Helping Prospects Deal With the Stranger Come to Town

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Offering advice to writers, in a Writer’s Digest article Sharon Short suggests a “trope” or model to consider called “a stranger comes to town”. The protagonist of your novel, Short tells novelists, are doing quite nicely where they are – until a different, perhaps threatening, fish plops into their pond.

The “stranger” might be a shark (think “Jaws”), a tornado or other weather event, a detective, or a space alien (think E.T.). That “stranger” can be shooed away or cause the local fish (or ‘townspeople”) to learn from the stranger and embrace new ideas.

“Unique blog ideas not only help carve a niche for yourself but also engage your readers in a way that generic, overused topics often fail to do,” is the advice offered by Webstart Ventures. Unique content does more than merely rehash existing topics, but offers a fresh perspective, a novel approach, or explores uncharted territory, the author explains. Where do these “stranger” ideas come from?  “These ideas often stem from personal experiences, insights, and creative brainstorming, fueling content that is not only informative but also captivating and engaging”. 

When it comes to content marketing for businesses or professional practices, we know at Say It For You, positioning our clients as Subject Matter Experts is a worthy goal. We might be able to go one better, though, moving them to a position of  thought leader. Mere semantics?  Years ago, I read an article in Speaker Magazine in which Neen James presented the following definition: A Subject Matter Expert or SME (pronounced “smee”) knows something; a thought leader, in contrast, is known for something. They are the “strangers in town who “shift conventional wisdom.”

Do we then, in our content marketing efforts, position our owners and practitioners as the “strangers in town” bringing new ideas and a fresh outlook? Perhaps not. After all, readers were guided to the content because what they needed corresponded with what those practitioners and owners sell, what they know, and what they know how to do. Those owners and practitioners inspire trust by demonstrating that they are keeping up with the latest developments, helping their readers filter the new ideas the “stranger” is bringing to town.

While the focus of a business blog will always be on the trusted “local leaders” along with the services, advice, and products they offer, the content can reflect current happenings in the world, and “threats” posed by “strangers come to town”.

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Differentiate, Differentiate, and Differentiate

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Earlier this week in our Say It For You blog, we took notice of the Aldi tag line “Everything we don’t do, we do for you!”, discussing the importance of pointing out what things a business or practice has decided not to do and why…

Differentiation strategy
A differentiation strategy identifies and communicates the unique qualities of a product or company while highlighting the differences between that product or company and its competitors, Carol Kopp explains in Investopedia.com. The differences might relate to product design, marketing, packaging, location convenience or pricing, she adds. On the consumer end, Kopp goes on to say, vertical differentiation is based on objective, measurable factors, while horizontal differentiation is related to personal preferences. .

Mission statements
Just as Aldi distinguished itself from others by listing practices and policies it chooses not to embrace, many companies choose to express what they believe distinguishes them from competitors through their mission statements.

  • Facebook: “To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
  • PayPal: To build the Web’s most convenient, secure, and cost-effective payment solutions.”
  • Sony: “To be a company that inspires and fulfills your curiosity.”

Content marketing to differentiate
As content marketers, with the ultimate goal of influencing decision-making, we must help clients differentiate themselves. To build connection with readers, the content must be aimed to create new thinking, bringing meaning to data (as opposed to merely providing data).

Make no mistake about it, in any field, there will be controversy – about best business practices, about the best approach to providing professional services, about acceptable levels of risk, even about business-related ethical choices. Rather than ignoring the controversy, as content writers, we need to help clients weigh in on those very choices and issues. Their readers need to know what’s most important to them, what their vision in in terms of serving the public.

At its core, we’ve found at Say It For You, marketing content comes down to facts, stories, and oopinion. Facts are facts, but stories, and opinion are what helps differentiate and distinguish one provider from all the rest.

 

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How to Build a Great Sports Marketing Strategy for Your Softball/Baseball Brand

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In today’s highly competitive sports world, a solid marketing strategy is essential for any sports brand. An efficiently organized plan can make a difference, whether aiming to increase your brand’s visibility or increase sales. But… where do you begin? In this article, we will discuss some practical steps to help you build a robust marketing strategy that drives your brand forward and resonates with your audience.

