No Explosion Needed – Just Information

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“There was a time when we were taught to start with the explosion, the crisis, the murder, the detonation of the bomb, then go back and show the reader how we got to this terrible situation. I’ll explain why you might want to avoid this approach,” says book writing coach Myra Levine.

As content creators for business owners and professional practitioners, it’s tempting to be enigmatic in order to arouse curiosity, but at Say It For You, we agree with Levine that it’s not always the best idea.  After all, it’s essential for us to assure readers that they’ve come to the right place to find the information that satisfies whatever needs brought them online to find answers. In other words, the opening lines can set the tone and arouse curiosity, but it’s best not to sustain the mystery very long.

In terms of satisfying readers’ need for information, Brightedge.com comments that many types of content simply do not need very long blog posts to provide value for readers. On the other hand, articles with only a cursory treatment of the topic may not be deemed high-quality content.  “You will want to dive deeper and provide more information.”

One technique used in comedy is exaggeration, which, as humor speaker Jeff Fleming explained to me years ago at a National Speakers Association meeting, can emphasize points you want the audience to remember. In content marketing, however, while we sometimes aim to engage readers and show empathy regarding their dilemma and problem, it’s crucial that we be seriously “factually correct” in describing the extent to which our products and services can be of help.

Should your book start at the beginning or in the middle of the trouble? “These are decisions, and they’re not easy ones to make,” admits Myra Levine.  In creating  marketing content, while we’re out to engage online readers, no “explosions’ are needed, just valuable information with a personal touch.

 

 

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Approaching “the Big Reveal” – from Front or Back?

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To create a compelling story line in a novel, one with maximum impact,  Writer’s Digest editor Tiffany Yates Martin explains, you need to understand when and how to reveal crucial information to readers. On the one hand, it’s important to give readers enough information to feel invested, but you have to keep back enough to keep them “hooked”.

There’s a case for having the information revealed sooner: readers need enough information to give them a reason to care. Vague hints at a “dark secret” can feel manipulative, Martin admits. What’s more, “sometimes you gain more narrative mileage by spilling the beans sooner, so readers see the … impact of the secret on the characters and story.”

Nathan Ellering of coschedule.com translates this very piece of advice for creators of content marketing articles. The pro tip he offers is this: “Write your blog title before you write your blog post. This practice will help you define the value proposition so you can connect it into the blog post, which guarantees your blog title will deliver on its promise.”

At Say It For You, one compromise I’ve discovered is often used by book authors is the “Huh?” and “Oh!” title. The “Huh” title startles and arouses curiosity; the “Oh!”subtitle clarifies what the focus of the book will be. For example, the book title Notes from Scrooge entices, while the subtitle Why Gift Giving is a Lousy way to Demonstrate Love – At Least According to Economist reveals the financial counseling nature of the book.

In content marketing, the “reveal” may take the form of a personal story that showcases the unique slant of the business owner or practitioner, even describing the biggest mistake made in starting that business or practice and what was learned from that mistake.  Precisely because it is so very human to act inconsistently, revealing seemingly out-of-character aspects of the people involved in the business or practice is a way to foster empathy and engagement.

Still, content marketing cannot succeed if our messages don’t break through the clutter and deal with online readers’ very short attention span.  “You’ve got to break someone’s guessing machine and then fix it,” Chip and Dan Heath point out in their book Made to Stick.

 

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Don’t Kill With Your Critique

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Kill with your critique, but do it in a good way, Ryan G. Van Cleave advises in Writer’s Yearbook 2025. As an editor, van Cleave is regularly invited to conferences to give manuscript critiques.  He knew his comments were difference-making, but “best of all, no one cried”.

You can offer serious, honest feedback without it being crushing, Angela Ackerman notes, by following these guidelines:

  • being constructive, not destructive
  • praising the good along with pointing out the bad
  • focusing on the writing, not the writer

In comparative advertising, value is conveyed not only from quality, but from the disparity in quality between one product or service and another. The other company or provider serves as an anchor, or reference point to demonstrate the superiority of your product or service. Still, at Say It For You, we advise not “killing with critiques”. Yes, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we stand out from the competition, but staying positive is still paramount.

What about the other extreme, offering positive comments about a competitor? While it might appear that praising or even recognizing the accomplishments of a competitor is the last thing any business owner or professional practitioner would want to do, prospective buyers need to know you’re aware they have other options, and that you can be trusted to have their best interests in mind.

 

The challenge posed to us as content writers relates less to critiques of our competitors, but in making clear just what our clients make, sell, and do that sets them apart from their competitors. Even more importantly, we must make clear why any of those differences would even matter to their prospects. In a sense, the purpose of content marketing is to provide a forum for business owners and practitioners to answer those very “what”, “how”, and “why” questions!

 

An essential point I often stress to clients is that the content must represent their opinion or slant on the information we will be  helping them serve up to their readers,  expressing the core values on which  their business or practice was founded.  That way, they protect themselves from being “killed with critique”, establishing themselves as thought leaders and subject matter experts.

 

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Proving Readers Right

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A “History Facts” piece I came across yesterday made me aware that the word “Pennsylvania” is written with a missing “n” on the Liberty Bell!  Prepared for yet another “gotcha!” – type article, I was pleasantly surprised when the authors explained that the “mis-spelling” was not a typo at all. In fact,  back in the 18th century, “Pensylvania” was a legitimate spelling of the colony’s name.

At Say It For You, we’ve often touted myth-busting as a tactic content writers can use to grab online visitors’ attention. At the same time, we caution, it would be a tactical mistake to prove readers wrong. As writers, we want to showcase our business owner and professional practitioner clients’ expertise without “showing up” their readers’ lack of it!

The golden rule in content marketing, corporate travel advisor  Qahir Chipepo agrees, is to create fans first, then introduce your solution. Educate, entertain, and inspire is what you want to do, he says. 

So true… Business blogs are wonderful tools around facts, and that’s why we writers can use content as a way to not only dispense information, but to address misinformation. At the same time, when we aggressively refute existing opinions or beliefs – or “dis” the competition, we risk alienating our clients’ audiences, turning our content into a “turn-off”. 

Every industry, every profession has its myths, ideas that sound true but simply aren’t.  Content marketing is actually the perfect vehicle for defusing false news, correcting misunderstandings, and protecting readers from word traps. Presenting the actual facts and statistics in your content is meant to have the same effect as the windshield defogger on your car. Once the mist is cleared off the glass, you reason, readers will see for themselves what’s out there – they won’t need to be either told or sold!

Realistically, though, our clients’ competitors represent viable alternatives for their prospects and customers, and readers will resist being “made wrong” for having checked out what the competition has to offer. That means that, rather than starting with what “they” are “doing wrong”, the content  should emphasize the way “WE” believe it’s best to deliver value.

Prove readers right, knowing that, armed with the facts, they will make the right decision every time!

 

 

 

 

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Time For the Long View

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In my last Say It For You blog post, I shared insights to the way investors tend to invest the majority of their money in domestic equities, ignoring the benefits of diversifying into foreign companies. As content marketers, I explained, using consistent posting of valuable information, we can position our clients as SMEs, giving them a better chance at overcoming their prospects’ home biases….

A second insight into investor behavior that can prove valuable in content creation is what Sam Savage dubs “the Flaw of Averages” (a play on “Law of Averages”.  The S&P 500 stock market index is a good example of the way statistics can be misunderstood, Savage explains.

The US stock market has delivered an average annual return of around 10% since 1926, Dimensional points out. But short-term results may vary, and in any given period stock returns can be positive, negative, or flat. Over the years 1957 through the end of 2023, the S&P Index has returned an annualized average return of 10.26%. But, what is the proper way to view those results?

  • On a daily basis, the index was up 52% of the time.
  • The S&P 500 was up in 73% of the individual years over that time frame.
  • The S&P 500 was up in 95% of the ten year periods of its existence.

At Say It For You, we’ve learned over the years that in content marketing, nothing speaks quite as loud as numbers. Statistics dispel false impressions, grab web visitors’ attention, and demonstrate the extent of the problem the business owner or practitioner can help solve.

At the same time, ethical marketing means promoting products or services in a manner that is both honest and responsible, Nathan Neely points out in the LinkedIn article “Doing the Right Thing”. That means providing accurate information about pricing, ingredients, including being transparent about how data is collected.

In creating content, we want to:

  1. position our business owners or professional practitioners as Subject Matter Experts
  2. provide visitors to our clients’ websites with valuable information and a positive experience
  3. use statistics to both educate readers and stimulate them to action.

Throughout the process, though, we need to demonstrate to prospects the value of taking a long view in their buying decisions.

 

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