Slogans and Blogs – Sisters Under the Skin?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

 

While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations, Lindsay Kolowich Cox explains in a Hubspot piece. The idea, in both cases, is grab consumers’ attention and leave a key message in consumers’ minds. Earlier this week in this Say It For You blog, I highlighted the 1-800-Got-Junk slogan as an example of emphasizing convenience and ease-of-use.

Several of the ingredients which Kolowich-Cox thinks make for great slogans can contribute to the success of blog posts:

A great slogan includes a key benefit. The emphasis needs to be on key benefits of the product or service, not its features. Proctor & Gamble’s Bounty paper towels are “the quicker picker upper.”
Focus a blog post on painting either a “more” (glamour, time saved, comfort, money, miles per gallon) or “less” (pain, cost, waste, hassle) picture.

A great slogan differentiates the brand. How can one piece of chocolate truly stand out from another? M&M’s “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” differentiates with an implied comparison with every other chocolate brand.
It’s almost axiomatic that, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we are better than the competition. But, rather than saying negative things about other companies or practitioners, explain the reasons you have chosen to do things the way you do.

A great slogan imparts positive feelings, possibly through nostalgia. MasterCard’s “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”
True stories about the mistakes and struggles that ultimately led to your success are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind a business or practice. 

A great slogan reflects the values held by the organization.
Whether business owners or professional practitioners are doing their own blog posting or hiring professional content writers to help, the blog is conveying the values and beliefs of the owners.  In fact, the content is an invitation to readers to become part of the process of bringing those values to life.

A great slogan conveys consistency. Kolowich-Cox cites Verizon’s “Can you hear me now? Good.” (Competitors may have better texting options or fancier phones, the implication is, but with Verizon you can always rely on service.
Consistency is the very backbone of business blogging success. high-quality stuff.  To satisfy a search engine, your blog material must be updated frequently. Most important, consistent posting of content shows readers that you are “present” and involved.

Blog posts, of course, are much longer than slogans. Still, the idea in both cases is to grab consumers’ attention and leave a key message in their minds, built around an unmet consumer need.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

All You Have to Do is Blog

/0 Comments/in , , , /by


According to the 1-800-GOT-JUNK commercial, when you want something removed from your home or yard, “All you have to do is point” As a blog content writer, I love that commercial.

“Persuasive ads are advertisements designed to elicit a desired action,” Mary Lister writes in Wordstream. Ad campaigns for products or services are designed to communicate two main ideas:

  1. Problems your product or service solves
  2. Ways your product or service does that better/quicker/cheaper than that of your competitors.

Confession – for me as a consumer, there’s always been a third piece. I’m not handy. And, since I don’t know how to assemble, much less fix, mechanical devices or pieces of furniture, I’m always looking for what’s going to be required of me in the process of achieving a solution to my problem or fulfilling my need.

The 1-800-GOT-JUNK motto must have been made for people like me. Right up front, they’re assuring me that they will handle the issue, do the dirty work, figure it out. All I have to do is identify the problem.

All business owners and practitioners have products and services to sell. But sometimes, the marketing and advertising skips over the convenience factor.

A little over ten years ago, an editorial cartoon in the Indianapolis Business Journal showed a harried lady returning a gadget to a merchant’s Returns window. “It’s not that I don’t like the product,” she said – “I just can’t get it out of the package!”

  • Yes, you understand your target audience and the specific problems they’re facing.
  • Yes, your product or service provides a way to solve those problems.
  • Yes, your product/service compares favorably to others on the market.
  • Yes, but…but…but, just how much effort am I going to need to expend to “get it out of the package”?

Put yourself in the shoes of your online visitors:

How easy is it for them to navigate your website? Follow your Calls to Action? Set up an appointment with you? Pick up the phone and call if they choose to? (Is your phone number clearly displayed on the page?)

How easy is it going to be for a prospect to: get started on that program you’re touting? Start on the diet plan? Install the app or get the device to function?

Let them know – “all you have to do is…….._!

Borrowing the line from 1-800-GOT-JUNK, blog marketers’ new mantra might well be this:

All you have to do is blog!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Send Yourself a Rejection Blog

/0 Comments/in , , /by

“Nobody likes receiving rejection letters. But one way to reduce their sting, and perhaps even avoid one altogether, is to pre-empt the rejector by writing the letter yourself,” Daniel Pink suggests in the book To Sell is Human. In the letter, list the reasons your prospect is turning you down. “When you read your letter, you’ll probably laugh,” the author says, but more important, “the letter might reveal soft spots in what you’re presenting, which you can then work to strengthen”.

