Friday Wordsmithing Tip for Business Bloggers: Gendered or Neutral?

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gendersFor the third in this week’s Say It For You blog series sharing writing tips from different books, let’s tackle an old dilemma – pronoun gender. The Little Red Writing Book advises “Keep your writing gender neutral.” The question is: How can we blog content writers stay grammatically and yet politically “correct”?

For starters, corporate blogging for business is a pretty new, modern method of communicating with potential customers, so the last thing business bloggers want is to sound old-fashioned, using “he” and “him” when referring to a person who might be either a “he” or a “she”.

You remember that old joke where a person knocks at the gates of Heaven and St. Peter asks “who’s there?”.  The reply, “It is I. “Go away!” says St. Peter.  “We have enough English teachers here.”

In corporate blogging training, I continually stress how important it is to know your target readers.  If you’re writing blog content targeted at new mothers, for example, using “she” and “her” is appropriate. Otherwise, advise the authors, use “they” and “them”. (“One” goes back to the English teacher-trying-to-get-into-heaven problem.)

If you’re providing business blogging assistance to companies with clients of both sexes, The Little Red Writing Book has some good advice about acceptable ways to approach certain “politically sensitive” terms:

Instead of “TV anchorman”, write “TV anchor”, “fire fighter”, not “fireman”, “police officer”, not “policeman”, and “spokesperson” rather than “spokesman”. On the other side of things, it’s better to use “homemaker” than “housewife” and “flight attendant” rather than “stewardess”.

When it comes right down to it, people aren’t concerned about remembering your web address or even your brand, says Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Blogware." With whom do consumers want to do business? As market research overwhelmingly demonstrates, "People like me", Baggott points out.

As a professional ghost blogger for so many different kinds of companies, I’ve found that it’s best to use “you” and “your”, conversing directly with those online visitors, who are, after all, asking themselves “What’s in it for ME?”

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Wednesday Wordsmithing Tip for Business Bloggers: Customizing for Customers

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Since this week my Say It For You blog is devoted to sharing tips from three different books,ketchup squirt bottle today I’ll share a thought on blog content customization from Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw.

One of the many anecdotes Gladwell relates in the book is, in two ways, especially relevant for blog content writers.   During a market research project for which H.J. Heinz Company sent researchers into people’s homes to watch the way they used ketchup, a three year old child reached for the 40-oz. bottle. His mother intervened, taking the bottle away from him and giving him a dollop on his plate.

The researcher had an epiphany: since a typical child consumes 60% more ketchup than a typical adult, the company needed to put ketchup in a bottle a child could control. The EZ Squirt bottle was born, made of soft plastic with a conical nozzle.  In homes where that bottle is used, ketchup consumption grew by 12%!

Lesson One: Those of us who provide blog writing services must know the needs of our audience.  Our corporate blog writing must speak to each blogging target audience in their language. The reason Gladwell’s story can be of such enormous business blogging assistance is that it reminds us to write content designed to let online readers know the company understands their specific needs.

Lesson Two: If you are four,” explains Casey Keller (until recently chief growth officer for Heinz), you don’t get to choose what you eat for dinner.  The one thing you can control is – ketchup! “It’s the one part of the food experience you can customize and personalize,” adds Keller. When it comes to SEO marketing blogs, success hinges on narrowing down your market and then doing everything you can to appeal to just that audience.

Remember that the secret Heinz discovered was allowing the customer to customize. Offer more than one Call to Action. Those who need more information before making a decision should be able to pick up the phone and call (and easily get a live person on the line!). Or for those not quite ready for that, they should be able to email a question (without needing to provide an entire personal biography in return!).  Or, for online visitors not quite ready even for that – they may choose to watch a video or download a white paper.

Are you serving up YOUR blog content writing in EZ Squirt?

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Monday Wordsmithing Tip for Business Blogging: Paint a Picture

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PaintbrushThis week my Say It For You blog will be devoted to sharing tips from three different books. (Always on the prowl for fresh writing ideas, I’ve managed to accumulate quite the little library on effective communication.)

Compare these two sentences, says communications consultant Milo Frank:

#1    “Deficits will badly affect the economy.”

#2    “Deficits will spread subtle, devastating poison through the economic bloodstream.”

The first sentence, Frank points out, is flat, while the second paints a picture in your mind.

Frank’s message is one every blog content writer needs to hear. Imagery helps make SEO marketing blogs more engaging.  In business communications, Frank acknowledges, there may be times when technical, precise language is in order.  The key factor to consider, though, is the listener, he says.  You want listeners to “see” as well as hear what you’re saying.

