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Shakespeare Misused Words – Should Bloggers?

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William Shakespeare - 16th centuryHenneke Duistermaat, self-described as an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach, reminds blog content writers that Shakespeare misused words – on purpose.  He used nouns as verbs, and adjectives as verbs, she says. Why? To surprise and “wake up” the brain. Using an unexpected word instead of a familiar word in a common phrase, Duistermaat adds, has the same effect: (“Clothes don’t maketh the woman” is a play on the expression “Clothes make the man”.)

“Boring opening lines aren’t something an author can afford. And yet they’re harder to avoid than you might think,” writes K.M. Weiland, who “helps writers become authors”. We have to make setting, character, and stakes clear to readers, she admits. But the second paragraph will give you plenty of time for all that, she assures students. “Your first concern in writing an opening line is hooking readers. And the only way to hook them is to make them curious.”
“It was a bright and sunny day.” Is just a boring opening line, and Weiland suggests an alternative: “It was a bright and sunny day, just the kind of day I was supposed to die in.”

Readers expect us to supply them with enough info to help them imagine, but they never want us to over-explain, Weiland says. Complex prose can create distance between your readers and your words – or worse, just leave them confused. Ask yourself, she advises writers, whether what you’ve written is really the best way to get the thought across to readers?

“Readers will not care about the backstory until you’ve given them a reason to do so.” True, but humanizing your blog by bringing readers behind the scenes can help keep your company or professional practice relatable.  Even writing about past mistakes and struggles helps readers connect to someone who “has been where they are.” The important hint that Weiland has for us blog content writers is that readers won’t care about the background material until they feel reassured that they’ve come to the right place (your website) to get the products, services, and information they need.

Going back to the Shakespearean ploy of misusing words to add interest, we want our blog posts to stand out and be unusually interesting.  We want readers to want to stay awhile.   And when we put two things together that don’t seem to match, that can have the effect of startling and engaging readers.

Shakespeare knew boredom is a killer of engagement, and – on purpose – shook his text up by misusing words or using them in unusual contexts.  Shouldn’t we?

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Ad Mining for Blog Content Writers

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Advertising concept with smartphone

 

Blogs are not ads, to be sure, and yet blog content writers can learn a lot from browsing the advertisements, I’m convinced. To test that theory, I decided to browse a collection of 50 different print ads published in the November 2016 issue of TheHomeMag, a free home improvement magazine.

Hitting precisely the right “advertorial” note is one of the big challenges in corporate blog writing, I knew. In fact, one point I’ve consistently stressed in these Say It For You blog content writing “tutorials” is how important it is to provide valuable information to readers, while avoiding any hint of “hard sell”.

Quite a number of the HomeMag print ads, I found, stressed price and cost savings:

  • “We’ll beat any quote by 10% to 60%!”
  • “Remodel your kitchen at an affordable price!
  • “Save big on kitchen countertops & cabinets.”

A second category of ad focuses customers’ attention on “the hurt”, meaning the risks they’re facing and the problems they have.

  • “Protect your chimney from winter.”
  • “Cabinets looking outdated?”
  • “Common countertop problems resolved.”
  • “Never paint again!”
  • “Ugly tub? Reglaze it.”
  • “Inefficient windows can be scary!”
  • “Foundation or moisture problems?”

In blog content writing, once readers are hooked by your understanding of their “hurt”, you can offer the “rescue”, the solutions your expertise and experience can bring to the table.  (I take a moderate view, preferring content that emphasizes the solutions to the problems, rather than taking a “fear-mongering” approach.)

The HomeMag ads that I liked best got readers to visualize themselves using and enjoying the product or service.

  • “Experience the beauty of outdoor lighting.”
  • “Access everything you need, every time you need it.
  • “Turn your backyard dream into a reality!”
  • “Host Thanksgiving in your new kitchen.”
  • “Refinish your existing tub & tile in time for holiday guests.”

    When you’re composing business blog content, I tell writers, imagine readers asking themselves – “How will I use the product (or service)?” “How will it work?” “How will I feel?”

Blogs are not ads, to be sure, and yet blog content writers can learn a lot from browsing the advertisements.

 

 

 

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Selling Dreams Through Blog Marketing

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dream

 

“Apple’s strategy involves selling their consumers a global package of dreams, personal experiences, and status,” explains Camila Villafañe of Postcron.com. “Apple is different from all other brands because for Steve Jobs, consumers weren’t just consumers, they were people. People with dreams, hopes, and ambitions, and he got Apple to create products to help them achieve their dreams and goals,” she says.

