Governor-Style Business Blogging – From Consensus to Call-to-Action

While you’ve got more like 30 seconds than the 30 minutes allotted to Governor Mitch Daniels’ State of the State address last week, Daniels’ consensus-to-call-to-action makes a lot of sense in corporate blogging for business.

One aspect of the speech that really stood out for me as a blog content writer and a trainer in business blog writing is that Daniels started with some experiences he’d shared with his audience:

"For us" (notice how the ‘us’ implies he’s on the same side as his listeners, exactly what any SEO marketing blog needs to do in each post) "sports fans, recent times have brought a frustrating string of ‘almosts’ ". 

Daniels goes on to relive three experiences with us in the audience:

• At 60, Tom Watson almost won the British Open.
   
• The Colts almost won the Super Bowl.
   
• Little Butler almost won a national basketball championship.

(Start by establishing common ground.  Your readers have come to exactly the right place for the information, products, and services they need, because you understand their needs.)

Daniels then makes clear what will be lost if his listeners don’t take action.

"One thing is certain.  The rest of the world will not wait on us.  Other nations, and other states, are forging ahead with the kind of reforms I have proposed here…."

(In writing for business, one goal is to make clear what opportunities will be lost if readers don’t respond – and in timely fashion   to your Calls to Action.)

Daniels very effectively repeats the words "wait" and "waiting" to emphasize the main theme of the speech – we need to take action now.

"Our children are waiting.  Our fellow citizens are waiting.  History is waiting…Your’e going to do great things.  I can’t wait"I

In corporate blogging training, I recommend a powerful closing line for each post to "cement" the theme of the blog post in readers’ minds and incite them to action. The implication is "You can’t wait!"