Showing You Know a Thing or Two

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Portrait of majestic red deer stag in Autumn Fall

Indiana blog content writers can take a big tip from Farmers Insurance’s new “We Know From Experience” ad campaign. The new TV spots and interactive website use humor to get across to consumers that Farmers has the knowhow that comes from long and unique experience. “Through this new campaign,” explains Mike Linton, CMO for the insurance company, “we hope consumers realize that we know a thing or two…”

Business owners and professional practitioners (and the professional copywriters who work on their behalf) are striving for the same effect sought by Farmers’ agency of record – positioning the company as having “consumer-centric knowledge and insurance smarts”.

As a freelance copywriter, I couldn’t help thinking that if the power of story is to be directed towards the marketing strategy and tactics development of any business, there’s nowhere better than in corporate blog writing. Blog posts have the power of harnessing the emotional power of story in order to positioning the business owners as “knowing a thing or two” in their fields.

When Speaker Magazine posed the question, “Why do audiences want more stories, regardless of the topic, in the presentations they attend?”  Robert McKee was ready with the answer: “Story fits the mind.  It is how the mind absorbs, sorts, and structures reality.”

The Farmers TV ads use that very principle to make potential customers comfortable with getting on board.   They’ve seen it all, and have handled it all – and have covered it all, including the bear breaking into a customer’s vacation home and the deer getting stuck in a customer’s swimming pool.

Success stories and client testimonials play an important part in any blogging-for-business strategy. Webcopyplus.com explains that testimonials help your business in two ways. Customer success stories and client testimonials boost your credibility with new prospects, helping them decide to do business with you. But website testimonials “also foster commitment from those providing the testimonials.”

Business blogs, I’m fond of saying in corporate blogging training classes, are nothing more than extended interviews.  Just as in a face-to-face job interview, searchers who read your blog evaluate the content, judging whether you’re a good fit for them. And those visitors, I’m convinced, are “testing” your company or practice for the same ideal qualities job interviewers are interested in: Can you (the “candidate” in this scenario) quickly and effectively solve challenging problems?

Show them you know a thing or two because you’ve seen a thing or two!

 

 

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Helping Blog Readers See the Rest of the World

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Point of view

Back in March of 1976, Saul Steinberg created a cover for the New Yorker Magazine that’s become a classic.  The image shows how New Yorkers might see the rest of the world if they faced west on 9th Avenue; the image became so popular that parodies of it ending up being challenged in court.

What made the map funny was the way it portrayed New Yorkers as totally self-absorbed, centered around a few New York City blocks, with Washington, D.C. depicted as a remote location near Mexico. National Post journalist Robert Fulford described the perspective of the map as “one in which the entire world is a suburb of Manhattan.”

Business owners and professional practitioners need to avoid that narrow perspective at all costs. And for us blog content writers engaged in telling their stories, we need to keep in mind that, for every piece of information we write, each reader will be asking “So what?”

Potential buyers want to know about Radio Station WIIFM – What’s In It For ME. Simply put, buyers care about benefits, not features. Remember, there are millions of blog posts out there making claims of one sort or another. Each claim we puts into a corporate blog needs to be put into context for the reader, so that the claim not only is true, but feels true to  our clients’ online visitors.

Steinberg had it right – everything’s a matter of perspective. We can use blogging to offer searchers the relevant, up to date information they came to find, giving it to them in short paragraphs and in conversational style, then leading them to take action.

But in all our content, it’s crucial to present information from the customer’s perspective, not ours. Our “9th Avenue” represents the ending point to which we aim to draw the client. Where we are is never the starting point!

 

 

 

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For Checks and Blog Content, We Need Both Words and Numbers

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Writing a check
When it comes to check writing, business humorist Todd Hunt learned the hard way, words trump numbers. The humiliation will live with him forever, he admits, but he learned something: The bank goes by the amount you write in words (on the line that says “Pay”), not the numerals you write in the box. What actually happened, Hunt explains, is that he miswrote the words, which made his check worth more than he meant it to be…resulting in an overdraft. So, he concludes, words trump numerals.

In fact, to prevent his readers from falling into the same trap, Hunt shares an instructive article about foiling crooks when using checks. The gist of it is, write out the amount using words to avoid fraud and confusion.

“I am a Qualitative Social Scientist,” states Sarah-Louise Quinnell “I believe in that words tell you more than numbers”, she says, She came to that conclusion, she reveals, in researching cognitive processes for her Doctoral thesis.

For example, Quinell discusses a particular statistic:

“85% of students ranked the class a 4 or above”.

That sounds positive, she explains, until you dig a bit deeper and find out that only 30% of the people in the class answered the question!

“Words on the other hand,” she points out, “are harder to manipulate. They also tell you why someone voted a particular way.” To improve customer satisfaction you need to understand the why’s,” she concludes.

