Ways-To-Take-Charge Blogging for Business

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Gain control concept.

 

The article “15 Ways to Take Charge of Your Care”, cover story of December’s AARP Bulletin, is a very fine example for blog content writers.  Why?

  • It uses a numbered list, offering 15 detailed tips for saving time and money on healthcare. As Maria Konnikova remarks in the New Yorker Magazine, “Lists spatially organize information, helping create an easy reading experience.” Back in 2011, psychologists Messner and Wanke concluded that we feel better when the amount of conscious work we have to do in order to process information is reduced. We are drawn to a list intuitively, Konnikova points out, and we process it more efficiently. From all indications, I teach business blog content writers, Google loves bulleted lists, too.
  • The information in the article was specifically chosen because the topic is of interest for target readers (seniors, in the case of AARP). “Briefly,” says Jim Connolly of Jim’s Marketing Blog, “here’s how content marketing works: You build and market a website and stock it with free information that has real value to your prospective clients.”
  • The advice is highly specific, including filling prescriptions at a preferred pharmacy within your insurance network and finding out precisely which generic dosages and forms qualify for the $4 big box store and supermarket discount price. In blogging for business, every tip should be helpful in converting online searchers into customers or clients. That means content writers must invest the effort to understand customers’ needs before making the “pitch”.
  • The entire thrust of the article is empowerment for the consumer, rather than promoting the interests of the sponsoring company. Business blogs should be closer to advertorials than to ads. We content writers must satisfy prospects’ need to control the situation, going right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns and addressing negative assumption questions (before they’ve been asked!).

Offer information in your business blog that offers ways for readers to take charge!

 

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Using News Tidbits to Blog About Babies

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Newborn baby twins

 

Earlier this week I used stories about Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Grandma Moses to  illustrate the way anecdotes and tidbits can serve as “triggers”. Blog posts targeted to senior consumers of products and services for the elderly, such as home healthcare agencies, senior residence facilities, and estate planning practices can use stories of seniors who accomplished great things. The same concept can be used effectively when it comes to expectant moms and newborns….

I recommend blog content writers include interesting tidbits of information in corporate marketing blogs. Why? To:

  • educate blog readers
  • debunk myths
  • showcase the business owners’ expertise
  • demonstrate business owners’ perspective

Two particular news items caught my eye just this week:

“72-year-old Mick Jagger expecting baby No. 8” (pagesix.com)

“The World’s Oldest Known Seabird Is Expecting – Again” (abcnews.go.com)

Just think of the many business and practices that want to market products and services centered around newborns. Either of these two stories could serve as a “trigger” or jumping-off-point for blog posts about baby products, baby care, baby health, even animal health. Who might use this material as good blog marketing fodder? For starters….

  • meal delivery for new parents
  • professional baby care nurses
  • exercise facilities for new moms
  • insurance agents
  • baby clothing stores and websites
  • car seat  and stroller retailers

Aiming for the more creative? The Mick Jagger story (Jagger’s girlfriend is 29)) might be used in a blog for a matchmaking company or a marriage counseling service, while the seabird story could be the jumping off point for a discussion of best bird pets.

Blog writers need never run out of ideas if they keep a file of interesting tidbits of general information on hand.  And blogging about babies – that will never grow old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Using News Tidbits to Blog About Aging

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Serenading His SweetieWhen he was almost 76, Mandela was elected president of South Africa in the first election that was open to all races in that country’s history. On his 80th birthday he married his third wife, Graca Machel.

In 1979, at age 69, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

The first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus was published when Roget was 73, and he oversaw every update until he died at age 90.

At the age of 89, Doris Haddock began walking the 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to raise awareness for the issue of campaign finance reform.

Grandma Moses, a woman who didn’t begin to paint until the age of 76, turned out more than a thousand paintings over the next 25 years.

(Source: How Stuff Works)

In corporate blogging training sessions, I often recommend including interesting tidbits of information on topics related to your business (or, if you’re a freelance blog content writer, tidbits related to the client’s business).

