Blogging to Explain Cultural Icons

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As I browsed through the magazine rack at my neighborhood CVS, two publications caught my attention: Star Wars: The Battle of Jedha and The Ultimate Guide to Avatar. Here were two examples, of gigantic cultural icons, I recognized, yet two subjects I know very little about. Realizing a need to “get with it”, I added both magazines to my shopping cart…

A cultural icon, Wikipedia explains, is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. In writing, when we allude to an icon, the expectation is that our readers will understand the idea we’re trying to express, because they’ll recognize the expression. In fact, when content writers want to liven up a blog post, they might refer to a weakness as “an Achilles heel”, or describe a selfish person as “a Scrooge”, or refer to Alice in Wonderland when talking about going “down the rabbit hole”.

What was so appealing to me about the two publications about Star Wars and Avatar was that the publishers didn’t assume I understood those two cultural icons. Just the opposite – each was there to explain and clarify, so that I could feel “in on the secret”. Sure, at Say It For You, we suggest livening up business blog content using allusions. But, what if, as content writers, we’ve miscalculated our readers’ ability to recognize the allusions, with the danger being them finding our content frustrating rather than illuminating!

In fact, one way in which blog posts can be of use to searchers is helping them feel, empowered and informed, “caught up” on the significance and the meaning of certain events or expressions, things it appears “everybody knows”, but which they have somehow never really understood.

“We’re living in an age of entertainment extremism, where passionate fans go to ludicrous lengths to engage in hyperbolic talking points about their favorite film or franchise. It can be exhausting, wading through social media and hearing people make bold declarations not based on anything remotely resembling the truth,” flickeringmyth.com observes.” Most successful blockbuster franchises cross into other mediums spawning books and graphic novels that propel the myths forward.”

Because allusions make reference to something other than what is directly being discussed, explains yourdictionary.com, you may miss an allusion or fail to understand it if you do not know the underlying story, literary tale or other reference point. Why not use blog content writing to help empower visitors with a better understanding of the reference points they encounter?

My insight from the magazine rack? Blog to explain those cultural icons!

 

 

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There Are More Than One Boy-Meets-Girl Blogging Arcs

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“At its very heart, I believe that there is only one story arc in the world,” writes Sonali Dev. “There’s a character in an uncomfortable situation and they must find a way to resolve it.” The narrative arc refers to the structure and shape of a story, the sequence of occurrences in the plot. A good arc is vital if you want to engage your readers from start to finish, advises reedsy.com. Boy meets girl, boy fails girl, boy gets girl again is one classic example, the author says. Adding complexity to a basic story arc is part of what differentiates one story from another, even when they’re ostensibly dealing with the same ideas.

In fact, in creating blog content at Say It For You, we often use a softer version of the “hurt and rescue” story arc author D. Forbes Ley suggests salespeople use to close deals – identifying ways in something valued by readers might be in jeopardy, and then emphasizing two points::

  1. The business owner or professional practitioner understands readers’ concerns and needs.
  2. The business owners or practitioner has the experience, information, products and services to solve exactly those problems and meet precisely those needs.

Using those two points as basic content building blocks, there are a number of ways bloggers can follow Sonali Dev’s advice and “add complexity” to the story arc:

  • debunk a “myth” or false impression relating to your field
  • tie the content to a front-page news story having to do with a problem your company or practice helps solve
  • share a true story
  • use statistics to prove the extent of the problem
  • relate a celebrity story that illustrates the problem – or the solution you propose

Whichever of these “arc” tactics you select for any one blog post, a tip offered by Writer’s Digest contributor Estelle Erasmas should be kept in mind: “Focus on one specific point in time rather than on an entire life story.” Yes, your readers may in fact be seeking a way out of an uncomfortable situation, but might also be in search of information on how to perform a certain task, or looking to satisfy their curiosity on a particular subject.

There are more than one boy-meets-girl blogging arcs!

 

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Take Care of Your Shoes

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As many as four buyers will intentionally take note of the condition of your shoes during a sales call, Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman of the Sandler Sales Institute caution. If prospects see worn or broken shoelaces, or worn heels and soles, they’ll lose confidence that you’ll pay proper attention to the details of their order. For blog content writers, there’s a lesson here…..

Realistically, online searchers who land on your blog are already interested in and have a need for the type of products or services you offer. The opening lines of your blog content then can offer “signs” to those readers that they’ve come to the right place:

  • You and your employees have the training and expertise to be able to deliver the desired advice, service, and products.
  • You’ve kept up with what others are saying on your topic, what’s in the news, and what problems and questions have been surfacing in your industry.
  • As a business owner or practitioner, you’ve stood by your work.
  • Your blog has used images, photos, graphs, charts, or even videos to add interest and evoke emotion.
  • The layout is targeted towards your target audience (Are they deal seekers looking for bargains on products and services they already use? Are they enthusiasts looking for information to support their hobbies and beliefs?).

But what about your blog’s “shoes”??

