How Vulnerable Should You Be in Your Business Blog?

Someone asked me a great question recently during a workshop I was giving on content marketing:

“How vulnerable should I be when writing my blog posts?”

Their concern was understandable. If you provide professional services, people are hiring you for your expertise. If you admit that you’ve made mistakes, struggled with something or didn’t always know the answer, could that make you look less professional?

I don’t think so. If you do it thoughtfully it should make you look more human. In fact, a little vulnerability can make your expertise more believable.

Back in the day, professional business writing typically took the stance from a position of authority. You could almost “see” the writer speaking from a podium, thumping their chest. The goal was to establish yourself as The Expert.

At that time, you wrote as though you had all the answers and never admitted making mistakes. You certainly didn’t reveal that you once believed something that turned out to be wrong.

Today, most of us are pretty good at spotting when someone is trying too hard to sound like The Expert. Rather than having us look up to you, it can create distance between you and the prospect.

For professional-service businesses, this is critical because your prospective client isn’t only buying a service. They’re deciding whether they trust you to be the provider.

Here’s an example. Let’s say two business consultants are giving advice about pricing.

One writes:

“Successful business owners understand that pricing should be based on value rather than simply calculating an hourly rate.”

Another writes:

“When I first started my business, I made the mistake of calculating what I wanted to earn per hour and building my prices from there. It took me a while to realize how much work and overhead I wasn’t accounting for.”

Then they explained what they learned and what others should consider when setting their prices.

Which piece of content would truly grab your attention?

The second person hasn’t diminished their expertise by admitting they once got something wrong. They’re showing us how feet-on-the-ground experience honed their expertise.

Research shows that appropriate self-disclosure can increase perceptions of authenticity and help build trust.

Conversely, too much personal information, particularly when it isn’t relevant to the audience or the subject, can have the opposite effect. Being vulnerable is a positive; oversharing can lead to disaster.

Before including a personal experience in your business content, ask yourself:

Why does my reader need to know this?

Stating facts is helpful, but sharing your relevant experience makes the lesson more real. Appropriate vulnerability enables real human connection.

Start with simple and more organic conversational pieces:

“I used to think…”

“I learned this the hard way…”

“I tried this, and it didn’t work.”

Those small admissions can make an enormous difference: instead of lecturing your reader from the front of the classroom, you’re sitting next to them saying, “Hey, at one time, I’ve dealt with this too. Here’s what I’ve learned.”

If you’ve been practicing your profession for years, you’ve likely made mistakes. You’ve encountered unexpected situations and have changed your mind about things. You’ve probably handled situations differently five or ten years ago than you would today. That’s experience: and your personal experience gives birth to valuable content.

Ask yourself: Will sharing this lesson learned help my reader understand the subject, my expertise or what it’s like to work with me?

If the answer is yes, then that little bit of vulnerability may be exactly what makes someone trust you.