Today, there are many businesses and practices that serve the aging members of our population. Any of the interesting stories of senior accomplishments mentioned above could serve as “triggers” to discuss the importance of staying mentally and physically active in one’s later years.  Who might use this material as good blog marketing fodder? For starters….

  • a  Long Term Care insurance company
  • a geriatric medical practitioner
  • a senior residence facility
  • a spa
  • a home healthcare agency
  • an estate planning attorney

(Don’t be afraid to get creative. The Mandela story might be used to promote wedding services for seniors and 50th wedding anniversary party catering, while Doris Haddock’s trek might be the subject of a blog for gym stair-stepping equipment!)

Blog writers need never run out of ideas if they keep a file of interesting tidbits of general information on hand.  And blogging about aging – that will never get old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Content Marketing Through Blogs

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Hand Drawing Content Flow ChartWhat is this thing called “content marketing”? Well, “instead of pitching your products or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues,” explains the Content Marketing Institute. Why content marketing? Because it works. How? In three ways, the Institute goes on to say:

  1. Increased sales
  2. Cost savings
  3. Better customers with more loyalty

Very important, successful strategies address issues readers care about, not your own business.

When it comes to effective content marketing, Josh Steimle, writing in Forbes, focuses on three qualities the content must have in order for people to want to consume it rather than trying to avoid it:

  • valuable
  • relevant
  • consistent

An important observation Steimle offers is this: Prior to awareness, a customer may have a need and not be aware there is a solution. Content marketing raises awareness of solutions and educates consumers about products they may not have considered before.

Since I’m a big advocate of using historical tidbits in blogs to create interest, I loved having Heidi Cohen remind me that content marketing is older than we think. The example Cohn provides is Johnson & Johnson creating guides for Civil War doctors on how to use their bandages.

“Content marketing is personal, engaging and tells stories,” Cohen goes on to say, focusing on emotions and messages that are captivating to the target audience. She quotes Dan Bergeron of Likeable Media, who stresses that the main thing is to focus less on cost and product details and more on the customer.

Since “keeping on keeping on” is the glue that holds an ongoing blog marketing effort together, I like i-scoop.eu’s observation that good content responds to the questions and needs of (prospective) customers during and after their buyer journey.”

What that means in practical terms is that we blog content writers need to keep on telling the business’ or the practice’s story in its infinite variations over long periods of time, knowing that, to a certain extent, the blog content readers who end up as clients and customers have self-selected rather than having been persuaded, “recruited”, or sold.

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Placing Blog Readers on the Right Side of the Future

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Business risk and research

 

“No one wants to be on the wrong side of the future, to be left behind,” writes Psychology Today Editor-in-Chief Kaja Perina, and as business blog content writers, we can be at our best when we’re helping others feel like they’re armed with the information they need to keep up with it all.

  • In the Business of Law blog, (target readers are attorneys) Michael B. Rynowecer predicts that cybersecurity cases will grow at three times the market rate, and he cautions practitioners that data-driven approaches to the practice of law can provide an incredible opportunity for law firms who get ready for that emphasis.
  • In Accountingtoday, Michael Cohn warns his CPA readers that “It’s value-based pricing, not hours-based pricing, and a lot of firms are moving in that direction.” The earthhour.org blog discusses ways in which global warming is affecting farmers, fishermen, and tourism, while the AIA Dallas Springboard blog suggest ways architects can take back design control by working on project teams with general contractors.
  • In the gov.UK blog, Justin Varney explains the enormous difference sport and leisure professionals can make in the public’s overall health. There is a huge network of people working in the sports and leisure, Varney explains, but those experts need to fully understand the health impact of physical activity.

According to Poppy King, founder of Lipstick Queen, every company has three jobs to do: solving problems, exciting the imagination, and speaking the truth.

As we arm our business clients’ customers with the information they need to move ahead into the future, we perform the same three jobs. We do those jobs best by helping readers feel they are on the right side of the future.

 

 

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