Content to Get Them Going

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“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”, Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow, in an IBJ piece, reminds business owners eager for employees to “take a long, confident gulp from the digital watering hole”.  Getting employees onboard, though, is a human problem, not one of the technology itself, the author maintains, reviewing Robert Caldini’s six principles of persuasion to explain how each of those principles can be used to gain AI “buy-in” from employees.

Realizing that those same six principles can be applied to content marketing, I’m devoting this week’s Say It For You blog posts to showing just how I believe that can be accomplished….

Make it approachable – Success stories from employee champions who are approachable, not just tech experts, will resonate more deeply than top-down memos, Westerhaus-Renfrow explains. When it comes to content marketing, I call that “reaping testimonials of the right kind”. Testimonials in general help your business in two ways – not only helping prospects decide to do business with you, but also fostering commitment from those providing the testimonials. At Say It For You, we believe a testimonial is most “approachable” and believable when it’s actually created by (not only approved by) the customers themselves.

Show the payoff early – Demonstrate immediate value, the author cautions.  I remember a National Speakers Association teacher saying that “Customers do not want your products and services – they want what those products and services will do for them”. You might say that content marketing is all about demonstrating value. Although “listicles” can be popular with readers, that’s true only if the information appeals to searchers’ (how-do-I-?)..immediate interests.

Use the principle of scarcity – Highlight immediate opportunities that may be “going away”, Westerhaus-Renfrow advises. In content marketing, calls to action (CTAs) often use imperative verbs designed to provoke immediate positive action: find out more, call now, provide contact information, etc.. creating a sense of urgency around the offer.

No, having led them to the water, you still cannot make them “drink”. But sharing knowledge and showcasing  business owners’ and practitioners’ experience and expertise can certainly help “get them going” towards taking a sip.

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Hater-Hugging Content Marketing

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When customers complain, the last thing you feel like doing is giving them a hug. But that’s precisely what Jay Baer recommends in his book Hug Your Haters. In fact, Baer teaches, openly embracing and dealing with complaints can turn bad news into very good news for your business, because complaints can help you:

  • create advocacy
  • gather insights
  • differentiate you from your competitors

When Baer talks about dealing with complaints, he means all complaints, all clues that a customer’s experience with a business or practice hasn’t been up to expectations. That means paying attention to in-person and phone conversations. Most “haters”, though, complain “offstage”, rather than directly confronting an owner or customer service rep via phone or in persona, they use e-mail , texts, and post negative reviews, Baer explains in a podcast hosted by Kerry O’Shea Gorgone.

 

An Inc. Magazine review of the book emphasized a startling observation by Baer – Complainers fall into two camps – those seeking help and those merely seeking attention. The first category of complainers actually want and expect a response;  while the complainers don’t expect a response, when they do receive one, they are twice as likely to recommend that company in the future.

Too many business owners shy away from regular posting of articles and blogs for fear of receiving negative comments, we’ve found at Say It For You. Of course, if you don’t create and publish content frequently, you may not receive as many negative reactions, but neither will you attract the attention of search engines or of readers! In fact, “getting in front” of complaints by demonstrating in your content how you remedied a negative customer situation is probably the most positive kind of publicity you can ask for!  Don’t be afraid of showing your err-is-human side.  Your blog, I emphasize, gives you a chance to turn a “failure” into a success story.

 However, unlike working to amass “piles” of compliments in the form of reviews and survey responses, look for opportunities to create content telling “the whole story” – what the issue, problem, or complaint was, how you worked to solve it, and why the solution worked better than what the customer had ever experienced before.

 

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Creating Customer-Friendly Content

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I always enjoy Todd Hunt’s wry observations in Hunt’s Headlines.  This month’s issue featured a photo of a sign posted on a vending machine: “Price levels on this machine reflect the cash price, which is 10¢ lower than the retail price….Credit card purchases will reflect the full retail price.” Hunt’s comment: “Rather than admit there is a “10-cent surcharge for credit cards”, they say you get a 10-cent discount for cash…”

 Price increases tend to be unpopular, and you always run the risk of customers deciding that they don’t find enough value in your services to justify the higher cost, Spring Insight authors admit.  In their case, in order to soften the blow, they made sure to highlight the additional services their clients could look forward to receiving with the higher prices. “After reading the email and seeing a clear list of the additional value accompanying the higher prices, all our clients elected to continue utilizing our services,” the owners now report.

