More Farm-Grown Content Marketing Insights

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This week, my Say It For You blog posts were inspired by the 2024 Farmer’s Almanac…

“Harvesting” tidbits of information will always prove useful to content writers, and this issue of Farmer’s Almanac contains some wonderful examples of information that readers either never knew or which they’ve likely forgotten. In content marketing, these very tidbits can lend variety to blog posts while reinforcing information we want to convey to prospects.

The Farmer’s Almanac piece “Why the LEAP in Leap Year” is a perfect example: (Everyone knows that in a leap year, an extra day is tacked onto February. But what is it that “leaps”?) The calendar organizes each year into 365 days, but it actually takes our Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to orbit the sun. To correct this calendar “inaccuracy”, Julius Caesar added a day to the calendar every four years. (Back then, February was considered the last month of the year, so that’s where they added the day.) The adjustment meant that what was Monday on the first non-leap year would be Tuesday on the next year, and Wednesday on the year after that. It’s the day of the week that does the “leaping”!

While the “tidbit” about leap year would certainly add interest to a blog offered by any business or practice, what is needed to make it work is a tie-in or “trigger” relating that information to the business or practice being marketed to online readers. For example, air conditioning companies or appliance venders might use the Mental Floss Magazine story about how, when President Garfield was shot and lay dying in the White House, inventors rushed forward with devices they hoped would help, using a contraption to blow air over a box of ice into a series of tin pipes, eventually using a half-million pounds of ice.

At Say It For You, we remind content writers that, however fascinating the tidbit or story may be, in content marketing the information needs to make a difference to the target readers. Meanwhile, keep “harvesting” those valuable “Did You Know?” facts and anecdotes!

 

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In Your Post, It Pays to Explain Why

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This week, my Say It For You blog posts were inspired by speaker and humorist Todd Hunt…

 

Both signs outside a store convey essentially the same message – but do they?

  • Sign #1″ No dogs allowed!
  • Sign #2: Unfortunately, the Chicago Health Department will not allow us to have dogs in our shop.”

In content marketing, calls to action (CTAs) often use imperative verbs. Why? To provoke readers to take immediate positive action, from requesting further information to actually signing up for a newsletter, to actually making a purchase. The CTA aims to create a sense of urgency around the offer.

But, just as Todd Hunt demonstrated, the “No dogs allowed” sign is a big turn-off. Online visitors who’ve found themselves at your blog want to know why they ought to keep reading and why they should follow your advice. Because the second sign answers the “why”, it overcomes resentment and skepticism, Todd Hunt explains.

Some of the answers web visitors are going to need include:

  1. Why me?  Why did you target this particular market?
  2. Why you (the author)? What is your expertise and experience?  Why do you care?
  3. Why this (the offer)? What are the specific solutions you provide?
  4. Why now (the urgency)?
  5. Why this price (the value)?

Even more important, we teach at Say It For You, can be explaining the reasons behind your policies, your way of “running your shop” as compared with others in your field. There’s one caveat – while you want to compare your products and services to others’, it must be done in a positive way, explaining why: We offer…..We believe…. We value…….  Rather than devaluing other companies’ products and services, stress the positives about you and yours.

In store window signs and in blog posts, explaining the “why” can make the difference between a turn-off and a turn on!

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Taglines and Blog Post Titles

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“Slogans and their accompanying campaigns are some of the best tools advertisers have to connect with their audiences,” according to theladders.com. Also known as catchphrases or tagline, slogans 1. grab attention and 2. build awareness around a product or brand.

As a content writer, I couldn’t help noticing that the well-known taglines listed in the article appear to fall into several different categories::

The actual brand name is included in the tagline:
State Farm – “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there”
MasterCard – “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard.”

The tagline emphasizes the benefit to users of the product:
M&M – “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands”
Energizer -” It keeps going and going and going”
Bounty – “The quicker picker upper”
Greyhound – “Leave the driving to us”
Campbell’s Soup – “M’m! M’m! Good!”
New York Times – “All the news that’s fit to print”
Maxwell House – “Good to the last drop”
FedEx – “When there is no tomorrow”

The tagline is largely motivational, appealing to consumers’ desire for significance:
Nike – “Just do it”
De Beers – “A diamond is forever”

The tagline needs a lot of further explanation:
McDonalds – “I’m lovin’ it”
Wendy’s – “Where’s the beef??
General Electric – “Imagination at work”
California Milk Processor Board – “Got milk?”

