I was thinking about something this morning, and it gave me the idea for this blog post. What if we fell in love with breaking the rules? As authors and writers, we break the rules all the time. Grammar, sentence structure, dialogue, all of it. But then, when it comes to marketing or blogging, we somehow feel like we need to listen to everyone else and do what everyone else says we should do.
Now, there are rules for a reason.
Yes, we should pay attention to the rules of grammar, and remember what we learned in school, but I read books all the time that break those rules.
Now, what triggered these thoughts was a weird, random, ADHD association. I was thinking about the “branding language” question I posted on Twitter the other day. I asked, “If I asked you what your branding language was, would you be able to tell me?” and many of you said no.
But, what does this have to do with breaking the rules?
Isn’t it following the rules to know what our branding language is, so we can use that in all our marketing? Sort of.
Let me give you an example.
I was in a webinar a year or so ago that discussed this exact subject, and the lady running the webinar didn’t ask us to decide what we wanted our language to BE, she asked us what it already WAS. She gave us a list of words, and asked us to describe how we talked to our audience. In my case, I described my language as Empathetic, Friendly, and Encouraging. Some of that was how I already was, and some of it was how I wanted to make sure I used the language in those categories.
The reason I wanted to know what my branding language was, was so I could make sure how I spoke to people and how I wrote my blog posts aligned with what I wanted The Picky Bookworm to be.
I want to encourage indie authors in their writing journey.
I want to do so in a friendly and empathetic way.
I want to include authors in this community who can encourage each other.
Keeping my language aligned with my brand is important to me. Because the people who are important to me will find me. The ones who want what I have to offer will find me.
Now, the reason I’m falling in love with breaking the rules is because most blogging rules don’t align with my brand language. If I’m encouraging someone by writing a book review, how am I going to do that by giving a negative review? It’s HARD.
How am I going to stay friendly by constantly trying to “teach” with how to posts? Ugh.
I can do all of those things way easier by writing more conversational posts like this one and breaking the blogging rules. I may not have the greatest SEO, and I may not have the best keywords, but I believe wholeheartedly, like I do with Twitter and other social media, that if I stay true to myself, my tribe will find me.
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Until Next Time, Friends!
