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Today, I’m Working on Being a Content Expert In…

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The vast majority of reporters are constantly thrown into topics, issues, controversies, and specialties they know little about, Indianapolis Business Journal editor Lesley Weidenbener admits. In fact, being a journalist requires diving into unfamiliar topics, she says.

Often, upon learning of the content marketing my team members and I do at Say It For You, someone will ask, “So do you specialize in marketing for a particular industry or profession?” In fact, not only does being a ghost writer of marketing content require diving into unfamiliar topics, much of the joy we take in the work derives from precisely that experience of gathering information, interviewing practitioners and business owners, and then (just as Weidenbener puts it), “massaging” that information into stories that help readers understand things better.

From data analytics to death care, from HVAC services to nutritional supplements, from personal injury law to retirement planning to leadership training, dental surgery, and leadership training, each content marketing assignment has offered a new “today I’m working on being an expert in…” opportunity.

One of the most telling acknowledgments of this “working-to-become-an-expert” philosophy came in the form of a recent client testimonial:  “Say It For You worked hard to understand nuance in our industry, including external research…”

Being a lifelong learner is a big part of online content marketing, to be sure. In order to deliver quality writing of any kind, you’ve got to keep educating yourself, reading everything you can get your hands on. While it’s important to cite sources by paraphrasing and hyperlinking back to the page where the information originated, the skill lies in “translating”” that information, putting it into the context of your primary topic.

When content marketing works, though, it’s about much more than the technical details.  The goal is to attach a “face” and lend a “voice” to the information by filling in the finer details about the people behind a business or practice and sharing the reasoning behind the choices they’ve made.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, my fervent hope is, I’ll be working on become an expert in…who knows?

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Helping Prospects Deal With the Stranger Come to Town

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Offering advice to writers, in a Writer’s Digest article Sharon Short suggests a “trope” or model to consider called “a stranger comes to town”. The protagonist of your novel, Short tells novelists, are doing quite nicely where they are – until a different, perhaps threatening, fish plops into their pond.

The “stranger” might be a shark (think “Jaws”), a tornado or other weather event, a detective, or a space alien (think E.T.). That “stranger” can be shooed away or cause the local fish (or ‘townspeople”) to learn from the stranger and embrace new ideas.

“Unique blog ideas not only help carve a niche for yourself but also engage your readers in a way that generic, overused topics often fail to do,” is the advice offered by Webstart Ventures. Unique content does more than merely rehash existing topics, but offers a fresh perspective, a novel approach, or explores uncharted territory, the author explains. Where do these “stranger” ideas come from?  “These ideas often stem from personal experiences, insights, and creative brainstorming, fueling content that is not only informative but also captivating and engaging”. 

When it comes to content marketing for businesses or professional practices, we know at Say It For You, positioning our clients as Subject Matter Experts is a worthy goal. We might be able to go one better, though, moving them to a position of  thought leader. Mere semantics?  Years ago, I read an article in Speaker Magazine in which Neen James presented the following definition: A Subject Matter Expert or SME (pronounced “smee”) knows something; a thought leader, in contrast, is known for something. They are the “strangers in town who “shift conventional wisdom.”

Do we then, in our content marketing efforts, position our owners and practitioners as the “strangers in town” bringing new ideas and a fresh outlook? Perhaps not. After all, readers were guided to the content because what they needed corresponded with what those practitioners and owners sell, what they know, and what they know how to do. Those owners and practitioners inspire trust by demonstrating that they are keeping up with the latest developments, helping their readers filter the new ideas the “stranger” is bringing to town.

While the focus of a business blog will always be on the trusted “local leaders” along with the services, advice, and products they offer, the content can reflect current happenings in the world, and “threats” posed by “strangers come to town”.

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Differentiate, Differentiate, and Differentiate

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Earlier this week in our Say It For You blog, we took notice of the Aldi tag line “Everything we don’t do, we do for you!”, discussing the importance of pointing out what things a business or practice has decided not to do and why…

Differentiation strategy
A differentiation strategy identifies and communicates the unique qualities of a product or company while highlighting the differences between that product or company and its competitors, Carol Kopp explains in Investopedia.com. The differences might relate to product design, marketing, packaging, location convenience or pricing, she adds. On the consumer end, Kopp goes on to say, vertical differentiation is based on objective, measurable factors, while horizontal differentiation is related to personal preferences. .

Mission statements
Just as Aldi distinguished itself from others by listing practices and policies it chooses not to embrace, many companies choose to express what they believe distinguishes them from competitors through their mission statements.

