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“That’s Just It” Blogging for Business

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“You know what descriptive writing is, The Writer’s Resource authors Day and McMahan say. “It makes you smile or sigh, brings tears to your eyes, makes you say to yourself, ‘Yes, that’s just it'” Good descriptive details are welcome in almost any kind of writing, they add. “Amen to that”, we believe at Say It For You. Blog content writing might be high-quality and informative and still not engage with readers, absent the kind of personal connection that gets prospects emotionally involved. Even in B2B marketing, there’s always a person saying “Yes, that’s just it!” who will be key to doing “a deal”.

But how is it done? You don’t need to add a slew of words to a page to achieve impact, Day and McMahan suggest, just the most specific ones. You feel terrible about something? In what way? Are you humiliated, guilty, fearful, frustrated, sickened, sad? Consult a thesaurus if you need help narrowing down the word choices to find the “That’s just it” way to express your idea, they advise. In blog content, emotional “capital” can include biographical stories showing problems solved or narrowly avoided in the course of building the business or practice and evocative descriptions of situations solved by using the product or service.

To put power into business blogs, use “close-ups” for emotional connection and impact, because it’s the details that stimulate emotional responses in readers. In fact, blog posts have a distinct advantage over more static traditional website copy precisely because of that close-up effect. And the “closer up” the focus, (and that goes for business-to-business blog writing every bit as much as B-to-C), the greater the impact. Introduce real people into the content, helping each find “That’s just it” words to convey their thoughts to readers:

  • real employees delivering the product or service to the public, portraying them as real people with real lives of their own, dealing with real frustrations, but who take real pride in their work
  • real business owners who overcame real hurdles to launch and to continue growing their business
  • real customers who have been helped in real ways

“Advertising is ubiquitous in modern society, and while many people have some understanding of the power it wields over our everyday choices, few realize the subtle nuances of advertising that cause it to be so effective,” formationmediaco.uk writes. “The power of an advert becomes that much stronger when it is personally attached to your own daily life…Understanding how to use language in adverts is a skill in itself and you’ll know when you get it right; the customers will come flooding through the door.”

Descriptive writing with “that’s just it” words can make them smile, sigh, and hopefully – buy.

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Blogging for Business with Sympathy and Service: 4 “Amens”

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“Instead of selfish mass marketing, effective marketing now relies on sympathy and service,” Seth Godin posits in the book This is Marketing. What marketing is, the author explains. “the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem.” “Getting discovered”, “getting found”, and “getting the word out” are no longer the first things to consider, but come last. As marketers, Godin is firm, it’s our job to watch people, figure out what they dream of, than create a transaction that can deliver that feeling.

In planning how to market your product or service, Godin suggests, start by filling in the blanks in this sentence: “My _________ will be exactly the right choice for people who believe that_______ and who want to feel_________.”

Four Say It For You “Amens”:

  1. Belief and trust, we have found at Say It For You, are in large part a function of familiarity Precisely because blogs are not one-time articles, but conveyers of messages over long periods of time, they serve as unique tools for building a sense of familiarity (and ultimately trust) in readers.
  2. In blog content writing, ask yourself: Which psychological fulfillment does your brand support most? Exactly as Godin is expressing, blog readers will self select and become buyers only to the extent your content has focused on creating experiences that align with their values. Business blogs should never be rated “E” (intended for everyone).
  3. As content writers, we’ve also come to understand over the years that face-to-screen is the closest we will come to the prospective buyers of our clients’ products and services. Even when it comes to B2B marketing, we know that behind every decision, there is always a person, a being with feelings they have and feelings they want to have.
  4. Through the pandemic we became familiar with the phrase “social distancing”, which is the precise opposite of what we must try to do in blog marketing, which is to create connections with our audience and make them feel supported and in turn receptive to our message. As writers, we must present the business or practice as very personal rather than transactional.

In blog marketing, aim for sympathy and service!

 

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What Are They Afraid Of? It’s Important to Know

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In planning your novel, Moriah Richards advises authors in Writer’s Digest, knowing the broad strokes of history will help you determine what details to include in your story:

  •  What’s the worst disaster these people ever faced?
  • Are they afraid of that happening again?
  • What would they do to prevent it from happening?
  • Is there something that made them feel ashamed?
  • Is there something they’re proud of?

Richards is alluding to the fictional worlds writers create, but the same questions can help blog marketers understand their target readers’ concerns, fears, and collective memories.

“Some common advice for beginning freelance writers is to read sample copies of the magazines they wish to pitch, Robert Lee Brewer notes, suggesting freelance writers study the “voice” and “tone” of articles in their target magazines.

