Business Blogging to Appeal to Readers’ Better Nature

As a ghost blogger offering business blogging training, I think the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy may be onto something when it comes to corporate blog writing.

Five years ago, Courtney Martin handed each of nine friends $100, directing them to use the money for creative acts of kindness.  Since then, explains Mental Floss Magazine, "the idea of small-scale creative giving has captured the imagination of do-gooders around the country," adding that the Secret Society now has chapters in New York, California, and Georgia.

In many SEO marketing blogs, the content focuses on appealing to consumers’ fear or greed.  The message is often geared towards highlighting a problem, creating enough fear about that problem that readers will be moved to do something about that fear – now! The other frequently used approach is an appeal to greed, telling readers about all the wonderful benefits they can gain by taking action.

Learning about the Secret Society of Creative Philanthropy made me wonder if blog content writers shouldn’t be using Calls to Action to appeal to readers’ higher instincts as well as their need to avoid pain and gain comfort. In fact, marketing blogger Michael Masterson calls fear and greed "two overrated emotions". 

Fear appeals don’t work in the long run, says Masterson, unless you follow fear with hope of some kind. Greed-based promotions attract the wrong sort of customer, he adds. Buyers don’t like to think of themselves as greedy; they want to be successful and to feel good – about their choices of product, services, and providers.

The bottom line in all this, I believe, is that corporate blogging for business has to be part of a company’s overall marketing strategy and tactics development. Put another way, every word that appears in a business’ blog – including the Calls to Action – must be consistent with the company branding and corporate identity.

The popularity of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy seems to be tied to the anonymity of the giver.  In providing business blogging help, though, the "secret" I’d share is that, to appeal to a better kind of customer – the kind that buys for the right reasons and then remains loyal – Calls to Action (both the implied CTA’s in the blog content itself and the Call to Action "buttons) should appeal to readers’ better nature.