Archive for category: blog marketing

I’d never  heard blog posts referred to as “philosophical” before, but Julie Neidinger‘s description really resonated with me. Philosophical posts are “idea” posts, she says, with the main goal being to further the culture of the brand or team writing the blog.

These posts (and here’s what really hit the spot for me) “are as much for the writer as the reader, helping to clarify the thought process… as the writer is working through the initial idea.” Some philosophical posts, Neidlinger observes, are “as much for the writer as the reader”.

“Philosophical posts are good,” she says, “in that they reveal the writers as real people. They don’t generally come from a place of hierarchy (i.e. teacher-down-to-student), but are instead on the same level. The reader is walking beside the writer and working through the idea.”

I express something of the same sentiment on the Say It For You website. “When you put up a blog with excellent content that engages your potential and current customers, you will typically receive the following four types of benefits: An SEO benefit, a promotional benefit, a credibility benefit, and (this is the one that comes closest to expressing what Julie Neidlinger is saying) a training benefit.

The way I explain the training benefit is this: When you blog, you verbalize the positive aspects of your business in a way that people can understand. You put your recent accomplishments down in words. You review the benefits of your products and services and keep them fresh in your mind. In other words, you are constantly providing yourself with training about how to talk effectively about your business.

Going on to describe how philosophic blog posts are born, Neidlinger talks about content curation: “They often stem from books or other outside influences that have caused the author to think about new things and apply them to a current situation.”

The information in a blog post might have been “curated” from various sources. That’s a good thing, because you’re providing a valuable service to readers by collecting information and presenting it in one easy-to-access form.  On the other hand, “collections” are not nearly of sufficient benefit to readers.  Those facts and statistics need to be thought through and then put into perspective so that readers realize there’s something important here for them.

Ms. Neidlinger, I agree. Blogging for business means being a curator, but also a bit of a philosopher, thinking through the material before presenting it, along with the new thoughts you find going through your head because of others’ insights.

So, go ahead, I’d say to freelance blog content writers and to their business owner and professional practitioner clients – reveal the “real people” side of your blog writing!

There’s more than one important way in which small business owners’ or professional practitioners’ business blogging efforts can have a disproportionately large effect on their marketing results. Blogs, in other words, can be sporks.

A spork, you remember (sporks can also be called “foons”) is an eating utensil that combines the scoop of a spoon with the tines of a fork. Actually (when I train corporate blog writers, I advise being alert for tidbits like this to help explain products and services), sporks are not a new invention.  Patents for fork-spoon combinations have been registered since 1874, and the term “spork” appeared in a dictionary in 1909.

As applied to blog content writing, “sporkiness” is expressed by the ability of business blogs to serve multiple marketing purposes. If you’re a business owner or professional practitioner, that “sporky” quality is there whether you do the blog writing by yourself, have your entire team participate, or collaborate with a professional ghost partner. The content in the blog posts will be one way of continually forcing yourself to think through and reinvent your business brand.

For example, as shortcutblogging explains, blogging can focus on gaining new customers or on deepening the relationship with your current customers.  There are four reasons, authors Dave Young and Paul Boomer say, any business should be blogging:

1. To create authority and credibility
“A blog provides a platform to stand on and show the world you know what you’re talking about.”

2. Relate-ability
“Blog readers are human and like to do business with people who have a personality.”

3. Search engine results
“The search engines love content. Period.”

4. Repurposing content
“A smart business never duplicates work and will turn past blog posts into books, white papers, presentations, etc.”

Make no mistake – all business and practices are generating content and doing it all the time. Letters? Content.  Email to customers and suppliers (and from customers and suppliers)? Content.  Brochures and flyers? Content. Instructions for product use? Content.  Power Point presentations and DVD/s? Content.  Radio and TV advertising copy? Content.  You get the idea…All that content can be re-purposed into blog posts. And, even more important for our discussion today) – all those blog posts from months and years ago (all still residing on the Internet) can be repurposed into emails, ads, letters, and videos.

Are you sporking and fooning with business blog content? You should be!