Where’s The Baxter In Your Blog?

Since this appears to be my month for quoting blogger Seth Godin, I found another provocative post of his, this one about marketing.  Godin says that if you’ve created something worth talking about, it probably hasn’t been done before, which means it needs a name.  Godin names unique  things "baxters", and he puts in that category everything from the service you get at a spa after your massage is over, to the free course in between the main meal and dessert. 

When I looked up the term "baxter" in Wikipedia, what came up was a 2005 film directed by comedian Michel Showalter.  That movie defines a "Baxter" as the nice, dull guy in a romantic comedy, the one who ends up dumped by the girl. This use of "Baxter" almost seems like a direct opposite of the uniqueness Godin was talking about! The Free Dictionary defines "Baxter" as a female baker (perhaps it was unusual to find female bakers at some point in history?).

In any event, I continue to think that one of the very important purposes of any business blog is to demonstrate to readers how that business is unique.  Business coach and author Jim Ackerman urges entrepreneurs to to find a "point of only-ness", meaning one statement that differentiates that business from all similar businesses.  It has to be done, Ackerman, stresses, in a way that appeals to the customers that business is targeting.

As a professional ghostwriter of business blogs, I think that "only-ness" message is a key goal of each blog post.  Potential clients arrive at your blog, and now that they’ve found you, they need for your unique proposition to come across loud and clear. In other words, each blog post has to demonstrate what your "baxter" is, so that searchers will understand the benefits of doing business with you as opposed to your competitors.

In 1893, the chef at the Savoy Hotel invented the dessert Peach Melba to honor opera singer Nellie Melba. That same famous chef, August Escoffier, invented Crepes Suzette to honor French actress Suzanne Reichenberg, while the Salisbury Steak was created in 1886 by James Salisbury as a treatment for gout and bronchitis.

Ask yourself – what’s the "baxter" in my blog?