Ways-To-Take-Charge Blogging for Business

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Gain control concept.

 

The article “15 Ways to Take Charge of Your Care”, cover story of December’s AARP Bulletin, is a very fine example for blog content writers.  Why?

  • It uses a numbered list, offering 15 detailed tips for saving time and money on healthcare. As Maria Konnikova remarks in the New Yorker Magazine, “Lists spatially organize information, helping create an easy reading experience.” Back in 2011, psychologists Messner and Wanke concluded that we feel better when the amount of conscious work we have to do in order to process information is reduced. We are drawn to a list intuitively, Konnikova points out, and we process it more efficiently. From all indications, I teach business blog content writers, Google loves bulleted lists, too.
  • The information in the article was specifically chosen because the topic is of interest for target readers (seniors, in the case of AARP). “Briefly,” says Jim Connolly of Jim’s Marketing Blog, “here’s how content marketing works: You build and market a website and stock it with free information that has real value to your prospective clients.”
  • The advice is highly specific, including filling prescriptions at a preferred pharmacy within your insurance network and finding out precisely which generic dosages and forms qualify for the $4 big box store and supermarket discount price. In blogging for business, every tip should be helpful in converting online searchers into customers or clients. That means content writers must invest the effort to understand customers’ needs before making the “pitch”.
  • The entire thrust of the article is empowerment for the consumer, rather than promoting the interests of the sponsoring company. Business blogs should be closer to advertorials than to ads. We content writers must satisfy prospects’ need to control the situation, going right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns and addressing negative assumption questions (before they’ve been asked!).

Offer information in your business blog that offers ways for readers to take charge!

 

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Using News Tidbits to Blog About Babies

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Newborn baby twins

 

Earlier this week I used stories about Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Grandma Moses to  illustrate the way anecdotes and tidbits can serve as “triggers”. Blog posts targeted to senior consumers of products and services for the elderly, such as home healthcare agencies, senior residence facilities, and estate planning practices can use stories of seniors who accomplished great things. The same concept can be used effectively when it comes to expectant moms and newborns….

I recommend blog content writers include interesting tidbits of information in corporate marketing blogs. Why? To:

  • educate blog readers
  • debunk myths
  • showcase the business owners’ expertise
  • demonstrate business owners’ perspective

Two particular news items caught my eye just this week:

“72-year-old Mick Jagger expecting baby No. 8” (pagesix.com)

“The World’s Oldest Known Seabird Is Expecting – Again” (abcnews.go.com)

Just think of the many business and practices that want to market products and services centered around newborns. Either of these two stories could serve as a “trigger” or jumping-off-point for blog posts about baby products, baby care, baby health, even animal health. Who might use this material as good blog marketing fodder? For starters….

  • meal delivery for new parents
  • professional baby care nurses
  • exercise facilities for new moms
  • insurance agents
  • baby clothing stores and websites
  • car seat  and stroller retailers

Aiming for the more creative? The Mick Jagger story (Jagger’s girlfriend is 29)) might be used in a blog for a matchmaking company or a marriage counseling service, while the seabird story could be the jumping off point for a discussion of best bird pets.

Blog writers need never run out of ideas if they keep a file of interesting tidbits of general information on hand.  And blogging about babies – that will never grow old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Using News Tidbits to Blog About Aging

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Serenading His SweetieWhen he was almost 76, Mandela was elected president of South Africa in the first election that was open to all races in that country’s history. On his 80th birthday he married his third wife, Graca Machel.

In 1979, at age 69, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

The first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus was published when Roget was 73, and he oversaw every update until he died at age 90.

At the age of 89, Doris Haddock began walking the 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to raise awareness for the issue of campaign finance reform.

Grandma Moses, a woman who didn’t begin to paint until the age of 76, turned out more than a thousand paintings over the next 25 years.

(Source: How Stuff Works)

In corporate blogging training sessions, I often recommend including interesting tidbits of information on topics related to your business (or, if you’re a freelance blog content writer, tidbits related to the client’s business).

Today, there are many businesses and practices that serve the aging members of our population. Any of the interesting stories of senior accomplishments mentioned above could serve as “triggers” to discuss the importance of staying mentally and physically active in one’s later years.  Who might use this material as good blog marketing fodder? For starters….

