Last year, I attended a fantastic event in Florida called Heroic Public Speaking Live.
Or, as I now call it, “HPS Live.” That’s insider lingo.
At 8:25am on the first day, I met a woman named Brenda Barbosa.
She’d lined up right behind me to register, in the “last names A-D” line.
Brenda knew that my sister lives in Silverlake, Los Angeles.
She knew that my dad thinks everyone he meets is Jewish and that he calls rain boots “rubbers.”
She knew what I eat for breakfast (watermelon chunks), how I got my first job in TV promos, how self-conscious I am in front of the camera, and that whatever I’m doing, I’d rather be watching Real Housewives.
She’s not a creep. She’s not a stalker. She just reads my stuff.
And she made me feel great.
She made me feel famous.
Not just because she knew all the weird details of my life, but because she knew everyone at the event and told them, “Laura is one of the best copywriters in the business.”
Why’d she do that? Well, for one, she’s an extraordinarily generous person, and loves to pump people up. It’s a gift, and she should get paid a ton for it.
But also, she felt like she knew me. Like we were already friends. (And now we are.)
That’s what happens when you get personal with your writing. When you cram it with specifics, and share it with people you don’t know.
People you’ve never met feel like they know you. Sometimes, that means they can’t stand you. But the cool people? They like you. They trust you. They brag on you.
And voila — you’re famous.
Just ask my friend Ash Ambirge, who attended the event with me. During breaks, readers of her blog kept coming up to her and saying, “Are you Ash? I LOVE YOU.”
At lunch, someone walking past our table pointed at Ash’s pinot noir and said, “You do love wine.” (Ash splashes almost every post with a wine reference.)
You may have heard that, if you want to “deliver value” — whether in your blog posts, your emails, your website copy, even your ABOUT page, for crying out loud — you shouldn’t talk about yourself.
Come on.
If you’re a fan of someone, isn’t it because you feel like you know them?
You don’t get people to know you and love you and come up to you by writing only about web traffic conversion or photo lenses. You’ve got to put you in there.
Show us your personality.
– What you eat for breakfast.
– How you get scared at the top of escalators.
– Your deep worry that the hotel hairdryer won’t be strong enough to make your hair shiny. (Yes, that one’s me. OK, the escalator thing, too.)
Let us know you.
Talk about yourself. OK, not just about yourself. Gotta learn to weave it in.
Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get your own Brenda Barbosa. Hands off mine, though.
Now you.
I said to talk about yourself, so do. What do you want us to know about you?
Make yourself famous. If you want to be. Do you? Are you already? Let’s hear about that, too.
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS.
ps BRENDA — NEXT ROUND OF MARGARITAS IS ON ME.
Oh, Laura! Your reply right above
was an answer to my prayers. I’ve only
blogged for ☝🏿 year, and I’m already nauseated by having to write for SEO!
Freeeeeedommm!!
Belgray – My dad calls rain boots “galoshes”. Not as funny as “rubbers” but still…I had to share!
PS both my Mom and I recently signed up for your “Secrets To Non-Sucky Copy guide” and are loving seeing your name in our inbox…and most importantly, getting your seriously helpful writing tips.
xo
One year, an annual market I’d done the year before used a photo of me to advertise. On the night people kept coming up to me and telling me I was famous. I had no idea what they were talking about until an older lady pulled a newspaper cutting out of her vintage handbag. She told me to give it to my mum.
I’m yet to be recognised for being online, but my friend did say that my Insta feed was ” so you”. So, chances are you’d recognise me in the checkout line.
Such a coincidence!
I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a blog (because I love creative writing and used to think I would be a novelist until I became trilingual, sucked at all three languages and instead became a graphic designer)
But this year I reeeeally want to start one. The only thing stopping me was that I hate the thought of writing a blog post titled: “The top 10 tools to optimise your website”.
Then our good friend MK told me to just share what inspires me and now I read this blog post and it’s like double confirmation from the two funniest entrepreneurs I know and most admire. <3
I want to write about brutally honest, funny and optimistic stories about my journey as an entrepreneur.
