The Power of After-the-Fact Forecasting

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This week , in our Say It For You blog, we’re sharing  content marketing insights  triggered by content in the Old Farmer’s 2025 Almanac …

“How accurate was our forecast last winter?”, managing editor Robert Thomas asks, revealing that, overall, they had predicted  “precipitation departure” (the occurrence of more or less rain/snow than had been anticipated) with a bit over an 83% accuracy rate. A chart on page 204 of the Almanac shows, for eighteen different cities, just how much the Almanac‘s prediction had differed from the actual amount of rain or snow each location experienced. Interestingly, the weather predictions for the coming winter begin on page 205. (It’s as if the editors are keeping readers’ expectations realistic by preceding their predictions with a -” hey-we’re-not-perfect” admission.)

 

Even when the numbers reveal a much worse than 83% “success”, honest “look-backs”, are a good thing in content marketing. In fact, including stories of past mistakes and failures in posts and newsletters, I teach content writers, can help evoke readers’ empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame not only adversity, but the effects of their own mistakes!

Just as the Almanac editors chose to take responsibility for the numbers they had generated last year, business owners can exercise control over the way the public might perceive any negative developments in the industry or even in their own operation.  In fact content writers can help owners directly confront whatever is happening, show that they are taking responsibility and implementing new measures to avoid mistakes in the future.

While past mistakes and failures can add value in content marketing, fear of making mistakes in the future cannot be allowed to cripple messaging power going forward. Besides including information, it’s crucial to incorporate opinion. Taking a stance on issues is how companies and practices can express their uniqueness and deliver “Subject Matter Expertise”. 

When blogging for business reveals your unique “slant” or philosophy within in your field, potential customers and clients feel they know who you are, not merely what you do, and they are far more likely to want to be associated with you.

“Hey-we’re-not-perfect. What we are is looking, listening, processing – and opining” is the message when you do “after-the-fact forecasting” content marketing. 

 

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Keep Readers in Touch With Trends

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The Old Farmer’s 2025 Almanac offers a variety of pleasures, with information ranging from astronomy to folklore, and from pets to sports. Since, at Say It For You, we focus on creating marketing content for blog posts and newsletters, I was particularly taken by the Almanac authors’ focus on current farming trends…

“By understanding the latest developments and technologies in your field, you can ensure that your skills and knowledge remain relevant and in demand,” Baris Bingol of sertifier.com advises the career-minded. “Keeping up”, she explains, includes staying informed about:

  • new products or services
  • changes in regulations
  • shifts in consumer behavior
  • emerging technologies

In farming, Almanac readers are informed,

  • Scientists are using “bee vectoring”, in which special hives allow bees to transport trace amounts of pest control powders blueberries, apples, and tomatoes.
  • Farmers are teaming up with restaurants, growing heirloom crops for sale to local chefs, who then create dishes featuring them.
  • There is increased demand for microgreens, as people embrace a lifestyle that values freshness.
  • Gardeners are interested in growing herbs for medical use.

Our readers, whether or not they’re inclined towards the “trendy”, like to feel they’re keeping up with the trends. But what I’ve learned over the years of developing content for clients in different industries, is that customers expect their service and product providers to do the work for them, keeping them up-to-date and putting all that information into perspective.

 

There are two positive sides to wiring about what’s “trending”, I explain to business and practice owners:  While your content keeps your readers savvy about what’s trending, it helps establish you as a thought leader in your field!

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The Convenience Factor in Content Marketing

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This week, in our Say It For You blog, we’re sharing insights from the book Prove It, in which authors Melanie Deziel and Phil M. Jones teach readers how to use content as a tool to earn audience trust… 

Even before you get to the “proof” stage in your marketing, according to RevLocal, there are five pieces of primary information that consumers use to either learn more about a business, or reject it out of hand. These include price, products and services offered, the availability of both, customer service, and (for services in particular) – location. Coupons and special offers may be important, the authors add, as are testimonials and reviews.

“Claiming to be convenient is making a promise that customers’ interactions with you will be frictionless,” Deziel explains, quoting statistics from the National Retail Federation showing that 9 out of 10 customers choose a retailer based on convenience, with that observation holding true for groceries, electronics, personal care items, and pet supplies.

