Posts

Blogging to Bolster Your Point of View

/0 Comments/in , /by

perspektive

“Indiana is growing – but we can’t neglect transit as a quality of life and economic development priority,” Michael Huber CEO of the Indy Chamber and Steve Sullivan, CEO of MIBOR Realtor Association agree. Both are in favor of raising taxes in Marion County to improve transit  services.  Huber and Sullivan use several tactics to strengthen their argument in favor of our investing in a transit system:

Offering details and explanations of the proposed plan:

  • New rapid-transit lines
  • All-day, high-frequency bus service
  • Weekend and crosstown service
  • Tax would be an additional 25 cents for every $100 of income, less than $10 a month for the average household
  • Who will benefit? Low-income households, senior citizens, people with disabilities, healthcare and hospitality workers who have evening and weekend hours, employers who want to attract employees

Statistics:

  • Marion Country gained 4000 residents in 2015
  • Indianapolis is the nation’s 14th largest city, but our bus fleet ranks 84th
  • Brookings Institute ranks Indy as 64th out of the 100 largest metros in transit services

Motivational statements:

  • “It’s a vote to bring new investment to struggling neighborhoods…”
  • “Better service connects people and jobs, and creates self-sufficiency.”
  • “Transit creates upward mobility and independence for those who rely on it most.”

“I just do not get it,” says Mitch Roob, Executive VP of Keramida Environmental, taking a stand on the other side of the debate. “How would a train-like bus benefit more than a very small portion of the community?  Is it equitable to charge someone for a service they likely never will use or for that matter even see?”
To bolster his argument against taxing Indy residents to fund a rapid transit system, Roob employs three tactics:

Statistics: 
Dallas invested more than $8.2 billion in a system that today carries only 4% of the area’s daily work commuters
Atlanta’s transit system ridership is down 15% from 2001

Turning opponents’ arguments against their case:
“Advocates suggest that “transit-oriented development” will spur development in the proximity of the transit corridor”. If so, says Roob, transit will add value to real estate, and the incremental property tax can pay for the service.

Emotional appeal – painting a picture:
“Trains and buses are not happy places.  Somber, hurried passengers cast their wary glance away from the strangers next to them whose personal space they have inadvertently but necessarily invaded.”

Which side makes a more powerful statement.  Truth is, both articles are impactful because both sides take a stand on the issue and then use various tactics to bolster their stance in the eyes of readers. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Are the Words in Your Blog as Valuable as the Products and Services They Describe?

/0 Comments/in , /by

excited young woman and boyfriend giving her ring
“The industry realized the words they used to describe diamonds were as valuable as the stones they pulled from the ground,” Alina Simone writes in “Do You Know What This Is?” in Mental Floss Magazine. Simone was discussing the DeBeers Company’s 1938 advertising blitz aimed at pulling the diamond market out of its Depression-era slump.

“On the market, a diamond is much more than a meta-stable allotrope of carbon – it’s everlasting love,” Simone explains. The reality of the situation, she adds is the fact that DeBeers stockpiled huge surpluses of diamonds, artificially maintaining high prices. Meanwhile, De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer admitted in 1999 that “diamonds are intrinsically worthless.”

The Mental Floss story is focused on Diamond Foundry, a California company using an atomic oven to blast “seed diamonds’ with hot plasma, causing the crystal latticework of the diamond to extend.  Essentially, the Silicon Valley company is hot-forging, in a process that takes a mere two weeks, jewelry-grade diamonds that would take eons to form naturally.

While blog marketing is (or at least should be) more advertorial than outright advertisement, we content writers can take a tip from the DeBeers people, who put the three elements of rhetoric to work enhancing the value of diamonds in the eyes of buyers:

  1. Ethos (a form of argument based on character or authority, showing the product or service is endorsed by a celebrity or by someone in uniform)
  2. Pathos (a form of argument based on fear, desire, sympathy, or anger)
  3. Logos (a form of argument based on facts and figures)

Over the 40 years following 1938, De Beers increased its advertising budget from $200,000 to $10 million, using words to create value, selling the concept of diamonds as:

  • Forever
  • A girl’s best friend
  • A must for engagements
  •  A gift for anniversaries A perfect Valentine’s Day gift

It’s hard to imagine, writes Lindsay Kolowich of hubspot, that it’s only been three-quarters of a century since diamonds became the symbol of wealth, power, and romance they are in America today. How did N.W. Ayer, the company De Beers hired as publicists, help make that happen?  By creating entertaining and educational content, Kolowich says – ideas, stories, fashion, and trends that supported the product but wasn’t explicitly about it.

In 1999, AdAge named the De Beers slogan “a diamond is forever” “The #1 slogan of the century.

Are the words in your business blog at least as valuable – if not more so – than the products and services they describe?

 

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

The Mary Poppins Blogging Principle

/0 Comments/in , /by

Mary Poppins En Route

What’s more important – a good man or a good idea? That’s the question Michael Banks, the father in the Mary Poppins story, faces when deciding to whom his bank should offer a loan.

The same question might be asked when it comes to blog marketing.  What’s going to have the greater likelihood of converting searchers to buyers: writing about the product or service, or writing about the business owners and service providers?

Choosing the man over the idea marked the end of Michael Banks’ banking career and the beginning of a new, happier life for him and his family. Fortunately, creating compelling business blog content can – and should – incorporate both people storytelling and product storytelling.

