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Laws of Likability for Bloggers

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In her rare downtime, Michelle Tillis Lederman confesses in her book The 11 laws of Likability, her guilty pleasure is watching TV reality shows. The characters she’s most drawn to, she realized, are being real. Contestants who accept themselves and have a sense of humor about their faults are the most likable, she concluded.

How does that insight apply to networking? Lederman asks. Being authentic is not a permission slip to be rude, obnoxious or inappropriate, but what it does mean is letting your true self show through so that others can connect with you, she concludes.

Can this insight be applied to online content marketing? In-person communication, Lederman explains, is based on three components – verbal (the words you choose), vocal (the tone and animation of your voice), and visual (facial expression and body language). In web-based marketing, we realize at Say It For You, words become our primary tools for transmitting the “true you” of our business owner or professional practitioner clients.

Lederman offers four pieces of practical advice about word-based communication:

  1. Start with the positive.
  2. Choose strong, actionable verbs.
  3. Focus on what can be done.
  4. Translate your own ideas into knowledge and opportunity (for them)

Nothing is more real – and more “likable”, our blog content writers have learned, than citing the real-life obstacles the business owner needed to overcome and the wisdom she’s gained in the process.

A connection is something that requires two, Lederman reminds readers. In the world of blog marketing, it is the visitors who’ve initiated the “conversation” by virtue of searching online for answers to a question they have or a product or service they are seeking. The blog content is there to do what Lederman calls “meeting them where they are – almost”. As bloggers, we’re validating the readers’ “energy state”, showing them we “heard” what they are saying and that they’ve come to the right place.

In relationships, Lederman realizes, when you give freely to others, you increase your likability. Still, you don’t always get something in return. A favor, she reminds readers, is only a favor when someone wants it!

In pull marketing (of which blogging is an important part, you have advice and valuable information to offer freely to all visitors to your site. Yet “what one person finds valuable may be another person’s spam,” the author remarks ruefully. Just be yourself and be there, she concludes. The rest is up to them.

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Blogging Lessons From the Courtroom

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‘The courtroom was his job, writes Trey Goudy in Doesn’t Hurt to Ask, but you, too, he tells readers, will need to successfully advocate about something or someone. You will be persuading others to either come closer to your way of thinking or at least see why it is you believe what you believe, he says.

Based on Goudy’s decades-long experience as a prosecutor, he has arrived at certain conclusions about what persuasion is not (debating or arguing) and what it is (incremental). Both conclusions relate directly to blog marketing, I couldn’t help thinking. Blogging is certainly incremental, delivering information on a topic over a series of different posts, all part of a longer, ongoing, messaging process.

You have your facts, Goudy says, as you’re preparing to persuade, with a sense of which are most compelling. You’ve prioritized them properly. You’ve thought through every point and have a plan for defending it. But only sometimes, he admits, is the objective knowable (such as a verdict or an election tally). In real life, persuasion is movement, and movement can be small at times. In fact, I mused, in blog content marketing, persuasion is meant to happen in small increments.

Think how they think, Goudy advises (he might well have been referring to blog readers as much as to a jury). What do you really know about what they think? he asks. You’ve spent time gathering all the relevant facts, but you need to have a clear sense of which group you are trying to move, persuade, or convince. .Then comes evaluating how heavy a “lift” you need. Remember, if you are resolute in your own mind, chances are good that the audience is resolute in theirs, he reminds us.

In a non-digital conversation, you can come across as agreeable and likeable by saying things such as “I understand where you are coming from.” In blog marketing, however, the printed words are your one tool to demonstrate that level of likability and openness. “Start with your consensual point,” the author advises, “not your most provocative one.”

In the arena of persuasion, traits to be desired include believability, likability, authenticity – and access to facts. In a courtroom, Goudy says, you want to “impeach” the statements made by the other side (the facts they rely on and the overarching principles or conclusion behind those facts, but not the people).

Since blog content writers’ tools are words, Goudy’s chapter on “Big Words, Soft Words” offers helpful concepts. Certain words, he says, are “simply too big to make for objective and precise communications”. One of those words is “always” (as in “You always interrupt me when I am speaking”). Virtual or no, discussions need to allow for respectful dialogue.