Similarly, at Say It For You, we advise blog writers to get a sense of “worst disaster” perceptions by studying blog posts on the subject, looking for slants that haven’t been covered and drawing on their own memories and experiences.

Author Steven James teaches budding novelists to maintain suspense in their writing. “Building apprehension in the minds of your readers is one of the most effective keys to engaging them early in your novel and keeping them flipping pages late into the night. ”Of the six techniques James suggests writers use to create suspense, the one that appealed to me most as a corporate blogging trainer was this: “Put characters that readers care about in jeopardy.”

There are many things readers care about that can be put in jeopardy – health, self-confidence, safety, career, appearance, property, the proper education of children. On the other hand, while I agree that allaying readers’ fears is a powerful tool, I believe too many marketing blogs are meant to scare consumers into action.

At Say It For You, we advise taking the middle ground, identifying the need, and assuring searchers they’re not alone in this dilemma or need. The message is that you have the experience and expertise to deal with their “worst thing that’s ever happened”. 

 

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Put the Emotion Back in B2B Blog Marketing

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Do emotional connections count in business-to-business blog marketing? According to Jeanette Maw McMurtry, you’d better believe they do. When personal values are present in a business choice, the author notes, purchasers are eight times more likely to pay a premium price. Sales trainers talk a lot about SEP (unique selling propositions), but it is our ESPs (entional selling propositions) that make the different, McMurtry cautions.

There are certain “behavior “drivers” marketers need to keep in mind:

  • Authority – Use research reports, statistics, and testimonials to add strength to your message. “Authority” is an important term in blog marketing, as we explain at Say It For You, because Google’s algorithms are sensitive to authority when selecting which content to match with a reader’s search in any given category.
  • Social proof – Who else that they know is using your product or service? There are actually several kinds of proof you can use, including statistics and testimonials.
  • Credentializing proof (degrees, newpaper articles you’ve written or that have been written about you.
  • Reciprocity – Stories of “give-back” to loyal customers and to the community reinforce trust.
  • Scarcity – People flock to own what they believe they may not be able to get later on.

One very powerful emotion is fear, McMurtry reminds marketers. Thought-provoking questions can inspire prospects to think about their problem and about the creative solutions you offer. In fact, the two dominant buying motives are desire for gain and fear of loss, Salesforce teaches, and most salespeople use the wrong one when trying to motivate a prospect to buy.

In blog marketing’s race, as Jeremy Porter Communications teaches, “those who make the most emotionally persuasive argument win.” One question that constantly arises in Say It For You blog content writing training meetings is this: Can emotional blog marketing be effective in B2B situations?

The answer is a resounding “Yes!” – Go full steam ahead in putting the emotion back into BsB marketing!

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When Blogging, Be Prescriptive, But Be Present

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Understanding how the point of view differs in three different types of personal narratives is crucial in telling a story effectively, William Kenower explains in Writer’s Digest.

  1. A memoir is how we tell a story about something that happened to us in the past.
  2. A personal essay describes a solution to a problem the author sees in the world and lays out how the solution should be brought about.
  3. In a prescriptive, the author is an instructor and the article or piece is an instruction manual.

“Though the author may use stories to illustrate their lesson, in a prescriptive piece, the reader expects and understands that the author will be the one delivering the knowledge. To write these kinds of pieces, the author must feel comfortable in the rule of a teacher or guide,” Kenower says. But even in telling a story, he adds, an author is driven to write because of what experience has taught them.  

“Consumers are used to telling stories to themselves and telling stories to each other, and it’s just natural to buy stuff from someone who’s telling us a story,” observes Seth Godin in his latest book All Marketers Tell Stories.

Not all stories succeed, Godin points out, because not all stories have the following essential elements:

  • Great stories are authentic
  • Great stories are subtle, allowing the target audience to draw their own conclusions.
  • Great stories appeal not to logic, but to the senses.

In business blogs, when we tell the story of a business or a practice to consumers, we “frame” that story in a way that will appeal to the target audience. The business owner or professional practitioner is the “teacher”, driven to write because of what experience has taught them.

Blog marketing is prescriptive, offering how-to advice on solving a particular problem or filling a particular need. At the same time, we’ve learned at Say It ForYou, blogging is a very personal form of communication, and our clients’ corporate messages need to be translated into human, people-to-people terms. The blog is the place for readers to connect with the people behind the business or practice.

Because of what experience has taught me, my advice to bloggers is to be prescriptive, but be present!

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