The 3-Step Approach to Helping Readers Solve a Problem

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“Precedents thinking”, involves innovating by combining old ideas, Stefanos Zenios and Ken Favaro write in the Harvard Business Review. In teaching Stanford University’s popular course on entrepreneurship, they suggest a three-step approach to problem-solving and innovation:

  1. Frame – through a series of interviews, define what challenges need to be tackled.
  2. Search – develop a deeper understanding of those challenges.
  3. Combine – Take pieces of past innovations and solutions, even those used in different industries, that may be pertinent to the elements of this challenge (a sort of old-wine-in-new-bottles approach).

This discussion brought to mind a 2017 fourdots.com blog post that made a case for textual content as a primary driver of online communication as compared with video:

  • Text gives you the option to stop exactly where you want to, wrapping your mind around a certain piece of information.
  • Text can be easily updated and upgraded.
  • B2B buyers consume informational pieces and case studies, looking for industry thought leadership.
  • Text stimulates the mind and is more focused.

In the process of creating content that helps readers solve problems, we use text to frame the challenge, demonstrating that our business owner or professional practitioner client has, indeed, developed a deep understanding of the challenges faced by the reader. In fact, it is only once these two steps have been accomplished that readers will be ready to appreciate – and hopefully implement – the course of action recommended by the “Subject matter Expert”.

“Great marketers don’t use consumers to solve their company’s problems; they use marketing to solve other people’s problems,” is the concept behind Seth Godin’s marketing philosophy. That is why, he tells us content writers, never start with the solution, but with the problem you seek to solve.

Use the 3-step approach in helping readers solve a problem!

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Don’t Kill With Your Critique

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Kill with your critique, but do it in a good way, Ryan G. Van Cleave advises in Writer’s Yearbook 2025. As an editor, van Cleave is regularly invited to conferences to give manuscript critiques.  He knew his comments were difference-making, but “best of all, no one cried”.

You can offer serious, honest feedback without it being crushing, Angela Ackerman notes, by following these guidelines:

  • being constructive, not destructive
  • praising the good along with pointing out the bad
  • focusing on the writing, not the writer

In comparative advertising, value is conveyed not only from quality, but from the disparity in quality between one product or service and another. The other company or provider serves as an anchor, or reference point to demonstrate the superiority of your product or service. Still, at Say It For You, we advise not “killing with critiques”. Yes, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we stand out from the competition, but staying positive is still paramount.

What about the other extreme, offering positive comments about a competitor? While it might appear that praising or even recognizing the accomplishments of a competitor is the last thing any business owner or professional practitioner would want to do, prospective buyers need to know you’re aware they have other options, and that you can be trusted to have their best interests in mind.

 

The challenge posed to us as content writers relates less to critiques of our competitors, but in making clear just what our clients make, sell, and do that sets them apart from their competitors. Even more importantly, we must make clear why any of those differences would even matter to their prospects. In a sense, the purpose of content marketing is to provide a forum for business owners and practitioners to answer those very “what”, “how”, and “why” questions!

 

An essential point I often stress to clients is that the content must represent their opinion or slant on the information we will be  helping them serve up to their readers,  expressing the core values on which  their business or practice was founded.  That way, they protect themselves from being “killed with critique”, establishing themselves as thought leaders and subject matter experts.

 

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Proving Readers Right

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A “History Facts” piece I came across yesterday made me aware that the word “Pennsylvania” is written with a missing “n” on the Liberty Bell!  Prepared for yet another “gotcha!” – type article, I was pleasantly surprised when the authors explained that the “mis-spelling” was not a typo at all. In fact,  back in the 18th century, “Pensylvania” was a legitimate spelling of the colony’s name.

At Say It For You, we’ve often touted myth-busting as a tactic content writers can use to grab online visitors’ attention. At the same time, we caution, it would be a tactical mistake to prove readers wrong. As writers, we want to showcase our business owner and professional practitioner clients’ expertise without “showing up” their readers’ lack of it!

The golden rule in content marketing, corporate travel advisor  Qahir Chipepo agrees, is to create fans first, then introduce your solution. Educate, entertain, and inspire is what you want to do, he says. 

So true… Business blogs are wonderful tools around facts, and that’s why we writers can use content as a way to not only dispense information, but to address misinformation. At the same time, when we aggressively refute existing opinions or beliefs – or “dis” the competition, we risk alienating our clients’ audiences, turning our content into a “turn-off”. 

