Put the Main Blog Idea on the End Cap

December 8, 2020/0 Comments/in Business writing tips, types of blog titles/by Rhoda Israelov

“Supermarkets have gone to great lengths to make you think that ‘impulse buy’ was really an impulse,” observe the authors of The Big Book of Big Secrets, explaining that the ‘end caps”, shelves at the outer end of each aisle, are “the equivalent of beachfront property.”. Although supermarkets use other tactics to promote their wares, including mood lighting and even aromas, studies have shown that placing items on end caps can boost sales by as much as a third, not because those items re on sale, but because end cap placement conveys the impression that those items are special. A second grocery store tactic is based on studies showing that the average grocery shopper is “lazy”, tending to choose things placed at eye level. (Some marketers put the most expensive items there – on purpose, the authors note.) When it comes to blogging for business, I teach at Say It For You, the “end caps” of blog marketing are titles and closing lines.

Let’s talk first about titles. There are two basic reasons titles matter so much in blogs:

search – key words and phrases, especially when used in blog post titles, help search engines make the match between online searchers’ needs and what your business or professional practice has to offer.
reader engagement – after you’ve been “found”, you’ve still gotta “get read”, I remind our business owner and professional practitioner clients.

While “pow opening lines” can come in different flavors, in helping high school and college students write effective essays, I often suggest they introduce their readers to both their topic and their thesis, doing both those things on the “end cap” where they’ll get the most attention. That way, I teach each the student writer, your readers will understand not only what issue will be under discussion, but “which side” you’re going to take.

In business blog writing, for the opening “end cap”, you may choose to present a question, a problem, a startling statistic, or a gutsy, challenging statement. Later, on the “back end” of your blog “aisle”, your “pow” closing statement ties back to the opener, bringing your post full circle.

Main blog marketing ideas belong on the end caps!

Blogging to Show How the Land is Really Shaped

December 3, 2020/0 Comments/in framing in blogs/by Rhoda Israelov

“Spook hills”, such as the one in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada have become tourist spots, because in those locations, objects appear to move uphill on a slightly downward road. Paranormal believers have their own theories about this, and scientists once assumed a magnetic anomaly was at play. However, advanced physics now shows that “magnetic hills” are nothing more than optical illusions due to “visual anchoring of the sloping surface.” What actually occurs, we know understand, is that if the horizon is either not seen or not level, people’s eyes are fooled by objects they expect to be vertical but aren’t.

Debunking myths requires an understanding of how misinformation works, according to theconversation.com. “First and foremost, you need to emphasize the key facts you wish to communicate rather than the myth. Otherwise, you risk making people more familiar with the myth than with the correct facts.” Next, you need to replace the myth with an alternative narrative, “fighting sticky ideas with stickier ideas.”

Interesting. As far back as 2009, in Say It For You’s second year of creating marketing blogs for businesses and professional practices, I understood that while one of the functions of a marketing blog is debunking myths in that abound in every profession or industry, we needed to “give the camel a coat”. I’d read in Zoo Vet, of all places, that camels build up resentment towards their human handlers, who can calm the animals by handing over their own coat to the beast to jump on and tear to pieces.

From that article on camel behavior, I learned a valuable metaphoric lesson about blog content writing – readers don’t like to be “made wrong”. As content writers, then, we need to “throw them a coat” in the form of intriguing, little-known information about the company’s products and services, about the company founders, or about the industry or profession. While addressing misinformation shines light on the practice or business owner’’ special expertise, the technique must be used with caution, so that readers feel smarter, not “shown up”.

Content Creators – Craftsmen, Not Artists

December 1, 2020/0 Comments/in blog post formatting, framing in blogs, generating ideas for blog posts/by Rhoda Israelov

“If you build something for a specific purpose, you measure success by how well your creation serves that function. If you make pure art, your accomplishment is exclusively determined by how the creation makes you feel,” posit the authors of The Big Book of Big Secrets. “A craftsperson also follows a creative spirit, but his or her desire for artistic fulfillment is secondary to the obligation to make something that is functional.”

By that definition, I realized, all of us business blog content writers can definitely call ourselves craftspersons in that we follow a creative spirit in making our content functional for both our clients and their customers. In fact, Marc Prosser of SCORE names some very practical, functional reasons for business and practice owners to keep their business blogs active, including:

to drive traffic to your website
to inform customers about the good work you do
to promote a positive employer brand
to share testimonials to earn the trust of new clients
to establish your authority in your field

A functional professional blog, content strategist Laura Lynch of buildcreate.com adds, does all these things most effectively when it is presented in an attractive design. Images are what calls attention to high value content, Lynch asserts.

