Watch Your Tone of Content Creation

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“Sometimes we have no choice but to implement rules,” my speaker friend Todd Hunt admits, but we may have a choice as to how we present those rules. While one hotel at which Hunt stayed posted a notice reading “Breakfast buffet food not allowed beyond breakfast area”, another facility took a different approach, saying “We request our guests to have breakfast only in the lobby area to maintain the food safety standards on our property.”

“Tone of voice plays a crucial role in effective communication. It allows us to express emotions, convey meaning, establish rapport, and influence others’ perceptions,” everydayspeech.com explains. “One element of communication stands out — tone,” Tracy Brower, PhD, writing in Forbes, agrees, citing data from Grammarly and the Harris poll showing that working remotely increases the need to be a better communicator.

Tone and language are tricky to deal with when it comes to written communication, universalclass.com explains. A speaker’s body language, voice, intonations, eye contact, and general demeanor  offer essential clues about what the speaker is feeling; with print content, this instant give-and-take of nonverbal signals is not possible.”  Still, written messages can take a conversational, a cajoling, or an apologetic tone.

In the case of the two hotel signs Todd Hunt saw, the second message had a more positive tone in that it explained “the why” (the reason guests were to keep all food within the breakfast area). In content marketing, calls to action (CTAs) often use imperative verbs to provoke readers to take positive action, from requesting further information to actually signing up for a newsletter, to actually making a purchase.  But 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. Why the urgency about the specific solution you’ve proposed?  Why this price point?

Even couched in a polite, rather than bossy tone, it’s simply not enough for content creators to provide information to online searchers who’ve landed on our client’s corporate blog. The facts need to be “translated” into relational, emotional terms that compel reaction – and action – in readers.

For positive marketing results, pay close attention to the “tone” of your content!

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Can You Be More Specific?

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“Capitalize on the post-holiday rush by driving incremental purchases amongst shoppers redeeming gift cards, taking advantage of longer sales windows or making returns,” the 2024 Digital Marketing Playbook advises. Just two weeks ago, at the Business Spotlight, I recall one of the presenters doing precisely that kind of “capitalizing” on post-holiday needs. When it was Troy Larson’s turn to give a 60-second “pitch” for his Alder Avenue Home Handyman business, he offered to help all of us not-so-handy parents assemble all those Christmas gifts.

“When a business understands their customers’ needs, they can tailor their products and marketing plan to better serve those needs, momencrm.com explains naming five main needs: 1. price points 2.convenience 3.sustainability 4.transparency 5.control/options. However, successful marketing messages are delivered “across channels when and where each person is most receptive”, epsilon.com emphasizes.

Researching and understanding your target market is one of the ABCs of all content marketing. Read, read, read, is my best advice as a content marketer, from local business publications to your competitors’ marketing materials – it all helps you hone your own message, we teach at Say It For You.

Using blog posts and newsletter issues to highlight specific services and product uses is a way to achieve razor-sharp appeal to prospects with an urgent, precise need. Interviewed for the article “Tips From the Inside” in Inc. Magazine, the purchasing agents of mega corporation Northrup Grumman answered: “Be as specific as possible when describing what you can do for us.”

 In Digital Marketing for Dummies, the authors stress that content marketing works only to the extent it is specific; the more specific you are in describing the shortcuts and solutions, the more engaging that content will be. What we have learned over the years at Say It For You is that the benefit of describing specific solutions holds true even if that solution is not one that fits precisely into the searcher’s inquiry – the general impression readers get is that they’ve come to a place where problems get solved!

Assembling the bicycle your daughter received for Christmas is only one of hundreds of different tasks that Alder Avenue handymen perform. But the secret of the “pow” in Troy Larson’s 60-second marketing “pitch” was that it was so very specific.

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“Facing Up” Blog Content is a Great Idea

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Webpages with lists of staff are often one of the most-viewed pages on a company’s website, yet some companies don’t have any people represented in detail, Karen Carlson of LRS Web Solutions regrets. “They say it’s too much work to maintain, they receive spam emails, or that they’re worried other companies will pilfer their best employees.” While acknowledging those very risks, Carlson emphasizes that “The bigger risk is leaving your business faceless.”

AARP editors agree, recognizing eight senators, among them Thomas TIllis of North Carolina caretaker for his grandmother, and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, caretaker for her son who has cerebral palsy. The photos, along with the stories, serve to make real legislators’ tireless efforts to improve the U.S. healthcare system.

“Today’s users want to do more than just purchase from a company,” Carlson explains. “They want to put faces with names.” At Say It For You, we translate that into “authenticity blogging“, using the content to provide readers an intimate look at what goes into providing your products and services. After all, it’s the employees who are in the field and on the phone with customers and clients. Although often employees see blogging as just one more task to make their work load heavier, my team members want to interact with those employees and, in fact, highlight their accomplishments and insights along with their photos.

