Mind Tools for Business Bloggers

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As part of our ongoing training for tutors at Ivy Tech, we were to read an article from Mind Tools about dealing with unhappy customers (the idea being to better equip us to handle the occasional unhappy Learning Lab student). It occurred to me that the material was well worth sharing with business blog content writers.

“Once you’re aware that your client is unhappy, then your first priority is to put yourself into a customer service Angry young woman, blowing steam coming out of earsmindset,” is Mind Tools’ advice. This means that you set aside any feelings you might have that:

  • the situation isn’t your fault
  • your client’s made a mistake
  • he or she is giving you unfair criticism

“Adjust your mindset so that you’re giving 100 percent of your focus to the client and to the situation….Resist the temptation to try to solve the situation right away or to jump to conclusions about what happened.  Instead let your client tell his story.”

One very important function corporate blog posts can serve is damage control.

I teach freelance blog that stories of their clients’ past mistakes and failures can have a humanizing effect, creating feelings of empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame the effects of their own mistakes!

But what about negative comments that readers make about a business, using social media? Well, to an extent, when customers’ complaints and concerns are recognized and dealt with “in front of other people” (in blog posts), it gives the “apology” more weight.  In other words, go ahead and “let the client tell his story,” which then gives you the chance to offer useful information to other readers and to explain any changes in policy that resulted from the situation.

But, even when there haven’t been negative comments or outright complaints, we’re out to engage our blog readers and show them we understand the dilemmas they’re facing, going right to the heart of any fears or concerns they might have.

If there are misunderstandings or negative myths surrounding our products and services, let’s get those out on the table.  Where better to do that than in a business blog?

 

 

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Reading Along, Does Your Blog Whiz past?

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Dev Patel

When Adam Davis of Buzz Feed teaches you grammar, he first shows you a video clip in which some well known TV or movie actor is doing it wrong.

  • She may not have split ends, but when the movie star says “You need to really focus”, that’s an example of a split infinitive.  Sure, when creating a blog post, you do really need to focus on one concept. You also really need to keep the two parts of the infinitive (“to” and “focus”) together!
  • No, Warner Brothers. That actress shouldn’t be saying “There’s towels in the closet.” There ARE towels in the closet.  “Towels” is a plural object, so “are” is the appropriate verb.
  • And, Dev Patel, you’re a favorite of mine, but don’t be putting apostrophes where they don’t belong, as in “Put it in it’s place”. The apostrophe in “it’s” means “it is”, and I know that’s not what you meant.
  • My favorite of the David film star quotes is this one: “Walking along, cars whizzed past”. The cars aren’t what’s walking, for heaven’s sake! The participle “walking along” is left dangling with nothing to attach itself to, Davis points out.

“I won’t hire people who use poor grammar,” says Kyle Wiens in the Harvard Business Review. Isn’t that a bit extreme? No, because Wiens has a “zero tolerance approach” to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid. Language is constantly changing, he admits, but that doesn’t make grammar unimportant.  “Good grammar is credibility, especially on the Internet.”

In today’s competitive business world (as any good freelance blog content writer needs to keep in mind), corporate blogging for business represents an ideal tool for “getting personal” and earning trust.? Business blog writing needs to be real.

Being real, though, doesn’t mean being sloppy, as I’m constantly reminding business owners and professional practitioners during corporate blogging training sessions.

Reading along, does your blog whiz past?

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Did That Business Blogger Know What They Were Doing???

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Adam Davis of Buzz Feed shows video clips, in each of which a famous movie actor is committing some sort of grammar “crime”. For Он и онаexample, we see Meryl Streep remarking, “That person knew what they were doing.”

“’They’ is plural, so unless you’re talking about more than one person, you need to say ‘he’ or ‘she’”, explains Davis.

Y’know, that he/she/you/one thing seems to come up a lot in blog content writing. I hate to think I’m one of those people Lauren Davis of i09.com says is not being helpful, who are just asserting their perceived linguistic superiority, and I’d hate for business blog content writers I’d helped train to write stuff that packs the punch of a very boring textbook.

Of the two Davis bloggers (Adam and Lauren), I tend to side with Adam, who apparently realizes that grammar mistakes in content writing for business are very much like wardrobe mishaps, in that they call attention away from the kind of impression we intend to make on behalf of our businesses or professional practices. 

Women’s Lib turned out to have created some new problems for writers. “When I was growing up,” observes Lynn Gaertner-Johnston, “the automatic choice would have been the male pronoun.”  Streep would’ve said “That person knew what HE WAS doing.” “They” is an awkward choice when Streep is talking about one person, and using “she” no matter what gender “that person” actually was is even more awkward, I suppose.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s CliffsNotes agrees that remedying the problem of gender bias in pronouns isn’t easy. “When possible, rewrite sentences using third-person plural forms,” they advise.  “Diplomatic people keep their opinions to themselves.”

Did THOSE business bloggers know what THEY were doing????

 

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Good-and-Good Blogging for Business

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The six-student presentation at the Hasten Hebrew Academy the other evening was definitely “good and good”. Principal Miriamprofessional speaker Gettinger explained why that expression could be used to describe an effective sermon (her husband’s a rabbi).  In fact, I couldn’t help thinking, “good and good” should be the standard of excellence in any communication, perhaps particularly in blogging for business.

A sermon with good content that is nice and short? That’s good and good. A sermon with good content that drags on interminably? That’s good and bad. Any sermon with poor content but that is mercifully short – well that might be described as bad and good.  Worst of all is a sermon with poor content that is too long – that’s bad and bad, Gettinger pointed out.

“How long?” is one question I hear a lot at corporate blogging training sessions. Typically the business owner or freelance blog content writer is referring to the recommended length of blog posts, or, sometimes, the question refers to the blog post title.

As a longtime professional ghost blogger, working to create marketing blog content for a variety of Say It For You clients, I think the “good-and-good” standard applies. Of course, the most effective length for any one blog post is whatever it takes to hit the main points of the one topic that is the focus for that post.

When it comes to effective blogging for business, we need to “know our size”, exercising “portion control” in the length of paragraphs, of blog titles and of entire blog posts. Blogs need to be conversational rather than billboard-style, and be sprinkled with enough keyword phrase use to attract targeted online traffic.

First and foremost, (the first “good”), the content, needs to be helpful to target readers. Then, make each blog post as short as possible, but no shorter.

You might call that a recipe for “good-and-good” in blogging for business!

 

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Business Blogging Using Body Language Awareness

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Consolation of a friend depicted by two figurines on a bookImprovement is always possible, was the guiding principle behind the communication system developed by family therapist Virginia Satir. Satir felt that if we became more alert to others’ body language, we would be better able to deal with them and turn conflicts into win-win situations.

The Five Positions refer to body language that conveys the emotions of people who are speaking. Now I realize that, when we’re creating business blog content, we are unable to see the readers, and we really can’t tell just what body language signals they’re emitting.

For example, we have no way of really knowing whether that person who found the blog post is being:

  • A Placater (who’s asking for something or bringing bad news and whose body is facing directly forward with palms facing up in supplication)
  • A Blamer (who’s looking to lay blame and point out problems and probably has a finger on one hand raised and pointing, with eyebrows lowered)
  • A Computer (who’s thinking or evaluating, with arms crossed or hand propping up  chin)
  • A Distracter (who’s being humorous and fun-seeking, often to avoid difficult discussion)
  • A Leveller (who’s comfortable and relaxed, facing forward, with relaxed head and eyebrows)

So as a corporate blogging trainer, what do I suggest content writers do when these visual clues aren’t present to guide our writing?

Pretend. Imagine that one of those types is at the other end and you’re speaking directly to him or her. (Pick just one type of reader per blog post and direct your remarks to just that type.) The idea is to demonstrate that you “get it”.  You understand the message they are (no doubt unwittingly) broadcasting through their body language. You’ve got to read the body language before you can speak it.
Corporate blog writing for business will succeed only it’s clear you (the business owner or professional practitioner) understand online searchers’ concerns and needs.

So, my advice to you is to “jump through the screen” and assume one of the five Satir positions!
 

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