In fact, we’ve found at Say It For You, creating business blog content involves a mix of craftsmanship and artistry. Researchers at the University of Bath actually devised a score for ads that involves two measures: information power and emotive power. While I continually preach that blog posts are not ads, establishing connections is our function as content marketers.

As craftspersons, then, we content writers do what Jonah Berger, in his book Contagious, describes, which is offer useful, practical, functional advice and information. That kind of information and advice has utility, meaning it is useful, saving time, saving money, or improving health. Another form of “utility” is social currency, Berger explains, meaning the content offers ways for people to achieve visible symbols of “insider” status, helping them keep up with prevalent trends.

What is this “craft” called content marketing? We use creativity, not to satisfy our own creative urge, but to keep on telling the business’ or the practice’s story in its infinite variations over long periods of time. We know that readers who end up as clients and customers have self-selected rather than being persuaded.

Put Your Client’s Logo on the Front, Your Own on the Sleeve

November 24, 2020/0 Comments/in the Say It For You blog/by Rhoda Israelov

Jeff Slain of Fully Promoted of Fishers IN was talking about apparel, but his advice is something we blog content writers need to keep in the forefront of our thoughts. Jeff’s common sense reminder to us Business Spotlight networkers the other day was that logo apparel buyers don’t want to tell the world about you – they want it to be all about them!

The “them”, we realize at Say It For You, can’t mean all possible visitors to your blog. Your blog can’t be all things to all people, any more than your business can be all things to everybody. Yet everything about your blog should be tailor-made for your ideal customer – the words you use, how technical you get, how sophisticated your approach, the title of each blog entry – all of it out in front. The first impression has to be focused on things you know about your target market – their needs, their preferences, their questions – and only secondarily on how wonderful you and your staff are at satisfying those needs and preferences.

Successful content marketing addresses issues readers care about, with content that Josh Steimie, writing in Forbes, says must have three qualities -value, relevance, and consistency. The content is there to raise readers’ awareness of solutions, educating them about products or tactics they perhaps hadn’t considered before.

As a business owner or professional practitioner, you have not just one, but many stories to tell, including:

the benefits of your products and services
the history of your business and your own journey
successful case studies and testimonials
news of importance to your customers
your perspective on trends in your industry

A website with just a few pages cannot tell these stories completely, nor can it engage your potential and current customers with fresh content in real time. Truth is, no single blog post can tell all the stories, either. The key is for each blog post to get visitors engaged enough to hear today’s story.

The very fact that you have a blog and that the content on it is current says a lot about you and about the fact that you mean business! “You’re in the game”. You’ve got your new, fresh, logo apparel on.
The reality, though, (as Fully Promoted’s Jeff Slain knows all too well) is that they’re not going to read what’s on the sleeve until their interest has been fully engaged by what’s on the front!

It’s Not the Blog That Makes You Rich

November 19, 2020/0 Comments/in the Say It For You blog/by Rhoda Israelov

“I’m not the guy that makes you rich; I’m the guy that helps keep you from being poor”. That unusual self-intro by financial advisor and insurance agent Jeffrey Eric Frank from Wayne, Pennsylvania really captured my attention at a recent virtual networking meeting, Of course, as a former financial advisor myself, I immediately understood the truth in Frank’s “motto” when it comes to wealth. Focused these days on marketing, though, I couldn’t help making a comparison with blogs…

Their very nature makes blogs ideal for marketing, Randy Duermyer explains in thebalancesmb.com, naming the following characteristics:

Blogs are inexpensive to start and run.
Blogs build website traffic.
Blogs are easy to use.
Blogs improve search engine rankings.
Blogs engage your market.

Blog marketing, though, is hardly a direct route to guaranteed marketing success; while starting a blog can be done quickly and easily, Duermyer cautions, it’s the ongoing management that will take time and patience. What’s more, blog marketing is not designed to “close” deals in the same way as a face-to-face encounter between a prospect and sales professional might do. Going back to our friend Jeffrey Eric Frank, the blog, however well-planned and executed, is “not the guy that makes you rich”.

What can and will happen, as Hubspot blogger Corey Wainwright explains, is that prospects who have been reading your blog posts enter the “sales funnel” more educated on your industry and what you have to offer. What business owners and professionals are doing with the blog is taking advantage of the main reason use the Web in the first place – to find answers and information.

Rather than running traditional ads for your brand of hats, vitamins, or travel, you provide lots of information on the history of hats, on why vitamins are good for you, and about exciting places to go on safari. Consumers interested in your subject, but who never even knew your name come to see you as a trusted resource, possibly as a business to do business with!

No, New York Life’s JE Frank doesn’t for a moment pretend to be the guy who’ll make you rich. And, at Say It For You, we approach blog marketing with the same sort of practical wisdom in mind. Blogging is a very good “back door” approach to sales, helping you cultivate an audience of people who may well move on to become buyers.

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