Start By Being on Their Side

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being on the side of the reader

In his 30-second “elevator speech” introducing himself at our InfoConnect2 networking meeting, fellow member Cody Lents shared something I think blog content writers need to hear.

Most sales processes, Cody said, go as follows:

  1. Here’s what we have to offer….
  2. Here’s how it works…..
  3. Here’s how it can help you……
  4. What do you think?…..

In contrast to that features/benefits model, Cody’s message to a prospect runs more like this: “I understand you have some problems with ……. Let’s figure it out together.”

Cody’s words reminded me of a post I published six years ago, called “Business Blog Readers Need Content Writers to Get One Thing Straight”. Recommending anything, I reminded blog content writers, before you’ve demonstrated you’ve done your homework and that you understand the readers’ needs, well that is not likely to have them following any of your calls to action.

There’s just so much information out there for searchers to use, so many bloggers telling  what they have to offer, how it works, and how they can help. What needs to come across loud and clear is that the business owners or practitioners understand the readers and those readers’ specific needs and problems.

Another aspect of putting ourselves in prospects’ shoes comes into play when our blog post is sharing industry and company or practice news and announcements. Readers must buy into the idea that this news is going to be important to them. In a way, the blog content writer is playing the role of an advisor, and people look to advisors for more than just information, even if the topic is highly relevant to their needs. Readers will be saying to themselves, “OK, I get it, but how does that news affect me?”

When it comes right down to it, the whole blog marketing thing is not really about search engine optimization, although that may be one motivating factor for starting a blog. What I believe it IS really about is providing those who find your site with a taste of what it would be like to have you working alongside them to help with their challenges and issues. (That’s true whether the business owner or practitioner is writing his or her own blog posts or working with professional content writers at Say It For You.)

You’ve gotta start on their side!

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Blog to Show Both Sides of an Issue

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  • two sides of an issue
    Are the oldest fossils really rocks?
    Is insomnia always dangerous?
    Is nervousness natural and healthy?
    Is eating potatoes as bad for teens as digital technology?

These are just a few of the debatable topics covered in recent issues of both Psychology Today and Prevention Guide. But whether the topic of your own blog marketing efforts is health or geology, the blog content itself, I teach at Say It For You, needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates your business, your organization or professional practice from its peers.

Often, when I’m tutoring students at the Ivy Tech Learning Center, they will have been assigned
an “argument essay”. After selecting and researching a topic, the idea is that the students must present differing viewpoints, selecting the one they are out to “prove” is correct. Still, the finished essay must reflect both sides of the “argument”.

The same model holds true for business blog posts, I believe. It’s a good idea to offer perspective on different points of view when it comes to an issue within your industry or profession, explaining why you support one of the different possible approaches.

Last year, in fact, I titled one of my own blog posts “New Blogging Means Being Controversial”. The concept is that you can increase traffic and build engagement with controversial content, so long as your point of view is backed up with data – and, so long as you present arguments for both sides.

Of course, a big part of the “both sides” thing has to do with your target audience, I explain to blog content writers. More than ten years ago, I wrote about an article I’d read about the Alice Cooper rock music group, which (at least for back then) was sort of “over the top”, with electric chairs, fake blood, and a boa constrictor all part of the act. The author made the point that Alice Copper was focusing on the kids, using the principle “if the parents hate it, the kids will love it.”

So, yes, in your marketing blog, speak to both sides of an issue. Having done that, however, do all you can to speak to “your” side, and “your” target readers.

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Blogging to Reveal the Reason

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reason why
Readers usually arrive at business blogs because they need something. Then, as they progress through a post, they are asked to do something – subscribe, comment, take a survey, or buy products or services. All too often, though, the blog doesn’t provide compelling WHYs:

  • why this provider has chosen to be in this particular business or profession
  • why this product or service is delivered in this particular manner way
  • why the problem the reader may be experiencing is common
  • why understanding the origin of the problem can help solve it
  • why the solution the business owner or practitioner will work

As business blog content writers, I teach at Say It For You, we’re engaged in helping readers reason their way to doing business with the business owners and professional practitioners who’ve hired us to tell their story. It’s not that there’s a lack of information sources; if anything, there’s a glut of data available to online searchers! What readers need from us, then, is not more information, but help in reasoning through all that information so that problem-solving choices can be made.

