EPISODE 41: Copywriting Characters: Embodying the Nurturer Voice

Jessi:
Welcome to the Brand Your Voice Podcast, where we’re digging into how you can create personality-driven content that connects and converts. I’m Jessi…

Marie:
…and I’m Marie. We’re the co-founders of North Star Messaging + Strategy, where we support business owners in outsourcing content without sacrificing authenticity.

Jessi:
Every brand has a unique voice that sets it apart. We're digging into how to capture the way your brand communicates from the words you use to the stories you tell. So you can create more compelling content that strategically helps you meet your business goals.

Marie:
And if you choose to outsource that content, you'll be able to do so with confidence, knowing your brand voice is in good hands and you can reclaim your time. We're so glad you're here and hope you enjoy this episode.

Jessi:
Welcome to another episode of the Brand Your Voice Podcast. And we are continuing our series today of the copywriting characters, also known as content personalities that we here at North Star use when we are capturing the voice of our clients and a tool that we've developed called the copyrighting character quiz that can help you identify the content personality of your own brand or your client's brands. We've at this point gone over the rebel Archetype and the Artist archetype. And this episode is geared towards the Nurturer archetype, the third on the list. And I'm going to let Marie do the brief intro of the nurturer, because this is one of the copywriting characters that she personally relates to.

Marie:
Yeah. So, one thing to notice as you're going through these, as you may recognize that, you know, Hey, I, or my client like fits one of these kind of, but also kind of fits another one. And that's something that's really common. I mean, there's not just like five different types of communicators out there in the world. And so we encourage you as you're listening to this to say, okay, this is playing my primary. And if you want to know for sure, you can go take the quiz, which is at northstarmessaging.com/character. That's in the show notes, by the way, if you don't wanna have to type all that in, and you will come out with a test result, which is either the rebel, the artist, the nurturer, the scholar, the architect. But it's totally common and we actually encourage you to have a secondary one too. And so if any of these are calling to you as sort of a backup singer in the band, um, that's probably your secondary and that's for me.
I have a really soft spot for the nurture because that's my personal secondary copywriting character. I really love the nurturer because this character is very focused on empathy and listening and calling people in community, all of this stuff, I'm totally an introvert, but I'm also somebody who is, and like really wants to, I, you know, I have a sort of streak for hospitality and things like that. And so that for me is very natural. You'll also see this character sometimes and coaches or therapists, people who are really good listeners. But I will caution you and say like, don't assume that just because someone thinks of a therapist as a nurturing job, that that is your copywriting character. There are plenty of therapists- I mean, in anything I'm seizing that as an example, right now- there are plenty of therapists out there who actually much more strategically minded and they may actually be like an architect, which we'll be doing soon. So stay on the lookout for that episode. Or they might be somebody who was very disruptive. And so they're kind of rebel personality, right?
So I would say take the quiz, don't make assumptions about what the voice is based on the job title and, or like, you know, what's involved in the work. And see how you can play up to your strengths of how you communicate or your client if you're doing this on their behalf.

Jessi:
Yeah, absolutely. And as far as the nurturer is concerned, you know, Marie and I were actually just talking prior to starting recording. And I was mentioning that sometimes I struggle with the nurture type because, you know, when I think of my primary and my secondary and then which other content personalities are related to nurture is actually pretty far down on the list for me. Which isn't to say that I don't have empathy and can't necessarily leverage that writing style, but it's also something that is not the thing that I naturally go straight towards when I'm creating content.
But one of the ways that helps me is I think of it not just as a nurturer archetype, but also as a protector archetype, which I personally relate to a little bit more that idea of someone who is really invested in supporting the people that they serve. And whether that is through the sort of softer verbiage of a nurturer or the slightly more, almost defiant verbiage of a protector, it's still hones in on these core values that the nurturer really showcases in their content and really, and how they move throughout whatever their profession is. And those are values of service. Those are values of balance and community. Their content is really designed to provide that support, lift up their audience and make them feel seen and heard, but also to guide them. So not just to have that empathy piece, that's super important that says, I hear you, I understand you, I'm walking alongside you, but also guidance to say, okay, I'm walking alongside you. And then helping point out where the next trail marker is so that we know that we're on this path together and the path is actually leading somewhere.

Marie:
Yeah, for sure. And I want to come back to that word balance because I think that people who test as a nurture archetype have really had to learn things like boundaries. They've have had to learn about balance in their lives because if they had their way, they would just spend all their time helping other people sometimes to their own detriment. So this is an area where we want to focus on the strengths of the nurture and also be aware of some of the potential pitfalls that can show up in the content. So that way, you know, you're a guest, you are standing in service, you're providing that support. And also it's not to your own detriment or to the detriment of the brand.
So some of the strengths of the nurture, I think the natural optimists, you know, they really want to see they believe in the power of love and caring for other people. They really are convinced that, you know, it's all going to be okay. We may have to work for that. We may have to work really hard for that, but that at the end of the day, there's more people in the world who want to lift each other up than otherwise. And they really lean into that and they call people forward. They really have that expectation of other people, and they inspire that with others. They have a lot of gratitude for what they've experienced in their lives, and their businesses. And they inspire others to have that gratitude as well. They're really not shy about saying like, wow, I'm so grateful for my clients because of this or I'm so grateful for this opportunity. They're they really come from that place. Right.
They're very committed. These are people who, you know, like, it's that protector thing, right? You think about like, who's a protector, like a mama bear, right. Well, she's not going to just abandon her Cubs, right? Like these are people who like, they make a commitment and they stick to it, whatever that is for them, the very generous, you know, they like to give their time. They like to listen very generously and support very generously. They're very naturally collaborative. I think they're really good at hearing all sides of the story. And so that means that they're also very good at finding ways for people to work together and support one another in a way that's very, win-win, they're very loyal, you know, to the people that they work with and care about, who care about them. This is, you know, you're not going to see this as like a backstabber, right. This is a person who's very empathetic. They would think about how does that feel? That feels terrible. Okay. I'm never going to do that.
So those are some of the strengths of the nurture. And if this is resonating for you, then that's probably a good chance that this is, you know, your first or secondary copywriting character.

Jessi:
Yeah, absolutely. And this nurture type shows up, of course, in content. If you are a nurturer, either primarily or secondarily, it probably shows up in your content without you even realizing it. Uh, and it can show up also in how you interact with the world. So maybe it's not written content, but maybe it's how you conduct a group program or how you show up for a live or how you move through a networking event. And so there are some different things that are kind of recognizable about people who lean into that nurture or character type. You know, one is that everything that they do is really grounded in those core values that we mentioned at the beginning of this episode and those strengths, they really do make decisions based on whether it aligns with their values and what the intention behind that decision is. So a couple of episodes ago, we talked about the rebel who's very convicted and not shy about rocking the boat. The nurturer, isn't afraid to rock the boat, it's not like they avoid it, but they're very, very intentional about when they rock the boat and how they rock the boat. They want to make sure that they are putting themselves out there in that way it aligns 1000% with their core values and there's a purpose attached to it. And so that means that sometimes they take a little longer to come out and say something that is a little disruptive for their industry, but it means that when they do, they've thought long and hard about the fact that this is something they really want to say.

Marie:
Yeah, I want to interject here that as a, as someone who has the nurturer within her, I remember like when years ago, I don't know when I first heard about like disruptive con content, I was like, ew, why? No. And if I were a, maybe like a natural rebel, I might've come easier for me, but, you know, because this is my area. It's like, yeah, if I have something to say, I'm very convicted, then I'll do it. And I'll do it with a lot of like passion. And if I'm not convicted about it, like, meh.

Jessi:
I mean, I think it's like a good practice in general, regardless of your personality type, like don't rock the boat on things that don't align with your convictions, your values. And I mean, I think that, you know, every person who goes into business with the idea of making sure that their business is aligned with their values is going to do this regardless of their type. So I'm not saying that the rebels are just rocking the boat for the sake of rocking the boat. They just may not take quite as long to get there, whereas the nurture really, you know...
I think of the nurturer and Marie, I'd be interested to kind of get your take on this. But I think of the nurturer as someone who takes a lot of time and consideration to make sure everyone else's voice is heard, acknowledged and taken into consideration, which means that sometimes they are stepping out of the spotlight. So even in their content, in their content and in how they move throughout the world, there's a lot of stepping back in, amplifying other people to showcase whatever it is you're trying to showcase.

