Give “Em a Statue and an Apology in Your Business Blog

trust repair and damage controlThe best comic strips have lessons to teach freelance blog writers, I’ve found. One of last week’s Dilbert strips shows the company lawyer offering to settle employee Wally’s discrimination claim against the corporation for a whopping billion dollars.  "Plus a statue and an apology," adds Wally, not satisfied to be compensated with money alone.

Fact is, too many SEO marketing blogs focus on appealing to consumers’ greed.  In the long run, however, as I try to bring out in corporate blogging training sessions, the success of any business blog will depend on engaging the interest of the right kind of customer, the kind that buys for the right reasons and who remains loyal.

A second very important function corporate blog posts can serve relates to damage control. "Every agency, no matter how well managed, local or multi-national, will have to deal with dissatisfied and even angry customers from time to time," points out sales expect Colleen Francis of engageselling.com. Blog content writing can be the best instrument for offering "statues and apologies", as compared to, say, email or letters.  Why is that?

  • Timeliness: Business blog material can be immediately created, published, and updated (as compared to the typical corporate website).
  • Public acknowledgement: A blog post is "public", which means the company’s owners are recognizing the customers’ complaint or concern in front of other people, which can give the apology more weight.

One truth I learned about angry customers from the late Jerry R. Wilson, who preceded me as president of the National Speakers’ Association of Indiana back in the mid 1980’s, was that angry customers want to heard and recognized, not just "made whole" financially.  They want their pride restored, Jerry taught me, not just their money back!

A money-back guarantee is good as far as it goes, but at Say It For You, I teach Indianapolis blog writers to help business owners offer angry customers a statue and an apology!

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Business Blogging Leaplings

It’s always great to add that little extra “something” in order to stand out from the crowd, and SEO marketing blogs are no exception. And, with this being a leap year, it’s a particularly appropriate time to discuss how including extra tidbits of information can add value in corporate blog writing.leap year

In blogging for business, is it worth the effort of digging up curious and little-known facts related to your business or Industry?  Make that a big “Oh, yes”!  Readers’ interest is piqued, you’re positioned as an expert in your field, and you’re rewarded with precious extra moments of precious attention.

Mental Floss magazine writers, masters at serving up tidbits and busting myths (both highly effective tools for freelance blog writers), talk about leaplings, kids born on February 29th.

  • Kids can have their pick between February 28th and March 1 for parties and presents.
  • For Social Security, the birthday is treated as Feb. 28th.
  • Some states make leaplings wait until March 1 to apply for a driver’s license.

As part of corporate blogging training for business owners, I recommend presenting little-known statistics about the history of your industry, the number of people experiencing the problems you help solve, or unexpected applications for your product and service.  You want to evoke an “I didn’t know that!” response in your readers.

“Leaplings”, or unusual bits of information can be myth busters in themselves.  If there are false impressions people seem to have about your industry or product, statistics show how things really are.  If you want to demonstrate how widespread a problem is, statistics can be of great business blogging help.

For anyone offering business blogging services, blog content “leaplings” can help add that little extra “something” that means a lot!

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Take a Blog-Writing Tip from 10 Notable Deaths

Elizabeth TaylorThe obituary section of the news is not a place freelance blog content writers would normally go for ideas. Still, there’s something worth noting in articles such as “10 Notable Deaths” by Associated Press – the reporters manage to drill down to the essence of each person’s accomplishments.

As a ghost blogger in Indianapolis, when I offer business blogging assistance, I often refer to blogs as the sound bites of the Internet. In short segments, business owners convey to readers the essence of their accomplishments.  Corporate blog writing means telling readers about the essence of your special knowledge, insights, and beliefs, as well as about the products or services you offer.

In using “10 Notable Deaths” as a model of condensed writing for business, I’d point out that the AP reporter used only 16 words to describe Andy Rooney, 26 for Betty Ford, and 19 for Jack Kevorkian. Still, I found, the obits were hardly impersonal or dispassionate; each managed to evoke a larger portrait, with a taste of the “style” of each notable person.

