Have you ever noticed that people are not the same? It seems like a silly question, because everyone knows that people are not the same. We all have different personalities and personality types.
Still, when it comes to sales and marketing and positioning ourselves as experts in our field, we have a general tendency to see everyone else as having similar interests to us and similar needs and wants to ours. This often leads us to write our sales and marketing messages in a style that is clear and comfortable for us, but may not be as clear and comfortable for whoever reads our copy.
To dominate the market in your niche and gain maximum buy-in for your marketing message, you’ll need to know not only your own type, but also the potential types of your target market. The most personalized approach will convey the most emotion, which in turn will create the strong relationship necessary for a long-term relationship with your target market. The entrepreneur with the greatest amount of relationship with their target market will establish themselves as the market expert. Prospects will buy products from this entrepreneur over and over again.
Within the AusIDentities personality type profiles, we recognize 4 different types of author and therefore also 4 different types of readers within the market. I’ll explain them briefly, so you have a basic understanding of your own type of author and the types of readers that exist in your market.
The Lead Author (NT; Eagle):
The Lead Author is a person who writes to teach. This author generally seeks knowledge, wants to be competent and achieve mastery on any subject. As a result, as an author, this AusIDentities personality type has a tendency to convey a lot of information and knowledge with the goal of creating mastery and understanding in the reader. The end result is often brilliant work with valuable concepts and ideas for people to implement in their daily lives and to create a bigger picture of their circumstances. Author Leaders are naturals when it comes to inspiring human potential from a “framework” perspective: what can we do to live more successfully or more harmoniously? This is where this type of author differs from the humanizing author: this type focuses on individual human potential.
The downside of having this type of personality: The work of this type of author can be overly theoretical and conceptual, with minimal practical advice and “real world” examples. The copy of this type of author can be long and difficult to digest, since it almost always assumes the same level of understanding of the subject on the part of the reader.
If you are this type of author, you may want to focus more on making your theories practical and reducing the transmission of knowledge. Many people are only interested in the solutions to their problems, not the why and how of their problems.
Have fun writing, and remember to put the “human factor” in your work.
The Negotiating Author (SP; Kangaroo):
The author negotiator can be described as the falsifier of results. The focus of this type of author is on results, and fast! There is also a tendency to be very independent and dislike anything to do with rules and regulations. This type of author personality is very focused on the present. The past is history, the future is a mystery, may be your adage. Highly focused on sensory input, the negotiating author has an eye for detail and aesthetics, and also has an excellent ability to get to the heart of the matter quickly. In writing, this author has a preference for proposing solutions to current problems. In the copy, readers will find many lively examples and case studies, in which there were challenges and problems that were overcome with decisive measures. Typically, this type of author has an enthusiastic way of writing content and is very capable of keeping the reader interested.
The downside of this type of authorship: there is often little room for reflection on the past and future, and little room for broader concepts and perspectives. The emphasis is on the “present”; this could leave readers guessing the big picture, describing the copy as “shallow”.
If you are this type of author within the AusIDentities personality type range, remember that two of the four types need a larger image for your copy to make sense. Convey how your solutions and actions fit into a framework of understanding and how you have developed this framework over time. Also be sure to focus on the long-term benefit of the solutions you offer, as the other three types focus on that.
The humanizing author (NF; Dolphin):
The Author Humanize people’s life and breath. You will find this type of author in fields such as personal development, coaching, counseling, psychology, sociology, training, human resources, etc. The ultimate goal of the humanizing type is to find meaning and meaning behind everything that happens in life. Almost always pursuing an idealistic vision of the world, these authors focus on meaningful relationships between people, with the aim of creating a better future. These authors are usually visionaries, with an uncanny ability to read people’s minds and emotions (=readers). This author’s writing style contains many metaphors and stories about people. Quite often, (very) large pictures will be sketched, meant to inspire the reader, before giving practical answers to practical problems (if at all). The humanizing author is more comfortable in the field of personal development.
On the negative side, this type of author can be too idealistic and focused on the future, losing track of current circumstances. Consolidator and Negotiator types may find this author “fluffy” and lazy, with no viable solutions to the problems at hand.
If you are this type of AusIDentities author, be careful not to use too many metaphors, as not all types can understand their meaning. Put plenty of “real life” examples in your work and focus on defining actionable steps with tangible results that can ultimately create your future vision.
The Author Consolidator (SJ; Wombat)
The Author Consolidator is what could be called the “ink on the book”: absolutely essential for a book to be a book with content!
This type of author has an innate need to belong to a group, to be a member of something bigger than he or she individually. They thrive on responsibilities, on being of service, and have high moral and ethical standards. Author consolidators seek security and aim to protect tradition. These types of AusIDentities are very practical, with strong discipline and persistence in getting things done, even at their expense. Other people can almost always trust that this type of author will keep the promises made; reliability is of the utmost importance. The writing style of this type of author is practical and realistic. One style of reading and teaching will be the easiest for the Consolidator of Authors. Many practical examples can be found in the copy, focused on keeping traditions and ceremonies alive. Often, reviewing past successes and building on them will be the main point of difference between this type and the other types.
On the other hand, this type of author can focus too much on the past, with little or no room for “lateral thinking.” Maintaining traditions is one thing, the unwillingness to change is another. In addition, many references will be made to the individual responsibilities and duties of people within the group; not all types can share this sense of responsibility; The Negotiating Author will fight with all his might against it!
If you are this type of author, you may want to focus a bit more on future potential, without knowing exactly HOW this potential will manifest. Also, be careful not to overload readers with things they “should” or “shouldn’t” do; allow freedom of choice and remember that not everyone agrees that belonging to a group is important.
Of course, these descriptions are very generic and leave a lot of room for nuance. Still, they’re accurate, and writers can often recognize themselves in one (and sometimes both) of the types. The AusIDentities Type Questionnaire we use will accurately show which Author Type is more “you”.
When writing copy, make an effort to write to all four types of AusIDentities as much as possible, so that you get the most coverage and acceptance for your material. Keep in mind that we have a tendency to write about our own type of author, since that is the most obvious and easiest. Integrating all four types into your work will give your copy the credibility it deserves.