As head of a team of content marketers at Say It For You, I found those observations about convenience especially important. Creating a steady stream of content takes time and patience, which is precisely the reason many entrepreneurs employ ghost writers. “Winning back time” is the way Doug Karr and Chantelle Flannery, co-authors of the book Corporate Blogging for Dummies describe the big advantage for business owners, or professional practitioners in “hiring it done when it comes to composing, researching, and editing content”.

 

On the other hand, what I’ve experienced over the past eighteen years is that, if the content is to succeed in demonstrating that the business owner or practitioner is staying in touch with what’s happening in the community, as well as in his or her field of expertise, the process  of creating content cannot be a matter of  “do-it-for-me-and-wake-me-up-when-it’s-over”. Even as they offer maximum convenience to their customers, the owners themselves should not expect to enjoy the “convenience” of non-involvement in the process of creating content.

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Comparability Claims in Content Marketing

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In the book Prove It, authors Melanie Deziel and Phil M. Jones teach readers how to use content as a tool to earn audience trust. The authors count five main types of claims owners can make in touting their strengths and comparing themselves to their competitors:

  1. convenience
  2. comparability
  3. commitment
  4. connection
  5. competence

(Prior to detailing precise steps involved in each type of claim, I was happy to note, Phil Jones makes a statement that reinforces a content marketing principle we’ve been emphasizing at Say It For You for the past eighteen years:

“One factor that influences trust more than almost anything else is consistency. How you  show up consistently is how you become trusted to show up.”

Business owners who are able and willing to maintain consistency and frequency in posting content are rare. There’s a tremendous fall-off rate, with most content marketing initiatives being abandoned months or even weeks after they’re begun. To a significant degree, “showing up” is itself a crucial factor in earning online readers’ trust.

But what happens if you do find gaps between your claims and their provability?  The authors (page 28)) suggest two alternatives:

  1. take steps to adapt and improve your practices and products
  2. adjust your claims to reflect the more reliable and provable truth

In either case, the authors advise using content marketing to “build a body of evidence”. There are three possible approaches:

  • Corroboration – statements by third parties, who might be experts in the field, or actual satisfied users of the product or service
  • Demonstration – stories and case studies
  • Education – informing consumers helps them feel better prepared to make decisions

Truth is, Phil Jones writes, one type of evidence alone won’t “do it” – it’s best to use a combination of the three.

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If You Want Them to Listen, Watch Your Language

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With now 60 countries of the world naming English as their official language, English comes out on top by a large margin, Paul Anthony Jones writes in Mental Floss. (There would be 61, but, while English is the national language of United Kingdom law, government, business, and education, it’s never been made official. In fact, English became official in the U.S. just this year!)

Within the United States itself, people in different regions use not only unique pronunciations, but unique vocabulary. In Texas, a laundromat is called a washeteria; in Ohio you’d refer to a vacuum as a sweeper.  In the Northwest, something expensive is “spendy”, Cassie Wright points out in Lingoda.

When it comes to content marketing, keeping it basic means using understandable, clear language. “In order to write an effective sales page, it’s absolutely critical to speak the language of your target market,” Joey van Kuilenburg writes in Linkedin, paying attention to the terminology they use, including phrases and word choices. At Say It For You, our message to the business owner and practitioner clients who hire us is this:

Your business or practice can’t be all things to all people. Everything about your content should be tailor-made for your ideal customer – the words we use, how technical we get, how sophisticated the approach to a subject, the title of each blog entry – all must focus on what together we learn about your target market – their needs, their preferences, their questions.

There are certain “Americanisms”, which are sayings we take for granted, but often don’t realize make no sense to foreigners, even to those who speak English.  That’s because foreigners don’t share our cultural memories and understandings.  As content marketers, we can actually turn that “outsider puzzlement” to our advantage, allowing readers to feel they are in our “inner circle” when we share those language “secrets”, I’ve observed over the years working with Say It For You clients from many different industries and professions.

The guiding principle in creating content is that, if you want them to listen, watch your language!

 

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