It’s Easier to Buy Perfume Than Blog

/0 Comments/in , , /by


If you’re involved in any way in marketing a business or a practice, I know you’ll get a kick out of this story from the Reader’s Digest June issue:

  Every year for my birthday, my husband buys me a particular perfume that
                  I especially love. This past year, with money tight, I told him not to bother getting
                  me a gift. Instead, I asked that he handwrite a letter encapsulating our 25 years together.

                  My husband leaned in, gently took my hand, and begged, ”Can I please just buy you the bottle of perfume?”

Every minute of every day, millions upon millions of new blogs come online. Fast forward a few months and many of them quit. Visitors to those websites find content dated months and even years ago. Why?

Bloggingtips.guru.com thinks there are several reasons:

  • They have no patience.
  • They lose motivation.
  • They have a “me too” mentality and don’t know how to be unique.
  • They cannot write interesting content.
  • They fail to promote their blog.

There’s actually a scientific name for what ails that husband in the story. In fact, there are two:
“graphophobia” and “scriptophobia”, Jacob Olesen explains in fearof.net. Fear of writing, he says, usually originates from a negative experience in one’s past (Could it be that the husband was forever scarred by his second grade teacher’s criticism of his cursive??).

Whatever ails the guy in the story, don’t let yourself fall prey to that malady, cautions selectmkt.com. Don’t participate in the neglected websites syndrome. Give your blog some love and it will make a huge difference against your competitors.

Problem is, it’s less work to buy that bottle of perfume. Far too many business owners start out strong with their blogging, but months or even weeks later, begin to fizzle. Daily blogs become weekly blogs, and pretty soon, months go by between blog posts. In fact, my company, Say It For You, was founded to provide professional writing services to business clients, whose attention was constantly drawn away from content creation because they were putting out fires, making sales, and dealing with personnel issues.

Most business owners today know that business blog writing in their area of expertise is important for getting indexed by search engines and getting found by potential clients and customers. Rather than having web visitors find years-old content on their blog page, owners are best off leaving the driving to professional content writing “surrogates

Truth is, it’s easier to buy perfume than blog!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blog the Half Empty Along With the Half Full

/0 Comments/in , , /by


Is the glass half empty or half full?”

That’s a common expression, a proverbial phrase, generally used to indicate that a particular situation could be a cause for pessimism or optimism. Dr Lillian Zarzar, MA. CSP, international speaker, author, and coach, views the “glass” a different way – it’s always both, she says – full and empty. Science doesn’t lie, Zarzar tells her executive coaching clients. In every situation, there is some ratio of negative and positive. We each have the power to make choices, finding our own compromise between the positives and negatives that co-exist in every situation.

In blogging for business, it pays to embrace the “empty” part of the glass along with the full as well. True stories about mistakes and struggles (those of the business owners as well as those of their customers and clients) are actually quite humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the information and advice being offered. What tends to happen, I explain to content writers, is that stories of failure create feelings of empathy and admiration for the entrepreneurs or professional practitioners who overcame the effects of those “negatives”.

“Is your brand real enough for the next wave of consumers?” Jamie Gutfreund asks in Forbes, describing today’s consumers, who prefer reality to perfection, and who consider taking risks an important part of life. In blog marketing, therefore, real life issues and challenges are riches to be mined. Often a new Say It For You client has been so swept up in their own attempt to keep their glass “full”, they can’t see how valuable finding – and sharing – the “empty” part of the glass can prove to be. That’s precisely where the “outside eye” of a professional blog writer can help shape a message that is compelling because it is “real”. I call it “telling how you tripped at the Academy Awards.”

In business in general, a cost-benefit analysis is a glass-half-empty-half-full process. An individual or a company evaluates a decision about a product or a project, comparing the enjoyment and benefit to the “give-ups” required – the dollars that will need to be spent, the time and effort it will take, etc. When it comes to blog marketing, while it’s undoubtedly true that blogging drives web traffic and helps promote an entrepreneur or profession practitioner’s products and services, a significant commitment of time and effort is certain to be needed. So, what happens? Socialtriggers.com notes that most people who start blogs quit within the first three months, leaving their blog marketing “glass” totally empty!

Another interesting application to blog marketing of the glass analogy is that marketing content typically represents the point of view of the seller, with the blog readers representing potential buyers. In creating content for blogs, we need to keep in mind that people are online searching for answers to questions they have and for solutions for dilemmas they’re facing. But searchers haven’t always formulated their questions, and so what I suggest is that we do that for them, anticipating blog readers’ negative assumption questions. If we can go right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns by addressing negative assumption questions before they’ve been asked, we have the potential to breed understanding and trust.

Blog the half-empty along with the half-full!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Slogans and Blogs – Sisters Under the Skin?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

 

While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations, Lindsay Kolowich Cox explains in a Hubspot piece. The idea, in both cases, is grab consumers’ attention and leave a key message in consumers’ minds. Earlier this week in this Say It For You blog, I highlighted the 1-800-Got-Junk slogan as an example of emphasizing convenience and ease-of-use.

