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Connecting With Buyers A’ La Ford

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“Ford Motor Co. set out to put the world on wheels with the Model T.  Here’s how the company attempted to brand itself through advertising and how it pitched its product to early everyday drivers including women,” USA Network writes in the special section of the March 10 issue of my newspaper.

As I analyzed the Model T ad reproduced  in my Indianapolis Star (an ad created fully one hundred years ago!) I noticed a number of smart marketing principles at work, guidelines we content marketers can put to use today…

Market with the end in mind

“To the woman at the wheel of a Ford car, every road seems straight and smooth; hills melt away and rough places are easy.”  The goal of content marketing should be to leave readers absolutely knowing why they need to care, not about your product or service, but about the way they are going to feel after using it! 

Your Unique Selling Proposition

“Don’t tell them what you do.  Tell them what you do for them,” Certified Business Coach Andrew Valley advised in a guest post years ago in this Say It For You blog. “You must tell the listener how your product or service can benefit that person, and how you can do it better or differently than others who do what you do.”

 

Understand buyers’ concerns

“When a woman hesitates to manage a heavy car, when she needs an extra one for personal of family use, or when her means forbid the drain of high upkeep cost…” In content marketing, making claims such as “least expensive, or “most affordable” are totally ineffective compared to communicating that you understand and are ready to address buyers’ deepest concerns.

In his business skills and development book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo reminds marketers to focus on results. “Remember, your widget doesn’t inspire,” he reminds us. Ford marketers obviously knew how to address potential buyers’ deepest concerns. – “She should have the easily handled, easily parked, reliable service of a Ford,”

Aim to inspire

While a company’s website, brochure and blog typically explain what products and services are offered, who the “players” are and in what geographical area they operate, the better content pieces give at least a taste of the corporate culture and some of the owners’ core beliefs.

As the author of the piece on the Model-T observes, “This ad uses the automobile as a symbol of freedom”.

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Grounding Yourself in Purpose

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“Some ideas just stick,” Laura Spence-Ash tells writers in Poets & Writers magazine. It’s important for writers to pay attention and find patterns and concepts that they themselves find pleasing, using those patterns to “find a way forward” in expressing ideas to their readers, the author explains.

“Sticky” ideas are important in content marketing, because they help the different elements – social media posts, blog posts, web pages and newsletters – “fit together” as components in an ongoing strategy. At Say It For You, we use the musical term leitmotifs. “The leitmotif is heard whenever the composer (of, say, an opera) wants the idea of a certain character, place, or concept to come across,” Chloe Rhodes explains in A Certain “Je Ne Sais Quoi.

In planning content marketing strategy for your business or professional practice, one important step, we explain to our clients, is to select four or five themes that are important to your point of view. As their marketing consultants, we will then make sure those themes appear and reappear in all their marketing communications.

Not to be confused with “keyword phrases”, themes express desirable outcomes resulting from successful use of a product, a service, or a methodology. For example, a residential air conditioning firm might use keywords such as “air conditioning”, “HVAC”, and “air conditioning repair”. The recurring themes, in contrast, might be “comfort” and “a healthy home environment”.

When owners express doubt about their ability to keep generating new content, I often remind them of late CEO of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs. Biographer Walter Isaccson noted that Jobs owned more than a hundred black turtlenecks.  Not only was this convenient, but it conveyed Jobs’ signature style. For much the same reason, defining “sticky” concepts about your industry, your products, and your services, helps, not only in keeping content focused and targeted,  but keeping it going! 

“Grounding yourself in purpose” means focusing on the ideas and the phrases that you find “stick in your mind”, on principles so valuable to you that you feel compelled to share them with your audience.  Use those “sticky” word patterns and concepts to “find the way forward”, feeling compelled to share those ideas with readers.

 

 

 

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The Four Elements of Query Pitches and Posts

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“You’ll need all four elements in your tool bag over time,” Amy Collins tells book authors in the Writer’s Digest 2024 Yearbook, referring to statements authors send to agents and publishers about their books. When it comes to blog marketing, content writers can use all these elements to attract and maintain the attention of blog readers.

1. Loglines:
These answer the question, “Would I like this book?”, using culturally relevant references to give the reader a chance to identify their potential interest.

The reason so many online searchers return to a particular search engine to find products, services, and information, is that they’ve found what they “would like” on that site before. The organic search process is the “logline”, delivering readers to your blog post who are most “likely to like” the information you’ve provided.

2. Elevator pitches:
These answer the question “What’s the book about?”, giving the reader “an idea of the premise and the stakes”.

When it comes to blogs, the “elevator pitch” is the title. We want the searcher to click on the link, and of course we want search engines to offer our content as a match for readers seeking information and guidance on our topic. More than that, though, a blog post title in itself constitutes a set of implied promises to visitors. In essence, you’re saying, “If you click here, you’ll be led to a post that in fact discussing the topic mentioned in the title.

