Business Blog Writing and Political Telephone Surveys

Busy writing for business in my Say It For You home office desk the other evening, I was interrupted by a phone call, which led to my having a “conversation” with a recording. The purpose of the call, I quickly learned, was to survey Indiana residents on the topic of the upcoming election, specifically concerning the role federal judges play in politics.

While the call started out as a nuisance, in retrospect I’m glad I made time for that ten-minute survey, shedding my professional ghost blogger’s “hat” and putting on my voter’s “cap” in order to participate.  The exercise actually reinforced some of the things I teach in corporate blogging training sessions about generating business using SEO marketing blogs.

The survey began with general questions:  Did I believe in voting in every election, most, or only some? Did I consider primaries to be important? 
 
Strange, this talking to a recording (Given a choice, I’ll always press “O” to get the live operator). But, never having gone through this particular kind of telephone survey process before, I realized I liked the very idea of being asked, in great detail, for my opinions! I made a note to myself to remind business owner clients and freelance blog writers that allowing comments in corporate blogging for business is a good idea if for no other reason than to engage readers!

The survey continued with questions about age range, gender, even race. As we progressed, though, it became increasingly apparent that the “agenda” related to the appointment of federal judges.  Which did I believe to be the primary responsibility of a federal judge – fairness and impartiality or upholding the Constitution?

So, in what way can all of this be of business blogging help?  In any selling situation (and blog marketing is no different), buyers shy away from sellers who employ strong-arm tactics.  This causes some providers to go to the other extreme, pretending they are offering nothing but useful, free information. Selling? Not at our company!

Taking the telephone survey actually did provide me with some valuable, free information about the appointment of federal judges and how their positions relate to which party wins an election. True, the further into the survey we got, the more apparent the “hidden” agenda became. But the point I want to make here is that it was OK!  The fact that the survey creators had a point of view to sell worked just fine for me. That same process will work just fine for content writers in Indianapolis who are offering business blogging assistance to business owners who want to make their cash registers ring!

When online readers click on a blog post or on a website, they’re perfectly aware of the fact that the providers of the information have an “agenda” and are out to do business.  But as long as the material they’re being offered by the blog content writer (whether that’s the business owner, an employee, or a ghost blogger) is valuable and well written, relevant to their search, they’re perfectly fine realizing the company would like to have them as a customer!

"Sales momentum," as Craig Davidson defines it in Employee Benefit Adviser, is "the process of creating and maintaining excitement in a buyer with the goal of making a sale." I’m the richer for having taken the telephone survey, with a much greater appreciation for the role of federal judges and the importance of how they’re appointment.

Whether your corporate blog posts lead to an immediate conversion or, for now, merely result in a better-informed readers – you can count your corporate blog writing as a winner!