What Can Bloggers for Business Learn From a hair-Drying Chain?

"Hollywood loves concepts that can be pitched in a few words…Unfortunately, simple concepts are also copy-catnip."  That’s why Drybar, an L.A. startup franchise selling shampoo/blowdrys only, decided to make their mark with exceptional service."

As a professional ghost blogger and corporate blogging trainer, I realized that a good part of the advice Inc. Magazine‘s two customer service experts offered to Drybar co-founders Michael Landau and Allison Webb is directly applicable to blogging for business.

Have them at Hello.
"First impressions carry outsize importance because of how memory works," the experts advised Drybar.

In Say It For You corporate blogging sessions, I tell blog content writers that the the first sentence of a blog post is the "downbeat" (think band leader or orchestra conductor).  That sentence needs to be strong and definitive, assuring online searchers they’ve come to exactly the right place for the kind of information, products, and service they need.

Keep them pumped. 
"Do the right thing.  Then do it again, ad infinitum… Consistent service is, by definition, repetitious."

I tend to get repetitious, I’m sure, about the drill-sergeant discipline it takes to maintain the kind of frequency and longevity needed by blog content writers to win online search rankings.  But, more than merely "keeping on keeping on", excellent blog content writing  means making each post read as if this is the first and only time you’ve ever blogged (think actor in a long-running Broadway show performing to a new audience on night #117).

Have them at Goodbye.
"Make sure the last moment they are with you is not the signing of the bill," Drybar owners were advised by Inc. experts. "What you want them to remember is people thanking them for coming."

While SEO marketing blogs are most likely being read by potential clients as opposed to existing ones, the blog posts need to help readers put themselves into the scene, envisioning the savings, the satisfaction, the pride, the increased health and improved appearance they’ll enjoy after using your product or service.  And, you don’t want to say "Goodbye" at all, rather "See you on the website!" So, business blogs’ parting lines should never be a sales pitch, but a picture painted in the prospect’s mind!

"With service," says Inc., you have to be obsessive…Excellence is a pain."