Defining Your Brand’s Identity
A clear and consistent brand is essential to stand out in the crowded sports market. Your brand identity reflects your values, mission, and what makes your softball or baseball brand unique. It’s how your audience perceives you and what they do with your brand.

A strong personality helps build trust, fosters loyalty, and ensures your brand is easily recognizable across platforms.

  •  Sports brands must be recognizable and convey their values consistently, as the market is rather saturated.
  •  Brand image is a critical element of your operation as it sums up your corporate belief, purpose, and differentiation of your softball or baseball brand.
  • A powerful personality strengthens confidence, creates trust, and entails brand recognition and customer loyalty across the desired platforms.

Define your brand’s voice:

  •  Decide how you’re going to communicate: professional, passive or inspirational.
  • Choose a voice that would appeal to your target market.
  • Updates or changes should be applied consistently across all areas.

Set the viewing method:

  • Design different logos, colors, fonts and graphics.
  • Ensure that all physical items under the concept are integrated well.
  • You should evoke specific emotions and associations that align with your brand’s message.

Craft Clear Messages:

Craft a catchy, easily memorable key message. This concept should concentrate on what your brand does and provides. The messages reflect your brand value proposition, business’s key message, and vision.

Understand Your Target Audience
One must know about the target market. Understanding their needs, wants, and actions is essential to formulating your plan to address what they need or want. This insight, in a way, aids you in understanding your target group to a certain level, enabling your brand to be appealing and relevant.

How to do it:

  • You must segment your audience based on factors like Product Preferences, Buying Behaviors, or Location. This leads to highly targeted and personalized marketing efforts.
  • It can be a great approach to developing a comprehensive profile of your ideal customers, including their Age, Interests, Challenges and Buying Habits. These personas aid you in content creation and marketing decisions.
  • You can acquire information regarding your potential customers via Surveys and Market Research. This helps you identify key demographics and trends.Choosing the Marketing Channels

Leverage Social Media: Connect with your audience on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to share updates and build community.

Do Content Marketing: Create articles, blogs, posts, and videos to drive traffic and build trust with your audience.

Email Marketing: Develop relationships with personal and professional emails.

Influential Commerce: Collaborate with influencers or athletes to increase visibility.

Events: Sponsoring events is also an excellent approach to establishing your brand in the community.

Meme Marketing: You can also leverage meme marketing by creating sports-related memes. This will boost social media engagement and audience engagement.

 

Some USA Brands Using Marketing Channels:

  • JustBats uses Instagram to build trust and establish baseball gear expertise.
  • Companies like MLB use email marketing to help fans offer new news and updates.
  • Personalized emails provide timely and needed offers and/or motivational content, thus contributing to sales.
  • Under Armour’s strategy for brand building; it partner with the best athletes in the current generation.
  • Brands like Adidas have applied meme marketing to reach young people, as their content is always shareable and fun. Creating Engaging and Compelling Content

Inspirational Stories: Individuals relate to stories of struggle and achievement. If possible, post interviews with athletes or other achievements of a specific team in videos or a blog displaying your brand’s principles.

Educational Tips and Drills:  Sharing more instructional material benefits your viewers by developing their competencies and positions your brand as authoritative.

Post videos or written blog entries on the right way to approach the batter, a good exercise for the pitcher or a player to do in between pitches.

Behind-the-Scenes Glimpses:  Sharing such moments increases your brand’s authenticity and engages your audience, making them trust it.

Post pictures or videos of your manufacturing or team’s daily activities so as to show your brand’s personality.

Product Reviews and Demos: A customer getting to see how your products work is a good approach as it assists him or her in seeing them being useful. Make demonstrations and ask for a review of the service.

Contests and Giveaways: Competition is always healthy for any business since it increases traffic and the number of bot and human followers.

Run promotional campaigns on such social networks, offer goods with the company’s logo to winners, and encourage using specific hashtags.

User-Generated Content:  Content by your audience is engaging and makes for good promotion without feeling like promotion.
Often, consumers share photos or videos of products they have bought; promoting this and using the content on popular channels with a branded hashtag is advisable.

