Taking a Moment to Introduce Yourself in Your Blog

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The other day, when I opened my Indianapolis Star (yes, I still enjoy a “real” morning paper, not the digital version), the following note, printed on a strip of white paper, fell out.:

Good morning. We just wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves. We are
Bobby and Jenny…. We have been your carriers since September, and we hope to
give you the best service possible. If you have any concerns, please feel free to call
or text…or you can email at ………. Hope you have a wonderful day. We really
appreciate you..

Wow! What a wonderful reminder of the power of personal communication, I thought. And,
because as blog content writers we are in the business of personal communication, I wanted
to share this story with my Say It For You readers. This note from my newspaper mail carriers,
I think, reminds us of an all-important point: blog content writers must focus on personal
anecdotes and on the personal values of the business owners and the people promoting their
products and services.
.
One interesting perspective on the work we do as professional bloggers is that we are interpreters, translating clients’ corporate message into human, people-to-people terms.  That, by the way, is the precise reason I prefer first and second person writing in business blog posts over third person “reporting”. I believe people tend to buy when they see themselves in the picture and when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message.

Personal doesn’t necessarily mean over-casual or informal, however.  In fact, for us freelance blog content writers, getting the tone exactly right for a new client is the big challenge. Crystal Gouldey of AWeber Communications names five different “tones” to consider when planning a blog:

  • The formal, professional tone
  • The casual tone
  • The professional-but-friendly tone

Regardless of the topic, I believe, the blog is the place for readers to connect with the people behind the business or practice. To the extent readers feel there are real people introducing themselves and offering solutions, the material will not be perceived as too academic-sounding or overly “sales-ey”.

Whether you’re doing your own writing or using the services of a content writer, take the time to introduce yourself in your blog!

 

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Embracing the Encouraging Side of Blogging

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Corbett Barr, writing in thinktraffic.net, encourages blog writers to “embrace your encouraging side.” There’s plenty of cynicism and negativity in the world, Barr says, and sometimes readers just want to be encouraged. I heartily agree. In fact, one of the things we tell content writers is that the last thing you want to do in a blog is to be downbeat or attempt to “scare” readers into taking action.

The “press release” aspect of blogging for business dictates that the first sentences of any post must engage interest (with the “or else” being that visitors click away). Different tactics include raising questions in readers’ minds or describing a provocative scene or situation. Your post might play off a topic currently trending in the news, especially one relating to your profession or industry. Now, having gathered information, using it to demonstrate how readers can use that information in their own lives, remember to present the material in reassuring and encouraging words.

As a retired financial planning practitioner myself, I really appreciated what financial psychologist William Marty Martin advised financial planners: “How you communicate can serve to eliminate, decrease, or exacerbate panic experienced within yourself, your family, your team, and your clients…Words have the power of providing comfort, or generating panic, or even helplessness.”

One interesting perspective on the work we do as professional blog content writers is that we are interpreters, translating clients’ corporate message into human, people-to-people terms.  That’s the reason I prefer first and second person writing in business blog posts over third person “reporting”. (I think people tend to buy when they see themselves in the picture and when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message.)

The idea that little things can mean a lot when dealing with difficult circumstances is reinforced in an article in Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge newsletter. “Even as COVID vaccines begin early deployment, pressure on leaders continues to mount to engage in ‘Big C’ change.” But, “instead of questioning everyone and everything I a crisis, leaders should create an atmosphere of trust and confidence.”

“Empathy is the key to gaining readers and followers in all kinds of writing, says Karen Hertzberg of grammarly.com. “from blogging to marketing to social media.”

Embrace the encouraging side of blogging!

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Blogging Pointers From a Sales Training Star

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“The introduction and body of your presentation might be in good shape, but don’t forget about your closing remarks,” famed sales trainer Brian Tracy cautions. “Often, your audience will remember your final words the longest.” Back when I was an investment sales professional, Brian Tracy’s tapes kept me on the right track whenever I felt discouraged. Today, I realize, many of Tracy’s tips about a speaker’s closing remarks can be applied to content marketing…

Tie up all the loose ends. Make sure you’ve hit all the points you said you would.
A big part of successful blog content writing involves getting the “pow opening line” right.. “Pow” endings tie back to the openers, bringing the post full-circle. If you’ve used a list to organize the information, use the concluding paragraph to help readers see the connection between the information you’ve provided and the products and services you have to offer.

Use inflection in your voice.
As your speech is drawing to an end, you can use your tone of voice, inflection, and pitch to signal that things are wrapping up, Tracy advises. While we are not using voice in blogging for business, we blog content writers can use typeface and bolding to draw readers’ special attention to parts of the message in each of our posts, including the closing sentence..

