Keep Readers in Touch With Trends

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The Old Farmer’s 2025 Almanac offers a variety of pleasures, with information ranging from astronomy to folklore, and from pets to sports. Since, at Say It For You, we focus on creating marketing content for blog posts and newsletters, I was particularly taken by the Almanac authors’ focus on current farming trends…

“By understanding the latest developments and technologies in your field, you can ensure that your skills and knowledge remain relevant and in demand,” Baris Bingol of sertifier.com advises the career-minded. “Keeping up”, she explains, includes staying informed about:

  • new products or services
  • changes in regulations
  • shifts in consumer behavior
  • emerging technologies

In farming, Almanac readers are informed,

  • Scientists are using “bee vectoring”, in which special hives allow bees to transport trace amounts of pest control powders blueberries, apples, and tomatoes.
  • Farmers are teaming up with restaurants, growing heirloom crops for sale to local chefs, who then create dishes featuring them.
  • There is increased demand for microgreens, as people embrace a lifestyle that values freshness.
  • Gardeners are interested in growing herbs for medical use.

Our readers, whether or not they’re inclined towards the “trendy”, like to feel they’re keeping up with the trends. But what I’ve learned over the years of developing content for clients in different industries, is that customers expect their service and product providers to do the work for them, keeping them up-to-date and putting all that information into perspective.

 

There are two positive sides to wiring about what’s “trending”, I explain to business and practice owners:  While your content keeps your readers savvy about what’s trending, it helps establish you as a thought leader in your field!

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If You Want Them to Listen, Watch Your Language

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With now 60 countries of the world naming English as their official language, English comes out on top by a large margin, Paul Anthony Jones writes in Mental Floss. (There would be 61, but, while English is the national language of United Kingdom law, government, business, and education, it’s never been made official. In fact, English became official in the U.S. just this year!)

Within the United States itself, people in different regions use not only unique pronunciations, but unique vocabulary. In Texas, a laundromat is called a washeteria; in Ohio you’d refer to a vacuum as a sweeper.  In the Northwest, something expensive is “spendy”, Cassie Wright points out in Lingoda.

When it comes to content marketing, keeping it basic means using understandable, clear language. “In order to write an effective sales page, it’s absolutely critical to speak the language of your target market,” Joey van Kuilenburg writes in Linkedin, paying attention to the terminology they use, including phrases and word choices. At Say It For You, our message to the business owner and practitioner clients who hire us is this:

Your business or practice can’t be all things to all people. Everything about your content should be tailor-made for your ideal customer – the words we use, how technical we get, how sophisticated the approach to a subject, the title of each blog entry – all must focus on what together we learn about your target market – their needs, their preferences, their questions.

There are certain “Americanisms”, which are sayings we take for granted, but often don’t realize make no sense to foreigners, even to those who speak English.  That’s because foreigners don’t share our cultural memories and understandings.  As content marketers, we can actually turn that “outsider puzzlement” to our advantage, allowing readers to feel they are in our “inner circle” when we share those language “secrets”, I’ve observed over the years working with Say It For You clients from many different industries and professions.

The guiding principle in creating content is that, if you want them to listen, watch your language!

 

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Basing Content on What You Want Buyers to Believe

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“What do you want your buyers to believe?”  That is the question online marketers need to ask themselves when creating content, David Meerman Scott stresses in the 9th edition of his book The New Rules of Marketing & PR.  What are your customers really going to be buying from you — is it great customer service? The safe choice? Luxury? Different buyer personas buy different things from your organization.

A buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer that you create from audience and market research, Flori Needle writes in Hubspot.  (A negative buyer persona, in contrast might include customers too advanced for your product or service or who are engaging with you only to gain knowledge, not to buy.)

Content marketing, however, is not about “forcing” prospects to believe. As Meerman Scott explains, customers tell themselves stories that define them and the way they relate to the products and services they use. Only if the story you tell your prospects and customers matches the story they’re telling themselves will your content be effective in appealing to them.

At Say It For You, we’ve learned over the years, content marketing will succeed only if two things are apparent to readers: a) You (the business owner or professional practitioner) understand online searchers’ concerns and needs and b) you and your staff have the experience, the information, the products, and the services to solve exactly those problems and meet precisely those needs.

What we’ve discovered, for example, in business blogging is that, whether it’s the owners or practitioners themselves doing the writing or whether they’ve hired us to do the job on their behalf, the language used must give readers the right impression in order to create that “belief connection”

At the same time, it’s important to remember that “the system” (search algorithms) appears to value cumulative content, offering the opportunities for us content marketers to build buyer belief over time.

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The Importance of Specificity in Content Marketing

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“Many writers rely on generalities rather than absolutes as they craft an article; this is both a cheat and disrespectful to the reader, who is left without the kinds of supporting details that can turn a good article into a great one,” Don Vaughan advises in a recent issue of Writer’s Digest.”There’s a meaningful difference between ‘a couple of centuries’ and ‘215 years’.”

Asked where writers might go to find those supporting details (other than a simple Google search), Vaughan suggests checking:

  • government agencies
  • military agencies
  • universities
  • data resources, both U.S. and overseas,

but also just talking to as many people as you can, expressing curiosity about their knowledge and opinions on the topic.

