Why Blind Dates With Blogs are a Bad Idea

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Have you gone on a blind date with a book? Lauren Carlton of the American Library Association asks. “The set-up for the display is simple”, Carlton says. “Just wrap books in paper to hide their covers — hence the ‘blind date’ — and decorate the wrapping with enticing facts, hints about the plotline, or our favorite, the books’ first lines”.

To get patrons to want to pick up these blind dates, Carlton advises librarians and book store owners, you need books with attention-grabbing first lines.

  • “Don’t look for dignity in public bathrooms” (Big Machine by Victor LaValle)
  • “It was the day Grandmother exploded” (The Crow Road by Iain Banks)
  • “All stories are love stories” (Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson)

Between Shakespeare’s Juliet asking “What’s in a name?” and father-of-advertising David Ogilby’s emphasis on headlines, there’s simply no contest when it comes to blogging for business – titles matter. Just as those first lines enticed readers to buy “blind date” books without seeing the covers or reading the blurb, blog titles set the tone and arouse curiosity in online searchers.

There are a number of different approaches in choosing a title for a blog post:

  • titles with an agenda (making clear the writer’s point of view)
  • emotional “grabber titles”
  • how-to titles
  • “truth about” titles

Blog post titles have two seemingly contradicting jobs to do – arousing readers’ curiosity while still assuring them they’ve come to the right place, I’ve often explained to blog content writers at Say It For You. Unlike the case with the blind date book promotion, where bookstore customers and library patrons are looking for “a good read”, online searchers are looking for specific answers to questions and specific solutions to problems they have. Searchers who’ve found your blog site won’t linger longer than a couple of seconds if what they see doesn’t reassure them they’ve come to the right place for the information they need.

In a blind-date-with-a-book promotion, the book jackets are covered with plain brown wrapping, so that appearances play no part in readers’ choice of their next read. In contrast, images and photos need to be part of any business’ blog marketing, because, as digital marketing maven Jeff Bullas points out, articles with images get 94% more total views. In fact, at Say It For You, we try to use images the same way, selecting one for each post that gives readers an idea of what to expect in the post.

If you’ve recently gotten out of a long relationship or have lost confidence in yourself, a blind date can really encourage you to get back into the dating arena. Blind dates with books are a fun promotion libraries and bookstores use to attract customers. In general, though, one is forced to conclude, blind dates with blogs tend to be a bad idea.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blog Your Sit-Means-Sit

/0 Comments/in , , , /by


Judged by Shakespeare’s famous line “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, the Bard didn’t think monikers were very important. Apparently, to investors selecting stocks these days, they are: on average, Harvard Business Review found, companies with short, simple names attract more shareholders and generate greater amounts of stock trading than companies with hard-to-process names.

While I’m not currently a pet owner, the other day I came across what has to be my all-out favorite corporate name – Sit Means Sit. No explanation needed – not only do you know immediately that what the company offers is dog obedience training, you get a sense of the owner’s stance is on the subject.

Blog readers need to perceive you as an expert in your field, I teach at Say It For You.  And for that to happen, I believe, you need to clearly demonstrate a firm perspective on your subject. There’s no lack of information sources – and no lack of “experts” (purported or real) on any topic In blog marketing, therefore, we need to go beyond presenting facts, statistics, features, and benefits, and get authentic and yes, even opinionated. Taking a stance on your subject, using the blog content writing to express a firm opinion on issues in your industry and community, is how you leverage your uniqueness.

Blogging, remember, involves providing new material week after week, month after month, year after year. We can highlight less well-known facts about familiar things and processes. We can suggest new ways of thinking about things readers already know. Still, that’s not enough. Whether you’re blogging for a business, for a professional practice, or for a nonprofit organization, you’ve got to have an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up for readers. In short, as blog content writers, we must help our clients become influencers.

“We don’t train dogs the same, because not every dog is the same,” the Sit Means Sit website continues, going on to explain that the company offers programs geared to “any dog, any age, any problem”. In fact, the Sit Means Sit website contains information about different training approaches, and, in your own blog posts, there will be ample opportunities to explain and explore different aspects of your own products or services.

“When writing an opinion piece, you are taking a side on a particular issue and trying to communicate to your audience why you believe your chosen side to be the correct one,” 201digital comments. “In fact, research shows that the only type of content more popular than that which encourages reads and shares is negative or controversial opinion.”

What are those things that you really mean when it comes to delivering your service or product to your customers and clients? Blog your own “sit means sit”!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blogging What You Know NOW

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Despite the commercial success of the book (and then the movie) Jaws, author Peter Benchley deeply regretted making the great white shark into a deadly villain, Mental Floss authors relate. Before his death in 2006, Benchley remarked, “Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today. Sharks don’t target human beings, and they certainly don’t hold grudges.”

In this Say It For You blog, I’ve often written about the fact that myth-debunking is one great use for business blogs. Many misunderstandings about a product or service present themselves in the natural order of business, in the form of questions and comments from readers and customers. Shining the light of day on that misinformation shines light on your own expertise, and, if it’s done with finesse, rather than “showing up” readers, it can engage and keep them coming back.

