Personality versus personal
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When I talk about personality, people often think I mean the writer or editor should talk about themselves in the newsletter. You know, mention your cat, dog, spouse, childhood, boss, politics, weekend, headache, football team etc.
It should already be clear that this is not what I mean by personality. But there is a potential role for personal opinions and information in newsletters.
Personal information
Assuming you're prepared to give your readers an insight into your life, how much information (if any) is appropriate?
Once again, it depends on your audience and your publication. Personal information adds a(nother) human element to the newsletter. It reinforces the warm human voice and helps establish more of a personal rapport between reader and publisher. All this in turn reinforces the reader / publisher relationship and encourages trust and reader loyalty.
It's much harder to unsubscribe from a person than from a publication.
The big issue, however, is whether such a personal rapport is appropriate to the publication and its readership.
There will always be people who have no interest whatsoever in any personal details, and even find these a turn off. The resultant loss in impact and influence from these people is countered by the gains in loyalty etc. from those who do respond positively. The key is to make sure the balance is always tipped in your favor.
If your newsletter is more formal in nature or strictly information-driven, then personal information might cause more harm than good. So ask yourself whether talking about yourself will tend to enhance or diminish the reader's experience. And consider how easy it is for the average reader to relate to what you say.
Even the starchiest of publications might benefit from the odd personal story, particularly if this story contains some inherent value of its own.
Think back to how we defined valuable content as useful, timely, relevant and unique. It's not hard to imagine how you can make a personal story at least timely, relevant and unique.
So you can pass on some personal information where you're sure of your position, or you can reduce the risk of doing more harm than good by making this personal information relevant, timely and useful.
Think about a baby health newsletter published by a pharmaceutical company.
If the editor tells a story about her daughter's 'flu in the winter edition, wouldn't that resonate with the readership? The story has its own inherent value, containing advice and experiences the reader can relate to (maybe even a plug for the right product!). But it also encourages the reader to feel closer to the publication, because it's written by someone they can relate to.
The danger with personal information is that the publisher (editor or writer) can overdo it. Unless the scope of the publication is about you and your life, don't let personal stories or information prevent the reader from getting whatever it is they want from the newsletter.
My general experience has been that small doses of "personal" work well, for all the reasons outlined above. But too much personal takes you into dangerous territory.
There are those who don't give a fig about your personal life - that's not why they signed up. And others who will have an understandable, "hey, it's not like we're friends of anything, just because you've sent me your newsletter twice" reaction.
Personal opinions are a different matter. Here it depends on whether this opinion is part of the content or on-topic.
Personal opinion
Some great newsletters are built entirely around personal opinion. In such cases, this is not so much a personality as a content issue.
Even if opinion is not the purpose of your newsletter, a little supplementary on-topic opinion has all the benefits of the personal touch, but without the drawbacks. As well as reinforcing the human element, opinion can be used to enhance the value of other material and is a way to introduce personality.
Offering opinion unrelated to the topic of the newsletter is much more risky than talking about your dog. Although the pros and cons are fundamentally the same, the chances of irritating readers are much higher.
With personal information, the worst that can happen is that a reader is disinterested in what you have to say. With off-topic personal opinion, a reader can easily be offended by what you say. The more off-topic you go and the more extreme your opinions, the more chance you'll lose subscribers.
You have, of course, a right to express whatever views you like in your own publication. But always bear in mind that your views or values may not be shared by all (or even any) of your readership. Always be aware of the consequences of your words.
It's very easy to fall into the trap of assuming that readers are like us. If they share the same interest (the topic of the newsletter), surely they must share our values and opinions too?
I've unsubscribed from many a newsletter because the owner has drifted off-topic and used the newsletter (maybe even only once) to voice an opinion I find offensive. Politics and religion are particularly dangerous topics to broach, if your newsletter is unrelated to either.
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