Marketing seems to go in cycles, remarks Morgan Stewart in a Media Post Publications article.
“We bounce back and forth between…left-brain marketing focused on analytics and segmentation, and right-brain marketing focused on the creative.”  Both types of marketing are needed, concludes Steward. "Left-brain marketing narrows target audiences. Creative pulls people into your message.  Creative gets people talking.  But the same creative doesn’t appeal to everyone.”

Bloggers for business need to pay attention to Morgan Stewart’s take on consumers, who, he claims, fall into two categories:

Deal Seekers: 
(These people go online in search of bargains and discounts on products and services they already know and use.)
In blogging aimed at deal-seekers, focus on the cost-effectiveness of your product or services.  How does dealing with your business save them time and money? Do you have a time-sensitive special “deal” or offer?

Enthusaists:
(These people go online seeking information to support their hobbies, interests, and beliefs.)
Blogs aimed at this audience might focus on environmentally-friendly products and practices, natural ingredients in foodstuffs and skin care products, safety, responsible finances, and business ethics. Specialty items and services appeal to enthusiasts, as well as creative packaging, color and shape of items. 

The blog post’s layout and appearance can itself be targeted towards either the deal seeker (charts, graphs, statistics might figure prominently on the page) or the enthusiast (creative layout, photos, images, color used for added appeal).

“Regardless of what social media tools consumers are using,” (says Stewart, referring to fellow marketing professionals) “our real job is to give them something worth talking about.”

As a professional ghost blogger and blogging trainer, I couldn’t agree more when it comes to blogging for business!

 

Alisa Bowman, like me, is a ghost, but in her case, she writes books. Actually, she helps write books, as she explains in her blog post "Ghostwriting Revealed", because it takes a lot of different people to write and publish a book.  The book’s author, Bowman explains, serves as director, the one who hires key people and gives them direction on what needs to be done.  These key people might include a graphic designer, a photographer, a researcher, a copy editor, a proof reader, a sales team, and a publicity team, each dedicating specialized professional expertise to getting the book out to the public. In the end, sums up Ms. Bowman, the author gets all the glory.

So, why is a ghostwriter brought in to be part of the team?

• "The author has a great idea for a book, but doesn’t have time to write it."  This is the principal reason so many business owners hire ghost bloggers to post content on behalf of their business.
  
• "The author has lots of credibility, but writing is not one of his or her strong suits."      Many business owners and professional practitioners know their business and their clients, but don’t feel confident expressing their thoughts in writing.
  
• "The author got 20,000 words into the book and then ran out of things to say."                                                                                   20,000 words is the equivalent of about two months of a three-post-per week blog and many business owners run out of things to say a lot sooner than that!
  
• The author thought he/she wrote great book, but the publishing house does not agree.  Someone like me is brought in to help author publisher meet in the middle."  Blogs don’t need publishers’ approval.  The parallel here is that the blog hasn’t been generating traffic, and so a professional blogger is brought in to help make the blogging more effective.

When we want a new house, we hire other people to build it, to decorate it, to landscape our lawns, paint our walls, and install carpeting and bathroom tiles.  We generally get the credit for having a lovely home, explains Bowman.  "That’s because most people understand that, to be done right, such work requires a unique set of skills and talents".

Couldn’t have written the case for professional ghostblogging it better myself!