Elizabeth Taylor is described as “the violet-eyed American film goddess whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame and glamour made her one of the last of the classic movie starts and a template for modern celebrity.”

Kim Jong IL’s obit lists him as “North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader, whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade.”

In corporate blogging training sessions I explain that it’s not enough in business blog writing to offer information about the subject.  The information needs to be put into a framework, into context, so that readers can see why it’s relevant to them and to the subject.

Elizabeth Taylor “became a template or model of film celebrity. Jong IL’s nuclear efforts “dominated world fears”. Kevorkian was the “defiant proponent of doctor-assisted suicide”.

Indianapolis bloggers, take a tip from the 10 Notable Deaths.  Online searchers know what they need, but they lack expertise in your industry.  They need your help drilling down to the essence of what you know, what you do, and how you can be of benefit to them.

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The Really Important Stuff in Blog Writing

“The really important stuff is at the top,” Dennis the Menace points out to Santa Claus.Dennis the Menace In corporate blogging training, I might point out the same thing.

Blog titles, as content writers in Indianapolis know, can be really important stuff. Titles have a triple function – engage readers, offer an overview of the topic of the post, and incorporate keyword phrases to attract search engine matches.

As a fellow blogger puts it in her Nicky Blog, when people read your headline, you can expect two kinds of responses:

– Oh wow, sounds interesting. I want to know more… OR – Ah, boring.

Since the first is obviously the desired response in blogging for business, Nicky explains, catchy headlines are a must. SEO experts say, she adds, that no more than 7-8 words and no fewer than four words should be used, with Google showing up to 69 characters.

As Santa’s looking through his list, Dennis can’t resist adding “But all the stuff in the middle is important, too!” “Let me guess,” says Santa with a smile. “All the stuff on the bottom is also really important.” Of course it is, Santa understands.

Freelance blog writers understand that, too. Even SEO marketing blogs with the catchiest of titles will disappoint readers unless the post itself delivers on the title’s promise, with new and interesting information that readers can use.

Whether you’re creating a Christmas list or blogging for business, the really important stuff is at the top, the middle, and the bottom as well!

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Learning to Bunt in Your Business Blog Writing

bunt“The bunt isn’t a game changer, like a homer or a triple.  Instead, it nudges things along – keeping the ball as far as possible from where your opponent wants it to be,” is just one of many of the lessons from her Dad that Sandy Hingston recalls in FamilyDigest.

When I offer business blogging assistance to Say It For You clients, I often need to remind business owners new to blogging that it isn’t the sort of marketing tactic likely to “hit it out of the park”.  On the other hand, consistent business blog writing, very much like bunting in a ball game, will almost certainly nudge things along.

Sandy Hingston’s dad taught all his kids that bunts are things of beauty, “means to an end, a strategy, brains over brawn.” As a professional ghost blogger offering corporate blogging training, I think Mr. Hingston’s teachings are quite fitting when it comes to writing for business in the form of blogs.

“Remember: control.”
A blog can give a business the ability to exercise journalistic control.  Blog content writers have the ability to put out news about the business with the business owner’s own slant on it! If there’s ever any negative news about the industry or the company, I teach Indianapolis blog writers, the blog is the perfect place to field questions and comments head-on.

“He makes me do it again and again and again.”
Material that is recent and frequently posted is more likely to be indexed by search engines. Like bunting practice with Sandy’s dad, SEO marketing blogs succeed in large part based on continuing to post new content every few days.

“Brains over brawn.”
Blogging for business is one way small business owners with small marketing budgets can compete, using “pull marketing” to meet strangers and increase their customer base without mounting expensive advertising campaigns. According to Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware, because blogs are specific, relevant, and personal, they tend to be more successful than traditional websites in targeting and attracting the right kind of visitors, those who need and want what you have to offer.

No, as I remind freelance blog writers and their business owner clients who are in a rush to make the cash register ring, blogging for business is rarely a game changer. But as a means to an end, part of an overall, long-term marketing strategy, it can be a thing of beauty!

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