Your First Job is to Communicate a Beautiful Idea

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“Caught up in the difficulty of mystifying, magicians often forget that the first job of any artist is to communicate a beautiful idea,” is a quote from Raymond Joseph Teller in Joshua Jay’s book How Magicians Think. One idea that audiences find irresistibly beautiful is that they are being given access to “secret”, or at least little-known, information. That is precisely the tactic Penn & Teller used in demonstrating the age-old cups and balls trick, but using clear plastic cups, demonstrating that it is the magician’s skill rather than the props that create illusions.

“The idiom ‘inside scoop’ particularly refers to information that is only known to people who are among a select group”, grammarist.com explains. In the book Craved, author Kel Hammond notes that people love behind-the-scenes video footage, which makes people feel like they’re in the know. Showing people a more personal side of who is behind the brand is a powerful marketing tool. In other words, it’s the idea of being empowered with “inside info”, rather than the information itself, the accomplishes the marketing goal.

Researchers at the University of Bath, working with Nielson, came up with two ways to score ads.

  1. Information Power Score – measures what the consumer perceives as the value of the message
  2. Emotive Power Score – measures if the emotion is going to change feelings about the brand

    At Say It For You, our business is blog marketing, which means connecting professional practitioners and business owners with prospective clients and customers. And, while I continually preach and teach that blog posts are not ads, but more like advertorials, establishing connections is the name of the game for both advertisers and content marketers. The first job of content marketing is, in fact, to communicate ideas that online visitors will find “beautiful”, making them feel as if they are part of a well-informed “inside group”.

    Sometimes, the “beauty” of the blog content is that it simplifies and unifies diverse details into central concepts.. Other times the “beauty” lies in linking “conversation-piece” tidbits of information to concepts that help readers better understand complex processes. Caught up in the difficulty of online marketing, let’s remember that the first job of any blog content writer is communicating beautiful ideas.

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Asking Discomfiting Questions in Your Blog

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I have to say the questions “Would you recognize your primary care physician if you saw her on the street?” and “Could you pick your dentist out of a lineup?” got my attention a whole lot faster than any trite reminder of the importance of medical and dental checkups. In fact, AARP Magazine writer Kimberly Lankford eschewed polite nudging in favor of in-your-face retirement planning questions – “Would you like your neighborhood if you couldn’t drive” “When was the last time you tired yourself out?:”

Blog readers tend to be curious creatures and, as a longtime blog content writer, 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. Popular magazine editors appear to agree as well, because current issues are full of tests, games, and quizzes.

Kimberly Lankford’s questions to AARP readers, though, fall into a whole ‘nuther category, provoking not curiosity but introspection. “Picture your grandparents living in your home – would you worry about them getting around safely?” Often in blog content writing, it’s effective to present what I call “startling statistics” to incentivize readers to take action. “Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in an emergency room for a fall,” Age Safe America tells us. While statistics such as these can certainly serve as Calls to Action in blog posts, the AARP Magazine approach uses discomfiting questions to drive readers to action.

We’ve all read (heck, for 21 consecutive years, I wrote) articles that focus on the financial aspects of retirement. “Retirement planning should include determining time horizons, estimating expenses, calculating required after-tax returns, assessing risk tolerance, and doing estate planning,” cautions Investopedia.com.

The AARP article, in contrast, enters readers’ consciousness from an entirely different direction:
“OK. You’re retired. What will you be doing next Monday?” This very discomfiting question forces readers to look at themselves, not just their finances.

Are there any discomfiting questions you can pose to blog readers to forcing them to come to grips with the very need with which you’re in a position to help?

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Blog Marketing and Network Marketing – Sisters Under the Skin

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Network marketers who ask themselves the question “Who do I talk to next now that my original list of names has run out?” might find answers in Bob Burg’s The Last Prospecting Guide You’ll Ever Need: Direct Sales Edition. While Berg discusses salespeople’s face-to-face and telephone encounters with their prospects, blog content writers can take some tips from him as well.

  • Mega-successful networkers are active givers, “constantly on the lookout for a piece of information that will interest someone in their network. They recommend great books, make lots of introductions.

I’ve spent more than a decade now putting together a collection of books that serve as blog writing resources – books about writing, “tidbit treasure” books, books about marketing, books about sales, and books about corporate blogging. Many Say It for You blog posts are built around content from specific books, with links to help readers order the book for themselves. I often recommend books to my Twitter followers as well.

  • Successful networkers are “connectors”, realizing that everyone they meet might turn out to be a valuable contact to someone else in their network.