Several of the ingredients which Kolowich-Cox thinks make for great slogans can contribute to the success of blog posts:

A great slogan includes a key benefit. The emphasis needs to be on key benefits of the product or service, not its features. Proctor & Gamble’s Bounty paper towels are “the quicker picker upper.”
Focus a blog post on painting either a “more” (glamour, time saved, comfort, money, miles per gallon) or “less” (pain, cost, waste, hassle) picture.

A great slogan differentiates the brand. How can one piece of chocolate truly stand out from another? M&M’s “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” differentiates with an implied comparison with every other chocolate brand.
It’s almost axiomatic that, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we are better than the competition. But, rather than saying negative things about other companies or practitioners, explain the reasons you have chosen to do things the way you do.

A great slogan imparts positive feelings, possibly through nostalgia. MasterCard’s “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”
True stories about the mistakes and struggles that ultimately led to your success are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind a business or practice. 

A great slogan reflects the values held by the organization.
Whether business owners or professional practitioners are doing their own blog posting or hiring professional content writers to help, the blog is conveying the values and beliefs of the owners.  In fact, the content is an invitation to readers to become part of the process of bringing those values to life.

A great slogan conveys consistency. Kolowich-Cox cites Verizon’s “Can you hear me now? Good.” (Competitors may have better texting options or fancier phones, the implication is, but with Verizon you can always rely on service.
Consistency is the very backbone of business blogging success. high-quality stuff.  To satisfy a search engine, your blog material must be updated frequently. Most important, consistent posting of content shows readers that you are “present” and involved.

Blog posts, of course, are much longer than slogans. Still, the idea in both cases is to grab consumers’ attention and leave a key message in their minds, built around an unmet consumer need.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

All You Have to Do is Blog

/0 Comments/in , , , /by


According to the 1-800-GOT-JUNK commercial, when you want something removed from your home or yard, “All you have to do is point” As a blog content writer, I love that commercial.

“Persuasive ads are advertisements designed to elicit a desired action,” Mary Lister writes in Wordstream. Ad campaigns for products or services are designed to communicate two main ideas:

  1. Problems your product or service solves
  2. Ways your product or service does that better/quicker/cheaper than that of your competitors.

Confession – for me as a consumer, there’s always been a third piece. I’m not handy. And, since I don’t know how to assemble, much less fix, mechanical devices or pieces of furniture, I’m always looking for what’s going to be required of me in the process of achieving a solution to my problem or fulfilling my need.

The 1-800-GOT-JUNK motto must have been made for people like me. Right up front, they’re assuring me that they will handle the issue, do the dirty work, figure it out. All I have to do is identify the problem.

All business owners and practitioners have products and services to sell. But sometimes, the marketing and advertising skips over the convenience factor.

A little over ten years ago, an editorial cartoon in the Indianapolis Business Journal showed a harried lady returning a gadget to a merchant’s Returns window. “It’s not that I don’t like the product,” she said – “I just can’t get it out of the package!”

  • Yes, you understand your target audience and the specific problems they’re facing.
  • Yes, your product or service provides a way to solve those problems.
  • Yes, your product/service compares favorably to others on the market.
  • Yes, but…but…but, just how much effort am I going to need to expend to “get it out of the package”?

Put yourself in the shoes of your online visitors:

How easy is it for them to navigate your website? Follow your Calls to Action? Set up an appointment with you? Pick up the phone and call if they choose to? (Is your phone number clearly displayed on the page?)

How easy is it going to be for a prospect to: get started on that program you’re touting? Start on the diet plan? Install the app or get the device to function?

Let them know – “all you have to do is…….._!

Borrowing the line from 1-800-GOT-JUNK, blog marketers’ new mantra might well be this:

All you have to do is blog!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

In Blogging, Clarity Depends on Contrasts

/0 Comments/in /by

blog selling
The following true story, shared in Daniel Pink’s book To Sell is Human, involves a blind man sitting on a bench in Central Park with a can for contributions labeled “I’m blind”. With the addition of only 4 words, an ad exec realized, the sign would move more people to put money in the can. When the sign stated “It is springtime, but I am blind”, people were able to feel pity – here they were, enjoying the gorgeous spring day, while this poor blind man was totally unable to savor its beauty….

“One aspect of contemporary society is that people are stimulus-rich and context-poor,” Pink explains. They don’t know what the information means. By contrasting the experience of the passersby with that of the blind man asking for change, viewers saw the man’s situation in perspective.

In the book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely talks about the importance of comparing one thing with another. People want to make their own decisions and own them, Ariely believes. For that reason, he advises, if you want to sell Product A, you must create an Option B, so that customers feel they are choosing A because it contrasts favorably with B.

In blog content writing, with the goal being engaging online visitors’ interest, we can create contrast between analytical content and emotional content, toggling back and forth among It helps to remember that most people are only interested if what you do fits with what they need or want; otherwise they are not interested. You must tell readers, not only how your product or service can benefit them, but how you can do it better or differently than others who do what you do.

The blind man in Daniel Pink’s story needed help creating a Unique Selling Proposition. In carving out your own USP, make sure your message tells visitors not only who you are and what you do, but why you’re different from other providers – and why that difference should matter to them.

In other words, in begging or blogging,  clarity depends on contrasts!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail