Have you ever read an e-newsletter or blog post and got a feeling of disappointment? Maybe it was just too subjective, airy-fairy and touchy-feely? If so, then you may be like me, a thought-processing person who wants facts and data when reading content online, an e-newsletter or blog post.
Several years ago, my friend John Agno published this review of personality types in his newsletter. It contains important information to consider when writing your blog, e-newsletter or content marketing to attract clients, and it still applies today.
The Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory is a method for helping people match their communication styles to others’ personalities. Understanding Myers-Briggs allows you to foster the kind of interpersonal climate that paves the way toward better understanding.
One of the four Myers-Briggs dichotomies is Thinking/Feeling — that people use to assess their preferred ways of communicating, processing information, analyzing that information, and coming to a decision.
The population is evenly divided between thinkers and feelers. Two-thirds of men are thinkers and two-thirds of women are feelers, but 70% to 90% of businesspeople are thinkers, regardless of gender. The name of this dimension is slightly misleading. Thinkers aren’t unfeeling, and feelers aren’t fuzzy-headed. Both process information carefully. The difference is in what facts each group considers to be most salient.
Thinkers are drawn to objective information. They tend to overlook personal factors in favor of logical analysis. To assess a situation, they detach and observe. In contrast, feelers are drawn to subjective information. They focus on human values and the impact a decision will have on the individuals involved. A feeler will think about a situation by throwing herself into it and getting the “inside” perspective.
I like to cite studies whenever I write about a concept, to prove my point.
But my readers aren’t all like me! (Well, on second thought – process of elimination – maybe the ones that still subscribe actually are. Probably all the “feelers” unsubscribed a while back!)
It is important to appeal to your readers. If half of them are feeling-types, and half thinking-types, you may have to step back and look at how your writing reflects your own preferences. You probably need to modify some of your phrasing to include the people NOT like you.
Like the MBTI information included above, feelers aren’t fuzzy headed at all. You can appeal to their emotions, their sense of caring, and write content that is well-rounded and appeals to both the feelers and the thinkers.
My challenge to you: take a look at the last newsletter or blog post you wrote. (You are writing one regularly, aren’t you? – yes yes of course you are…)
In what ways does it reflect your personality type? How can you rewrite it to appeal to both feelers and thinkers?
Let me know how you do, just press the comment button below and comment… (Or, for all you ‘feelers’ out there, let me know you care!)
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