Approaching “the Big Reveal” – from Front or Back?

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To create a compelling story line in a novel, one with maximum impact,  Writer’s Digest editor Tiffany Yates Martin explains, you need to understand when and how to reveal crucial information to readers. On the one hand, it’s important to give readers enough information to feel invested, but you have to keep back enough to keep them “hooked”.

There’s a case for having the information revealed sooner: readers need enough information to give them a reason to care. Vague hints at a “dark secret” can feel manipulative, Martin admits. What’s more, “sometimes you gain more narrative mileage by spilling the beans sooner, so readers see the … impact of the secret on the characters and story.”

Nathan Ellering of coschedule.com translates this very piece of advice for creators of content marketing articles. The pro tip he offers is this: “Write your blog title before you write your blog post. This practice will help you define the value proposition so you can connect it into the blog post, which guarantees your blog title will deliver on its promise.”

At Say It For You, one compromise I’ve discovered is often used by book authors is the “Huh?” and “Oh!” title. The “Huh” title startles and arouses curiosity; the “Oh!”subtitle clarifies what the focus of the book will be. For example, the book title Notes from Scrooge entices, while the subtitle Why Gift Giving is a Lousy way to Demonstrate Love – At Least According to Economist reveals the financial counseling nature of the book.

In content marketing, the “reveal” may take the form of a personal story that showcases the unique slant of the business owner or practitioner, even describing the biggest mistake made in starting that business or practice and what was learned from that mistake.  Precisely because it is so very human to act inconsistently, revealing seemingly out-of-character aspects of the people involved in the business or practice is a way to foster empathy and engagement.

Still, content marketing cannot succeed if our messages don’t break through the clutter and deal with online readers’ very short attention span.  “You’ve got to break someone’s guessing machine and then fix it,” Chip and Dan Heath point out in their book Made to Stick.

 

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Bringing Yourself to the Page

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” For better or worse, in today’s world, everyone is a brand, and you need to develop yours and get comfortable marketing it,” Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald point out in the Harvard Business Review special spring issue. The question to ask yourself is what can you bring to the table of your industry out of your own personal experience. Two examples the authors offer:

  • You studied psychology, and have insights into human behavior.
  • You’re a UX designer who understands how to create more-accessible products.

Whatever your special talent, know-how, or experience, you can bring that to bear as an employee or executive to add value, is the point.

For us as content marketers, in essence “ghost-writing” newsletters, web page content, and blog posts for our business owner and professional practitioner clients, the concept of “bringing self to the page” has a double meaning. Yes, as Whitney Hill advises in a Writer’s Digest piece, “mining” areas of our own lives helps us connect with the right others. But since our purpose is to focus readers’ attention, not on ourselves, but on our content marketing clients, we use our own experience and wisdom to help readers “interview” those owners and practitioners in light of their own needs.

“Some articles have greater impact and reader engagement if written from personal experience, The Writer’s College explains. Writing an article from personal experience can avoid sounding generic, especially if you bring personal experiences to life with vivid sensory details, “showing” rather than just telling. Still it’s important to reflect on the impact and growth that resulted from the experiences you’re describing.

In using content marketing to translate our clients’ corporate messages into human, people-to-people terms, I prefer first and second person writing over third person “reporting”. I think people tend to buy when they see themselves in the picture and when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message. I compare the interaction between content writers and online readers to behavioral job interviews, where the concept is to focus, not on facts, but on discovering the “person behind the resume”.

In bringing our clients to the page, we know that “how-we-did-it” stories make for very effective marketing content for both business owners and professional practitioners. True stories about mistakes and struggles are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind the business or practice, not to mention showcasing the special empathy those providers have for their clients and customers.

Through messaging, ghost writers, providers, and customers are all “brought to the page”!

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Be a SME, Not a Salad

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Both of this week’s Say It For You blog posts represent my reaction to Ryan Law’s very provocative piece “The Four Forces of Bad Content”. The first big negative “tell” of poor quality content, Law asserts, is a “bait-and-switch” approach, in which product Calls to Action are ‘smuggled” into an ostensibly informational article…. 

The Think eBiz Blog agrees with Law’s point about CTAs. “The blog should not be sales oriented… Provide good useful information and establish trust and credibility – sales will follow.” In this Say It For You blog, I keep coming back to the idea that business writing needs to be conversational and informational, not sales-y. Readers understand you’re writing for business purposes. Ironically, the very reason they have made their way to your site in the first place is that what you sell or what you do is a good match for their needs. It is not necessary – in fact, it will defeat your purpose as a content marketer – to punctuate the text with a “salad” of Calls to Action – either overt or disguised.

According to About.Com, “a Subject Matter Expert is an individual who understands a business process or area well enough to answer questions from people in other groups who are trying to help.” Actually, the term SME (pronounced “smee”) is not new to me.(When I was a developmental editor for Pearson Education, the course writers would turn to the SMEs for specialized knowledge to put into student textbooks.)  At Say It For You, “SME development” is all about presenting our business owner and professional practitioner clients as experts in their respective fields, a way of translating the bad advertising “noise” to which Ryan Law refers into well-considered courses of action for readers.

The “salad” concept, on the other hand, need not be considered a “force for bad”. “Cutting” or “chunking”, breaking down information into bite-sized pieces so the brain can more easily digest new information is a very good teaching technique, as e-learning coach Connie Malamed explains. Still, Ryan Law is absolutely correct in that a “salad” garnished with poorly disguised CTA s represents a bait-and-switch approach doomed to fail.

In their fact-finding mission, online readers have arrived at a particular site, looking specifically for information about what that business or that practitioner does and knows about. The tone of the blog content should assume that with complete information, readers will translate that information into action.

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Spicing Up Content Using Word Story Tidbits

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Just as spices can be used to enhance a standard meat-and-potatoes meal, at Say It For You, we’re always on the alert for ways to “spice up” content marketing text. Explaining the origin of unusual words and expressions can enhance content, making the information which providers of goods and services “serve up” to their readers a tad “tastier”.

 “Ghost words”:

Some words that appear in the dictionary actually originated from typos or linguistic errors, and marketers can describe these happy mistakes as part of their web page or blog post content.  Apparel vendors, for example can share with their readers the tidbit Angela Tung explains in Mental Floss: the word “tweed” may have come from a misuse of the Scottish word tweel,  which was how the Scots pronounced  “twill” (woven fabric).

Content marketers for tutoring or for academics programs might want to explain the mistake that resulted in the word  “syllabus” – Roman philosopher Cicero wrote about sittybas,  referring to the label on a papyrus roll. Somewhere along the line, this was misprinted  as syllabus.

Expressive expressions:

“All that and a bag of chips”, an expression from the 90s (meaning that something is especially  impressive or attractive), first appeared in a 1994 issue of People magazine, WordSmarts explains. Grocers, fast food restaurants and snack food companies might use this tidbit in their marketing materials.  A second expression that food providers might want to include is “spill the beans”.  In the ancient Greek process of voting, putting a white bean in the jar meant “yes”; black or brown ones signified “no”.  If someone spilled the beans, Melanie Curtin writes in Inc., the election results would be revealed.  

Sales trainers and  networking advisors might explain the origin of the expression “break the ice”. Before road transportation was developed, ships were the means of trade.  When ships got stuck during the winter, small ships would be sent to clear a path by breaking up the ice, as Anais John explains in Grammarly.

Spice up your content marketing using some of these word history tidbits!

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Thriving Under Pressure: Smart Strategies for Managing Explosive Business Growth

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(Guest post by Susan Booker)   The sudden growth in your small business can be both thrilling and overwhelming. Managing this exciting phase effectively requires adopting strategic approaches that support sustainable success. Enhancing your business skills, fostering team collaboration, and leveraging technology are key steps to navigating expansion smoothly. By staying organized and proactive, you can maintain stability while capitalizing on new opportunities, ensuring your business thrives during this dynamic period of growth.

Reinvest Profits for Sustainable Growth

Reinvesting profits into your business is a smart strategy to fuel sustainable growth. You can enhance productivity and foster innovation by directing funds towards areas like research and development or employee training. Financial tools such as budgeting software help you make informed decisions about where to allocate resources, ensuring your business remains competitive and adaptable.

Train Strategically for Sustainable Business Growth

Implementing scalable training programs is essential for addressing the skills gap and preparing your workforce for future demands. By investing in employee development, you not only improve retention and satisfaction but also drive innovation and profitability. Platforms that offer tailored solutions for skill assessments can help you accurately evaluate and enhance your team’s capabilities, ensuring your business stays ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Boost Your Business Acumen with an Online Degree

Enhancing your business knowledge is one of the most effective ways to prepare for rapid growth. Earning an online business degree can equip you with essential accounting, business, communications, and management skills. This may be a good option to check if you want to improve your leadership capabilities while maintaining your current job. The flexibility of online programs allows you to work full-time and keep up with your studies, making it a practical choice for busy entrepreneurs.

Harness Cloud Scalability for Small Business Expansion

Adopting scalable cloud-based systems can significantly ease the complexities of rapid growth. These systems allow you to dynamically adjust your data storage and processing capabilities, meeting increased demand without hefty infrastructure investments. During peak times, cloud solutions can automatically scale to handle higher traffic, ensuring smooth operations and enhancing collaboration among remote teams. Choosing cloud providers with strong security measures ensures your sensitive information is protected while enjoying the benefits of cloud technology.

Leverage Personalization for Sustainable Growth

Crafting personalized loyalty programs is a strategic way to nurture customer loyalty and manage growth effectively. By utilizing customer data and CRM systems, you can tailor marketing efforts to align with individual preferences, offering a unique experience for each customer. This approach encourages repeat purchases and promotes word-of-mouth referrals, expanding your customer base and turning satisfied customers into passionate brand advocates.

Adapt Your Business Model for Global Success

To manage rapid growth successfully, it’s crucial to adapt your business model to diverse markets. Customizing your products and marketing strategies to fit local consumer preferences and cultural nuances can broaden your brand’s global reach. Partnering with local experts and conducting thorough market research helps you navigate regulatory requirements and avoid common pitfalls, ensuring sustained growth and increased sales.

Perform a Competitive Analysis

Conducting a thorough competitive analysis is essential for navigating the challenges of rapid growth. By examining larger and smaller competitors, you can uncover successful strategies and identify potential threats to your market share. This approach provides insights into industry dynamics and helps you anticipate future shifts, enabling you to make informed decisions that enhance your product development and marketing strategies.

 

These strategies can set your small business on a path to lasting success. You ensure your business stays competitive and adaptable by honing your skills, strategically reinvesting profits, and adopting technological advancements. These proactive steps prepare you to face future challenges and create growth opportunities, helping your business thrive in an ever-evolving market landscape.

Susan Booker founded Side Gig Success, a vibrant online platform designed to empower individuals striving for financial freedom through side businesses. Side Gig Success serves as a guiding light for those eager to turn their passions into profitable ventures, offering practical strategies and expert advice to navigate the challenges of launching and growing a successful side hustle. With her innovative approach and actionable insights, Susan has cultivated a community where aspiring entrepreneurs can transform their dreams into reality and build a more financially secure future.

When Susan isn’t busy refining her website or managing her own side businesses, she enjoys attending yoga retreats, exploring local museums, and expressing her creativity through painting and writing.

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