Summarize your main message.
The content of the opening sentence can be designed to grab readers’ attention. Two possible tactics include beginning with the conclusion, using the remainder of the blog post to “prove” the validity of the bold opening assertion. Or, if you’ve opened by posing a challenging question in the opening sentence, using the post to propose an answer, the ending can consist of restateing the question and then the answer.

Include a call to action. “Make it easy for your audience to take action by being clear and direct.”
Direct, but never abrupt, caution the authors of writtent.com caution. The CTA must be a logical extension of the blog post itself, they advise.

Around six years ago, BusinessWeek magazine had an article about corporate executives in demand as speakers, advising them to “Choose Your Podium Wisely”, accepting only those opportunities likely to result in business leads, attracting new talent to their firms, or building their company’s reputation. There, too, I found a parallel between speakers and blog content writers. I advised blog marketers to pinpoint their target customers and clients and focus the blog content on the needs of that audience.

Public speakers and content writers – we’re both out to bring the right message in the right way to the right audience!

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To Be Interesting, Think Broad

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“Many people and most organizations narrowly define what’s relevant and interesting to their followers. They mistakenly assume that their followers want to read about only a narrow band of subjects,” Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzgerald point out in The Art of Social Media.

As examples of how posts can be “broadened”, Kawasaki suggests that a restaurant chain might include news about atomic particles that help solve wine fraud, while an airline might offer news about drive-in theaters or mindful travel photography. It’s not that you don’t want to promote yourself and your own business to followers, the author explains; it’s that sharing interesting stuff and broadening by “catalyzing more interaction,” you earn the right to promote yourself!

As part of blogging training at Say It For You, I do often recommend including interesting information on topics only indirectly related to your specific business or profession (or, if you’re a freelance blog content writer, related to the client’s business or profession). If you’ve unearthed tidbits of information most readers wouldn’t be likely to know, so much the better. I agree with Kawasaki that even if some tidbits of information are not “actionable”, if they are intrinsically interesting, it’s worth including them simply to add fun and variety to your content.

But broadening the scope of information you offer in a business blog needn’t be only for the sake of adding fun to your content. Little known and trending news stories can be offered to readers with some very specific “ulterior motives” on the part of the business owner or practitioner, such as:

  • clarifying the way your business or practice works
  • demonstrating the many uses of your products
  • reinforcing the importance of a widespread problem
  • explaining why your business practices are designed to prevent that particular problem
  • busting a common myth

Online searchers who’ve arrived at your blog post definitely need assurance they’ve come to the right place. But now they’re here, you’ll have a better chance of engaging their interest by “going broad”!

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Steve Jobs and Pixar Illustrate an Important Principle of Blogging

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My realtor friend Steve Rupp sent me a piece with the following story about Steve Jobs….

After purchasing computer manufacturer Pixar, Jobs relocated the company to an abandoned factory, re-organizing the physical structure with offices and workspaces around a large, central atrium. Under this new (at the time) very unusual arrangement, the mailboxes, meeting room, cafeteria, coffee bar, and gift shop were all in the center of the space. The underlying principle? “When people run into each other and make eye contact, things happen.” Of course, electronic messages could have been sent throughout the Pixar building in a millisecond, Jobs realized, but the community context of the message is the part that would help people understand each other and work together.

Could Jobs have avoided restructuring the entire complex of buildings, relying on mandatory periodic meetings or even informal periodic staff get-togethers to accomplish his goal of employees “running into each other”? Perhaps, but that “eye contact”, “context-sharing” and cross-pollination of ideas, Jobs understood, needed to happen frequently in order to be meaningful.

At Say It For You, after years of being involved in all aspects of corporate blog writing and blogging training, one irony I’ve found is that business owners who “show up” with new content on their websites are rare. There’s a tremendous fall-off rate, with most blogs abandoned months or even weeks after they’re begun. That sense of community Steve Jobs was after in the redesign of the Pixar facility? You might say the first job of a blog content writer is to help a business or a professional practice “get its frequency on”. What the blog does is get the business owners and practitioners into the “atrium” to “run into” their readers!

Good things happen in the blog frequency “atrium” for business owners who make blogging part of their routine as part of an overall business marketing strategy, with blog posts providing a steady stream of “sound bites” – little bits of different, interesting, and helpful content.

Steve Jobs building design was meant to encourage employees to “hang out” with each other in the Pixar atrium area whenever their schedules allowed, with no regular times posted. Over the years, blogtyrant.com relates, various studies have analyzed data to find out the best time to publish a blog post. Most often, though, we find that the issue is less that of choosing the optimal posting time and more about finding the time to create content to post in the first place!

Our mission, then as blog content writers, is to create an “atrium” where business owners and practitioners can share ideas with readers.

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