Getting Close Enough to ESSO in Blogging for Business

After World War I, when Standard Oil wanted to unify all its marketing activities under one easily identifiable trademark, the name ESSO was chosen because it was short and memorable and suggested the initials of the company. But due to trademark disputes in different territories, (Standard Oil in the Midwest insisted the marketing symbol was their exclusive property),  explains Don Voorhees in The Book of Totally Useless Information, the world famous company had to do something drastic.

“After exhaustive consumer and legal research studies, the name EXXON was decided upon (in 1972). It was essentially a new word, but close enough to ESSO to make consumer recognition a little easier.”

To me, as a corporate blogging trainer, I must say, I found this information about the origins of the name EXXON far from totally useless. (I’d found the information in the first place as part of the “reading around” process I think plays such a big part in successfully keeping up a corporate or professional practitioner blog.)

The tie-in with blog content writing stems from the fact that consumers turn to search engines for help finding specific kinds of information, services, products, and expertise. Using the mechanism of key words and phrases, the search engine "makes a match" and delivers results to the viewer.  
Every once in a while, though, there's a "disconnect" between what the searcher wanted and what he or she actually finds. If this happens with your blog, even though it's not one of your target customers who clicks on the blog link, it's not necessarily bad news. That kind of "mistake" can even result in you converting a searcher-gone-astray into a buyer. I call this "accidental organic donating".

An example might be that a mom, in the process of helping her child with homework, goes on Google to find information about the state of Hawaii. The search engine uses the key word "Hawaii" and brings up a blog about Hawaii presented by a travel company. The blog so enticingly portrays Hawaii as a destination, the mom bookmarks the site, and later uses that travel agency to plan a surprise anniversary trip with her husband!

Just as EXXON was a new word, but close enough to the familiar ESSO name, including topics in the blog that are “trending” makes it makes it a little easier for business blog content writers to establish familiarity with customers.

When an "accident" turns out to bring a new reader to your blog, and if your content engages that reader's interest, the mistake can result in your converting a mistake into a customer!