  • Facebook: “To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
  • PayPal: To build the Web’s most convenient, secure, and cost-effective payment solutions.”
  • Sony: “To be a company that inspires and fulfills your curiosity.”

Content marketing to differentiate
As content marketers, with the ultimate goal of influencing decision-making, we must help clients differentiate themselves. To build connection with readers, the content must be aimed to create new thinking, bringing meaning to data (as opposed to merely providing data).

Make no mistake about it, in any field, there will be controversy – about best business practices, about the best approach to providing professional services, about acceptable levels of risk, even about business-related ethical choices. Rather than ignoring the controversy, as content writers, we need to help clients weigh in on those very choices and issues. Their readers need to know what’s most important to them, what their vision in in terms of serving the public.

At its core, we’ve found at Say It For You, marketing content comes down to facts, stories, and oopinion. Facts are facts, but stories, and opinion are what helps differentiate and distinguish one provider from all the rest.

 

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Write Why Everything You Don’t Do, You Do For Them

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“Recently, Aldi has started TV brand advertising here in Pa., one of their biggest US markets,” Hacker News reports. “They literally brag about their smaller sku count, small stores, no cart pushers, and no loyalty cards. The tag line is ‘Because everything we don’t do, is for you.'”

“We look at the world through these core values: simplicity to keep costs down, consistency in providing the highest quality products and responsibility in how we reduce our environmental footprint”, is corporate Aldi’s message.

Aldi’s “things we don’t do” include:

  • accepting manufacturers’ coupons
  • offering a loyalty program
  • providing free shopping carts
  • offering thousands and thousands of products displayed in many aisles
  • bagging customers’ groceries
  • providing free paper or plastic bags
  • offering food products containing synthetic colors or MSG.

The Aldi tag line is effective precisely because it’s so unexpected. Companies don’t typically boast about services and products they don’t offer. In marketing a business or practice, we would do well to emulate the concept, explaining what we have decided not to offer and why we think that’s important to us and to our clients and prospects.

In fact, as we teach at Say It For You, the best marketing content gives readers insights into company owners’ or professional practitioners’ core beliefs, explaining not only what they do, but what they choose not to do and why.

Of all the goals served by writing content, the most important might be ”humanizing” and reinforcing trust. Online searchers need to come away with the impression they will be dealing with real, likeable people, not just with ”a company” or “a practice”. That means that whether the business owner or practitioner is creating his or her own content or collaborating with writers like us, the end result needs to be defining the underlying boundaries and beliefs.

What are the things you don’t – indeed won’t – do? And, most important, why are those “don’t dos” done in the best interest of the clients?

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Arming Readers With Words

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Farmer’s Almanac 2025 does something content marketers need to do more often – “putting words into readers’ mouths” Why? To make it easy for them to feel not only comfortable, but “smart” when talking about your business or practice area. 

The Almanac authors explain where several of our most common expressions come from:

I’ll take a raincheck:

In 1880s baseball, spectators were given an actual ticket stub for admission to a future game when a game was called off for rain. Later, retailers who were out of stock on an item offered rain checks for discounts at a later date.

I’m on Cloud Nine:

In the 1950s, the U.S. Weather Bureau would give numbers to clouds depending on how high they were, up to 30,000 feet (9 was next to highest).

It’s raining cats and dogs

The Greek word Catadoxa (try saying it out loud) means beyond belief. Another explanation is that in medieval times, homes had thatched roofs, and domestic animals would hide in the roof when the weather turned severe.

Under the weather

In old sailing vessels, “under the weather” meant under the weather rail (the hold of the ship).  If a sailor wanted to reduce the impact of the waves, he’d go below deck.

In blog marketing, once you’ve established common ground, reinforcing to readers that they’ve come to the right place, it’s important to add lesser-known bits of information on your subject, which might take the form of arming readers with new terminology, serving several purposes:

  • positioning the business owner or professional practitioner as an expert in the field
  • adding value to the “visit” for the reader
  • increasing readers’ sense of being part of an “in-the-know” group

As content writers, part of our challenge is to educate both prospects and clients on the issues relating to their decisions to choose between one business’ products and services and those of its competitors.  Introducing a curiosity-stimulating new term is one way to do just that.

At Say it For You, we believe in empowering readers by teaching them the meanings and the correct use of the terminology in that field. Most important, buyers feel empowered to make a decision when they feel “in on” the “lingo”.

Arm your readers with words – they’ll be more likely  to “lend you their ear”!

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