There’s been a lot of buzz around the “Starbucks experience” – the crackle, the aroma, the barristas – all of it. I think there’s a lesson here for blog content writers: online visitors to your blog need to find an experience along with information.  “Analyze how it feels to use and buy your products, and think what you need to improve, and what you need to focus on”, Steve Jobs taught.
Each blog post needs to get readers to visualize themselves benefiting from an experience: “You won’t know how good you’ll feel until you do”, one bankruptcy attorney’s commercial says. After using your product or service, will new users feel relief? Pride? Belonging? Strength? Security? When you’re composing business blog content, I tell writers, imagine readers asking themselves – “How will I use the product (or service)?” “How will it work?” “How will I feel?”

Villafane pointed out another Steve Jobs marketing lesson:  Find an enemy. “Make it clear who the enemy is, and try to get people to take a side. The idea is that people are drawn to belong to the ideology of a brand that matches their own thoughts and values,” she says. “If you don’t stand up for what you believe in, you’ll go unnoticed. And what better way to state what you believe in, than stating clearly what you DON’T believe in,” she asks?

In training new blog content writers, I always remind them of the importance of including opinion in marketing blogs. Whether it’s business-to-business blog writing or business to consumer blog writing, the blog content itself needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates that business, that professional practice, or that organization from its peers.
Before you publish, subject each blog post to two tests:

  • Is it designed to get readers to visualize themselves benefiting from an experience?
  • Does it reveal what you do and don’t believe in?

 

 

 

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The Power of “When” in Blog Marketing – Part B

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the-power-of-when

After reading some of the insights about time and timing in Michael Breus’ book The Power of When, I couldn’t help thinking of the tremendously influential role timing plays when we’re marketing a business or professional practice by publishing blog posts.

The most obvious time-based question, of course, is how often we should be posting blogs. “It’s easy to be immediately overwhelmed by the thought that you have to post multiple times daily,” says Kissmetrics.  Look at other small businesses in your industry, is Kissmetric’s advice. “You might find that, in your industry, one post a week will do, whereas other industries may need a couple of posts per week.”

A successful business blog doesn’t have to have a huge amount of traffic, Kissmetrics assures readers.  “It just needs to attract traffic that is likely to convert.” Hints to improve conversion:

  • Write posts on topics your target audience will find interesting.
  • Keyword optimize the posts.
  • Add a call to action at the end of each post.

“People pay you, not pageviews,” Kissmetrics reminds business owners obsessing about their blog stats.

Last, but not least, Kissmetrics adds, you will need to consider when you can successfully repurpose blog content.  The sooner you repurpose it, the better your audience’s response will be, because they are already interested in the topic.  The only thing to watch out for, Kissmetrics cautions, is digging too far back and repurposing out-of-date content without first updating it.

But it’s not only timing that matters, but consistency, Gerry Moran of Marketingthink.com reminds blog content writers. Whether it’s the evening news, the morning newspaper, or the Sunday football games, we all expect content we know and love to be delivered consistently. Whether it’s your e-newsletter or your blog, be consistent about scheduling.

Moran calls attention to the fact that the time component of blogging involves readers’ time, too. There is no right length for a blog post, he says, but take your readers’ time into consideration (Since a 500-word post takes about 2 minutes to read, that matches the attention span of many readers).

Just think about the tremendously influential role timing plays when we’re marketing a business or professional practice by blogging!.

 

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What Does it Take to be a Sophisticated Blog Marketer?

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arrogant blond sexy girl. red dressThe original meaning of the word “sophisticated” was quite different from the way we think of it today, author Bill Brohough teaches in The Gloomy Truth Behind the Words You Use .  To “sophisticate” something was to adulterate it by mixing it with something inferior, so being sophisticated meant the opposite of genuine.

When it comes to online marketing – even using the description “sophisticated” as we understand that word today (meaning cultured and refined) –  what qualities set that level of marketing apart? “What is a ‘sophisticated marketer’, anyway?” asks Alex Rynne of LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions blog, gathering responses from various marketers.

Some different “takes” on the question include:

  • one who focuses on results over marketing tactics and activities
  • one whose marketing is not elitist and complicated
  • someone who takes both old and new marketing techniques and executes them in a calculated hybrid of strategies
  • one who delivers the right kind of information to buyers across the entire customer lifecycle.
  • one who questions each premise and considers alternatives

To sell a product or service, you must market it differently depending on what stage of sophistication your market is in at the time, Todd Brown shares in his blog post “The Greatest Marketing Lesson I Ever Learned.”

Often, sophistication means simplification, I teach newbie Indianapolis blog content writers. 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.

 

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