Every industry, every profession has its myths, ideas that sound true but simply aren’t.  Content marketing is actually the perfect vehicle for defusing false news, correcting misunderstandings, and protecting readers from word traps. Presenting the actual facts and statistics in your content is meant to have the same effect as the windshield defogger on your car. Once the mist is cleared off the glass, you reason, readers will see for themselves what’s out there – they won’t need to be either told or sold!

Realistically, though, our clients’ competitors represent viable alternatives for their prospects and customers, and readers will resist being “made wrong” for having checked out what the competition has to offer. That means that, rather than starting with what “they” are “doing wrong”, the content  should emphasize the way “WE” believe it’s best to deliver value.

Prove readers right, knowing that, armed with the facts, they will make the right decision every time!

 

 

 

 

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Time For the Long View

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In my last Say It For You blog post, I shared insights to the way investors tend to invest the majority of their money in domestic equities, ignoring the benefits of diversifying into foreign companies. As content marketers, I explained, using consistent posting of valuable information, we can position our clients as SMEs, giving them a better chance at overcoming their prospects’ home biases….

A second insight into investor behavior that can prove valuable in content creation is what Sam Savage dubs “the Flaw of Averages” (a play on “Law of Averages”.  The S&P 500 stock market index is a good example of the way statistics can be misunderstood, Savage explains.

The US stock market has delivered an average annual return of around 10% since 1926, Dimensional points out. But short-term results may vary, and in any given period stock returns can be positive, negative, or flat. Over the years 1957 through the end of 2023, the S&P Index has returned an annualized average return of 10.26%. But, what is the proper way to view those results?

  • On a daily basis, the index was up 52% of the time.
  • The S&P 500 was up in 73% of the individual years over that time frame.
  • The S&P 500 was up in 95% of the ten year periods of its existence.

At Say It For You, we’ve learned over the years that in content marketing, nothing speaks quite as loud as numbers. Statistics dispel false impressions, grab web visitors’ attention, and demonstrate the extent of the problem the business owner or practitioner can help solve.

At the same time, ethical marketing means promoting products or services in a manner that is both honest and responsible, Nathan Neely points out in the LinkedIn article “Doing the Right Thing”. That means providing accurate information about pricing, ingredients, including being transparent about how data is collected.

In creating content, we want to:

  1. position our business owners or professional practitioners as Subject Matter Experts
  2. provide visitors to our clients’ websites with valuable information and a positive experience
  3. use statistics to both educate readers and stimulate them to action.

Throughout the process, though, we need to demonstrate to prospects the value of taking a long view in their buying decisions.

 

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Tell Them How You Ship the Diamonds

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In Tuesday’s blog post I used the “Hear your happy holidays” headline of an AudioNova ad in the Indianapolis Star to illustrate the importance of results-driven marketing, suggesting that content marketers need to focus on results of using the product or service rather than on its features…

There’s more to it than that, however. As Seth Godin points out in his book This Is Marketing, as content marketers we need to differentiate the path our business owner or practitioner clients choose to take in helping their customers achieve those results. Diamonds, for example, can be transported in an armored car or put in a package and sent by mail. What is more likely to be valued by your customer – speed of delivery or safety? Dedicate effort to empathize with your audience, comprehend their obstacles, and reflect on how your offerings can assist them in reaching their objectives, Godin urges content creators.

“To put it as succinctly as possible, a key differentiator is a brand’s distinct and unique value that sets itself apart from its competitors within the market,” brandmasteracademy.com explains. Also known as the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) the differentiator answers the question: “Why should I choose this brand over its competitors?”

Interestingly, as Elizabeth Harr and Lee Frederiksen, PH.D point out in hingemarketing.com, many so-called differentiators make a company sound more like their competitors! To be effective, the authors explain, a differentiator must meet three criteria:

  • It must be true.
  • It must be relevant to potential clients.
  • It must be provable.

In Get Different: Marketing That Can’t Be Ignored, Mike Michalowicz remarks that, to customers, “better” might not actually be better. Different is better.The author tells business owners to discover their best “est” – Are you the oddest? Hokiest? Sharpest? Fastest? Safest?

In all your content marketing, tell them just how AudioNova will help them hear the holidays. What about your diamonds? Will you be shipping them via the U.S. Postal Service or using armored cars?

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