Blue Moon Business Blogging

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blue moonOne good rule to keep in mind when blogging for business is to provide information that’s actionable. After all, isn’t the whole idea behind all the effort to provide relevant, frequent action to win friends and customers?
 
Like all rules, even good ones, though, it’s meant to be broken every once in awhile. Sometimes, if the facts you present in your blog are intrinsically interesting, even if they are things that are actionable by readers right then, it may be worth including them. For fun. To add variety. To demonstrate your own curiosity and knowledge in your field.

And, speaking of including fascinating, if not immediate actionable, material in your blog at least once in a blue moon, what’s the origin of that expression “Once in a blue moon”?

Lunar mechanics may not seem related at all to what you do or what you have to sell in your business, but everybody can relate to the expression “once in a blue moon.” Just the other day an acquaintance remarked on the fact that my Say It For You professional ghost blogging business address starts with the number 1313, saying it’s fitting for a ghost to be situated at such a location!

Here’s the scoop: In most years, there will be one full moon per month, three times for each season of the year. Seven times every nineteen years, though, there comes a year when there are thirteen full moons during the year. According to the now-defunct Maine Farmers’ Almanac, “this was considered a very unfortunate (hence “blue”) circumstance, especially by the monks who had charge of the calendar…..it upset the regular arrangement of church festivals.”

What’s more, we learn, in each season, the first full moon was called “early”, the second “midsummer” (or midwinter, midspring, or midfall), with the third being called “late”.  So as not to upset this system, a different term needed to be found for the “extra” moon, so they chose “blue moon”.

This type of “so-now-you-know!” material can add interest and variety to business blogs. Yet, in order to make the details relevant to the corporate blog “mission”, as I teach in my blog content training sessions, It’s a good idea to establish a tie-in to your own topic.

  • Landscaping company – using blue formula to enhance the look of ponds
     
  • Dry cleaners or laundry appliance company – bluing white garments
     
  • Pet care company – whitening dulled hair on a pet with bluing
     
  • Lighting company – The wave lengths of different colored lights and which colors of light are most appropriate for different uses
     
  • Electronics store – Blu-ray technology

But, since frequency is one of the criteria for winning search, please – don’t blog just once in a blue moon!



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Your Business Blog Can Be That Guy

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that guyA favorite blogger friend, Michael Reynolds, posted a wonderful piece titled “That Guy”.

“Ever notice how many organizations have ‘that guy’ (or gal) who is the go-to person and is the one that people look to for competent help and support?” asks Reynolds. “No matter what the proper chain of command is for a company, customers will learn who ‘that guy’ is and will always call him directly even if he is not the person who is supposed to handle every issue.” 

How “on point” is that for blogging! I thought, reading that blog post. First of all, whoever that person is in any company, he or she has to be that firm’s best marketing tool for repeat business.  And what I think the reason is – in our age of automation, people want to talk to people, particularly people who can “get that done”.

That’s true, I learned, even if those company people aren’t “real”.  Awhile back, I based one of my own Say It For You posts on an article in Benefit Advisors Magazine.  When large employers used digital “avatars”, Pixar-like images to respond to employees’ online typed in questions about their health benefits, the percentage of employees using the site increased dramatically as compared with the old system of having the searcher read a list of benefit descriptions and then check boxes to select options.

Keep in mind, now, your corporate blog is probably meant to help you be introduced to strangers, people who are not your employees and who are only potentially your customers and clients.  These prospects not only have no idea who the go-to guy or gal in your company is, they’re not even sure you have such a person available should they decided to begin doing business with you!

That’s exactly the challenge blogging is equipped to handle. Your corporate blog posts must be designed to elicit an “Aaah” sigh of relief.  I’ve come to the right place.  If I choose to deal with this company, they will follow through. They will keep their promises. They will make sure things go right for me.

The whole tone of blog posts has to be welcoming and reassuring: We know what we’re doing around here.  Rest assured, we’ll listen to your needs and you’ll be taken care of.

Your business blog had better be “that guy”! 


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“Say It For You” High on the Charts with Song Title Challenge

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musical notesI was absolutely delighted with the enthusiastic response to my corporate blog-writing challenge revolving around song titles.  (As a blog content writer, I posed a challenge to business owners to explain some aspect of their business by referring to a song title.) The many comments and emails were topped off by Cindy Hartman (Hartman Inventory), who devoted an entire guest blog post to thanking me, using various song titles.

So, why did this zany idea of mine about writing for business catch on so well with my Say It For You blog readers? I’m going to use today’s blog post to share the four reasons I came up with.  Each of these is something I’m going to try and do more of in future business blog writing, and hopefully, you will do the same.

  1. The blog offered a challenge (readers were challenged to think about something familiar, namely their own businesses, in a whole new light, yet it was simple enough for anyone to try.
     