Business blog headlines and business blogs themselves are filled to the brim with statistics. In fact, one of the hottest trends in business blogging today is infographics, which is a way of presenting statistics in visually appealing form by combining numbers with graphic images. “Infographics are all over the place nowadays. How do you know which ones to trust?” asks Randy Olson.

In fact, Olson views “data visualizations” or “infographics” with a jaundiced eye. Yes, he admits, they have repeatedly provided us with new and insightful perspectives on the world around us. However, time and time again, he says, “we have seen that data visualizations can easily be manipulated to lie.”

As a corporate blogging trainer, I see a lot of value in the use of numbers in blog posts (assuming, of course, that statistics are presented fairly and honestly).

Using numbers in blog post titles is a great way to set expectations for a post. It tells readers exactly what they’re going to get, and exactly how much of it, says Pamela Vaughan of Hubspot.

But where the words come in, I believe, is that one of the primary functions blogs serve is putting statistics into perspective, so that readers are given the answer to the “So what?” and “So, what’s in-it-for-me” questions.

Payors must fill out their checks with both words and numbers. Business blog post content writers should do the same.

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A Business Blog Needs Words

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emoji

“Blogging has become the best possible way to leverage your online presence and gain traction with Internet searches performed by your potential clients.”(No surprise there, but what I did find surprising is the source of the remark – none other than the National Association of Realtors!)

The realtor website went on to repeat the modern blogging mantra: “An interesting, relevant image is an essential part of your blog post. It’s not merely aesthetic; it’s crucial for boosting your readership and your SEO. People are much more likely to read a blog illustrated with a nice image,” the NAR advises. “It doesn’t matter what industry, topic, niche, or specialty, images matter.”

“Hey!” I sometimes want to shout. “Don’t forget that, no matter what industry, topic, niche, or specialty, the main content of the blog post consists (or at least should consist) of WORDS. Words matter.” Jennifer Olney of bealeader.com knows what I mean. In “Lazy Blogging: Why Your Word Matter,” Olney comments that too many authors rely on visuals to take the lazy way out of writing. Real authors, she implies use adult words and showcase their understanding of the use and beauty of the English language.

“Content comes in many forms, but web copy, articles and blog posts are among the most popular – and effective,” writes Dan Hughes of jtvdigital. Like Olney, Hughes observes that “ Many people overlook words and the power they have to entice their target audience. In this day and age, pictures and video are powerful promotional tools that cater to the attention span of the modern digital consumer, Hughes points out. “However,” he continues, “much like any business, well-crafted web copy is an essential part of success.”

“Words are art, and our ability to convey our message in words helps us be understood without distraction, Olney says. All the emojis in the world could not convey the extent to which I agree!

 

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Business Blog Tidbits Far From Useless

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love and togetherness
So, why do I find seeming “useless” tidbits of information so very useful when it comes to blog content writing? Let me count the ways:

1. Tidbits can be used to describe your way of doing business, to clarify the way one of your products works, or explain why one of the services you provide is particularly effective in solving a problem. It’s interesting when business owners or practitioners present little-known facts about their own business or profession.  In “Keep It Cool,” for example, Mental Floss magazine reviews the history of air conditioning, telling the story of how, when President Garfield was shot and lay dying in the White House, inventors rushed forward with devices they hoped would help, using a contraption to blow air over a box of ice into a series of tin pipes, eventually using a half-million pounds of ice. History tidbits in general engage readers’ curiosity, evoking an “I didn’t know that!” response.

2. One thing I suggest stressing in blog posts is best business practices.  While one goal of any SEO marketing blog is to help your business “get found”, once that’s happened, the goal changes to helping the online readers get comfortable with the way you do business. Mental Floss Magazine highlighted the making of the 1991 movie “The Silence of the Lambs”, in which the serial murderer is obsessed with collecting rare moths.  Animal rights groups might have protested the exploitation of harmless insects just to make a film, but, thanks to animal wrangler Raymond Mendez, the 300 tomato hornworm moths traveled first class, were kept in a room with special heat and humidity settings, outfitted with tiny harnesses during high speed stunts. Blog content writing is the perfect vehicle for conveying a corporate message like this one, starting with a piece of trivia, presented to make a point.

3. Common myths surround every business and profession.  If you notice a “factoid” circulating about your industry, a common misunderstanding by the public about the way things really work in your field, you can use a little-known tidbit of information that reveals the truth behind the myth. In Mental Floss Magazine, I found a cute myth-debunking article about the “Eskimo kiss”. Popular wisdom claims that Eskimos rub noses (because kissing on the lips would cause their mouths to freeze together). The myth started in Hollywood when the director of the 1922 movie “Nanook of the North” saw Eskimo women giving their babies “kuniks”, pressing their noses against their babies’ cheeks and breathing in their scent. Truth be told, Eskimos kiss on the lips just like everyone else. That Eskimo kiss debunk would be perfect for the blog of a lip balm company, a lipstick manufacturer, or a candy company around Valentine’s Day.

For clarifying and debunking, and to add variety and fun, tidbits of information are far from useless!

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