So many of the people that I get to talk to, are amazing, genuinely amazing people. They are fun, outlandish, silly, weird, beautiful, talented, wise, smart, and educated in a variety of different ways and each and every single one of them is someone who deals with mental health issues on one side of the spectrum or the other.
Not all of them talk about their mental health issues, but I’ve noticed that those who do, end up getting a lot of hatred for speaking about the trauma they deal with, and we all know why. When some people see the strength they admire it, when other folks see the strength they feel a fundamental need to try and rip it apart.
Mostly I think it’s because when you see someone who’s strong you hate them because you’re jealous, at least that used to be the truth for me. It wasn’t until Rachel – my friend whose also a brand expert – asked me who my audience was, that I really started to think bout the conversations I’m having, versus the conversations I want to be having.
I used to be the person who hated people because I was jealous of them, I couldn’t figure out how they were finding these people to worship at their feet when I couldn’t even get people to be nice to me. And what was worse was that so many of these people I hated, were famous celebrities who didn’t know I existed, and that had the most toxic audiences.
Today I know who I am talking to when I write a blog post, but it took me a really long time to find people I could connect to so that I could feel like I was actually receiving feedback on how I was feeling.
It wasn’t just validation I was seeking although it felt like this is what I wanted, it was the conversation of “this is what I’m going through,” that I needed, that no one in my life was ever prepared or able to have with me.
So it took me a really long time to understand the loud Mouth Brown Girl audience, and I want your help with this because I need to know – for the future of whatever this brand is to become – to be correct or corrected, about what I suspect.
I suspect most of my audience is filled with white folk who are curious about what I write about, many of whom deal with mental health issues, between the ages of 15-65. I know that’s a huge range but I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with some of you so I think I’m right about that last part.
I also suspect that many of you are folks like me that are searching for a direction in life that is probably different than where you thought you were going to end up.
Knowing this is what keeps me writing about mental health, because believing that my audience is filled with people like me, keeps me going.
You’ll notice I won’t guess at race or nationality, or gender either, because I know most of my audience comes from North America, but the rest is guessable at best, you could be any race, creed, nationality, size, or orientation, which makes the mystery all the cooler.
I speak on this because when we’re talking about “branding our blog,” what we really need to know is whose reading that blog, and at best you can only guess based on the information gathered by the platform you’re using.
So for instance, WordPress tells me what country people are living in, but nothing else. I have no idea what country their actually living in, just where their internet signal is coming from, so it could be anyone reading my blog, so I cater my blog posts to a variety of topics, but not just entirely for my audience.
Just because certain people from certain countries are the ones reading what I’m writing, that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s who I intend my blog posts to be for.
If I’m writing about mental health and the NFL, I don’t necessarily expect someone who’s more political to want to read that post or vice versa, but who knows, something I say may be interesting to a variety of people.
So you have to know not only who your audience is but also who you’re talking to.
When I write a post complaining about white supremacy and the supporters of that lifestyle, I’m not necessarily speaking to every white person on the planet, but there will be those “on the other side,” who assume I am because that makes them feel bad because they think I am in fact speaking to them directly.
It doesn’t matter that I’m not, they are going to assume I am because they recognize what I say, in themselves, and it bothers them. Knowing that I curb my writing so that I’m not only writing about white supremacy because I don’t want to put that out there as my brand and be attacked by trolls for it.
I am only allowing myself to write about things when I know that I can handle the heat, and when that heat comes I have a really great group of supporters who remind me that it doesn’t matter what the people who hate me say. They’re going to hate me no matter who I am, or what I have to say, so I keep going.
When you’re looking at your own branding, it’s not just the logos and the number of blog posts you have, you also need to think about the kind of posts you are putting out there because overall that will help you discover the main theme of your blog.
I often tell people that the main theme of this blog is Mental Health, but I also talk about branding, and I share personal stories, and there are moments of laughter, there are videos you haven’t seen before coming in the future and all kinds of other things that contribute to my overall well being.
There are going to be days when you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing, and you’re going to hit google and learn as much as you can, but lean on your friends. Find groups and organizations that are offering workshops on the things that interest you, and make that a part of your blogging journey. People will appreciate you as a business person when they feel they’ve been along the ride with you and they are, with you.
Sending all my love,
Devon J Hall
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