But I think this story about Peter Benchley and the great white shark has an even deeper lesson to teach blog content writers. Later in his life, the Mental Floss authors relate, Benchley became a shark conservationist and oceanographer. His knowledge and understanding had grown and evolved.

I teach freelance blog writers to include stories of their clients’ past mistakes and failures. Such stories have a humanizing effect, engaging readers and creating feelings of empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame not only adversity, but the effects of their own mistakes – and of their own previously mistaken thinking!

“The range of human emotion is massive, from positive emotions like joy, interest, and amazement, to the more negative, such as fear, anger, or sadness Campaigns need to be geared towards evoking and connecting with these real emotions,” Nadya Khoja writes in moz.com. “This is the time to update your buyer personas to reflect the new realities your customers are experiencing,” she adds.

The lesson, I believe, is that now may be the time to update our own “personas” to reflect not only the new realities in the marketplace, but our own revised understandings based on experience. It’s time to blog what we know NOW!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

In Blogging, Keep Functional Alternatives in Mind

/0 Comments/in , , /by

They aren’t really the same as your product or service, but it’s important to analyze how your product or service compares to them, Jeanette McMcMurtry reminds entrepreneurs in Marketing for Dummies, referring to functional alternatives.

What are functional alternatives?
Let’s face it – there are products and services out there that aren’t exactly like the stuff you sell or the services you perform, but which lead to the same, or at least some of the same, outcomes for clients and customers.

Examples:

  • For a health coach focusing on weight loss, functional alternatives potential clients might choose include diet meal delivery, dietary supplements, cosmetic “fat freezing” procedures, and personal trainers.
  • For an orthopedic surgery practice, functional alternatives for potential clients include nonsurgical kinetics, psychological pain management clinics, and cryoanalgesia (using cold to block pain).
  • For a fitness studio, functional alternatives include home exercise equipment sellers, yoga or pilates studios, and online fitness course providers.
  • If you own a hotel, AirBnb and dimilar businesses are functional alternatives.

You need to decide how you compete with functional alternatives to your business or practice, McMurtry explains, then build action items into your marketing plan.

In blog marketing, as we know at Say It For You, content creation must be built around a thorough understanding of your target market. What are their goals? What choices do those prospects have in achieving those goals? In what way are your products/services substantially different?

Years ago, I met Jeff Bowe, owner of a private equity group called Actum. I remember him saying “When you walk into a room, everyone should know you for one thing, and that one thing needs to be very, very clear – to you and to your target audience.” In blog writing, it is crucial for business owners and professional practitioners to differentiate themselves from their functional alternatives.

Do you…do things faster? Operate at a lower cost? Make fewer errors? Offer greater comfort or less pain for the customer? Provide a more engaging experience?

In blogging, keep functional alternatives in mind!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blogging to Get Remembered

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Brag Better: Master the Art of Fearless Self-Promotion
“You can always get attention by being the loudest in the room,” admits Meredith Fineman in her book Brag Better, but being loud while lacking strategy will do more harm than good. There are ways to get remembered, Fineman teaches, by describing your personal brand in ways that earn respect and recognition. True showmanship, she says, means showcasing what you’ve done in a way that feels fun and true to you.

Better bragging better begins with making a list of facts about yourself and your successes, Fineman teaches. Learn to be loud, proud, and strategic by:

  • Using super power words
  • Avoiding invisibility
  • Avoiding verbal qualifiers
  • Considering your audience

Brant Pindivic, author of the book The 3-Minute Rule, speaks about ways to consider your audience: “To succeed, you must be able to capture and hold your audience’s attention with only the quality and flow of your information,” The audience must be able to:

  1. conceptualize your idea
  2. contextualize it (understand how it will benefit them)
  3. actualize it (engage with interest)

One tip that Pinvidic offers to sales people is particularly worth noting by blog content writers: “It’s not just who you pitch to, it’s who they have to pitch to, that matters.” How will readers rationalize their decision to buy when speaking to others?

Better bragging is about shining a light on the work you’ve done, having confidence in yourself and your voice, and speaking up, Fineman stresses. At Say It For You, there are three models of business blog posts that we’ve found are particularly helpful in getting readers to remember the content and its provider:

1. Helpful how-to hints
Find complementary businesses or practices, asking those business owners or practitioners for tips they can offer for you to pass along to your readers. The best tips and hints, I added, are related to some a topic currently trending in the news and practical.

2. Personal stories
Research done by questioning Stanford University graduates showed that shows that graduates were more likely to remember commencement speakers who told stories. In one experiment, students were asked to give one-minute speeches that contained three statistics and one story. Only 5 percent of the listeners remembered a single statistic, while 63 percent remembered the stories.

3. Fascinating tidbits of information
When business owners or practitioners present little-known facts about their own business or profession, those tend to be remembered. If you notice a “factoid” circulating about your industry, a common misunderstanding by the public about the way things really work in your field, a little-known tidbit can reveal the truth behind the myth.

Learn to do better bragging in your blog!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail