“Our Pick” Business Blogging

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“Sleek and shapely wins the style race,” begins USA Today’s review of the the new Banana Republic sheath dress collection by designer Roland Mouret. Always intrigued by fashion, preferring simpler silhouettes, I was intrigued by this article from a blog content writer’s viewpoint as well as from that of a would-be wardrobe connoisseur. Here’s why”

Reporter Andrea Mandell begins with testimonials – Mouret’s dresses are being worn by the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, and Halle Berry – but goes on to assure readers that the Banana Republic versions are wallet-friendly.

“When buying products, consumers are influenced by references,” choosing products that appear to have a “higher status”, explains Professor Nienke Vlutters of the University of Twnte. In blogging for business, don’t forget to tell them “who else is doing it”!

Next, the designer himself is interviewed. He talks about his own favorite from the collection: the one-shoulder color-black dress, inspired by the one seen on Jennifer Chastain.

Customers want to buy from or work with the person who has the reputation, credibility, and knowledge of an expert, and that’s exactly the result we professional blog writers are aiming for on behalf of our business owner and professional practitioner clients.

What really gives the USA Today fashion piece its “pow!, in my opinion, is the section “Our Pick”. “We love his emphasis on sleek details such as this subtly patterned Sloan leopard panel pencil skirt…”, says Mandell.

The real blogging value gets added, I’ve always maintained, when content writers add “spin” to the information presented, basing the comments on the  business owner’s or practitioner’s own business wisdom and expertise. In other words, don’t just serve up information – add “your pick”.  Readers want to relate to you when you have knowledge AND an opinion to offer.

Interviews in a blog? Yes. Testimonials? Yes. But then, share your picks!

 

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An Email Tip Business Bloggers Can Use

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Anyone involved in corporate blogging for business should read the latest e-newsletter I received from business speaker Todd Hunt.  Funny thing is, in this piece, Hunt’s not directly talking about business – or about blogging.  Instead, in this “Hunt’s Headlines”, he’s offering some tips about email. So what’s the connection?

Well, assuming you’ve got readers signed up for an RSS feed for your blog (and I certainly hope you do), and assuming you’re posting every few days (and, as a corporate blogging trainer, I certainly hope that’s true), then your most valuable readers are receiving not just occasional, but regular emails from you.

As an aside, Todd Hunt apparently agrees with the Power of One concept I teach blog content writers: focus on one central idea in each post, leaving the rest for another day. Hunt’s referring to email, but the caution is very valid for business blogs. The way he puts it is “Send separate emails, rather than bundling myriad items in one message.”

But, when you do that, Hunt points out, you need to be careful to vary the subject lines. If you don’t, you run the risk of having your client never open an email, because they believe they’ve already read that one!

Now, the first time a “stranger” arrives at your blog site through organic search (that person needs the kind of information, products, or services you offer but doesn’t yet know of you or of your business or practice), Todd Hunt’s tip won’t apply.  But for those of your loyal fans who’ve signed up for an RSS – wow! That tip could mean the difference between your business blog post getting read or having it be deleted before it’s ever been opened!

Of course, as Sharon Housley of FeedForAll reminds us, the best way to engage RSS subscribers is simply writing good stuff. “A consistent stream of original content will do well to earn subscribers’ loyalty,” she says, and “the best RSS feeds provide content that is compelling and unique.”

But, to be sure your “stuff” – all of it – gets opened, remember the Todd Hunt tip about varying the subject line!

But, to be sure your “stuff” – all of it – gets opened, remember the Todd Hunt tip about varying the subject lines!

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Help Your Blog Readers Discover Your CTAs

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True to its title, Discover Magazine (one of my favorite reads) provided an exercise in “discovery”.  Inserted between the pages, in no fewer than five different spots, were postcards.  Each card offered me the chance to “discover the savings” by signing up for a subscription to the publication.

Ever on the alert for marketing concepts that might be useful for us business blog content writers, I noticed several interesting things about the Discover postcard subscription-signup strategy:

Repetition: The cards were spaced at least ten pages apart. Whether I turned out to be a systematic reader, the kind who starts at the beginning and goes through the magazine story by story, or whether I was the kind of reader who skips over the first part of the magazine to get to the stories listed on the cover, I was still going to find one of those calls to action.

Appeal to different interests: One of the cards touted “Next Gen Tech” with an eye, I imagine, to hooking younger readers. Two of the others had “skinflint appeal, promising that every new subscription would include two special issue, and that signing up now for three years could save me as much as $141.

Engagement: While a couple of the postcards were loosely inserted between pages, one was bound with the magazine, requiring me to tear it out before filling out the information.

‘“Without bombarding your audience with ‘Buy Now’s!’ and ‘Click Here’s!’’’ you can easily capture attention, drive action, engage audiences, and keep them coming back for more,” says Megan Brown of the Content Marketing Institute. How? Let them download a tutorial, fill out a lead form – in other words, do something.

Whether it’s a postcard in a magazine or a Call to Action in a business blog post, help your blog readers “discover”  you and follow your CTAs!

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The One-Amazing-Thing Blog Post

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“Transform personal experience into powerful fiction, and you’ll tell stories like no one else can,” advises Chitra Benerjee Divkaruni in Writer’s Digest. Perhaps blogging for business isn’t about fiction, but successful content writing for blogs is all about the power of stories.

(In Divkaruni’s own novel, nine characters are trapped by an earthquake in a basement. When fights break out, a student named Uma urges the group to focus on the positive, and asks each to share a story from their lives.  She insists that everyone has at least “one amazing thing”.)

“To take one personal experience that is meaningful to you and let it inspire your work can be powerful,” the author tells other writers.

I’ve found the same thing to be true for blogging. In fact, one big, big part of providing business blogging assistance is helping business owners formulate stories.  The history of the company and the value of its leaders are story elements that create ties between corporate leaders and blog readers.

Why is this so? Online visitors to your blog want to feel you understand them and their needs, but they want to understand you as well. Stories have the power to forge that emotional connection between company and potential customer.

Internet organic search is all about settings. Consumers are looking for places where they can feel comfortable and be assured of locating the products, the services, and information they need. The keyword phrases blog content writers use help draw visitors to the site, but the stories they find when they arrive provides the setting for the birth of a relationship of trust.

Learning to tell one’s business story carries special benefits for business owners. That’s true, I’ve learned, whether owners are doing their own blog content writing or working with a freelance blog writer like me.

If you could compose only one blog post about one amazing aspect of your company or practice, what would that “one amazing thing” be?

 

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What a Smart Blog!

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I keep reminding content writers that blogs are not ads, not even advertorials. Still, a lot of smart marketing goes into ads, and some of that same smart thinking can be used in writing content for business blogs.

You’d expect stuff associated with Harvard to be on the smart side, and sure enough, I found one full page ad in the Harvard Business Review for Smart Ass™ ceiling fans. The tag line read “Now the world’s quietest and most energy-efficient ceiling fan is also the smartest.”

So far, the copy is still squarely in the advertisement arena, you’d have to admit. Why? It’s all about the product and the company with no mention of the customer’s needs, hardly a model I’d recommend for any company’s, or any practice’s, blog.

What made this particular ad memorable, though, were the three “Forgets”.

  1. “Forget the switch.”
    The fan knows when you enter or leave a room, and turns itself on or off accordingly.
  2. “Forget the pull chain.”
    The fan monitors the room’s temperature and humidity and adjusts the speed accordingly.
  3. “Forget the discomfort.”
    The fan learns your comfort preferences and tailors the speed adjustments to your needs.

Not only must the content you include in your business blog (or, in the case of Say It For You clients, the content created by your freelance blog writer) offer valuable and up-to-date information, you must make clear to readers that the information has been assembled here specifically for them. It must be clear you understand those online searchers’ concerns and needs, and that you and your staff have the experience, the information, the products, and the services to solve their problems, even the ones they’ve forgotten they have!

What inconveniences and discomforts can you help your prospective clients and customers forget?

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