Like the time when my only two designers quit on me without notice and tried to steal my clients! Then of course I could weave in best hiring practices and how my new team have been with me for two years and love it.
Thank you so much for this post Laura! I think I have enough confirmation now to get started! 🙂
Xoxo
Yes yes yes! The world has enough of those 10 Tips blogs! Enough of those Why You’re Not Getting Engagement puff pieces!
We want to read something funny, compelling, relatable, infuriating, inspiring, personal. It might not be the best for SEO, but it lets people know (and like and trust and hire) you.
Plus, it means you have a creative outlet so that what you do for money doesn’t nag at you ever day with that “but I’m more than just this” feeling.
My random blog, even though it doesn’t get me the crazy google traffic, is the best thing I’ve ever done for business satisfaction.
DO. IT.
A few years ago I was sitting at an Indian restaurant with a bunch of Couchsurfingers in Auckland, New Zealand. I’m chatting up this guy across the table from me and the conversation turned to blogging. The girl next to him, Helen, chimed in.
“Wait a minute. Do you run Marian Librarian?”
“Um. Yes. How the hell do you know that?”
“I’ve been following you on Twitter for YEARS!”
Helen was from England. I am from Connecticut. We met over Indian food across the world because of the internet and she recognized my face from a 150×150 profile photo.
It was the most famous I have ever felt, especially since my blog has a VERY tiny community of readers.
Helen and I are still friends to this day.
I wish I had known earlier that you were at HPSL. I didn’t know that was what everyone was using….And to think this is my 2nd time attending the event 🙂
I kept saying HPS Live. Go figure…
Brenda is indeed a wonderful and generous person. I had the pleasure of connecting with her at my 1st HPSL. Just got to say a passing Hi to her this time…
Its true, we do feel like we know you from reading your blogs and being a part of copy cure.
I love this, and I literally just did this yesterday in my blog, doing an “Ask a Tarot Reader: Short Answer Edition” where I answered weird questions about my TV watching habits, if I consider myself psychic (yeah, but so is everyone else), and my favorite vices.
You are SO RIGHT. If I attend a tarot conference and someone says to me, “You are EXACTLY who you appear to be online.” I consider it the highest compliment. It means I’m authentic online, and it means that people KNOW me. The real me. If people don’t know you, then why would you think they’d want to work with you? Right? Amiright? 😉
Provide value, of course, but also provide who you are (weird quirks and all) in your writing. It makes all the difference. Thanks again for this great post!
Well done!
Wow, you have a lot of vices.
I of course had to click on the blackjack story – that’s a good one. Everyone wants to know why psychics/ intuitives don’t gamble more. I think you should re-use that. It’s good sh*t.
Hi there! So, kind of a cool thing, but I co-founded a blogging and social media conference in Northeastern Pennsylvania (Ash spoke there as our keynote last year!). It’s totally non-profit and we keep it super low cost so that we can reach as many people as possible. A full-day of sessions is only like $15-$20 per person. As for the proceeds, we use it to fund a STEM camp for girls in grades 4 through 6.
In the region where I live, people say all the time that we’re “backwoods”, “behind the times”, and “out of touch with the rest of the world.” Starting NEPA BlogCon with a group of fabulous gals was one way for us to show people that there is talent in our area, that we’re all connected, and that tools across this beautiful thing called the Internet can help you change your circumstances and do good work.
When I think about how far it’s come since its start in 2012, I can’t help but smile. It’s something I’m truly proud of. 🙂
Thanks for letting me share!
That is SUPER cool. And I bet Ash killed it in her keynote.
You don’t sound backwoods at all. And your region has a major edge: a pronounceable acronym. NEPA. Do you say nee-puh, or neh-puh?
Most go with nee-puh or the snazzy varation en-ee-pee-ay 🙂 She was incredible as our keynote. I fangirled so hard!