'd love it if you could leave a review. It just really helps these podcasts get found by so many people across the globe. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