“Breaking bad news to customers is not an easy task,” Susan Berkley admits in zenbusiness.com. To do this in a compassionate and professional manner, she advises, “Give as much information as you can about the who, what, when, where, and why,” Take charge, outlining a specific plan of action that you and your company will take, and what actions you recommend customers take.

As is true of newspapers, business blog content writing can balance feature stories with news. In general, the word “news”, when it comes to blog marketing, can mean two entirely different things.  The first type centers around you and your company or practice, with the second type of news relating to your community, your city, your country, even worldwide events. If, as blog writers, we can go right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns, addressing negative assumption questions (before they’ve been asked!)  we have the potential to breed understanding and trust.

Todd Hunt’s vending machine story is a perfect example of breeding misunderstanding and distrust. Sure, as a business or professional practice grows and changes, there are probably going to be negative publicity and  instances of customer dissatisfaction. As content marketers, our job is to help our clients get “out in front” of those negatives — and quickly. “A swift response demonstrates your brand’s commitment and shows you value stakeholder concerns and feedback,” SmartComment.com advises.

One very important function corporate blog posts can serve is damage control. When customers’ complaints and concerns are recognized and dealt with “in front of other people” (in blog posts), it gives the “apology” more weight.  Creating customer-friendly content may involve “letting the client tell his story,” which then gives you the chance to offer useful information to other readers and to explain any changes in policy that resulted from a negative situation.

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The Convenience Factor in Content Marketing

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This week, in our Say It For You blog, we’re sharing insights from the book Prove It, in which authors Melanie Deziel and Phil M. Jones teach readers how to use content as a tool to earn audience trust… 

Even before you get to the “proof” stage in your marketing, according to RevLocal, there are five pieces of primary information that consumers use to either learn more about a business, or reject it out of hand. These include price, products and services offered, the availability of both, customer service, and (for services in particular) – location. Coupons and special offers may be important, the authors add, as are testimonials and reviews.

“Claiming to be convenient is making a promise that customers’ interactions with you will be frictionless,” Deziel explains, quoting statistics from the National Retail Federation showing that 9 out of 10 customers choose a retailer based on convenience, with that observation holding true for groceries, electronics, personal care items, and pet supplies.

As head of a team of content marketers at Say It For You, I found those observations about convenience especially important. Creating a steady stream of content takes time and patience, which is precisely the reason many entrepreneurs employ ghost writers. “Winning back time” is the way Doug Karr and Chantelle Flannery, co-authors of the book Corporate Blogging for Dummies describe the big advantage for business owners, or professional practitioners in “hiring it done when it comes to composing, researching, and editing content”.

 

On the other hand, what I’ve experienced over the past eighteen years is that, if the content is to succeed in demonstrating that the business owner or practitioner is staying in touch with what’s happening in the community, as well as in his or her field of expertise, the process  of creating content cannot be a matter of  “do-it-for-me-and-wake-me-up-when-it’s-over”. Even as they offer maximum convenience to their customers, the owners themselves should not expect to enjoy the “convenience” of non-involvement in the process of creating content.

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Comparability Claims in Content Marketing

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In the book Prove It, authors Melanie Deziel and Phil M. Jones teach readers how to use content as a tool to earn audience trust. The authors count five main types of claims owners can make in touting their strengths and comparing themselves to their competitors:

  1. convenience
  2. comparability
  3. commitment
  4. connection
  5. competence

(Prior to detailing precise steps involved in each type of claim, I was happy to note, Phil Jones makes a statement that reinforces a content marketing principle we’ve been emphasizing at Say It For You for the past eighteen years:

“One factor that influences trust more than almost anything else is consistency. How you  show up consistently is how you become trusted to show up.”

Business owners who are able and willing to maintain consistency and frequency in posting content are rare. There’s a tremendous fall-off rate, with most content marketing initiatives being abandoned months or even weeks after they’re begun. To a significant degree, “showing up” is itself a crucial factor in earning online readers’ trust.

But what happens if you do find gaps between your claims and their provability?  The authors (page 28)) suggest two alternatives:

  1. take steps to adapt and improve your practices and products
  2. adjust your claims to reflect the more reliable and provable truth

In either case, the authors advise using content marketing to “build a body of evidence”. There are three possible approaches:

  • Corroboration – statements by third parties, who might be experts in the field, or actual satisfied users of the product or service
  • Demonstration – stories and case studies
  • Education – informing consumers helps them feel better prepared to make decisions

Truth is, Phil Jones writes, one type of evidence alone won’t “do it” – it’s best to use a combination of the three.

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