  • a  Long Term Care insurance company
  • a geriatric medical practitioner
  • a senior residence facility
  • a spa
  • a home healthcare agency
  • an estate planning attorney

(Don’t be afraid to get creative. The Mandela story might be used to promote wedding services for seniors and 50th wedding anniversary party catering, while Doris Haddock’s trek might be the subject of a blog for gym stair-stepping equipment!)

Blog writers need never run out of ideas if they keep a file of interesting tidbits of general information on hand.  And blogging about aging – that will never get old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Not-So-Palatable Blog Topics

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non-palatable
“Fury or eternal apathy. These are the two feelings you’ll evoke from your reader if you dare dip your foot on these not-so-palatable topics,” writes Eunice David of Adhere. And what are those terrible taboo topics when it comes to blog content writing for business?

  • political topics
  • religious talk
  • highly contentious topics
  • redundant topics
  • capitalizing on tragic events
  • self-promotional posts

Let’s talk a bit about that political topic taboo thing. “Choosing a politically charged topic for your business blog pretty much equates to planting a virtual time bomb,” says David. “Your business blog would be a sitting duck for pundits who won’t hesitate to fire back and dent your credibility.” But taking a stance, I’ve found, is what gives a blog post some “zip”. And after all, doesn’t being a thought leader involve stating your own thoughts on the matter under discussion?

Sure it does. Whether it’s business-to-business or business to consumer blog writing, the blog content itself needs to use owners’ opinion to clarify what differentiates that business, that professional practice, or that organization from its peers. But where politics is not directly related to the business or practice, I agree that it’s best not to dip your foot – or your content – into the political arena.

In essence, the same guideline applies when it comes to religion. Assuming your target audience is not a particular religious community, nor is the product or service you’re marketing to them religious in nature, it’s best to stay focused on the topic at hand.

In terms of capitalizing on tragic events, AT&T’s attempt to capitalize on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks (encouraging social media audiences to take pictures on their phones of the scarred New York city skyline) turned out to be a disaster, points out mic.com. “There is no useful connection between remembering a tragedy and shilling their product.”

Ford did a better job using a tragedy, mic.com adds, by posting a respectful thank you to the first responders of the Boston Bombing, without mentioning any Ford products.

Blatant self-promotion doesn’t work any better for blogs than it would at a party. Blogs are advertorials, if anything, and that means finding the right balance between story and sale. Sure, when people go online to search for information and click on different blogs or on different websites, they’re aware of the fact that the providers of the information are out to do business.  But as long as the material is valuable and relevant for the searchers, they’re perfectly fine with knowing there’s someone who wants them for a client or customer.  The secret of successful business blogging, I found, is just that – not coming on too strong, staying in “softly, softly” mode.

Since, in writing business blog content, you’re out to elicit neither fury nor apathy, a healthy respect for the negative power of non-palatable topics is in order.

 

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Blogs and Book Reviews – Brothers Under the Skin

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Book Label Concept
There are 6 Must Have Steps to writing a book review, writes Francesca of the Sway Group:

  1. Introduce the subject, scope, and type of book.
  2. Briefly summarize the content.
  3. Include graphics (be aware of copyrights).
  4. Provide your reactions to the book.
  5. Provide links.
  6. Be honest about your review, passing along a recommendation to your audience.

In a way, I’ve often reflected, what we do when we write business blog content offering information and opinion is comparable to a book review. “Sometimes you will need to include background to enable readers to place the book into a specific context,” says Francesca under #1 step of reviewing the book. “For example,” she says, “you might want to describe the general problem the book addresses and how it provides solutions.”

Online visitors are “test-reading” your company or practice through reading your blog posts. They want to see whether you understand their problems and can quickly and effectively help solve those.

Provide your reactions to the book, Francesca advises. “Your” is the operative word here in terms of blog content writing, I’d say. A review is more than a mere summary. Whether you’re blogging for a business, for a professional practice, or for a nonprofit organization, you’ve got to have an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up for readers. In other words, blog posts, to be effective, can’t be just compilations; you can’t just “aggregate” other people’s stuff and make that be your entire blog presence.

Provide links, Francesca cautions reviewers. In your own work, I teach blog content writers, you can “curate” – gather and present – information from many sources that you believe will be relevant and helpful to your readers. How do you give credit to the sources of your information? The blogging equivalent of citations in academic writing  is links.  So even if you’re putting your own unique twist on the topic, give your readers links to websites from which you got some of your original information or news.

All 6 of the Sway Group’s steps to writing a book review are perfectly appropriate in business blog content writing.  Blogs and book reviews must be brothers under the skin!

 

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