For some business or practice owners, a combination blogging plan turns out t be just right, with my Say It For You team providing professionally written content, thus maintaining the regularity and research needed to win search engine rankings, but with employees providing their very special touch when their time and their regular duties allow.

Blog content marketing based solely on the features of products and services is simply not likely to work. Yes, for blogs to be effective, they must serve as positioning statements and describe a value proposition. But blogs cannot do that without connecting. Showing the “faces” and the people behind those faces has the power to “amp up” the connective power of marketing content.

“Facing up” your blog content is a very good idea!

 

 

 

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Blogs Give a Quick Take

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Every half year, Bloomberg puts out a mini-magazine called “Quick Take”, designed “to give readers and even-handed explanation of the context behind the latest developments in economics, finance, geopolitics, and society”. Examples of the rather weighty topics include”

  • Can central banks tame inflation without triggering recession?
  • Why It’s Hard for Europe to Rearm
  • Why Copper is the New Must-Have Metal

In presenting its streaming video business network (also named “Quicktake”),Bloomberg explains that its purpose is to help viewers “make sense of the stories changing your business and your world”.

“When you think about your ideal reader, you may naturally think about demographics (age, gender, geography) and psychographics (beliefs, values, goals)—and those qualities are important to understand so you can connect with your readers,” Karin Wiberg writes in clearsightbooks.com.But also consider their current knowledge level about your topic.

The marketing team for the book Moneyless Society, Wilberg explains, identified two main audiences:

  1.  people who are interested in but relatively new to the topic
  2. people who are familiar with the topic and want to share the ideas but struggle to explain them to others

A useful tip she mentions is that, If you are writing for an audience well-versed in the topic, it may be appropriate to jump right into using professional jargon. But, if you define a term early on and then don’t use it for awhile, consider repeating the definition or putting it in a “callout box”.

According to the Writing Center at The University of North Carolina, “In order to communicate effectively, we need to order our words and ideas on the page in ways that make sense to a reader”. Assume your readers are intelligent, the authors advise, but do not assume that they know the subject matter as well as you. Using familiar words and word combinations gives readers a sense of comfort and “wellness”.

When it comes to blog marketing, the goal is to attract the “right kind” of readers (those with an interest in our topic and who will value our products and services and be willing to pay for them), In creating content, we remember that people are online searching for answers to questions they have and for solutions to dilemmas they’re facing. It’s all about them as potential customers and clients, never about the business owners and professionals for whom we’re posting.

As the Bloomberg editors so clearly understand, our purpose is to help readers “make sense of it all”.

 

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The Four Elements of Query Pitches and Posts

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“You’ll need all four elements in your tool bag over time,” Amy Collins tells book authors in the Writer’s Digest 2024 Yearbook, referring to statements authors send to agents and publishers about their books. When it comes to blog marketing, content writers can use all these elements to attract and maintain the attention of blog readers.

1. Loglines:
These answer the question, “Would I like this book?”, using culturally relevant references to give the reader a chance to identify their potential interest.

The reason so many online searchers return to a particular search engine to find products, services, and information, is that they’ve found what they “would like” on that site before. The organic search process is the “logline”, delivering readers to your blog post who are most “likely to like” the information you’ve provided.

2. Elevator pitches:
These answer the question “What’s the book about?”, giving the reader “an idea of the premise and the stakes”.

When it comes to blogs, the “elevator pitch” is the title. We want the searcher to click on the link, 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 discussing the topic mentioned in the title.

3. Query pitches:
These add a few more compelling details to convince the agent that your book is different from – and better than – others in its category. What does your book add to the game? What are your future readers buying and reading right now?

To achieve success in content marketing, your having gotten to know your particular audience is crucial. While you may point out that your product or service can do something your competitors can’t, that particular “advantage” may or may not be what your audience is likely to value

4. Plot synopses:
These answer the question, “Does this book have the elements needed to be successful?” Here is where the author tries to prove that “the plot is not derivative or dull”. Collins cautions authors to focus on the main character arc and the story arc without over-cramming details. Just as “cramming everything about your plot into your synopsis will not help convince an agent to read your book,” cramming everything about your product or service into a single blog post is not going to help convince readers to take the next step.

In a sense, focus is the point in blog content writing. At Say It For You, we firmly believe in a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business, with the message geared towards one narrowly defined target audience.

Very much like authors pitching their book ideas to agents and publishers, at Say It For You, we know that the secret of success lies in skillfully using Amy Collins’ four elements.

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