As a corporate blogging trainer, my favorite recommendation to both business owners and the freelance blog content writers they hire to bring their message to customers is this: Prevent blog content writing “wardrobe malfunctions”, including grammar errors, run-on sentences, and spelling errors. As Writer’s Digest Yearbook points out, unconventional or incorrect grammar may be seen as an indication of carelessness or ignorance. The result? Readers may take the content itself less seriously. At its worst, failure to use proper punctuation and sentence structure in blog posts can make content difficult to comprehend.

“It’s one thing to lose a sale because you can’t solve the buyer’s problem,” Deep and Sussman stress. “It’s quite another to fail because you didn’t fit the image of a professional salesperson.”

The message for content marketing professionals? Take care of your “shoes”, meaning the details of your blog posts!

 

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Blogging Unwelcome News

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“Breaking bad news to customers is not an easy task,” Susan Berkley admits in zenbusiness.com. To do this in a compassionate and professional manner, she advises, “Give as much as you can about the who, what, when, where, and why,” Take charge, outlining a specific plan of action that you and your company will take, and what actions you recommend customers take.

While agilelaw.com advises never delivering bad news via either a voice mail or email (clients may not be able to reach you right away to ask questions or obtain additional information), a blog post may in fact be the best way to keep all readers informed of general developments which may apply to them. (Customers may also be informed via letter; individual issues should be dealt with off-line.)

Acknowledge the facts rather than sugarcoating the unknown and unknowable, focusing on options for the future, says Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph.D. “Small people shun responsibility. However, strong peoples shoulder it.” Her five-part grid for organizing a bad-news message:

  1. Start on either a positive or neutral note.
  2. Elaborate on the current situation or your criteria/reasoning for making the negative decision.
  3. State the bad news (as positively as possible).
  4. Offer an alternative to meet the person’s goals, when possible.
  5. End with a goodwill statement focused on the future.

As is true of newspapers, business blog content writing can balance feature stories with news. In general, the word “news”, when it comes to blog marketing, can mean two entirely different things.  The first type centers around you and your company or practice, with the second type of news relating to your community, your city, your country, even worldwide events. If, as blog writers, we can go right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns by addressing negative assumption questions (before they’ve been asked!)  we have the potential to breed understanding and trust.

There’s no question that negative news can have a huge impact on consumers’ opinions of your business, but truth is that the more your business grows, the more difficult it is to escape negative publicity, statuslabs.com admits. The best way to combat the larger potential impacts of negative news coverage is to have a strong online presence. Then,
addressing negative news early on before it grows into a larger story is good advice.

But, it’s when your “bad news” consists, not of a bad review or an accusation, but of an unpalatable fact (you’re discontinuing a favorite product; you’re raising your hourly rates; you’re changing a long-standing policy, etc.), that breaking the news in your blog is going to require digging into your content writing reserves with honesty and skill..

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Being Heard, Not Only Seen, in Your Blog

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In this week’s Say It For You blog posts, I’m sharing insights from the October issue of Poets&Writers magazine. An insightful profile of CelesteNG’s new book, Our Missing Hearts offers valuable concepts for business blog content writers. Poet Maggie Smith believes NG’s book should be required reading for all, “grappling with big questions such as art, freedom, and ethics”, but there is one particular line in the book that resonated with me as a content writer: “We talk a lot about being seen, but I think we also want to be heard. Everybody has stories inside them but not always someone to tell them to.”

Social media maven Neil Patel agrees, One sure way to sabotage your own brand on social media, he says, is talking without listening. “Users want something real. They want real people, real interactions, and real, unbridled human connection…The real human essence of the brand is what users want to see come through loud and clear.”

“Who doesn’t want a personal fortuneteller?” Tom Searcy writes in Inc.com. Customers are looking for people who “hear” their concerns about upcoming regulations, technology trends, mergers and acquisitions, and modern day issues. “Remember,” Searcy says,”When you talk to the buyer about the buyer, you increase his or her engagement.” Potential customers want great products, outstanding service, and a competitive price. But, according to According to research from HubSpot, there’s something else they want even more: listening.

Over these years creating Say It For You blog content for different business owners and professional practitioners, I’ve come to realize that, in addition to wanting to be heard, blog readers actually want to “hear”. Unfortunately, I came to realize, most blog writing was being devoted to describing “what we do”, describing all the services and products the company or organization offers. Too little space seemed to be devoted to “what we believe” and to “who we are” as citizens of the community. For that very reason, when I’m offering business blogging assistance, I emphasize that the best website content – and the best corporate blogs – give online readers a feel for the corporate culture and some of the owners’ core beliefs about their industry and the way they want to serve their customers.   Those “we believe” statements can turn out to be the business’ most powerful calls to action.

A provider’s blog may not, at least not on a level similar to CelesteNG’s book.”grapple with big questions such as art, freedom, and ethics”, but the content must clearly demonstrate that the owners “hear” their customers’ concerns, and that, in return, their prospects and customers are able to “hear them!

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