Idea-Specific Blogging For Business

Here’s what NOT to say when asking for a sales appointment, consultant Mel Schlesinger cautions salespeople:

My name is Joe Agent and I would like to schedule a time to get together so that I can introduce myself to you and learn a little bit about what you do in order to see if I might be able to help you.

In training newbie corporate blog content writers, I stress the same WIIFM Radio (What’s In It For Me) principle Mel Schlesinger teaches agents.  When you’re calling a potential prospect, he says, the only thing that person wants to know is how you can improve his current situation.

“You already know many of the common challenges facing your clients,” Schlesinger says. So, instead of a generic opening, he suggests to agents, switch to an idea-specific one:

• “I have an idea that can help you reduce employees’ pressure for increased wages.”
• “I have an idea that can help you get control of insurance premiums.”

When offering business blogging assistance, I stress that blog posts tend to be more effective when they focus on a single, powerful idea. Yet, when he narrows down his approach to one idea, admits Schlesinger, it’s possible that the prospect will have zero interest in that idea.  However, during that particular round of calls, he explains, he looks for only those prospects that want to know more about that very idea.

In blogging for business, the same holds true, I explain to business owners and Say It For You
freelance content writers. Before employing any marketing tactic, you need to know what the common challenges are facing the target customers and clients. Choose one of those challenges, then decide what one important point concerning that one challenge you want to make in each post. Not only does this lend more punch to the post, it helps the blog content writer concentrate all his/her efforts around that one focal point, “forgetting about the rest of the picture”. The one-topic-at-a-time technique is excellent for sustained, effective, business blog writing. 
 
Sure, just as Schlesinger tells his agents, it’s possible that some of the searchers who find that particular blog post will have zero interest in the “idea of the day”. The beauty of SEO marketing blogs, though, is that the separate posts fit together into an ongoing business blog marketing strategy through are the blog’s "leitmotifs", or central themes.  While each blog post  is focused on one idea, that "nests" inside an ongoing discussion or explanation continued in other posts.

Whether you’re selling employee benefits or blogging for business, it’s good to get idea specific!