Now we'll take a slightly broader view, outside your home life and into the larger picture of your background.
For many of the same reasons your upbringing has an impact on your chances for content marketing success, your background does too. In some cases, the effect is even more profound.
To put a frame around the discussion, I'm breaking down your background into four major categories:
As we discuss each, I want to make sure I'm clearly understood: absolutely nothing about your background makes you automatically more or less likely to succeed in content marketing. And certainly nothing about it creates a liability you'll need to disguise or compensate for.
On the contrary, nearly everything about your background can be made an asset in your efforts to create and distribute stellar content. But that will only be the case if you're aware of how your background affects the way you perceive the world, and the way the world perceives you.
Cultural background
The culture you grew up in has shaped your view of those who share your culture and those who fall outside that sphere.
This has been proven by numerous studies. One that grabbed my attention was done a few years back at the University of Michigan{1} where researchers noted the differences between European Americans and Asian Americans in regards to how they judge another person's personality.
The study found that European Americans tended to judge based on specific actions they observed while Asian Americans tended to judge based on a broader contextual view.
The researchers noted:
“European American culture emphasizes individual independence; meanwhile, Asian culture is more interdependent and more sensitive to social contexts. This difference means European Americans are inclined to account for someone's behavior by making assumptions about their personality, while Asians are not (at least not without some context.)”
Psychologist and neuroscientist Merlin Donald noted the following in his book, A Mind So Rare{2}:
“Symbolizing cultures own a direct path into our brains and affect the way major parts of the executive brain become wired up during development. This is the key idea behind the notion of deep enculturation.”
Obviously, some people could use this information to try to claim some sort of superiority or inferiority of various cultures. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Albert Camus made an interesting point in his book, Lyrical and Critical Essays{3}:
"Men express themselves in harmony with their land. And superiority, as far as culture is concerned, lies in this harmony and nothing else. There are no higher or lower cultures. There are cultures that are more or less true."
So, while different cultures inevitably lead to differences in how people view each other and the world around them, they have no bearing at all on superiority or inferiority.
Rather, embracing cultural diversity and cultivating an appreciation for the cultures of others enhances your own worldview and your appeal to others.
Religious background
In much the same way as culture, your religious background (or lack thereof) is going to alter the lens through which you see the world.
Various religions tend toward certain emotional hot buttons that a background steeped in religious instruction can bring to the fore.
For example, for Catholics, guilt is a prime emotional trigger.
For Buddhists, peace and enlightenment are major drivers.
Atheists tend to focus on analytical logic and rationality while Pentecostals rely heavily on faith and the “movement of the Spirit.”
What becomes clear as you think about your own religious background is that it shapes far more than just your belief in a higher power. It shapes your attitude toward such overarching concepts as good and evil, right and wrong, morals, ethics, and human rights.
Like religion itself, these are big topics that reach uncomfortably into the core of who we are as people, and into how we interact with our fellow humans.
So naturally, your religious background is going to either consciously or subconsciously affect anything you create.
Economic background
Whether you grew up rich or poor, money was likely a powerful force in your life.
Note the comments of child psychologist, Robert Coles{4}:
“At an early age, children sort themselves out as belonging to this or that aspect of race, neighborhood, et cetera, and this sorting is very much connected to money. Their conclusions are generally based on what their parents can offer them and what dangers still remain in their lives.”
If you grew up in a home with very little money, barely scraping by, or not quite, then you likely have a keen understanding of the value of budgeting, saving, conserving and finding value in the basics.
On the other hand, if you grew up in an affluent environment, you may have been exposed to an array of experiences in the fields of travel, education, and entertainment, for instance. These experiences form a background that someone with less financial resources in their past likely does not possess.
Again, there's no right or wrong, better or worse situation here. Both extremes of economic circumstances produce positive and negative effects, all of which can be enhanced or counteracted by simple common sense and conscious reasoning.
But the impressions, memories, and emotional impact they leave behind are indelible. You can either ignore them, or use them to your advantage.
Social background
Although often tied closely with the cultural, religious, and economic backgrounds already discussed, your social background does bring some unique characteristics to the table that warrant some brief comments.
For the sake of this discussion, we'll call your social background the way you learned to interact with others.
Were you raised with a strong sense of community? Were you interested in what was going on with your neighbors? Did your parents go to town meetings or join the PTA?
Then you've likely carried that social tendency forward into your own life. You've probably developed an interdependent attitude, establishing your place in your local community, your job, or your industry, and working naturally to strengthen that position by working with others.
On the other hand, were you isolated as a child, whether due to circumstances or a parent's personality?
Then you're probably very independent by nature. Maybe you're socially awkward, or you've worked hard to overcome that.
Your social background could also affect whether you inherently trust others or if you're leery of them. Are other people here to add color and joy to your life, or are they just here to get in the way?
Certainly, we can learn to overcome social taboos and introverts can develop the ability to at least seem outgoing, but our social background still leaves permanent imprints on who we are.
How does this affect your content marketing?
All this talk of religion and culture might have felt a bit deep and left-field in a book about content marketing, but I assure you, it's not.
In all these areas, your background is going to have a bearing on your unique perspective – the lens through which you see the world – as well as others' view of you.
It's not always pretty, and it's not always fair. But it is simple human nature. We tend to think of people, places, things and situations in ways that were dictated by our background in relation to them.
For example, consider the potentially controversial subject of gun ownership.
If you grew up in a culture that historically supported owning a gun – such as the American south, for instance – you're going to think about the gun debate a lot differently than someone who grew up in a culture where guns were anathema, like the suburbs of London.
If your religious convictions are so strong that the idea of even potentially harming someone is morally repugnant to you, the chance of your choosing to own a gun for personal defense is slim. Whereas if your religious background is not that strict, or doesn't view self-defense as equivalent to murder, then you won't have the same moral barrier to cross.
Economical and social factors come into the mix as well, affecting how you feel – deep inside – about matters, and how willing you are to change that belief based on changes in your environment or your knowledge.
All of these effects will clearly shine through in the content you create if you're producing content with the level of passion and transparency that's necessary for long-term success. They will be infused in your voice, the tone you use when discussing certain subjects, the conviction with which you debate your arguments, the finesse with which you polish your prose.
And it will draw some people to you like flies to honey, while it will inevitably push others away.
That's OK. That's part of the magic of The Content Marketing Hurricane.
Exercise #3 – Brainstorming: Your Background
1. Consider your own cultural, religious, economic, and social background.
2. Write down any words or phrases that come to mind as you think about these aspects of your past. Concentrate specifically on what kinds of feelings your memories evoke. (Again, don't edit yourself. This is just exploration right now.)
3. If you were forced to defend your views on cultural, religious, social or economic topics, how would you feel about doing so?
4. Read the next chapter.