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Content Creators Need to Think Like Wolves

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After re-visiting Michael Breus’ book The Power of When, I’ve concluded that, in order to create marketing content for a business or practice over the long-term, we need to think like wolves….

The book, based on circadian biology, explains that there is a best time for each of us to eat lunch, ask for a raise, write a novel, and take our meds, depending on our individual “chronotype”. 50% of people are Bears (who prefer a solar based schedule and have a high sleep drive). Dolphins are light sleepers, while Lions are morning-oriented. The author describes wolves as “night-oriented creative extroverts” with a medium sleep drive.

From a content-marketing point of view, a key clue may be found on Page 77 of Breus’ book, where the author notes that “wolves see every situation from multiple vantage points”.  The big thing about content marketing, I’ve often explained to business owners and professional practitioners, is learning how to keep on keeping on. No doubt about it, sustaining content writing over long periods of time without losing reader (or writer!) excitement is the real challenge, one that “wolves” are best equipped to handle using their ability to approach the topic from “multiple vantage points”.

  • In order to add variety, I teach content writers to experiment with different formats, including how-to posts, list posts, opinion pieces, and interviews.
  • Different articles can present the same business from different vantage points, “featuring” different employees and different departments within the company.
  • Individual posts – or series of posts – can be tailored to different segments of the customer base.
  • Different pieces of content can offer valuable information and advice relating to different aspects of the business’ or the practice’s product or service offerings.

While “wolves are creative and completely open to trying new things,” the author cautions, “they do run into some trouble sticking with it”. Breus’ advice? “Be spontaneous about the direction you choose, so long as you take walks and eat meals on your correct bio time.”

My own advice, meanwhile, is that sustaining an engaging business blog  over the course of years is very do-able – so long as you stay engaged.  Keep learning by “reading around” – books, blogs, articles, magazines, almanacs – you name it, all to stay aware of developments, cultural changes, even controversies.

Whatever your circadian biology, in content writing, it helps to think like a wolf!

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Allow Me to Introduce New Terminology

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Before browsing through a magazine handout at the grocery store called alive.com, I’d never heard the term “immunity debt”, and curiosity led me through an entire article by Dr. Gillian Flower. The thesis – our immune systems need exposure to viruses to protect us from infection, and lower exposure to others through the pandemic may have decreased our resistance, creating an “immunity debt”.

Apparently, not everyone agrees. “Immunity debt is a misguided and dangerous concept,” Anjana Ahuja writes in Financial Times. “There is no evidence that an individual is worse off for having avoided earlier infection.”

While I am certainly not qualified to weigh in on this medical discussion, as a content writer I was impressed by the fact that by simply introducing me to a new term, the author had the power to engage my curiosity about the subject.

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 possible way to do just that. At Say it For You, we believe in empowering readers by teaching them the correct use of the terms that apply in the blog sponsor’s field of interest and expertise. Any hint of controversy only adds to the mystique of the terminology.

Most important, buyers feel empowered to make a decision when they feel “in on” the “lingo”.

 

 

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Using “Did-You-Knows” to Suggest “Don’t-You-Wants?”

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Did you know that a) Asia is bigger than the moon? b) Alaska is the westernmost, easternmost, and northernmost state in the U.S.? c) Maine is the closest state to Africa? These are just three of the “facts that will change how you look at the world“.

As a blog content writer, I find seemingly “useless” tidbits of information extraordinarily useful for capturing readers’ interest, adding variety and fun. But much more than that, I teach at Say It For You, tidbits can be used to: 1. describe your way of doing business 2. clarify the way one of your products works 3.explain why a service you provide is particularly effective in solving a problem 4. Debunk myths about your business or profession.

For all these reasons, in corporate blogging training sessions, I often recommend including interesting tidbits on topics related to your business (or, if you’re a freelance blog content writer, related to the client’s business). If you can provide information most readers wouldn’t be likely to know, so much the better, because that information helps engage online readers’ interest.

The big caveat, however, when using tidbits and unusual facts is that the information has to be tied to the readers’ problem or need. Why does the business owner or practitioner care about the information? Why will the info potentially make a difference to readers? The secret is creating a clear thought path from the fascinating facts to the benefits online readers stand to gain.

For example, a travel agency blog might use the fact that Maine is the state closest to Africa to promote a tour of Quoddy Head Light, a quaint Maine lighthouse located at the easternmost point of the United States.

A travel agency might also spark interest in travel to Asia using that tidbit about the continent being bigger than the moon. But there could be marketing power in that fact for other enterprises as well. Because the brain perceives the moon as being farther away when it is high in the sky and closer when it is near the horizon, appearing larger when viewed through trees or buildings, Krisztian Komandi blogs in medium.com about the influence of optical illusions on business decisions. A fashion blog can explain how certain fabric cuts make the waist appear more chiseled.

A little-known fact can become the jumping-off point for blog marketing content.

 

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Blog It Again, Sam – But Different

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Out of new ideas? Rewrite the same piece using another POV (point of view), advises Mariah Richard in Writer’s Digest. Richards suggests a variety of same-but-different approaches, including:

  • If you told the story in first person, try telling it in third person.
  • Start with what was the conclusion in your first piece, follow with the “back story”.
  • Relate the same set of events, but from the perspective of a different character.

“Writing is rewriting”, MasterClass warns, and mastering the art of the rewrite is essential for novice writers and professionals alike. “If you put real work into your rewrite, a good piece of writing can become great.”

Both these concepts – generating new content by reworking old content and updating already published content – apply to content marketing, we know at Say It For You.

Using existing content as inspiration for content now
When our Indiana freelance blog content writers are sitting down with business owners or professional practitioners who are preparing to launch a blog, one important step in that launch is to select recurring themes that will appear and reappear over time in their blog posts. But, to add variety and maintain interest (on the part of both writers and readers!), the “templates” can be varied, including list posts,, review posts, OpEd opinion pieces, and interview posts. In addition to varying the format or template, I teach, you can offer different kinds of information in different blog posts.

Updating old blog posts
“Refreshing and rewriting blog posts can be pivotal to the success of your blog,” nectafy.com explains. “Aim for an update at least every 15 months.” The changes can reflect progress and changes in the industry as well as changes in the products and services offered by the business or practice owner.

Out of “new” blog post ideas? Re-new the “core” concepts using a different point of view. Blog it again, Sam, but different!

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Blog Content By and For the Unquenchably Curious

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This week’s Say It For You blog posts are based on the book What Makes Flamingos Pink, by Bill McLain, “a colorful collection of Q & A’s for the unquenchably curious”…

One thing it’s always a good idea to include, I tell content marketers, is interesting information on topics related to their business or professional practice. If you can provide information most readers wouldn’t be likely to know, we explain at Say It For You, all the better. So long as there’s a real “back story” demonstrating valuable lessons learned and why that information should matter to the web visitor, tidbits can prove to be enormously useful tools….

The color of most birds is a matter of genetics, McClain explains in the book. Bluebirds are blue by nature, cardinals red for the same reason – their inherited genes. Famingos are different – they are pink because their diet is heavy in natural pigments called carotenoids. Wisely, the author is quick to show readers the relevance of that information – “When we eat carrots or beets, we are also eating carotenoids,” he explains. ” But no matter how many beets and carrots we eat, the only way we can turn pink is to blush or get a sunburn,” he adds.

One big goal of the writing we do for our business owner and professional practitioner clients is positioning them as experts in the eyes of both their existing clients and their web visitors. While good blog post content can and should be entertaining, it’s important to remember that most online searchers are not pursuing a recreational activity, but instead are on a fact-finding mission. You can hook them, we teach at Say It For You, with humorous and fascinating trivia tidbits, but the material you serve up needs to be meaningful to that audience and – actionable.

The factoid about flamingos’ pink coloring is an example of how trivia can be used in content marketing to accomplish a variety of initiatives: defining basic industry terminology, sparking curiosity about the subject, putting modern-day practices and beliefs into perspective, and explaining why the business owner or practitioner chooses to operate in a certain way.

Always remember, though – they may be “unquenchably curious”, but online visitors are rarely unquenchably patient. Structure the content so as to address the two questions “So what?” (why it might matter) and “Now what?” directing them to the next step.

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