Because our team at Say It For You is involved in blog marketing, I was especially interested in what Daniel Pink had to say about “non-sales selling”. That consists of convincing others to exchange their resources (their expertise, time, effort, and attention) for something they want. Today, he explains, instead of product pushing, we must move people into action“. That’s because, whereas in the “old days”, sellers had more information than buyers; today’s buyers have almost equal access to information. Effective selling today, therefore, is no longer about being persistent and aggressive, but about being transparent and empathetic, helping buyers make sense of available facts and options.

So, in your rejection blog post to yourself, what reasons will you give for not sticking around to enjoy your content?

  • Your blog was very slow to load and then, to make matters worse, you annoyed me with pop up ads.
  • Your blog posts have “a wall of text” with long paragraphs – they appear to be a pain to get through.
  • Despite the fact that your title was a match for my search, I quickly realized you were not addressing me – just providing the same information I’d heard many times before. In short, you quickly managed to bore me with same-old, same-old.
  • You didn’t show me who you are – your reason for being in your business and your strong beliefs about how what’s going on could be make better.

After closing your self-rejection blog with the classic line – “After careful consideration, I did not select you for further consideration,” stop selling. Instead, get to work on helping buyers make sense of their available options.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

In Blogging for Business, Great Questions are Those the Audience Used to Know

/0 Comments/in , , , /by


“Creating the perfect quiz is an art form,” Breathe Magazine authors explain. In a virtual quiz, they point out, “Great questions are those that the audience used to know and will strain to remember.” That way, rather than being frustrated, giving up and clicking away, audience members will stay engaged and be able to venture an educated guess. A good question should:

  1. Inform
  2. Educate
  3. Entertain

Even if they don’t know enough to even guess the answer, participants will be glad they learned the information after they’ve learned the answer, Breathe advises.

In corporate blogging training sessions, I’m sometimes asked whether quizzes are a good strategy for business blogging. The answer is yes, and for several different reasons. Blog readers tend to be curious creatures and, as a longtime Indianapolis blog content writer, I’ve found that “self-tests” tend to engage readers and help them relate in a more personal way to information presented in a blog.

Breathe’s advice about entertaining an audience is especially important in business blogs. One concern I hear a lot from business owners or professional practitioners is that sooner or later, they’ll run out of things to say in their marketing blog posts.  “I’ve already covered my products and services on my website – what else is left to say?” is the question. Paradoxically, effective business blogging is centered around the repeated use of keyword phrases and key themes! One of the biggest challenges in blogging for business over long periods of time is keeping the content fresh. Quizzes constitute a way to vary the menu.

It’s not only the effort needed to remember information learned long ago that engages readers – they love “straining” to understand information about themselves. Over the years at Say It For You, I’ve found that “self-tests” tend to engage readers and help them relate in a more personal way to the information presented in a marketing blog.

There’s yet another advantage to quizzes, I’ve learned. People are looking to their advisors for more than just information; they need perspective. In blog content writing, we provide information to searchers, but they also need guidance as to what they can do about those facts, and ways in which the information can make a difference to them.

The quiz, test, or survey engages online readers’ curiosity.  The next step is “nudging” them towards a point of view – or a course of action!

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Going for the No in Blogging for Business

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

There are three kinds of yeses, Chris Voss teaches negotiators in the book Never Split the Difference. There’s commitment, confirmation, and counterfeit. People are most used to giving the counterfeit “yes” because they’ve been trapped by the confirmation “yes” so many times. The way to clinch a deal, Voss, believes, is by understanding the different meanings of “no”.

Negotiation, Voss teaches, means making it about other people, validating their emotions, and creating enough trust for a real conversation to begin. He reminds readers that “No” can have different meanings, including:

  • I am not yet ready to agree.
  • I do not understand.
  • I don’t think I can afford it.
  • I want something else.
  • I need more information.
  • I want to talk it over with someone else.Can the insights offered by Chris Voss be of use in content marketing through blogs? Definitely. In a guest post for my Say It For You blog, Karen Sullivan compared shopping to education. That’s particularly true when a buyer is searching for professional services, and wants to “interview” different providers, she explained. Sullivan asks buyers to respect the sales process; it’s dishonest to come to the sales process to get free consultative services.

Since blogging is part of “pull marketing”, the “negotiation” process is based on the “seller’s” skill in providing valuable, usable information, in essence anticipating all the possible “no” reactions, allowing readers to arrive at a “yes” in their own way and in their own time frame.

A second factor to consider is that blogging for business is an ongoing process, rather than a one-time event. With a blog, you can offer different kinds of information in different blog posts. If readers “are not yet ready to agree”, or need more information, you can convey the idea that there are different levels of involvement possible. They may share the blog post, subscribe to the blog, request a list or informational piece. You’re welcoming them to your website, yet ultimate decisions need not be made just yet. Make sure to provide plenty of valuable information for them to mull over, and perhaps “talk it over with someone else”.

To get to the “yes”, go for the “no” in blogging for business!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail