Make Marketing Suck Less

Why Being a Speaker, Author and Coach is Blah-Blah Boring

You can't swing a cat on the Internet without running into a speaker, author or coach. Did I offend you with this title? Honestly, I think your profession is great – it's your bio that is boring.

Does your Twitter profile or Facebook page use these descriptions? Did you add, ” consultant, strategist or entrepreneur?” How about your bio?

As I peruse the Interwebs, I notice that there is a metric ton of  these professionals. When I first started this blog, I had the same description in my profile until I realized it was the most un-descriptive thing I could write. I might as well have said, “Mammal, human being, female.”

I struggled with my bio. I rewrote it about a 1,000 times. I hired someone to help me re-write it – smartest investment ever. (Check out Nancy Juetten if you need help).

Your goal on the web is to stand out, to communicate why you are different from every other speaker, author and coach. How do you do that?

Be specific

Claim your niche! Name it. What are you a coach of? What do you speak on? What's your book about? One or two words takes you from generic to specific. Let's look at an example. One of my favorite bloggers is Erika Napoletano . Check out her Twitter profile —>

Yep, she has speaker and strategist in her bio, but it is the sentence beforehand that makes Erika standout. She gets people unstuck which gives you enough context to understand what she's all about in her speaking career. 

Say something unique

Don't just list out your billions of achievements – add a thoughtful, fun, or quirky detail about yourself. Who wouldn't want to friend a hash tag abuser or a can't commit to a 12-step program person? I do!

Your bio needs to show your personality. Sure, on Twitter you only have a few characters to do it. Let's look at a good egg, the mysterious social media persona of the Marketing Chap

Sir M. C.  is very British and that prim and proper Britishness shines through in his bio. It's full of his personality meanwhile letting you know what he tweets about marketing, PR and social media. It's fun (and he's awesome so you should totally follow him). 

Make it about your ideal client

Even in the shortest bio, you need to make your biography about your audience or your ideal client. How does your experience benefit the person reading your bio? I'm more compelled to read your work, your bio or follow you on Twitter when you let me know how I can benefit from connecting with you. 

My other favorite blogger is Ash Ambridge who gives great business and marketing advice. In her Twitter profile, she makes it 100% clear what you are going to get out of following her – “Helping you drop jaws with your marketing.”  If you're a small business with a web presence – of course you are going to follow her. You'd be crazy for co-co puffs not to!

Now, go forth and make your bio on Twitter, Facebook and your website stand out. Make it specific, unique, oozing with personality and most importantly make it about your ideal client or your audience. Tell your story to speak up, speak out and make your impact.

What's your biggest challenge in crafting your bio? Let me know in the comments below.