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No Need for Those Serious, Sometimes Fatal Effects

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Successful business illustration concept

“In recent months, the FDA has been talking with drugmakers, medical groups and consumer groups about ways to make (pharmaceutical) ads clearer and drive home the most important safety risks,” reported the Chicago Tribune on August 11th. As an example, reporter John Russell talks about Humira, the best-selling drug in the world, made by AbbVie of North Chicago.  While the video portion of the ad portrays an attractive, self-confident woman leading a very healthy and active lifestyle and modeling “that dress”, 35 seconds of audio informs viewers of all the “serious, sometimes fatal events” that can result from taking the drug.

While I’ll leave it to the FDA and the drug industry trade association to carry on their discussions about the optimal length of side effect warnings, I look at the issue from the point of view of a marketing content writer.

Just why do these ads, with 50% of their verbal content so negative, even frightening, work so well (at least well enough to entice pharma companies to keep shelling out millions of dollars to get them in front of consumers’ eyeballs)?

Science teaches us that visual content reaches our brains in faster and in more understandable ways than textual (or auditory) information. 40% of nerve fibers to the brain are connected to the retina (and not to the ears), Felicia Golden of eyeQ.com reminds us. In the Humira commercial, the images of that attractive woman doing yoga or dressing for a date cancel out, in large part, the awful list of drug side effects. (In fact, the fact that the effect of the warnings does get “cancelled out” is precisely the cause of concern on the part of the FDA.)

The main message of a blog is delivered in words.  Where the visuals come in, whether in the form of “clip art”, photos, graphs, charts, or even videos, is to add interest and evoke emotion.  People absorb information better when it is served up in more than one form.

There’s a second phenomenon to explore for blog content writers, which appears to contradict what we noted in the power of the visual portion of the Humira ad. The “negativity bias” refers to our tendency to attend to, learn from, and use negative information far more than positive information.

My experience with reading and creating hundreds, even thousands of different blog posts over the years tells me that if we blog writers can go right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns by addressing negative assumption questions even before they’ve been asked, we have the potential to breed understanding and trust.

If there are misunderstandings or negative myths surrounding our products and services, let’s get those questions – including the ones the readers don’t even know how to ask – out on the table. In the final analysis, I’m convinced, positive messages pack more power than negative ones. Add a visual, and you’ve got a winning formula!

 

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Peter Piper Picks a creative Blog Writing Technique

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Close up of old English dictionary page with word nursery rhyme

“Used occasionally, alliteration can:

  • Be memorable.
  • Make an impact.
  • Make you look confident.
  • Be used for emphasis,”say the authors of “How to Get Your Own Way (Using Critical Thinking)”.
    Alliteration is just one of several creative writing techniques that can make your business correspondence more interesting, they add. With alliteration, you repeat the same letter or sound at the start of nearby words (Peter Piper picked some pickled peppers). Assonance takes place when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds. (In the sentence “Honesty is the best policy”, for example, the sound of the “o” repeats in the two words “honesty” and “policy”.)

    Many product names are alliterative, Buzzle points out. Think: Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Paypal, and Chuckee Cheese. “Not easy to forget these names, is it?” Buzzle asks.

    In blog titles, we’ve found at Say It For You, both alliteration and assonance can help catch readers’ attention. Writing marketing content for a hair salon in Carmel, you might select “Captivating Curl in Carmel“ for the title of the post, while “Beguiling Styling” would be an example of assonance.

    “It’s one thing to write great content, but it’s another thing to get it read and ranked — which is where nailing the title comes in,” writes Corey Wainright of Hubspot. Titles represent your content in search engines, in email, and on social media, Wainright points out. “Alliteration is a device that makes something a little lovelier to read.”

Keep Peter Piper in mind when creating blog content that’s a little lovelier to read!

 

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Blogging to Bolster Your Point of View

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finding the Flossiest Blog Topics

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Downtown St. Paul, MN

Mental Floss Magazine, always masters at making unlikely connections among seemingly unrelated topics, did it again in “25 Flossiest Cities in the World”.  The term “flossy”, the editors explain (lest we envision dental care), means “exhibiting qualities of charm, quirk, and brain-boosting power in equal measure”.

The article is all about places that don’t come to top of mind, steering readers’ minds away from the tried and true and introducing them to new ways of looking for travel destinations.

I explain to newbie content writers in Indianapolis that steering away from the tried and true gives business owners the chance to showcase their own knowledge and expertise. Even more important, the technique of myth busting helps engage interest. A different approach can serve to answer readers’ concerns, as in the following examples:

  • Dentist’s blog:
    Do amalgams used for fillings cause mercury poisoning?
  • Beautician’s blog:
    Does makeup cause acne?
  • Internet security firm blog:
    If you don’t open an infected file, can you get infected?
  • Home décor firm blog:
    Should small rooms be painted in pale neutral colors?

Visitors arrive at your blog to find information on specific topics.  But, once your opening lines have reassured them they’ve come to the right place, it’s a great idea to use some unlikely connections to give them the sense of being ahead of the crowd, having some unusual “inside information”…

  • Giethoorn, Netherlands, Mental Floss advises, is flossier than Venice, with four miles of canals dug in the 13th century.
  • Lavenham, England is flossier than Pisa. Many of its buildings were constructed in the 15th and 16th centuries, are crooked because they used green timber which warped as it aged.
  • Huizhou, China is flossier than Austria.  China’s duplicature craze resulted in Austrian,  English, Swiss, Italian, and Spanish copycat cities.

What flossy topics can you use to unexpectedly engage blog readers’ interest?

 

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Striving for Online Marketing Stardom

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success secrets

 

“You need writers even if your content is primarily video or audio,” asserts Mitch Meyerson in Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars. Why? Even what looks like free form content, he explains, needs a solid, well-crafted structure of words.

What does Meyerson define as effective content structure?

  • A headline that instantly commands audience attention
  • An introductory few sentences that pull the audience in, making it tough to turn away
  • Useful information that solves a problem the audience genuinely cares about
  • A single, focused point or “moral”
  • Stories, metaphors, and examples to teach that point
  • A  Call To Action that rouses the audience to take the next step

As a blog content writing trainer, I loved this question/response in Meyerson’s  book:

                                                                          “How long should your content be? Like a skirt, short enough
                                                                               to maintain attention, long enough to cover the subject.’

It’s important to understand, really understand, the difference between features and benefits, the book stresses.

  • Features tell us two things:  What it does and what goes into it.
  • Benefits tell us two different things: what it does for the customer and what they get out of it.

A point that I’ve long emphasized to newbie blog content writers is well-stated in the book:

“Content that attracts attention also tends to have a strong, well-defined point of view.  This is no place for wimpy, wishy-washy musings.” Your readers will want to hear a clear “voice” in your blog posts.  Allow your passion – and your (or your business owner client’s) point of view – to shine through, making it very clear how problems can be solved using these services and products and what principles and beliefs drive this business or practice.

Striving for online marketing stardom? Tap dancing around the issues is a no-no.

 

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