When it comes to providing business blogging help, I’d add, the key factor to consider is the blog visitor.  But, in whatever form you’re communicating, Frank teaches, “you can make your message colorful, interesting, and memorable with imagery.”

Of course, actual images – video clips, photos, stock art – can add impact to Indianapolis bloggers’ work, as I stress in corporate blogging training sessions.  Aside from actual pictures, though, freelance blog writers can paint pictures through words.

Is your company’s product smooth? Steely-hard? Satiny? Clean? Flowing? Razor-sharp? Crystal-clear?

Can I expect to feel happier after using your services? Confident? Healthy? Moved to tears? Powerful? Worthy? Safe? Warm and snug?

Help online visitors to your business blog assimilate your message through visualizing.  Painting word pictures is an important part of blogging for business!

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Using Authorities for Answers in Blogging for Business – Magazine Challenge Part Three

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Browsing through magazines can be good for your business blogging health, which is whydoctor I’ve devoted this week’s Say It For You blog posts to corporate blog writing a’ la Natural Health Magazine. 

My motive for periodically testing my wits in a “Magazine Challenge”: to prove the point that blog content writers need never run out of ideas for their SEO marketing blogs.

While a restless mind seems to be a Rhoda Israelov hallmark, I’ve never been diagnosed with “restless leg syndrome” (I’d never even heard of the condition before all the TV ads began harping on it).  So, why am I choosing to highlight the Natural Health article “How can I calm restless legs?” Because it illustrates an effective way to impart important information in corporate blog posts without the business owner or practitioner coming across as either pompous or critical of readers’ behavior.  

In the magazine article, advice from three different sources is presented to readers:  an integrative physician, a nutritionist, and a naturopath. We read how each one of those professionals describes RLS symptoms and what each one suggests the possible causes might be. From my viewpoint as an Indianapolis blog writer, it seemed that, while I was getting a whole lot of information, the tone was not at all threatening – these were three authorities expressing their points of view.

One very compelling aspect of business blog writing is that business owners have a chance to provide very valuable information to readers relating to their industry or professional field.  In other words, your corporate blog posts can be a tool to position yourself and your business as the “go to” source for things readers want to know!

But what this restless leg syndrome article in Natural Health Magazine showed me is that letting outside authorities help you convey your message to your readers can be a very good idea in blogging for business. For this tactic to be of the most business blogging help, however, I’d have business owners “let the authorities talk”, then add their own spin based on their own experience in their field.

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Which-One-Would-You-Rather-Have Blogging for Business: Magazine Challenge Part Two

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CFL bulb

Browsing through Natural Health Magazine to look for ideas I could use as part of corporate blogging training, I saw a number of interesting articles, but my attention was diverted by an ad. The product was from Purely Products, and it was an item I’d never heard of before – a CFL.  I learned that a CFL is an air purifier and light bulb all in one.  I never would have found that out, though, were it not for the caption.

One of the big lessons in blogging for business is how important blog post titles are. The title must capture attention so that readers click on the link they’ve found through online search.

This particular ad showed a picture of a mom watching TV, cuddling with her son on the couch.  On one side of the room was a HEPA air filter showing a price tag of $500-$1,000. On the other side of the room a lamp was labeled “Healthy CFL: Under $10”.

The caption read:

“They both purify the air.  Which one would you rather invest in?”

Creating catchy blog titles isn’t the only challenge facing freelance blog writers. Shoppers these days have so many choices, both in the mall and online. Obviously business blog writing needs to be recent, relevant, and on point, but even more than that, corporate blog posts have to deal firmly with “The Why’s”.

  • Why me? (The SEO marketing blog must make clear why the product is a good fit for this reader.)
  • Why you? (What’s special about this provider, this company, this business?)
  • Why now? (What’s so urgent that I should pay attention now?)
  • Why this price? (Is there a special offer? How does the cost compare to other options I have?)

The CFL ad made it abundantly clear – I could purify the air in my home using a HEPA filter, or choose the much simpler, much less expensive option of the CFL.  A Maxima ad I found online follows the same format: “Wouldn’t You Rather Have an ’85 Maxima with Super Sonic Suspension?”

One other aspect of the CFL ad that I found very appealing is that it was very much in sync with the Say It For You no-hard-sell style of business blog writing.  “Shock advertising” or scare tactic blogging is, in my opinion, of zero business blogging help.   Blog content writers’ task is to present choices.  Given enough necessary, relevant, and truthful information, consumers are perfectly able to decide “which one they’d rather invest in”!

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