As a ghost blogger offering business blogging training, I think the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy may be onto something when it comes to corporate blog writing.

Five years ago, Courtney Martin handed each of nine friends $100, directing them to use the money for creative acts of kindness.  Since then, explains Mental Floss Magazine, "the idea of small-scale creative giving has captured the imagination of do-gooders around the country," adding that the Secret Society now has chapters in New York, California, and Georgia.

In many SEO marketing blogs, the content focuses on appealing to consumers’ fear or greed.  The message is often geared towards highlighting a problem, creating enough fear about that problem that readers will be moved to do something about that fear – now! The other frequently used approach is an appeal to greed, telling readers about all the wonderful benefits they can gain by taking action.

Learning about the Secret Society of Creative Philanthropy made me wonder if blog content writers shouldn’t be using Calls to Action to appeal to readers’ higher instincts as well as their need to avoid pain and gain comfort. In fact, marketing blogger Michael Masterson calls fear and greed "two overrated emotions". 

Fear appeals don’t work in the long run, says Masterson, unless you follow fear with hope of some kind. Greed-based promotions attract the wrong sort of customer, he adds. Buyers don’t like to think of themselves as greedy; they want to be successful and to feel good – about their choices of product, services, and providers.

The bottom line in all this, I believe, is that corporate blogging for business has to be part of a company’s overall marketing strategy and tactics development. Put another way, every word that appears in a business’ blog – including the Calls to Action – must be consistent with the company branding and corporate identity.

The popularity of the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy seems to be tied to the anonymity of the giver.  In providing business blogging help, though, the "secret" I’d share is that, to appeal to a better kind of customer – the kind that buys for the right reasons and then remains loyal – Calls to Action (both the implied CTA’s in the blog content itself and the Call to Action "buttons) should appeal to readers’ better nature.

 

 

 

While you’ve got more like 30 seconds than the 30 minutes allotted to Governor Mitch Daniels’ State of the State address last week, Daniels’ consensus-to-call-to-action makes a lot of sense in corporate blogging for business.

One aspect of the speech that really stood out for me as a blog content writer and a trainer in business blog writing is that Daniels started with some experiences he’d shared with his audience:

"For us" (notice how the ‘us’ implies he’s on the same side as his listeners, exactly what any SEO marketing blog needs to do in each post) "sports fans, recent times have brought a frustrating string of ‘almosts’ ". 

Daniels goes on to relive three experiences with us in the audience:

• At 60, Tom Watson almost won the British Open.
   
• The Colts almost won the Super Bowl.
   
• Little Butler almost won a national basketball championship.

(Start by establishing common ground.  Your readers have come to exactly the right place for the information, products, and services they need, because you understand their needs.)

Daniels then makes clear what will be lost if his listeners don’t take action.

"One thing is certain.  The rest of the world will not wait on us.  Other nations, and other states, are forging ahead with the kind of reforms I have proposed here…."

(In writing for business, one goal is to make clear what opportunities will be lost if readers don’t respond – and in timely fashion   to your Calls to Action.)

Daniels very effectively repeats the words "wait" and "waiting" to emphasize the main theme of the speech – we need to take action now.

"Our children are waiting.  Our fellow citizens are waiting.  History is waiting…Your’e going to do great things.  I can’t wait"I

In corporate blogging training, I recommend a powerful closing line for each post to "cement" the theme of the blog post in readers’ minds and incite them to action. The implication is "You can’t wait!"