No Trash, Just Treasure for O’Neal And For Your Blog

Responding to a broadcast about ex-Pacers basketball star Jermaine O’Neal’s supposedly “trashing” his old team at an introductory news conference with the Toronto Raiders, Indianapolis Star’s Bob Kravits remarks how unfair he considers that report to be.  Kravitz points out that O’Neal has been a treasure for our community, spending lots of time and money to make Indianapolis better for young people.  Needless to say, I wasn’t present at Kravitz’s talk with O’Neal on draft day, and I had not caught the broadcast “Trashing Our Town” on WTHR that made Kravitz so indignant. What this whole incident reinforces for me, though, is how careful we all need to be with our words, first because it’s easy for words to be misinterpreted, and then because it’s more productive in business to emphasize the positive and unique things you bring to the market than to “trash” your competitors.

Because blogs, by definition, are much more informal and personal than marketing brochures or websites, bloggers need to be particularly watchful to avoid “trash” and deliver treasure.  Being informal (which is what blogs should be) is different from being casual (which perhaps is what blogs, at least business blogs, should not be).  With each blog post, you should focus on some aspect of your overall marketing approach.  In trying to “win the search” and at the same time “win the hearts” of potential customers, include at least one valuable nugget – some expert information, a little-known fact, an observation about something going on right then in your business or in the world.

In winning blogs, the number of words devoted to bashing the competition or used just to fill space on nonrelevant topics:  few to none.  As a professional ghost blogger, I know that the focused blog offers byte-sized “treasures” (pun intended) in each blog post!