  2. The idea was very specific, but had broad appeal:
  •            You could choose any kind of song, from rap to rock to country Western.
     
  •            The idea could be applied to any kind of business or professional practice
     
  •            Anyone, including employees and customers, not only the owners could relate to the challenge (it is an idea that a business blogging service  or freelance SEO copywriter might use)

     Searchers use our business blogs in individualized ways. Some will scan quickly, verifying they’ve come to the right place, then hopefully click through in response to one of our Calls to Action.  Others might follow our links, meandering through pages of material, perhaps returning to tie it all together. Still others might make note of what we have to offer, filing that information away for a later time.

     3.   The challenge allowed self expression.

           4.  The blog post introducing the song title idea offered free, valuable advice to 
              business bloggers.

As relationship strategist Ron Sukenick teaches, sharing ideas, information, and resources with others increases your own influence and impact in the business world.

Speaking of song titles, I’m so glad I thought of that business blogging challenge.  As James Brown might say, "I Feel Good!"

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Blogging to Answer the Question “What Do You Do At Work?”

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"Coca-Cola and General Motors don’t have to explain to the outside world what they make," puzzledpoints out James Hagerty in a fascinating Wall Street Journal piece. But, he explains, as enterprises become more complex and multi-faceted, image and branding consultants are coming up with fanciful names that do little to answer the question "But what do you actually DO?" 

Goes back to what I’m always teaching about blogging for business: focus each blog post on one very specific idea you want to convey to online searchers.  In your blog post, make that concept absolutely clear – none of this "We have ways…." stuff!

Hagerty gets a chuckle out of Parker-Hannifin Corp., which styles itself "the global leader in motion and control technologies," saying that description might apply to a maker of lingerie! Why not just go ahead and mention the brakes and safety belts Parker-Hannifin manufactures? he asks. Similarly, 3M Company says it makes "life easier and better for people around the world", rather than simply coming out and saying it makes scotch tape.

Hagerty’s article really resonated with me when it comes to blogging for business. In composing blog posts meant to drive business by attracting search engine indexing, specificity becomes even more important than in corporate mission statements.  After all, there can’t be a "match" unless your description of what you do, what you know about, and what you sell dovetails with the words searchers use to describe their needs!

Even assuming online readers find your blog post, and even in the unlikely event they’ve read it through in its entirety, all your effort to host and post blogs could turn out to be the most colossal waste of your time and theirs if they’re left asking, "So what do you DO, actually?"

In the Wall Street Journal article, Hagerty lists a number of companies with cryptic answers to that question:

  • Terex Corporation: "Materials processing." Huh? (They make rock-crushing machines for the building industry.)
     
  • DXP Enterprises: "Leading products and service distribution focused on adding value and total cost savings solutions to MRO and OEM customers."  Huh? (They make pumps, tools, nuts, bolts, and hard hats.)
  • TRW Corp: "Global leader in active and passive safety."  Huh? (They make brakes and safety belts.)
  • Ingersoll Rand:  "World leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable, and efficient environments." Huh? (They make locks, air conditioning equipment, and battery-operated golf carts. 

I don’t know about you, but as a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer, I find a powerful what-not-to-do lesson in these corporate statements:

Every single one of your business blog posts needs to leave readers asking "How can I get some?" NOT "Huh?"
 

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“You Are a Business Pro” Good Tactic for Business Bloggers

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rental carMy compliments to the National® Car Rental "chef" for cooking up a great ad in the Wall Street Journal.  Man in business attire is wheeling his luggage down the aisle of rental cars, saying to himself, "I will choose any car in the aisle. Any car."  National® Car Rental then is  implying, "Sure you will!" The company then says to the customer, "You are a business pro."

Although this is an ad, not a blog post, in just two lines of type, NCR has demonstrated two rules for effective business blogging:

Focus each blog post on one – and only one – aspect of your product or service.
Here NCR puts the focus on customer control.  "Because only National lets you choose any car in The Emerald Aisle and go.  No trips to the counter.  No asking for keys.  No hassles.  In the Emerald Aisle you can choose any car and pay the mid-size price, even if it[s a full-size or above.  Take control." Notice there’s no discussion of price, no discussion of safety, or service, or rules.  Readers come away with one idea – with National, I’m in control!

Focus on the reader’s needs and wants, not on what your business offers.
Paint a word picture of how the reader will feel upon taking advantage of your offer – how proud, how safe, how secure, how benevolent, how self-confident.  The first words out of the gate from National® are the ones its customer will be saying: "I will choose!"

Are there any strings attached to the National® deal? Sure. "Control" requires enrollment in the complimentary Emerald Club, and choice of cars is subject to availability and dealer participation, we learn.  But we don’t learn those things first. National® Car Rental leads with its key idea: The customer will feel in control!

Business bloggers, take heed.  Lead with a keyword phrase, combined with one key concept.  Do that well, and, for that one blog post, ’nuff said!


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