When I’m creating content for a business, I need to keep up on what others are saying on the topic, on what’s in the news, and about what problems and questions have been surfacing that relate to what my client sells and what that business or practice does for its clients. By staying alert, I often find problems best solved by networking colleagues rather than by myself or my blogging client. 

  • Successful networkers enjoy the challenge, the learning, and the people with whom they interact.

In the business world in general, I find, we get tied up in making our products or in providing service to our customers and clients, and sometimes forget how much help the right words can be. The challenge is that often business owners and professional practitioners remain “unblogged”, mostly for lack of time.  The ultimate challenge for content writers is to make that connection between them and all the searchers who need their experience and knowhow.

  • Successful networkers are always on the lookout for things that can help others improve their business.

At Say It For You, we advise content writers to find complementary businesses or practices.  Ask those owners (or cite their blogs) for tips they can offer your readers.  Pet care professionals can share tips from carpet cleaning pros – or the reverse! If you’re a carpet cleaning pro, you can share tips from allergists as well.  If you’re an insurance advisor, offer tips from car dealers about accident prevention…

Blog marketing and networking – sisters under the skin!

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Helping Them Pass the Test in Your Blog

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One thing we’ve learned over the years at Say It for You is that blog readers tend to be curious creatures.  What’s more, their curiosity factor is highest when they are learning about themselves.  As blog content writers, we’ve noticed that “self-tests” tend to engage readers and help them relate in a more personal way to the information presented in a marketing blog. Popular magazine editors appear to agree as well, because current issues are full of tests, games, and quizzes.

A recent four-page article by Kimberly Lankford in the AARP Magazine titled “Can You Pass the Penny-Pincher Test?” is a superb example of how content writers can engage readers using the format of Q & A. After revealing the best answer for each of five thought-provoking multiple-choice questions, the author offers a paragraph or two of useful explanation.

Example: What’s the easiest way to stop yourself from making impulse buys? Answer choices: A) Freeze your credit cards in a block of ice. B) Don’t go online or visit shopping malls. C) Tape a gallery of your unfortunate purchases to your refrigerator door. D) Put appealing purchases on a wish list first.

Answer: D. Put items you think you want on a wish list, then make a final decision a few days later. (The author goes on to explain that turning a one-stage purchase into a two-stage purchase forces a person to use a different decision-making strategy. When you return to a list later, you start considering minuses along with the pluses of that purchase.

In the course of offering these explanations, the author cites various studies and offers quotes from financial planning and psychology experts. Because of the clever test format, which includes a “Give yourself a grade” section, the content comes across as fun.

Quizzes provide effective ways for you to encourage readers to interact with your site, Lyn Wildwood of bloggingwizard.com explains. There are personality quizzes, trivia quizzes, and “how-well-do-you-know” subject quizzes. However, “running an online quiz is not easy feat,” Wildwood cautions. “It requires a keen understanding of your audience.”

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In Blog Marketing, Controversy Can Start – or End – Conversation

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Ban the word “must” in your pitch to an editor, Estelle Erasmus advises writers in Writers Digest. “We must do more for starving children” is not likely to get you an op-ed, because no reasonable person would argue the point. Editors are looking for something that can be legitimately part of a debate, she explains, so as to start a conversation.

When it comes to blogging for business, common intuition is that more controversy generates more buzz, Zoey Chen and Jonah Berger find. Yet, while controversy does increase interest initially, it also generates discomfort.

Research demonstrates that people care deeply about three Bs: behavior, belonging, and beliefs. If you create division around any of these things, people will seek to either confirm or disprove what you’re saying, which creates buzz. On the other hand, what you don’t want to create is backlash against you and your product or service.

Still, as Fractl writes, “Creating a piece of content that incites an emotional reaction or discusses a polarizing topic can bring valuable attention back to your brand.” To avoid backlash, she advises: a) Don’t choose a side or have an agenda in presenting the issue. b) Look at the lighter side of the story.

A controversy “do” includes offering a unique perspective, looking at a situation in a way that many people might not have considered, theEword.com points out. Also important is creating timely content, showing that your business is up on current affairs. Be balanced and a fair moderator, adds blogherald.com.

At Say It For You, I’ve always emphasized to content writers that blogs must have a strong, “opinionated” voice. Posts must go far beyond Wikipedia-page-information-dispensing and offer the business owner’s (or the professional’s, or the organization executive’s) unique perspective on issues related to the search topic.

Controversy can start – or end – conversation, to be sure. But, given that there is always going to be controversy, blog content writers need to use it as a tool for thought leadership.

 

 

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