Tracking and Analyzing Results: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Quantitative measures include such things as website traffic, followers on social media, click-through rates on emails and actual sales as they relate to your marketing. Analytics Tools: One should always monitor the process and look for optimization spots by means of analytical tools such as Google Analytics or social media analytics.

A/B Testing: Explain how communication ideas can be experimented and why it is crucial to do so to find out what works for an audience most.

Final Words:
Creating a great sports marketing strategy requires a well-thought-out approach. You should must be familiar of your brand’s identity, and target audience, and most effective marketing channels.

Remember – To maintain a competitive edge, you should stay adaptable and continually refine your approach.

 

Today’s guest post was contributed by Henrii Joy, professional; guest blogger and content writer, specializing in product descriptions technical articles, and SEO content. The author may be reached at henriijoy@gmail.com.

 

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Aiming Content at Aspirational Appeal

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“Leaders must foster empathy – a deep understanding f the customers’ needs, emotions, and aspirations,” Ali Safaraz, CEO of Pathway Group advises in Britain’s The Business Influencer  Magazine. Knowledge of those aspirations must drive your approach, he explains.

Joel Swenson, writing in the July/August issue of Success Magazine, echoes that advice when it comes to making decisions about incorporating AI. In “Choose Wisely”, Swanson says that not only is it important to decide what data will be used in the decision-making process and how results will be tested, but also to understand the “aspiration”. In other words, what will “success” look like?

“An aspirational goal imagines what could be possible for your organization if there were no limits,” hypergrowthmarketer.com explains. “Even if unmet, aspirational goals can result in incredible achievements.”

To reify is to make something abstract more concrete or real, and, as authors Chevette Alston and Lesley Chapel explain in study.com, reification can turn language abstractions into tangible understanding. One of the challenges we face as content marketers is explaining abstract concepts in the right way. In fact, doing just that makes the difference between business success and business failure.

Over the years of creating content for Say It For You clients, I’ve come to realize, while we’re writing about very real products and services, describing those, not in the abstract, but in a very real sense, we can go “further and deeper”, aiming for the aspirational, introducing possibilities for utility and wellness readers hadn’t ever considered.

What I believe content writing is really about, I explain to business and practice owners, is providing those who find your site with a taste of what it would be like to have you working alongside them to help with their challenges and issues. You want to broaden their field of vision for what can be accomplished, given the right tools and the right advice.

Content marketing can be more, much more, when content is aimed at aspirational appeal.

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“What-Just-Happened?” Content Marketing

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“Write a short story in which a person wakes up to find the world outside the front door has changed dramatically. What can they figure out in the first hour of this new situation?” Writer’s Digest contributor Amy Jones suggests to authors looking for fresh ideas.

Problem solution selling is a sales approach that aims to solve customer problems rather than just focusing on selling a product or service, Breakcold explains. “It requires a deep understanding of the customer’s pain points and challenges, and the ability to present a tailored solution that addresses those specific needs.”

While, in this Say It For You blog, we’ve often stressed how very important it is for content creators to understand the needs and concerns of the target audience, I think Amy Jones’ “What-just-happened?” approach goes a step further. When marketing a product or service that those prospects might very well have a need to use in the event of a future catastrophe or scarcity, the content marketing goal is to spur preventative action now.

Certainly, “disaster preparedness “ a set of actions before an event, can “avoid or at least lessen negative outcomes”,  but the challenge in marketing preventative tools – from back-up generators to regular HVAC checkups to long term care insurance — lies in evoking that “what-just-happened?” short story in readers’ minds.

“Agents must get customers to focus on the risks they face and the appropriate coverages, not on the price, Insurance Thought Leadership cautions.” .Without getting prospects to visualize “expensive emergency repairs and premature failures” , the advice given by an HVAC company to its prospects packs minimum power.

As content writers, we cannot position ourselves (or our clients) within the marketplace without studying the surroundings for our target audience. And, for content pieces to be effective, they must serve as positioning and differentiating statements to let readers know who’s asking for the action. That “action”, however, is unlikely to take place until and unless prospects are able to visualize that “what-just-happened?” scenario.

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