After hearing so many recent reports of floods and fires in different regions of our country, I was curious to read the article ” 5 Myths About Natural Disasters” in .this month’s issue of Prevention magazine …

 At Say It For You, we’re always talking about what a good idea it is to use marketing content for busting myths.  Myth-busting makes for engaging content, offering the chance to showcase a business owner’s or a professional practitioner’s expertise while providing important information that can improve readers’ lives.

Myth:  You should stand in a doorway during an earthquake.

Truth: That may have been true when homes were made of adobe brick.                 Nowadays, best to hide under a sturdy table or desk.

Myth: Before a storm, tape windows to prevent them from shattering.

Truth: Taping windows can cause larger deadlier shards of glass to form.                Instead of tape, tack plywood over the panes.

Myth: During a tornado, take cover under a bridge or overpass.

Truth: Those areas become wind tunnels for debris. Lie down in a ditch.

This kind of super-helpful myth-debunking brings value, even as it “showcases” providers’ knowledge and skill (as opposed to “showing up” readers’ lack of knowledge).  At the same time, one use of mythbusting content is correcting misinformation reflected in customers’ questions and comments without directly embarrassing them.

In the normal course of doing business, you’ve undoubtedly found, misunderstandings about your product or service might surface in the form of customer questions and comments. By myth-busting, content marketing can “clear the air”, replacing factoids with facts, so that buyers can see their way to making decisions.

While mythbusting has the benefit of sharing business owners or professionals’ expertise, it also provides readers a road map for using that information in their own lives. 

 

“If punctuation marks were performers, the colon would be the master of ceremonies,” Ryan Van Cleave observes in Writer’s Digest. (This week I’m featuring content writing clues based on Digest pieces .)… There are  specific ways writers can make good use of the colon, Van Cleave points out, reminding us that what comes before the colon must be a complete sentence:

In content marketing, the most common use of the colon is to introduce a bullet-pointed list.

By most accounts, search engines like bullet points. Even more important, what we’ve found over the years at Say It For You is that bullet points keep everyone on track, including our content writers themselves. It’s a good rule to begin each bullet pointed statement with the same part of speech.  Also, as writers.stockexchange.com reminds us, we need to use bullet pointed lists sparingly to avoid having the lists lose their impact.

There’s more to using colons than just to introduce lists, Ryan Van Cleave reminds us. Colons can be used to “introduce what matters”, setting the stage for dramatic reveals or punchlines.  In a novel, for example, the sentence might read: “He realized the truth too late; she was gone.”  In content marketing, of course, one of the big challenges is the dramatic decrease in the average attention span of online readers, meaning that, as content creators, we are not granted a whole lot of time for “stage-setting”.  In both the title and the opening statement, we need to capture attention and stimulate interest.

In all the “reading around” I like to do for both business and pleasure, I’ve found that book publishers often use two part titles divided by a colon. I’ve nicknamed those “Huh?; Oh!” titles. The “Huh?s”  catch attention; the “Oh!’s” explain what the book is really about. Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen is a good example.

As content marketers, such two part titles divided by a colon can serve to satisfy search engines and readers’ “what???” curiosity.

Consider allowing the colon to serve as “master of ceremonies” in your marketing content!