3. Query pitches:
These add a few more compelling details to convince the agent that your book is different from – and better than – others in its category. What does your book add to the game? What are your future readers buying and reading right now?

To achieve success in content marketing, your having gotten to know your particular audience is crucial. While you may point out that your product or service can do something your competitors can’t, that particular “advantage” may or may not be what your audience is likely to value

4. Plot synopses:
These answer the question, “Does this book have the elements needed to be successful?” Here is where the author tries to prove that “the plot is not derivative or dull”. Collins cautions authors to focus on the main character arc and the story arc without over-cramming details. Just as “cramming everything about your plot into your synopsis will not help convince an agent to read your book,” cramming everything about your product or service into a single blog post is not going to help convince readers to take the next step.

In a sense, focus is the point in blog content writing. At Say It For You, we firmly believe in a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business, with the message geared towards one narrowly defined target audience.

Very much like authors pitching their book ideas to agents and publishers, at Say It For You, we know that the secret of success lies in skillfully using Amy Collins’ four elements.

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Putting Questions in Readers’ Mouths and Minds

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The tactic of using questions in titles is one I’ve often suggested to blog content writers, because often we can help searchers formulate their own questions by presenting one in the blog itself. It’s best to focus on the expansive and productive type of question, such as “What’s possible?” “What are my choices?” “What’s useful here?”

The Pole Position article “5 Questions Every Nascar Fan has Asked at Least Once” comes at the matter of readers’ questions from an entirely different direction, actually listing – and then providing answers to – “five questions we know everyone’s asked before – out loud, into a search engine or both”:

  1. How do NASCAR drivers go to the bathroom during a race? (Answer: They hold it or – they just let go.)
  2. Is there a reason why NASCAR races run counterclockwise? (the driver’s seat is on the left side; patterned after horse racing, which is counterclockwise.)
  3. What state has the most NASCAR fans? (North Carolina)
  4. Do NASCAR vehicles have air conditioning? (No, that would add weight.)
  5. What do drivers eat before a race? (Oatmeal, grilled chicken, and avocado toast.are some faves.)

In content marketing, you’re often providing answers to questions that your potential customer might ask. The specific genius lies in forcing readers to recognize their own uncertainties and need for answers. But, before you can successfully convert blog readers into customers, Neil Patel explains, you have to know what they’re worried about.

Are there five questions that your prospects and clients tend to ask the most? Remember, just as consumers would not be searching for the right auto shop/ jewelry store/ plumber/ healthcare provider, etc. unless they already felt the need for that service or product type, searchers who land on your blog are already interested in and have a need for what you offer.

By answering questions, providers make prospects feel understood, D. Forbes Ley taught salespeople in training years ago. Even if those searchers haven’t specifically formulated their questions, as content writers, we can do that for them by presenting the answers to frequently asked questions.

It’s not so much a matter of “putting” questions in readers’ mouths and minds, as acknowledging the questions already there and providing answers that can be key to closing the sale.

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Blogging About No-Nos

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“The rise of the Internet and social media has given rise to a lot of fretting about the loss of manners and common courtesy in society,” Kate Kershner writes in “How Stuff Works”. But often, the author points out, we just don’t know if something is considered rude or perfectly acceptable. As an example, Kershner explores the question of whether it is rude to knit in public. The rule of thumb she suggests is that, if you’re in any public place – the opera or a play, for example – knitting might imply a lack of attention, so it’s best to avoid doing that.

When traveling to a new country, it’s important to learn about the taboos there, Stump & Associates tells readers. There may be food taboos, conversation taboos, tipping taboos, and even taboos concerning eye contact and how close it is considered OK to stand near another person. The point is – travelers need to be made aware of these differences in perception.

Knowing the no-nos can be important in the workplace as well, hiring.monster.com explains. People have varying tolerance for offensive language and humor, for example, and what may seem like an awkward incident to some might feel extremely hurtful to others. Common but avoidable gaffes include sending an email or text to the wrong person and discussion hot-button issues such as religion, politics, and money.

Content writers can offer positive value to readers by describing things and activities best avoided. For example, the Warby Parker Eyewear A to Z blog lists not-to-dos after eye dilation, including driving, being in the sun, and looking at digital screens. “Great copywriting compels action, so it’s no surprise fear is used in marketing,” writes Amy Harrison of Copyblogger.  Marketing messages, she Harrison explains, may be based on readers’ fear of missing out, of losing something, or of future threat.

At Say It For You, we don’t like to use fear as the motivating factor to market our services. Instead, we think of “blogging the no-nos as a way for our clients to demonstrate to their readers ways to dodge dangers.

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