Ep #83: FriChats: Branding vs. Authenticity

Listen or Subscribe

Today is time for FriChats. What’s FriChats you ask? Great question. It’s mini episodes of the Chopped Podcast, where Marly and Cara Ansis do some Friday Chats,  jamming on topics of interest to people like you, food bloggers, creative entrepreneurs, and more! This week’s topic: Branding vs. Authenticity. Read and listen on for some heartfelt discussion success for food bloggers!

FriChats of the Chopped Podcast talking about Branding vs. Authenticity

This week’s topic for FriChats is Branding vs. Authenticity. And as always, this FriChats episode includes Cara Ansis of Fork and Beans and Marly McMillen of Namely Marly. And guess what? We have a special guest this week! That’s right! Today’ we have a guest on FriChats. It’s Kathy Patalsky. You remember her from an earlier episode of the Chopped Podcast (see link below), talking about social media.

Kathy is the creative force behind the site Healthy, Happy, Life, and Finding Vegan. If you submit your recipes to Finding Vegan, you’re probably thrilled with the crazy traffic it sends your way. It’s also been an amazing resource for people looking for vegan resources. Kathy is also a successful blogger on her site Healthy, Happy, Life as well. We’re thrilled to have her on FriChats.

And Kathy is in on the whole Bloggers are Artists concepts that Cara and Marly have been talking about over the last few weeks. Every FriChats episode is special, but today is just extra special thanks to Kathy!

So here’s the theme of today’s discussion about branding vs. authenticity. Do you ever feel torn between the brand that you are on your site and the real you? If your site and who the Real You are perfectly merged, AWESOME! But there are reasons why there can be a little space between the two. For example, what if you’ve changed? What if you started your blog as a desserts-only destination, but have since been diagnosed with diabetes? Or what if your blog is your happy space, but you don’t always feel happy 24/7! Is it ok to be out and about and NOT happy?

We talk about all that and more.

Check back with us each Friday to get your FriChat on!

In case you’re curious, here’s how we feel about Fridays.

Today on FriChats we're talking about Branding vs. Authenticity and this photo seems to embrace that the best. It says, "Oh Friday, Let me hug you!"

Talk about Branding vs. Authenticity!

Here are some of our favorite quotes from today’s episode:

We're not just brands, we're really humans; trying to merge those two can become a big challenge. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet There's a very fine balance between being authentic and being a brand. #frichats Click To Tweet The strangest thing about being a blogger is that we're all our own PR operators. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet People are so hungry for authenticity and transparency and realness, it's a blogger's place to give you that. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet It's kind of weird to lose who you are on a platform that started just for that. #frichats #choppedcon Click To Tweet A plan gets me so excited about what's coming up. #choppedcon #frichats Click To Tweet It's the ego that wants us to have the answers to everything and to have those answers last forever, but that's not life. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet It's as if we have a blueprint inside and our goal is to connect with that blueprint. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet Every female I know probably underestimates herself and her journey. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet Did I have a happy life and fulfill the things I wanted to do. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet My job is not to figure out the how. My job is to dream and to envision where I want to go. #frichats Click To Tweet Throughout my years of blogging, I have internalized some beliefs based on critical things that I've seen, that have kept me from turning my blog into what I absolutely love. #frichats #choppedcon Click To Tweet You're always transforming. #frichats Click To Tweet If it feels good when you're releasing that vulnerability then keep doing it, if it doesn't feel good, then pull back. #frichats #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet

Our goal at ChoppedCon is to help you be your best. We hope this discussion on Dealing with the Summer Lull in Traffic is helpful to the important work you’re doing every day!

If you loved Kathy’s list, you might want to download this Inspirational Ideas for Your Brand, that includes everything we discussed on today’s episode and more.

Now, go forth and Be Your Best You!

Featured Content – FriChats: Branding vs. Authenticity

Here are some of the highlights of today’s post on branding vs. authenticity:

  • We introduced Kathy Patalsky to today’s discussion. See below for links to Kathy’s sites!
  • We talk about the struggles of becoming a personal brand for our blogs
  • Marly talks about voice creep and how it impacts how we write for our blogs
  • We talk about the importance of dreaming about what we want our blogs to be like
  • Kathy shares a list of all the things as bloggers we could be doing at any moment – no wonder blogging is overwhelming!
  • There’s some discussion about monetizing a food blog
  • We’re also chatting about our perceptions of other bloggers – and how it can seem like they have it all together while we’re the only ones struggling
  • We talk about learning to be careful about what we internalize and how that can impact our blog

More from Marly & Chopped

More from Cara

Subscribe to the Show & Feedback

Thanks so much for listening to today’s podcast. I hope you found it informative and helpful to the work you do every day. Make sure you don’t miss out on any of the Chopped Podcast episodes by heading on over to iTunes to subscribe to the Chopped Podcast. While you’re there, provide a review and rating is a great way to help other podcast listeners find it too! That’s it for today’s podcast. As always, thanks so much for joining in the discussion!

Posted in Food Blog Resources, Food Blogging, FriChats, Podcast