Blog Content to Counter Those Second Thoughts

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A humorous little poem in the 2023 Almanac for Farmers & City Folk is a good example of the challenge we blog content writers face in trying to get readers to take action:

The strain of work has zapped my zest;
The doctor says I must have rest;
He ordered me to get away
And forgo everything but play.
But where to go? How near or far?
By plane or train or boat or car?

As the potential traveler struggles to decide among the myriad of destinations and travel packages, she thinks of all the preparations she’d need to make in order to embark on the trip – find someone to walk her dog and feed her cat, purchase luggage, defrost the fridge, stop the mail, get new prescriptions, etc, etc., etc….. The no-longer-interested-in-travel customer concludes:

In checking off what must be done,
The chores outweigh the future fun.
Before I even make a start,
I’m too exhausted to depart.

“Problems arise when, instead of caring for their existing customers and treating new ones respectfully to win their business, businesses force both to jump through hoops during even simple interaction,” lament Mike and Blake Dubose. “Most customer service issues boil down to a simple problem: a failure to give customers what they want, when they want it, and in an outstanding way.” The same make-it-easy-to-buy concept applies to B2B customers – the more overwhelmed customers are, the less likely they are to buy, and the more likely they are to regret any purchases made. A prescriptive approach guides customers through the buying process with the greatest level of ease, identifying the customer decision roadblocks that must be overcome.

Blogs don’t make up an entire marketing structure, as I wrote years ago, but blog posts serve as bricks in the “decision-making architecture”. Readers might be a different stages in the sales cycle, so it’s a good idea t structure your Calls to Action so that those ready to buy can do that right away, but still providing for those not quite ready for even a phone conversation (who might be guided to watch a video or read an article). Remind readers of the annoyances and hassles they’re experiencing with their present providers and products, then go on to describe the perfect, hassle-free solution to their problems.

Making a business’ or a practice’s products and services accessible and easy to acquire or use has to be at the top of our best best practices list when it comes to writing content for business blogs!

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A Grid for Planning Blog Content

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This week’s Say It For You blog posts are based on guidance offered by Jeanette Maw McMurtry in her book Marketing for Dummies…..

As tools for planning how to best market any product or service, marketing maven Jeanne Maw McMurtry recommends using an ESP grid. Since most brands market to more than one segment, she explains, you’ll want to create and deliver content that’s specific and relevant to each type of customer. Segments might include:

  • different generations
  • different emotional needs
  • different professions or industries
  • different geographic areas
  • different levels of authority within a company

For each segment of your market, the author recommends, consider the following factors:

  1. Respect accorded to authorities – (does this audience form its own opinions, or tend to emulate authority figures?)
  2. Values – (what cultural values are most important and how driven is this audience by those values?)
  3. Messaging – (what promises must be made to this audience?)
  4. Creative – (what colors and fonts will work best for this audience? How important is mobile access to the content?)
  5. Trust – (what level of trust does this audience tend to have in content presented to them?)

In working with so many different business owners and professional practitioners over the years, we’ve come to realize that customers want to help “fill in the ESP grid for their providers.” In fact, we tell Say It For You clients, customers want and need to “feel heard”; and it’s often unnecessary to initiate formal market research procedures in order to gather valuable insights into what’s working and what is not.

Of course, the very fact that searchers found their way to your page indicates their interest in the subject of your blog, but now the content writing challenge is to create those “targeted and personalized experiences.” In fact, the process of creating ESPs is ongoing, with the blog content creation constantly adapting to new customer and reader feedback.

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Creating Hormonal Blog Content

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Hormones affect choice, Jeanette Maw McMurtry explains in Marketing for Dummies. Neurotransmitters affect the actions we take related to finding joy and avoiding fear and pain.

  • Dopamine makes us feel infallible and euphoric.
  • Oxytocin gives us a feeling of connection and validation.
  • Cortisol makes us feel threatened and fearful.
  • Serotonin makes us feel calm and upbeat.

Marketers of products and services, McMurtry stresses, must learn to develop ESPs (emotional selling propositions), rather than the much-touted USPs. How will what you’re offering help buyers feel glamorous, confident, secure, superior, or righteous?

Research by psychologist Daniel Kannemann found that when people are faced with risking something in order to gain a reward, they will most often choose to avoid the risk. As a blog marketer ,then, consider how your product or service helps users avoid loss/ embarrassment/ risk.  Identify the fear that drives your customer, McMurty says, then diminish it, presenting a visible solution to the problem.

Know your target audience, the author urges. Think about which aspect of their personality best predicts their behavior and which form of “hormone” or psychological fulfillment your brand helps support. Should you be focusing on:

  • “scarcity” (only a limited supply of a product is available, the introductory price for a service is about to end; supplies are dwindling)
  • “purpose and mission” (socially responsible, environmentally responsible, charitable purpose)
  • “prestige” (feelings of superiority associated with the ownership of luxury goods)
  • “health and fitness” (appealing to fear of illness and a desire for longevity)

“Ask yourself key questions about the psychological fulfillment your brand helps support,” McMurtry recommends.

Creating “hormonal blog content” means perceiving – and then presenting/seeing your product’s value in the light in which your customers’ subconscious minds will!

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Master Chefs and Master Content Writers Stay Up on Current Things

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After winning the “Beat Bobby Flay” cooking competition in 2017, Indianapolis restaurateur Steve Oakley explained that what keeps him inspired after twenty years in the restaurant business is – reading a lot. Looking at a book is inspirational to him, along with “just talking with customers about experiences they have”, Oakley explains. Dean Sample, a former employee of Oakley’s (now a head chef in his own right) had this to say of his former mentor: “To be doing it as long as he has and still have that interest and still trying and experimenting with different things all the time, it’s pretty impressive. He stays up on all kinds of current things in the world of chefs and restaurants.” The other part of being a chef, Oakley now tells IndyStar reporter Cheryl Jackson, is that “if you want to be recognized, you have to get out there in different ways. You can’t just limit yourself to cooking in your restaurants…you’ve got to get out, meet the people, and shake their hands”.

Blog content writers can do no better than follow the Oakley “playbook”. In fact, “reading around”, we often stress at Say It For You, is a crucial habit. You need to keep up with what others are saying on your topic. What’s in the news? What problems and questions have been surfacing that relate to your industry or profession (or that of your client?). Not only do you need a constant flow of ideas, but you can improve your own writing skills by reading books about writing. And, in the business of blog marketing, books about selling and marketing help keep your skills sharp.

Notice that Steve Oakley’s “content” is refreshed by more than reading. Getting out and meeting the people, talking with customers about experiences they have is crucial when it comes to keeping blog content relevant. In Journalism 101, I was taught to “put a face on the issue” by beginning articles with a human example . A case study takes that personalization even further, chronicling a customer or client who had a certain problem or need, taking readers through the various stages of how the product or service was used to solve that problem. What were some of the issues that arose along the way? What new insights were gained through that experience, on the part of both the business and the customer?

Master chefs and master content writers stay up on current things!

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Blogging What You Are Not

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“I photograph weddings, but I am not a wedding photographer.,” asserts Marty Moran, owner of Whitehot Headshot. “I photograph headshots, but I am not in the headshot business,” he adds. “I am a relationship builder, strengthening my tribe as I help others strengthen theirs. Give them quality and support, and they will make return visits,” Moran believes.

My networking colleague Ron Mannon often needs to explain that his company, Combustion & Systems, Inc., an industry leader in powder coating systems, does not actually do powder coating or paint finishing. Instead, they provide the equipment and training so that their customers can do their own finishing rather than farming out that part of the manufacturing process.

At Say It For You, we create SEO-conscious content, but do not focus on the science of Search Engine Optimization, believing that blogging is about much more than back-links and “authority”. What do you want to say to your customers today? What will get them excited enough to choose you over the competition? How will you keep them coming back for more information in the future?

In the Harvard Business Review, Madelaine Rauch and Sarah Stanske write about “the power of defining what your company isn’t”. There are times when having an “anti-identity” can be useful in communicating with customers, employees, and investors,” they explain. “We suspect,” the authors say, that companies might experiment with an anti-identity approach, analyzing who they really are and what that implies about what they are not. “No business – particularly a small one – can be all things to all people. The more narrowly you can define your target market, the better,” the staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. say.

Of the top 10 mistakes new business owners make, Gene Marks of the Hartford says, #1 is trying to do things you’re not good at. Translating that very sage advice into the field of blog content creation, that means defining in your blog not only the successes and strengths of the business or practice, but defining precisely which products and services you provide – and which you don’t. After all, Since exceeding customer expectations is such a worthy goal, clarifying those expectations and aligning them with reality is a key part of the marketing process. “It is vital,” smartkarrot.com advises, “to put parameters upfront, so that you can honor them time and again.”

Blogging, in short, clarifies what you are, but it is equally important to clarify what you are not!

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