Analogies Help Information Resonate With Readers

 

Matching our writing to our intended audience is part of the challenge we business blog content writers face. After all, we’re not in this to entertain ourselves – we’re out to retain the clients and customers we serve and bring in new ones, so we try to use words and sentences to which our target readers can relate.

There are four ways to make information resonate with an audience, advises climate scientist Lissa Ocko (who often addresses non-scientists on scientific topics):

  1. strip down to the essentials
  2. craft a story
  3. provide context
  4. use analogies

Using an analogy to link an unfamiliar concept to something that is familiar can help the reader better comprehend what you’re trying to say. It’s also a catchy and clever way to help get a point across, MasterClass.com points out.

At Say It For You, our content writers often use analogies as teaching tools in business blog posts:

Analogy: Parhelions and blogs posts
A parhelion is an atmospheric optical illusion consisting of “halos” of light around the sun. Just as parhelions showcase, rather than obliterate the sun, blogging allows content writers to approach the same topic in different ways to appeal to different audiences, still highlighting the central message.

Analogy: Suitcases and blog posts
Packing light has always been one of the better tips for savvy travelers. Pack your blog post with just enough materials to show searchers they’re on track to find the services or information they need.

Analogy: Cows being milked at night and blog posts
Cows were often milked in their barns at night, making that task one of the last ones on a farmer’s list. The expression “Till the cows come home” could be used in a message about a provider’s prompt service.

In blogging for business, using an analogy to link an unfamiliar concept to something familiar can help the reader better comprehend what you’re trying to say.

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Blog Reader Checklist

blog checklists

“Restaurants have a lot on their plate to keep diners safe this winter,” Kelsey Ogletree observes in the AARP Bulletin. We all know the basics already, Ogletree admits: staff wearing masks, hand sanitizer clearly available, special setups for takeout. “But what else can you do,” she asks readers, to make sure the venue is doing all it can to protect you?

The AARP restaurant safety checklist serves as an excellent example for blog content writers, because it provides actionable advice in a well-organized format:

  • Check the restroom (clean?)
  • Check the menus (disposable? QR code-based?)
  • Check servers’ hands (gloved?)
  • Check the kitchen (masked cooks? gloves donned before plating food?)
  • Check certifications (ServSafe Dining Commitment?)
  • Check the website and social media (does it detail safety measures?)

Offering readers this list of restaurant safety checks is hardly likely to make those readers decide to do-it-themselves (meaning stay home and cook).Oddly enough, the chance of inspiring readers to do it themselves seems to be a concern of many business owners and professional practitioners when it comes to blog marketing.

Blog content writing, I believe, is at its best on the middle ground between over-simplification and mastery. In reading business blogs about a product or service, online searchers want to:

  • find out what they’ll get if they buy
  • discover whether the product is a good match for their needs
  • gain perspective about how the pricing and the quality stacks up against the competition

Of course, in the AARP article, the author is not trying to market any one restaurant, and is coming at the subject from the readers’ point of view. As content marketers, on the other hand, even while offering useful advice to readers, we are representing a particular business or practice. Still, the goal is to present the business or practice in a very personal, rather than a transactional way. As we present advice on how to best use the product or service, the tone should be one of “sharing” a useful insight or tip, rather than “handing down” advice.

Your unique selling proposition or USP must be unique, with an emphasis on something competitors cannot claim or have not chosen to emphasize. One way to “lead” readers towards a judgment in your favor is an AARP-style checklist of things to look for when shopping for the most satisfying solutions to their own needs.

Can you think of a useful checklist leading directly to your own USP?

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