From How-to’s To You-Do’s In Business Blogs

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“Damaged furniture needn’t mean one-way trip to junkyard,” is Angie’s advice in the Indianapollis Star.  Photos accompanying the article demonstrate key steps in upholstering a chair. Side by side with the Angie’s Advice piece featuring interviews with two local upholstering professionals is one from Consumer Reports Money Advisor on fixing furniture – or anything else, for that matter – by yourself. “To save money, it might be a good idea to learn how to handle some repair tasks without calling in a professional.”
 

Interesting. It often happens, when I’m discussing what kind of blog content to provide for new ghost blogging clients, one fear of theirs that comes to the fore is this: If they “teach” in the blog or demonstrate the steps in their process, they’ll lose, rather than gain, customers and clients:

  • Reveal the logic behind a system of selecting which stocks to put in a portfolio? The client won”t need my guidance!
  • List spine-strengthening exercise routines? They won’t need to come to my gym!
  • Print recipes and menus? They won’t need my catering services!

The reason these concerns are unfounded, I explain, has to do with the way the Internet functions. The only people who are going to notice your blog are those who are searching for the kinds of information, products, or services that relate to what you do!

In other words, you’ll engage the attention of those online searchers who are in the market for what you sell or who need your particular type of expert advice or service. Giving advice and sharing “recipes” serve to showcase your experience and expertise.  Consumers who feel fairly informed might actually prove more willing to make buying decisions.

It appears Angie Hicks agrees with my reassurances to business owners and professional practitioners: “Many things can go wrong when restoring wood furniture yourself,” she warns. “It’s worth investing in the services of a professional for items with significant material or sentimental value.” Consumer Reports Money Advisor concurs: “Don’t be shy about turning to a pro if you find yourself in over your head.”

Sharing the intricacies of what you do is a way of showing how passionate you are about your work. Ironically, “giveaways” sell!

So go ahead – show ’em how to.  More often than not, it turns out, they’ll see you as the one who knows how to  – do it for them!

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A Merry/Happy To All, With Thanks For Letting Us “Say It For You”!

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Every holiday is a marker, however you look at it, and it’s hard to resist tallying along with the toasts.

In my introductory blog post, "How Say It For You Was Born", I posed a question: "What qualities make for a great ghost blogger?" I put "drill sergeant discipline" near the top of the list, explaining that web rankings are based at least partially on frequency of posting new content, and that blogging must be kept up faithfully if "winning search" is one of the business’ goals.

I think it’s fair to give myself an "A" in the discipline department.  I, together with my contract writers, turned out close to 1,000 different original blog posts this calendar year without ever missing a deadline. In addition, Say It For You produced copy for a couple hundred web pages, press releases, brochures, letters to the editor, and newsletter articles.

This year, blog content development training was added to  the Say It For You menu of services, for business owners who, along with their employees, want to create their own blog content. During 2009, I gave six talks on "Blogging For Business" where the audience at each numbered more than one hundred.

This has been a year made rich through meeting so many new friends in the social media community. Special thanks go to continuing mentors Chris Baggott (Compendium Blogware), Ryan Cox (Schindigs), Ken Zweigel (Drive), Tony Fannin (Be Branded),  Mike Semon (Spartan Technologies), Damon Richards (Port to Port Consulting), and Kathleen Haley (KSH Marketing). I could never have come this far as a professional ghost blogger and blog trainer. without your support and expertise.

Another quality that makes for a great ghost blogger is a "third ear".  A ghost, I explained, needs not only to hear what clients want to say, but to pick up on their unique style of expression.  "The goal," I wrote, "is to speak your message, in your ‘"voice’, to your customers..  A good ghost blogger should, her/himself, be neither seen nor heard."

To all our wonderful clients, thanks, each of you, for "letting us in" to the dreams and hopes you hold for your business or professional practice.  Thanks for devoting careful thought to the question I pose to each new blogging client:

If you had only 8-10 words to describe why you’re passionate about what you what you have, what you do, and what you know about, what would those words be?

2009 tallies and toasts – it’s been a privilege and it’s been "real"!

 

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Don’ts For Blogs: Too Much, Too Fast, Too Self-Conscious

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Indianapolis Business Journal technology columnist Tim Altom isn’t a fan of "Power Point fashionistas" who use all the animation trickery the program can provide.  "Too much, too fast, too self-conscious" is how he describes many of the presentations he’s had to sit through.

I couldn’t agree more, as I brought out in "Blogs, Like PowerPoint Presentations, Can Be Boons or Banes". I suggested thinking of each blog post as one slide in a PowerPoint.

Even Robert Gaskins, co-creator of PowerPoint, explains that the technology was never intended for showing an entire proposal – just a quick summary, and that relationship is precisely applicable to a business’ blog posts relative to the corporate website.

Business bloggers would do well to pay heed to several of Altom’s suggestions about effective use of Power Point slides:

1.   Slides should be used to set the stage for a conversation…Slides.work fine if they’re meant only to cue and remind.
Blog posts can cue and remind as well, with each post focused on just one new piece of information, a unique approach to a subject, an anecdote, a myth busted or a problem solved.

2.   Altom put together charts from a client’s own data, but in ways the client had not thought of, revealing things the customer hadn’t seen before.
One excellent use of a business blog post is to do the same, presenting a new approach to familiar information.