The final paragraph of the book might have been directed specifically towards blog content writers: “Go communicate what you believe and why you believe it in the most persuasive way possible.”

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Readers Remember Helpful Hints

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Sometimes a concept just keeps slapping you in the face with how true it is…. I’d been writing about offering helpful how-to hints as a way of engaging visitors to your blog. Find complementary businesses or practices, I advised, asking those business owners or practitioners for tips they can offer for you to pass along to your readers. The best tips and hints, I added, are related to some a topic currently trending in the news, especially one affecting your industry.

Just the other day, in the course of attending virtual networking meetings, I heard two wonderful examples of helpful hints.

First, fellow InfoConnect2 member Jim Badger (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbadger/)  explained that, because COVID-19 has caused to many people to meet virtually rather than in person, the logo imprint on the apparel should be put on the collar or high up on the shoulder of the jacket or shirt, so that it will be visible within in the frameword of the Zoom image

  • Hours later, in a Happy Networking virtual room, Samuel Brown, CEO of PacketEx in South Carolina (https://www.linkedin.com/in/packetex/) offered a helpful tip about computers and cell phones. Should we turn those off every night? Yes, Brown explained. It’s not because the phone or PC or Mac needs to rest (those machines are made to run, he said.) Turning off the devices allows them to perform automated tasks, including combating viruses, he explained.
  • At Say It For You, we teach that everything about your blog should be tailor-made for your ideal customer’s needs and preferences. The content is there to raise readers’ awareness of solutions and to educate them about products or tactics they perhaps hadn’t considered. With all that having been said, how do you get your business or practice remembered?

Well, the “logo” has to be high enough on the garment so it gets seen on the Zoom image. The advice has to solve a real problem and be implementable.

Try jogging your blog visitors’ memories with your own “in the now”, “in the know”, trend-related, practical, helpful hints!.

 

 

 

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How to Hug Customers in Your Blog

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“It’s not location, location, location,’ Jack Mitchell writes in Hug Your Customers. “It’s service, service, service.” Sure, a decent location with reasonable traffic, convenient to get to, and more than adequate parking – will do just fine if you learn to ‘hug” your customers. Personalized attention to customers is the proven way to achieve sales results, is the thesis of Mitchell’s book, based on Mitchell’s Family of Stores’ clothing and jewelry business.

Since the first publication of his book, the author admits, much has changed, with the most significant of those changes being the growth of Internet sales for all industries. One thing that has not changed, Mitchell, claims, is the need to deliver personalized customer service. People still yearn for at least a smile and a thank-you from an actual human being, he says. Actually, people do more than merely yearn when it comes to personal service – research shows that customers are willing to pay more for a product if they receive better customer service during and after a purchase.

At our content marketing company, we absolutely agree. The challenge we blog content writers take on is translating those “smiles” and “thank-you’s” into digital messaging. As part of the business blogging assistance I offer through Say It For You, I’m always talking to business owners about their customer service.  The challenge is – EVERY business says it offers superior customer service! (Has any of us ever read an ad or a blog that does NOT tout its superior customer service?)  It’s not enough to say it – you have to specifically illustrate ways in which your company’s customer service exceeds the norm.

There’s more. Personalized service includes teaching customers new skills, and some blog posts can take the form of actually tutorials and step-by-step instructions. Stories of all kinds –help personalize a business blog. Even if a professional writer is composing the content, true-story material increases engagement by readers with the business or practice. Case studies are particularly effective in creating interest, because they are relatable and “real”.

In Journalism 101 class, we were taught to “put a face on the issue” by beginning the article with a human example  A case study takes that personalization even further, chronicling a customer or client who had a problem or need, and taking readers through the various stages of using the product or service to solve that problem. What were some of the issues that arose along the way? What new insights were gained through that experience, on the part of both the business and the customer?

You might not think of simplifying your website navigation as another way to “hug” customers, but it absolutely is. Marketing blogs are all about getting found,, but now they’ve found you, both both the content of your blog posts and the navigation paths on the blog site had better be easy, calling for fewer keystrokes and less confusion.