The most recent issues of two magazines help illustrate my point. The July 2019 issue of Consumer Reports lists several useful why tidbits (each of which might be used in the marketing blogs of quite a number of different businesses and professional practices):

  • why deep dents or bulges in cans means they need to be tossed (bacteria may have been let in)
  • why drinking water is good for a headache (dehydration often is the cause of the pain)
  • why eating berries is good for you (they contain anti-inflammatory anthocyanins)

Meanwhile, the June 2019 issue of Discover magazine has two especially useful whys:

1. why the human foot was the key to humans dominating the animal kingdom (with locomotion on two legs, the upper limbs were freed to make and use tools, including weapons). Think podiatrists, shoe company, health provider blogs….
2.  why smart phones are so addictive (the human brain craves instant gratification and unpredictability). Think parental advice blogs, phone companies, tutorial services…..

One company, WageWorks, a provider of Health Savings Accounts for employees get the why idea: “We won’t tell you which HAS to pick. We’ll just tell you why it should be us.”

For every piece of information you provide in your blog content, tell them why that is so. Most important, tell ‘em why it should be you!

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The Short Tale of Long-Tailing it in Blogging for Business

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  1. long tail keywords

In the animal world, fellow Mensan Bob Truett pointed out, there are several purposes for tails, including:

  • balance (as the animal climbs)
  • temperature control (for cover in the cold, for fanning in the heat)
  • defense (to swat enemies o
  • social purposes (dogs wagging their tails)

In the internet world, the concept of the “long tail” is based on the fact that when searchers type in very specific, three-to-four word phrases to describe what they want, those searchers are more likely to convert (to become buyers). The term “long tail keyword” itself comes from the 2006 book The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, which talks about niche marketing. The author explains that in brick and mortar stores, there is only so much shelf space, so marketers need to focus on their most popular products. On the internet, in contrast, where there is unlimited “space”, selling in relatively small quantities to people who want specific products, becomes eminently feasible. In fact, Neil Patel (one of my own go-to authorities) asserts, “The longer the keyword, the easier it is for you to rank well with that keyword.”

Winning search should not be the only goal. Business owners and practitioners who make the commitment to give blog marketing a spot in their overall business strategy stand to reap three types of benefits:

  1. The promotional benefit (the blog helps get customers excited enough to choose you over the competition).
  2. The credibility benefit (the blog demonstrates that you’re interested in using the latest tools to communicate with customers – you’re “in the game”).
  3. The training benefit (as you review the benefits of your own products and services and develop new ideas, you’re constantly learning to talk effectively about your business).

Long-tailing it is no shortcut to success, a thought I often share with blog content writers in this Say It For You blog. But, just as tails serve many functions in the animal world, blogging for business can add balance, grasp, defense, and social purpose in the world of the internet.

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Language That Leaves Foreigners Puzzled Can Be Perfect for Business Blogs

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“If you grow up hearing certain expressions or phrases all the time, it can be easy to overlook how weird they actually are,” Alex Palmer writes in my favorite online mag, Mental Floss. “Americanisms” are sayings we take for granted, but often don’t realize they make no sense to foreigners.

Just a few of the phrases so far removed from their original meanings, (but which we Americans understand perfectly) include:

  • “Scoot over!”
  • “Break a leg!”
  • “Not a big fan…”
  • “Break this bill for me”
  • “Don’t be such a wet blanket!”
  • “He’s a keeper!”
  • “That’s right up my alley.”
  • “Spill the beans!”

Foreigners don’t share Americans’ cultural memories and understandings. Hearing that Michael had been assigned the graveyard shift, a foreigner might think he had gotten a job at the cemetery. And, since American football is barely followed outside this country, a foreigner would have no idea what the expression “Monday morning quarterback” means.

As a blog content writer, though, I have a different take on this very “outsider puzzlement”. I think it can be turned to our advantage, letting readers feel they have “insider” status with our products and with our company or professional practice. How so? By using an allusion to something people already know, we can clarify our own message while letting those readers feel like “members of our inner circle”. Even if only some of that audience understands some “cultural allusion” we’ve made, that can help those readers bond with us.

My own broader observation, based on working with Say It For You blogging clients from many different industries and professions, is that it’s a challenge to find the precise style of communication that will best connect with target readers. Yes, you want to avoid anything that is a barrier to understanding. At the same time, in blogging for business, language that leaves foreigners puzzled can leave readers feel right at home!

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