“You can’t be confused about your mission, the authors caution; otherwise you’ll create a slogan that lacks power and purpose.” (In creating blog post titles, content writers can take heed of three of the Ladder’s guidelines):

  1. Keep it short and sweet, ideally under eight words.
  2. Don’t get too fancy or sophisticated with your word choice.
  3. Be honest

Another of their suggestions, on the other hand, is less applicable to blog marketing: “Don’t give it an expiration date; you want it to transcend time, so don’t include references to current events…” Marketing content writers, we believe at Say It For You, should, in their posts and in the titles of those posts, make use of conversations trending at the time and of current happenings.

In content marketing through blogs, we want the searcher to click on the link to the post, and of course we want search engines to offer our content as a match for readers seeking information and guidance on our topic. More than that, though, a blog post title in itself constitutes a set of implied promises to visitors. In essence, you’re saying, “If you click here, you’ll be led to a post that in fact discusses the topic mentioned in the title. Catchy as the “I’m lovin’ it” and even the “Where’s the beef?” taglines just aren’t going to sere the purpose, since the words don’t match up with those the searchers used.

On the other hand, when titles succeed in appealing to target readers’ need – both for the benefits of a product or service and to satisfy their desire for motivation and significance, that’s nothing but M’m! M’m good!

 

 

 

 

 

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The Big 5 for Content Writing

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“A writing conference is a perfect mix of all the ingredients you need to grow as a writer,” Scribd.com asserts. Novelists will start out learning the importance of the Big 5.

  1. Who is your hero?
  2. What do they want?
  3. Why do they want it?
  4. Why can’t they have it?
  5. What happens if they don/t get it? (the stakes)

At Say It For You, we teach content writers to help business and practice owners discover the answers to those very same Big 5 questions about their target audience. To a certain extent, online searchers have found the blog. A certain number of them have stayed long enough to assure themselves that the information you’ve provided is generally a good match for their needs. Now, however, you’re hoping those prospects will choose to become your clients, buyers, patients, or customers.

  1. Who is the target reader? What is their education and sophistication level? Where are they “hanging out”? What organizations do they belong to?
  2. What do they want? Status? Health? Knowledge? Technical advice?
  3. Why, in today’s world, is it important for them to find a solution?
  4. What factors stand in the way of their getting their “it”?
  5. What are the stakes? Why is it crucial for those readers to satisfy those needs?

Some special observations are in order about those “what-happens-if-they-don’t-get-it” stakes. People getting “scared” into action is an important topic in marketing, but at Say It For You, we are not fans of business owners using fear tactics in galvanizing customers into action. Instead, our recommendation to content writers would be to aim towards helping readers envision the potential comfort and relief that that using your advice, products, and services can bring.

On the other hand, it’s important in all marketing to convey a certain sense of urgency, using a “why now?” approach. Knowing the “whys” behind the “whats” – what your target readers want and what factors stand in the way of their getting it – allows you to offer marketing content that provides Big 5 answers!

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What is Your Reader’s Deal?

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“What’s the deal here?”

Amy Collins, who represents both publishers and authors, says writers need to know “the deal”.  Writing a plot summary involves figuring out the goals and motives of both hero(ine) and antagonist.

  • What situation do we find the character in at the beginning of the story?
  • What do they perceive as their biggest enemy or problem?
  • Who or what is actually their biggest enemy or problem?
  • What is the biggest thing in the story that changes the situation?

The message for marketing content writers? Even if your (or your blogging client’s) products and services are highly differentiated from the general market, that’s not enough to keep content fresh and make conversions happen. It’s knowledge of the target audience that must influence every aspect of your content. “Great business stories are rarely aimed at everyone,” marketing guru Seth Godin stresses.“Your opportunity,” he tells marketers, “lies in finding a neglected worldview, framing your story in a way that this audience will focus on.”

Learning about your target customers includes gathering intelligence, not only about

  • their gender
  • their average age
  • their marital status
  • their educational level
  • their employment
  • their outlook on life
  • where they get their news

but also, just as Amy Collins explains to authors, about what that group of individuals perceives as their biggest enemy or problem. (Is that, in your perception, the biggest problem?) How can your insights, along with your products and/or services, help solve the “real” challenges they face?

There are two sides to the coin: content writers need to understand their clients’ own “deals”, too. Business and practice owners cannot be positioned within the marketplace without studying their surroundings, formulating their own position statements, then making their “deals” clear to readers. Each “visit” to the blog should conclude with readers understanding exactly what the owner’s unique philosophy or mission is, and why that approach can be beneficial to them.

One concern business owners have expressed to me is they don’t want to come across as self-serving or boastful in their blog posts. I explain that it’s crucial for prospects to find real reason to work with you rather than with your competition.

They’ve arrived at your blog site, in large part, because you’ve nade clear you understood their “deal”‘. Now that they’re here, help them understand yours!.

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