When writing content for your own blog or when planning content with the individuals you’ve hired for business blogging assistance, keep in mind that online readers might decide at any point that they’re ready to learn more, that they have a question to ask, or that they’re ready to take advantage of your products and services.  Make the process feel like a smile and and a hug!

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Blog Marketing and Job-Seeking – Sisters Under the Skin

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Today’s post was contributed by guest Ruth Sternberg, a coach who helps mid-career professionals more effectively convey their value to employers and entrepreneurs capture more market share with clearer branded materials. She can be reached at Ruth@confidentcareersearch.com .
You can also connect with her at https://www.linkedin.com/in/navcoach/.

 

 

Congratulations! You have started your own business. You have courage. You have a mission. But how do you know your product or service will sell?

This is the driving question for all entrepreneurs. The same question causes job seekers stress as they hit “send” and wait for a reaction to an application submission. Most of us, whether we are working for ourselves or looking for a job, go about answering the question backwards. We assume that our idea is great, and that our skills speak for themselves. Friends and family have said so. We are sure everyone else will agree, so we adopt the “build it and they will come” philosophy.

We might hit it out of the park, as in the movie Field of Dreams. But will the stadium be empty? Selling anything, whether it be your skills, a product, or your consulting services, requires an understanding of what your customer—or in the case of a job seeker, the employer— needs. It sounds obvious. But in the age of social media and instant gratification, it’s not so simple. Today’s consumers are sophisticated. They don’t take promises at face value. Companies do not hire candidates just because they have the required technical skills.

Today’s “buyer” wants validation. It can be customer reviews, your LinkedIn recommendations, the quantifiable proof you give on your resume, or your social media posts. Top marketing voice Mark Schaefer, author of Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins, points out that marketing a product requires a competitive advantage. To sell successfully, you must identify an unmet need and then build your message around that. Most companies confuse “what they sell” with “what the customer actually buys.” A tech company might have a great product. But the customers are really buying the great customer service. Starbucks doesn’t sell coffee; it sells community.

A job candidate might have all the right training and degrees, but hiring managers are really buying the ability to identify and solve problems, get along with different kinds of team members, and grow profits. Think about it: When an ad pops up in your Facebook feed, or when you are perusing Amazon or looking for a roofing contractor, do you just click “buy” without proof that you won’t waste your money?

Today’s consumer faces hundreds of choices and needs some way of differentiating one service provider (or job candidate) from all the others on the market. Here’s what you must do if you want to differentiate yourself in a competitive market:

Identify your customer. Who will make the decision to buy? Is it a mom? A CEO? A hiring manager? What do they prefer? What are their characteristics? What does the hiring company specialize in? What problems does it solve? What decisions does it face?

Figure out where your customer (or hiring manager) is. Is it on Facebook? Reddit? An industry website? Twitter? Maybe your customer supports a certain cause and is part of a Meetup or Facebook group talking about that. Are industry leaders members of a professional organization? Is there a Zoom event that will attract people in your industry? Are you on LinkedIn? Show up where your customer is and contribute to the conversation to find out what you need to deliver.

Decipher what makes you relevant to the buyer. Great service? Commitment to supporting certain values? Have you solved significant problems for your previous employers? What are they? Research the targets. Read articles, websites, and ask insiders.

Determine how to deliver your message of relevance. Content can sell, whether it’s video, social media content, or other avenues. Job seekers know they need a great resume. They also need fully keyword-optimized LinkedIn profiles. Check your marketing materials. Are they addressing the customers’ chief concerns? Create ways to engage! Will you write a cover letter? Post a LinkedIn article? Get seen and noticed!

Measure and adjust. Collect sales data. Look at your social media metrics. Who’s following you? Are they engaging with you? Job seekers: Document your progress as you apply for roles, noting whom they’ve talked with and what responses they received.

Winning the sale or the job offer is not magic. It is not instant or simple. But if you are struggling with your strategy, these tips should get you started down the right path.

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