In Telling What You Have to Offer, Show Them Who You Are

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Some three years ago, in a Say It For You post entitled “Blogging to Offer – and Change – Opinion”, I emphasized a core belief I have about content marketing: “Providing information about products and services may be the popular way to write blog posts, but in terms of achieving Influencer status – it takes opinion.” A recent editorial in Wine Spectator Magazine reminded me of the crucial “op ed” aspect of our work….

As Wine Spectator editor and publisher Marvin Shanken explains, “We believe that evaluating wines blind ensures that our tasters remain impartial and that our reviews are unbiased, with all wines presented on a level playing field.” Shanken admits that not all wine critics share this approach. Some argue that it’s all right to review wines alongside the winemakers themselves, believing that honesty and independence can overcome the expectations triggered by knowing the identity of a wine, its reputation and its price.

In “Differentiate, differentiate, and Differentiate” (back in September of this year), I explained that, in content marketing, we identify the unique qualities of our client’s products and services, highlighting the differences between those and the ones offered by competitors. As Carol Kopp explains in Investopedia.com, those differences might relate to product design, marketing, packaging, location convenience or pricing. The piece “Why We Taste Blind”, though, goes much deeper than that, showcasing a fundamental difference in philosophy between Wine Spectator tasters and those of some of the publication’s competitors.

There’s an important content marketing lesson here, in my opinion. In just about any field, there will be controversy – about best business practices, about the best approach to providing professional services, about acceptable levels of risk, even about business-related ethical choices. Rather than ignoring that controversy, we need to help clients weigh in on those very choices and issues. Their readers need to know what’s most important to them, what their vision is in terms of serving their audience.

In doing what our English teachers used to call “compare and contrast”, I want to add, it’s important to emphasize the positive. Rather than “knocking’ competitors, marketers need to focus on demonstrating what this company or practice values and the manner in which the owners believe their products and services are best delivered to their customers.

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Convey the Concept through a Warm Human Storyteller

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Lately, brands increasingly prioritize people as the voice of their value, Robert Rose writes in “Trust the Story, or the Storyteller?‘

“Storytelling is a powerful marketing tool that can be used to connect with customers on an emotional level, build trust and credibility, and ultimately drive sales,” Oxford Academic agrees, naming three reasons stories are so important a part of content marketing:

  1. Stories evoke emotions – empathy, joy, sadness, anger.
  2. Stories offer a glimpse into your values and beliefs.
  3. Storytelling gives your brand a unique personality. There are many different types of stories that can be used to connect with customers, the authors point out, including brand stories, customer experience stories, employee experience stories, customer testimonial stories, and case studies.  No matter the type of story, the point is to use vivid language to help readers visualize the event or happening.While it’s true that stories help us remember, that’s not good enough, Joe Lazuskas explains – they have to make us care.  Your stories need to talk about why you come to work every day, and about what you believe the future of your industry ought to look like. Two particularly important elements of a story are:
    a)Relatability – you’re telling the story of a person similar to the target reader.  b) Fluency – Realistically, Lazuskas reminds us, most U.S. adults can’t read at even a high school level; we need to keep a low barrier to entry between the audience and the story level.

    As a content marketer at Say It For You, I can never forget an article I read years ago about an experiment performed at Stanford University.  Students were each asked to give one-minute speeches containing three statistics and one story.  Later, students were asked to recall the highlights in each other’s talk.  Only five percent of the listeners remembered a single statistic, while 63% were able to remember the story line.

To convey marketing concepts, use a warm, human storyteller!

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People Pleasing Not Always a Good Thing for Content writers

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People pleasing involves not only putting other people’s needs first, but also toning down a strong message for something more palatable, coach Eric Kaufman explains in Real Leaders magazine. That’s not a good thing, he explains, because toning down one’s message limits our own decision-making and squanders our power.

 

While, as content marketers, our goal is to engage readers, that does not mean “pleasing” them by reiterating common assumptions and opinions, we’ve learned at Say It For You. In fact,  whether you’re writing content for a business, a professional practice, or a nonprofit organization, it’s essential to present an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up for readers.

The style needn’t be harsh – after all, you’re out to nurture the relationships you’ve established and welcome new clients and customers to the business or practice, not “turn them off”.

Still, what I’ve learned over the years of creating blog content for dozens and dozens of clients in different industries and professions is that, in order to turn clients and customers “on”, we must incorporate one important ingredient – opinion. As influencers, we need a strong message to demonstrate, rather than squander, our clients’ power to be influencers.

When online readers find their way to blog content, one question they need answered is “Who lives here?” “What guidance is being offered as I face purchasing decisions?” Providing information about products and services, even aggregating information from other sources, can be useful – even “pleasing”   to readers, but in terms of achieving Influencer status – it takes opinion.

“Although being kind and helpful is generally a good thing, going too far to please others can leave you emotionally depleted, stressed, and anxious,” Kendra Cherry of VeryWellMind emphasizes.

 

In content marketing, while it’s important to tell readers what our clients can do for them, it’s even more important to show readers who those owners are!

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The Power of Op Ed Content Marketing

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A couple of weeks ago, at a meeting of our Financial Planning Association chapter, IU professor Greg Geisler* shared his opinion (proceeding to demonstrate why) that popular money guide Dave Ramsey’s advice to  recent graduates is absolutely wrong. (While Ramsey advocates getting rid of student debt before investing, Geisler shows why making monthly student loan repayments over the 10-25 years following graduation, all the while contributing to 401(k), health savings accounts, and Roth IRAs offers the potential for much greater wealth accumulation…)

*Geisler, Greg, and Bill Harden. 2023. “Maximizing Tax Alpha in both Accumulating and Decumulating Retirement Savings” Journal of Financial Service Professionals 77 (2): 46- 58.

One point I often stress to content writers is that whether you’re creating content for a business, a professional practice, or a nonprofit organization, you must demonstrate an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up for readers.  Of course, you can aggregate other people’s insights, even succeeding in making your own website the “go-to” destination for information.  But, whether you’re creating business-to-business content or business to consumer marketing, the content itself needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates that business, that professional practice, or that organization from its peers.

 In other words, when online readers find your site, one question they need answered right away  is “Who lives here?” What do they think? How much depth of knowledge – and of opinion – am I going to find here? We must be influencers, I advise clients and blog content writers alike. 

In 10 Tips for Writing an Opinion Piece, Median.com advises starting with an attention-grabbing opening line that cuts to the heart of your key message. (At the FPA meeting, both the name Dave Ramsey and the hot topic of student loans drew immediate attention). Chris Anderson, head of TED Talks, tells speakers: “Don’t share the obvious.  Nobody want to print what everyone already knows…Argue the point and elucidate as only you can.”

 

 

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Writing About WIne and Other Difficult Content Tasks

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“Using words to describe wine is fraught with peril and leaves wine writers exposed to ridicule,” Gus Clemens writes in an article  I found reprinted in my Indianapolis Star the other day. “Writing about wine is like dancing about architecture,” he complains. Although many familiar terms about wine tastes and smells are delicious to imagine and easy to understand because we know them from the fruit we eat, other terms, such as “leather”, “granite” or “green bell pepper” sometimes make us ask, “Are they just making stuff up to appear superior?”

Interesting. Just a couple of months ago, I posted a piece on introducing “insider terminology” to blog readers. The point I was making is that, in content marketing, once you’ve established common ground, adding new vocabulary  or “in-words” actually adds value to readers’ visit, giving them a sense of being “in the know”.

Offering online readers more than a description, but an “experience” is, in fact, one of our biggest challenges as content writers. Our goal is, through what they see on the page, to give visitors a “taste” of the benefits and satisfactions they stand to enjoy when using your products or services. 

“Consumers are used to telling stories to themselves and telling stories to each other, and it’s just natural to buy stuff from someone who’s telling us a story,” observes Seth Godin in his book All Marketers Tell Stories. While effective stories have authenticity and an implied promise of satisfaction, they must also, he stresses, appeal to the senses rather than to logic

With readability being a critical yet often-overlooked aspect of writing (as StraightNorth.com explains, content  must be matched to the education and sophistication level of your intended audience. In the case of a wine vendor, is the content targeted towards experienced wine consumers or is it intended to draw in “newbie” enthusiasts?

Humanizing your marketing content is a way of bringing readers “backstage”, keeping the company or professional practice relatable. Building a story around the “leather” or “granite” element in the services and products you have to offer can mean turning information-gathering into an experience!

 

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