The Mary Poppins Principle, of course, is that the boring can be magical when approached with the proper frame of mind.  Corbett Barr, writing in thinktraffic.net, appears to agree, encouraging blog writers to “embrace your encouraging side.” There’s plenty of cynicism and negativity in the world, Barr says, and sometimes readers just want to be encouraged.

I recommend including anecdotes about customers, employees, or friends who accomplished things against all odds. That shifts the focus to the people side of your business, highlights the relationship aspects of your practice, plant, or shop.

Share what you’ve learned as a set of rules, Barr advises. “Your readers would love to know the 10,000-foot view of things.” When your content includes not only HOW  your product or service benefits users, but gives insights into the WHY, talking about industry developments and how you feel about those, that’s a way to address both the “good man” and “good idea” elements of what you have to offer.

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Choosing Healthy Blogging Habits

/0 Comments/in , /by

Nurse talking with elderly people showing test results during ro

Nurses and chiropractors should have some good ideas on healthy habits, I thought. Sure enough, I found four blogs that I think are examples of effective blog marketing.

“Modern Scrubs for Nurse Practitioners” is a blog post written by Melissa DeCapua. It was an interesting choice for me, because, while the post is informational, it’s a very “sales-y” piece, promoting the EON collection of scrub uniforms manufactured by the Maevn company. (Typically I advise blog content writers to go soft on the selling, sticking to advertorial style.)

Three things save the piece, I believe:

  1. DeCapua has sent out a survey and is now reporting that, based on the feedback, the company has designed a new line designed for comfort, style, and performance. The blogger has positioned herself firmly on the side of the customers, representing their interests.
  2. It’s useful and actionable – the blogger includes a size chart, after explaining that “when purchasing clothes online, I inevitably worry about picking the right size”. DeCapua ordered extra small top and small bottoms, and the clothes fit just right. (Sharing her personal experience serves as a testimonial for the readers.)
  3. It’s very personal. The blogger names her own favorite pick of the collection, the mesh panel jacket.

“Choosing Healthy Breads”, another blog post written by a nurse practitioner, is in stark contrast. This one’s long, too long, I think, for a single post, but it’s also filled with useful information for the readers, and each section is introduced with a directive: “Ensure 100% Whole Gran is the 1st ingredient on the label.” Points of explanation follow that statement. An explanation about why consuming white bread is not a healthy choice, particularly for diabetics, follows the directive “Avoid Refined Breads.” The entire blog post is instructional and informational, with no effort to sell anything to the reader.

“My Neck Hurts When I Wake Up”, a post by Active Family Chiropractic, is effective because it  answers questions about a specific problem. The chiropractor, Dr. Lori Goodsell, writes in first person: “I am frequently asked in my clinic, ‘My neck hurts….’.

The blogger then proceeds to give practical advice to readers on how to pick a pillow, depending on whether you’re a stomach sleeper, a side sleeper, or a back sleeper. Dr. Goodsell does invite readers to become patients of her practice: “As always, if you have neck pain when you wake up, you need to have yourself evaluated by a chiropractor.”

I encourage blog content writers to use exactly the kind of “I-you” conversational, personalized tone I found in this blog.

Nurse practitioners and chiropractors have some healthy habits to recommend to  us blog content writers!

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

A Tale of Two Ad Titles – Part Two

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Yellow sunglasses isolated on white background
The second of two advertisements that appeared in Science News Magazine illustrates a second set of lessons about blog titles and blog content writing in general.

(The first, “It’s Enough to Make You Blue in the Face” was an advertisement for the Stauer Urban Blue® wristwatch.) That ad was overloaded with features, benefits, a testimonial, even a giveaway offer. And, while the title made a “cutesy” use of the color blue of the watch and the expression “blue in the face”, it had no keyword phrases in it that would work for SEO.

The second ad,

“But When Driving, These Sunglasses May Save Your Life”
(advertisement for Eagle Eyes® Navigator sunglasses)

used a very different approach, called “fear marketing”, centering on the dangers of not using the product:

  • “Driving in fall and winter can expose you to the most dangerous glare…do you know how to protect yourself?”
  • “Some ordinary sunglasses can obscure your vision by exposing your eyes to harmful UV rays, blue light, and reflective glare.”

Like the Stauer® Urban Blue wristwatch ad, this ad lists product benefits:

  • “The TriLenium® Lens Technology offers triple-filter polarization to block 99.9% UVA and UVB
  • A 60-day money-back guarantee

And, like the wristwatch ad, this one offers a giveaway – an extra pair of glasses, with two micro-fiber drawstring cleaning pouches.

In place of a customer testimonial, this ad cites the official recognition given its product by the Space Certification Program of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

What are some takeaways for corporate blog writers?

First, while fear is one of the seven emotions that marketing writer Courtney Mills calls key drivers for successful ad copywriting, my view is that scare tactic marketing is not the best approach in blogs. To appeal to a better kind of customer – the kind that buys for the right reasons and then remains loyal, Calls to Action  should appeal to readers’ logic and positive emotional appeal.

The blog title does contain the keyword “sunglasses”, but might be more effective placed at the beginning, “These sunglasses may save your life”.

The connection with research done at NASA makes for interesting “backstory”content that could have been made the focus of the blog post. Alternately, the focus might have been on helpful hints for protecting your eyes.

As I like to remind business owners and professional practitioners, it’s interested people who are showing up at your blog in the first place. Now the task is to help those searchers get to know you and your company. Keep it informative and go easy on the hard sell.

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail