Lori
You make a very good counter point. I am not saying that the way Hot For Words presents herself is for everybody but I would guess that she was shooting for the males between 16-70 demographic and is based on her subscription levels, doing a very nice job at capturing that market. In today's world marketing is all about what works to drive sales for your business. You do not have to go the cheesecake method to be engaging to your audience. I think Gary Vaynerchuk is a good example of showing personality and engaging his audience without being overly "cheesy". The encompassing point of this post is to just make sure that your business is not coming across as "stale" to your target market. Also when starting a new business give some serious thought to your brand's "personality". I believe this to be a key factor that often get's overlooked when branding a business.