Marie:
Yeah. I totally agree with that. And honestly, too, here's a thing that a lot of people don't think about a valid part of your content strategy, and I think especially for really, for any anyone, but I think nurture is do this really well in the way that you're talking about Jessi, is not putting your own stuff out there so much as commenting on other people's interacting, creating relationships. You know, nurturers are really natural community builders and they're able to make the person on the other end of the content feel like it was created just for them. And this happens obviously very easily when you're actually responding as an individual in a comment to somebody to say like, well, Rebecca, like, here's what I think about that. Like, thank you so much for sharing that. Right. They're really able to create that environment of intimacy, even if it is, you know, one big old Instagram posts for anyone in the world to read.

Jessi:
Yeah, absolutely. I think, and I think everyone can do this. Everyone can create an intimate feeling. It's that whole idea of like, write your content in a way where you're speaking to one person, not to a room full of people. I just think there's a natural tendency for the nurturer to do that more intuitively.
So if you are the nurturer, how does that show up in your writing? You know, I said earlier that you, if you are a nurture, whether primarily or secondarily, it probably shows up in your content and that's partially true. And I want to acknowledge, and we'll talk about this a little bit more in a couple of episodes, but I want to acknowledge that pretty much all of us were taught to write a certain way. And the way that we were taught to write may not align with our content personality or copywriting character. So you may be a nurturer and not feel like it's reflected in your content. And that's okay. That's what the series is for. That's what the quizzes for, to help you start to think about how can I make sure that my content reflects how I naturally sound and interact with the world, because what we don't want to happen is we don't want your content to sound one way and your audience to feel like they've gotten to know you through your content, and then they interact with you in a different way. And it feels like you're interacting with a completely different person.
So let's talk about what the nurture looks like in writing a little bit.

Marie:
Yeah. That's such a good point, Jessi. Yeah, so things that show up in the content of a nurturer, I talked about that optimism, right. That they really kind of believe in the best. And also they're not polyamorous right. And so they do balance their optimism with realism. They are not going to slip into pessimism. Very unlikely if they do, there's probably, you know, something that they're personally working through happening there. They, you know, whereas other types of archetypes might lean into sort of short, snappy sentences, nurtures often will create just naturally like more flowing language, descriptive language, they'll lean into storytelling a lot. They don't mind if they have a long flowing sentence that might not even be contained on one line. Right. They're okay with that. They're okay with the thought being complex and it's taking its time to get out of their mouth or their fingertips out of the keyboard. Right.
And as you pointed out earlier, Jesse, they're really interested in elevating other people's voices as well. So they love to highlight and feature others in their content and really raise people up. This is kind of part of that protection thing too, right, of saying like, I, you know, it's not, it's not about me. Like I want to, I want to help other people that I believe in thrive and I want their businesses to succeed. So that kind of is part of, part of the impetus for that too.
Sometimes they will lean into kind of a fun language like alliteration. They kind of have a playfulness with language, right? Uh, a little bit of wordplay, things like that can A, just make people feel at ease and B can create a sense of consistency. So that way there's actually, you know, if someone's feeling a little anxious, right. Reading something, having something that has alliteration or wordplay within it can actually set someone at ease to say like, oh, I kind of understand this, right. This is a familiar thing for me. Or it's creating a pleasing pattern for in my head as I'm reading this. Very warm, inviting language and word choice, you know, they're not going to be leaning into a lot of words that are just very sort of crackly, but more just kind of words that you would envision hanging around the campfire with a friend. Right. Very uplifting tone. And one thing that we've been doing with all of these characters is giving you an example sort of neutral sentence, and then translating it. And as it were into one potential way that that copyrighting character could illustrate that.
So here's our example sentence that we've been using for all of them. It's, "We show our clients how to brand their voice within their content." So the nurture might say that as instead of, "We show our clients, they would say, we guide our clients to acknowledge and share their personality with the world through content that encourages them to connect and communicate with clarity and compassion."
And there's that alliteration right. Connect, communicate, clarity, compassion. We don't want it to get to the point where it sounds, um, uh, overwrought, but it can create kind of a pleasing tone as we go through if we just kind of sprinkle it in a little bit.