3.   Most speeches can do just fine without slides. But there are occasions when you’re not able to dialogue…
In fact, blogging for business is exactly such an "occasion". Pull marketing is all about attracting attention from the right kind of strangers, those unaware of the name of your business, who arrive at your blog because they are searching for something that relates to what you do. The dialogue cannot begin until those strangers find you online. 
 

In online marketing, then, what you cannot do is follow Altom’s ideal of "teaching naked", i.e. without technology).  You can, on the other hand, avoid Altom’s Power Point "Don’ts".

  • Too much: (keep blog posts short and focused on one idea)
  • Too fast: (keep posts conversational and informal in tone)
  • Too self-conscious: (keep it about them and their needs, yet don’t be reluctant       to include calls to action in your blog posts)

Power blog posts can be the best PowerPoint slides of all!

 

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Don’t be stupid by cutting marketing budgets

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by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded

I know that in today’s economic environment, most businesses are cutting back in many areas. Unfortunately, the first area to get cut is marketing and advertising. Excuse my French, but "How stupid is that?" Do you really think that telling less people that you exist, what value you bring, or how they can benefit from your company will really help you grow or increase your revenue? Do you really believe that by cutting back on marketing your products/services will increase business? In effect what you are saying is "lets put less gas in the car so we can drive further and save money."

If you believe that marketing and advertising is not the life blood of your business then, I must say that you don’t know business. Either that or you’re just a commodity, and if you are, I feel sorry for you because you’re on your way to becoming extinct. By cutting your marketing budget, you’re telling your customers that since they know you so well, you don’t need to market to them any more because they’ll buy from you anyway. You are also letting the world know that you have more than enough customers, so don’t bother trying our products. If that’s the case,  you are more superior at business and I should pay you tuition just to learn at your feet.

We’ve all either have heard or have said, "You need to do more with less." I will agree that there is often fat and inefficiencies that can be cut. But once you’ve gotten rid of all the waste, then you’re cutting into meat and bone. In the end  you’ll be squeezing out any real value your company may have to where if affects your end product. And once that happens, your customers will begin to slip away. Then you begin a harsh cycle of falling revenues and cutting budgets even more, resulting in less people are exposed to your brand, resulting in less revenues, resulting in cutting budgets, and on and on. Financial physics will tell you that you can only cut so much before you start affecting your brand, exposure, and image (or the lack there of). By having the "do more will less" mantra, you are setting your company up for failure. Over time, businesses such as Hardees and products like Sony’s e-reader have felt the pain of the lack of marketing budget. Hardees rested on their reputation for great breakfast. They felt they no longer needed to market or advertise. Surprise, surprise, they went from the U.S. #2 burger chain to almost bankrupt in 3 years. The Sony e-reader was the first and best e-reader in the market. They felt their lead was so substantial, they cut back on their marketing. Surprise, the Kindle came along and kicked its ass. Amazon put a ton of marketing might behind the Kindle launch and it wasn’t long until Sony was playing catch up.

I understand that when the economy gets tight and companies need to conserve capital to make it through the downturns, but come on, cutting marketing budget and STILL expecting growth is down right stupid. How can you expect splashy results when you only dip your toe in the water? Eventually, a competitor will come along, pour marketing might behind their brands and leave you standing still wondering where it all went wrong. The day you begin to cut marketing is the day your competitors make up ground and possibly surpass you. Their continuous marketing efforts will snag your customers because  you don’t exist anymore in their hearts and mind. Out of sight, out of mind and heart. Brands are easily forgotten without consistent reminders that you exist and that you bring value to their lives.

So, I ask all marketers that when you are planning next year’s budget, keep in mind if you’re standing still, you’re already behind.

www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226

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Blog Selling 101 For Social Media Purists

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Social media consultant Jason Falls is a self-proclaimed purist-turned-realist when it comes to blogging for business.

Falls admits he may be falling from social media "grace" (which consists of engaging readers in "conversation", but never outright asking for the order), because, when he’s discussing with business owners why they want to use social media, the answers come down to one thing – selling more stuff. "I’ve got news for you", says the born-again realist Falls: "Conversations do not ring the cash register."

So now what? "Make your company blog drive search results to the keywords you want to win," says Falls.  "Present calls to action for purchase."

Purchase? Selling with blogs? Not so long ago, wryly remarks internet marketing consultant Chris Garrett, he might have gotten himself lynched for merely suggesting such a thing.  "Slowly, though, the blogosphere is coming around to the idea that commerce is not necessarily evil, that in fact businesses need to make money and they do that by selling stuff."

So where does Rhoda Israelov of Say It For You stand on the issue? No social media purist I, when I’m meeting with business owners to discuss their corporate blogging strategy, the conversation’s all about their "getting found online" and  ringing the dickens out of their cash register! 

In fact, some business owners (professional practitioners are particularly prone to voice this concern) are so revenue-conscious, they express fear that, if they share too much information about their field in the blog posts, clients won’t pay them to provide expertise. At the other extreme, I find business owners who express to me that they don’t want to come off boastful and self-serving in their blog.

There are, I think, no wrong answers here, but Steve Wamsley’s sales training book, Stop Selling and Do Something Valuable, which was reviewed on the Financial Planning Association website, has something to say that should resonate with reluctant social media realists.

"We have to sell ourselves to potential clients so that they choose to work with us rather than the competition… Wamsley’s next words are directed to financial planners, but this is the  part I think is so germane to the social media debate:  "In our role as advocates, we need to persuade people to act."

As a professional ghost blogger, being an advocate for my client’s business sounds like exactly the role I want to play!



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