Jessi:
Yeah. And as you're looking through, just that sentence that we just gave you, like some of those word choices, they really do amplify that sense of peace. As at least I perceive it as peace, you know, guiding, acknowledging, sharing, encouraging. These are all words that feel optimistic, feel hopeful, and also feel like you're not being left on your own. You feel like you, whoever is reading this is being invited into a relationship with the other person and isn't it going to be left to figure it out on their own. And I think that that's a really important piece of the nurturer. Some of the other words that come up around the nurturer type are words like support, together, safe, rooted, growth, guiding, healing, helping, you know, they're all these words that are really geared towards that sense of connectedness and togetherness. And I think that that's really, really important.
And like any of the content personalities and any of the copyrighting characters, there are some things to watch out for too. There are some areas where these aren't necessarily things to avoid, but there are things to be aware of as stuff that might come up as you're creating content that may maybe little snags in your content creation, or may not be things that people resonate with as much, or maybe things that you want to actively look at improving.
And so when we're talking about a nurture type, there are a few areas where either a nurturer who is kind of writing naturally as a nurturer may naturally struggle with a little, or a few areas where the content itself may just need a little zhuzhing up.
So starting with, you know, we talk about the nurturer being such a great source of community and connection, and there's a risk here of trying to welcome everyone in, even if they're not a good fit. So I often compare the nurturer to the rebel because they're there, even though there are a lot of rebel nurturers out there in some ways they feel like polar opposites, the Venn diagram of a rebel and a nurturer is fascinating and it's so much fun to write for.
And they compliment each other in interesting ways because a rebel is very willing to polarize naturally. You know, they're very willing to create content. That's like, this is for my people and this is, these are not my people. And I'm going to make it very clear. Someone who is very leaning very heavily into the nurture archetype has the opposite happen often where they want to welcome everyone. And even if not a good fit, because there's this sense that, well, the stuff that I'm creating could help everyone. So why shouldn't it help everyone? Which can be a little problematic sometimes.

Marie:
Yeah, for sure. So it's important for the nurture to really lean into their audience, to make sure that they remember who it is they really want to call in and it's not everybody and that's okay. Right. But here's a, here's a way to think about that as a nurture. Right. Which is, Hey, I'm opening the door and I'm outlining the door. I'm talking about the shape of it and the color of it and you know, the temperature or like whatever. Right. And some people are going to be like, wow, that's too cold. That's too blue. That's too short for me. Right. I don't want to, I don't want to go through that door. That's uncomfortable. And that's okay. Right. The door is open for them. They get to self-select whether they're coming in or not, all you've done is describe it.
Another area that can be a little bit difficult for nurturers, right? Is that they, again, they're still focused on other people they're focused on community to the extent that they forget to talk about their own expertise, what they're bringing to the table, their own offers. And so that's one of those areas where we don't want to get so caught up in elevating other voices that we completely neglect our own. So if you are a writer supporting a nurturer, or if you are a nurture yourself, who's writing their own content, just be aware that this may be a tendency that comes up for you.

Jessi:
Yeah, absolutely. Don't forget to, you know, sing your own praises a little bit sometimes, and don't forget to sell your products and your services because you are running a business at the end of the day and you are an expert in what you do. And it's important that people know that and can see that through your content.
And then something else that comes up in content itself very specifically within, especially longer form content. Although this can show up in shorter form, but I'm thinking more along the lines of longer emails, blog posts, even sales pages to an extent. The nurturer voice sometimes can have a little less inertia. It can feel slower because the word choice is often, it often revolves around those softer words. And so it doesn't necessarily have that quick snappy pace of some of the other types. Not only do you have that softer word choice, but you also tend to have longer sentences. And that means the cadence, the way that it's read takes a little longer, you don't necessarily get to these short, sharp endings, and that can lose some readers. That can confuse some readers depending on how lengthy the sentences are and how much description you're working in. And so this is just something to be aware of when you're writing copy, especially longer forms, long form content that where you really want to pile in the stories and the descriptions, and, you know, talk about a bunch of different things that are really valuable. Take some time to go back and reread it and make sure that, you know, maybe your sentences vary in length. Yes, you can have a longer sentence, but then maybe balance it out with a shorter sentence. Check your word choice. How many action verbs are in there. Are there any action verbs that could get punched up a little bit to give it a little more momentum, a little things like that, to just make sure that as you're reading, there's a good pace to what you're reading and you're not losing people.

Marie:
Yeah, in fact, I think you could take some inspiration maybe from a kind of lyrical writer that you might enjoy, like a fiction writer who, again, you might think of as very lyrical, but also you find their work very engaging. Chances are that they are doing this. They are creating a bit of a rhythmic flow, right, where it's kind of like long, long, short, long, short, right. And it kind of varies around. There's no specific formula for this necessarily, but take a look at that. Right. And maybe you can draw some inspiration for that, for the nurture of voice. Another thing that really does happen with the nurture and this kind of goes with that, forgetting to talk about yourself is for getting to sell. You spend so much time protecting, nurturing, building relationships, you know, just having all those deep conversations. And then you forget to actually support yourself where you, you know, forget to sell, or you're nervous to sell.
This more happens, I think with earlier stage businesses. But it can happen with business owners. Who've been in it for a long time and maybe they have a new offer that's untested. And they're just like, I want to protect my people so much and I want to give them so much value. And I don't know about this new program. Like I know it's going to be great, but like, I don't know everything about how it's going to go. Can I really sell this with confidence? Right. So it comes up for nurtures at every stage of business, even to seven figures and beyond.

Jessi:
Yeah. You know, as you're talking, I'm thinking about too, I don't know if this is a nurture specific trait, but I think that this may be kind of along the same lines, something that maybe nurturers fall into a little bit more easily than other entrepreneurs. Although I think it kind of plagues all business owners at some point or another, which is feeling that pool for service and adding to your offer without necessarily looking at changing the price to support that, changing the boundaries to support that. So this isn't necessarily content specific. This is more business structure specific, but it shows up in your content. It shows up in the way that you talk about what you do and how you do it because content is one of the places where you reinforce boundaries.
So I think that's another thing that's coming up for me around the selling piece. It's not just am I saying, Hey, this, this software is for sale and it's great. And like, I'm actually putting out there to the world. It's also what is included in that offer. And am I trying so hard to serve that I'm actually failing to serve myself?

Marie:
Yeah. Oh, that's such a good point. At the end of the day, though, if you're thinking about this and some of this is resonating for you and some of it, isn't just like every other copywriting character, the nurturer voice is unique and depends on every single person to give it real body and direction.
So our homework for you is to go, first of all, take the copyrighting character quiz if you haven't already and see if your suspicion is correct, that you are the nurturer. Again, that's at northstarmessaging.com/character, And then you can go ahead and have a little assignment. So take a piece of content that maybe you've written or something that you see somewhere. Something that just feels a little neutral. Like I was saying before, even maybe something academic, right. And just play with it, see if you can rewrite it. And this again can just be two or three sentences. You don't need to create a whole novel's worth here, but see if you can rewrite it into the voice of the nurturer, using some of those words, right? Like care and empathy and protect and guide and call in and all those things. Right. If you do test as the nurture, you're going to get a PDF that will get you started on a word bank. And you can already draw some inspiration from that as you go through the homework assignments.
And even if you aren't a nurturer yourself, if you are a writer who wants to flex those muscles of being a wordsmith and chameleon, I encourage you to try this out with all of the voices, because this will really continue to give you a big breadth of what it is that you're capable of and the types of clients personalities, that you're able to support and replicate within the content. So I hope you have a good time with that.

Jessi:
Yeah. And you know, if you haven't been following along with this series, I want to challenge you to use the same piece of content you did for the previous two episodes. So for the rebel and the artist using the same piece of content for the nurturer, especially if you're a content creator, and you're trying to craft this, trying on different voices and different styles that may or may not be as familiar to you.

Marie:
Yeah, for sure. We did this one time just recently with a client, we took their mission statement and we wrote it in several different archetypes that we thought might fit them. And it was so interesting to watch. We were actually on a call with them when they were like really gravitated towards one, even though literally the message was the same throughout, in terms of the sort of stone cold facts of what it was communicating. The tone was so much different. And this is actually the voice that they leaned into. So, you never know, you know, sort of what's to come out of that practice what revelations you'll have and what you'll learn about yourself. So I hope you enjoy that process and happy, nurturing.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Brand Your Voice Podcast. Make sure to visit our website, northstarmessaging.com, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify, and more.

Jessi:
If you found value in this episode, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes and share it with your friends. Thank you and happy content creating.