“Specificity can be your weapon of mass effectiveness,” Jason Cohen once wrote in “A Smart Bear”. Whether for marketing copy, blogging, a sales pitch, be specific. “Generic words are a sure sign of lazy writing.”

In content marketing, we’ve learned at Say it For You, the more specific you are in describing the shortcuts and solutions, the more engaging that content will be. Web searchers are on a fact-finding mission, looking for information that relates to what you do, what you sell, and what you know about.  The more specific the key words and phrases in the title and in the body of the blog post, the greater the chance search engines will direct those searchers to your blog. Then, the more specific the examples you provide and the terminology you use, the more impact you’re likely to have on readers of your content.

As “ghost writers’ for our clients, (our Say It For You contract guarantees that we will not write content for their competitors), we often find ourselves creating content on topics in which we have no prior experience or training. Don Vaughn’s advice about finding supporting details from agencies, universities, and specialty magazines is very apropos. “You don’t have to be a subject matter expert to write on specialty topics,” he says – “all you need is an innovative idea specific to the topic”  – and the willingness to delve into:

  • aspects of the topic’s history
  • profiles of prominent people who’ve benefitted from the product or service
  • news about developments in the industry
  • different opinions on the topic
  • human interest stories.

In content marketing, specificity can turn out to be a weapon of  creative effectiveness.

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How to Build Killer Sales Pitches, Marketing Moves, and Brand Stories as a Small Business Team

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You’ve got a product or service, a team that believes in it, and a market that needs it—now what? Selling it, of course, but not with a shrug and a hope. Sales, marketing, and storytelling are where businesses win or spiral, and if you’re working with a lean crew, the stakes and the focus sharpen. You need tactics that punch above your size and messaging that doesn’t just land, it sticks. The good news? Creativity is cheaper than a bloated ad budget, and resourcefulness often outpaces experience. Let’s get into how to shape your pitch, tighten your strategy, and make your story sing.

Start with a pitch that makes people stay

Sales pitches shouldn’t feel like someone reading bullet points off a brochure. You want rhythm, voice, tension, and resolution. The goal isn’t to sell a product, it’s to sell a shift in thinking, a new convenience, or a fix they didn’t know they needed. So how do you do it? Strip it back to the problem and build the pitch around the solution, using language that invites, not pressures. A perfect sales pitch weaves customer pain points into an effortless narrative with a clear next step. If you sound like every other team with a script and a smile, you’ll disappear with them too.

Market with movement, not noise

Marketing only works when it’s aimed, not sprayed. Start by figuring out where your audience already spends their time—scrolling Instagram reels, opening local newsletters, searching YouTube tutorials—and meet them there. From there, consistency beats virality every time. A steady drip of content that informs, entertains, or sparks curiosity builds more brand recall than a one-off blitz. This is especially true for budget-conscious teams who need bang for every buck and second. For inspiration, these small business marketing ideas show how scrappy campaigns can still dominate attention spans.

Tell a story that actually matters

Nobody remembers taglines, they remember feelings. That’s the whole point of a brand narrative—it’s the emotional thread that ties everything together. You’re not just a boutique coffee roaster, you’re the shop that sponsors open mic nights and buys beans from farmers by name. Stories like that are sticky, shareable, and defensible against cheaper competitors. The mistake most small businesses make? Talking about themselves too much and their customers too little. Study compelling brand narratives and you’ll see that it’s always the audience who ends up the hero.

Go back to school without pausing your business

If your marketing or sales muscles feel flabby, there’s no shame in hitting the books again. Earning a business management degree will help you gain skills in operations, marketing, and sales—yes, all three, which is what most small team leaders need. What’s even better is how flexible the programs have become. You can go here to see how online courses make it possible to stay in the trenches while sharpening your strategy. Nights, weekends, even lunch breaks can turn into workshop hours. It’s a long play, but one that stretches your ceiling for the years ahead.

Let feedback shape your messaging

Forget guesswork. You’ve got emails, DMs, comment threads, reviews, even eye rolls at the end of your pitch—data is dripping from every edge of your business. The trick is creating systems that feed that data back into your approach without clogging your workflow. Use surveys, ask blunt questions, and don’t flinch at the answers. Your customers will write your next pitch if you let them. Start integrating feedback loops into your team’s weekly rhythm and you’ll find your voice evolving to match what people actually care about.

Proof it works: entrepreneurs are doing it

Sometimes the best advice is a mirror. When you see someone who looks like you—same hurdles, same goals—succeeding through education, the theory becomes real. One entrepreneur goes back to business school and finds their voice stronger, their strategy sharper, their brand more magnetic. That’s the ripple effect of learning with intention. It’s not a retreat from the hustle, it’s a weapon you bring back to it. And you’re not chasing a degree, you’re carving out a longer runway for your business. You’ll think longer, act faster, and speak louder. 

There’s no one-size script or silver bullet when you’re pitching with heart, marketing on a shoestring, and building a brand story that feels like yours. But there are instincts you can sharpen and strategies you can test, discard, or double-down on. Be the team that keeps learning, that writes fast and edits with curiosity. Chase feedback like it’s a cofounder. Take your voice seriously, because nobody else will until you do. And if that means going back to school or rewriting your pitch for the twentieth time, well, that’s just business.

 

Chantal Briggs created Neighbors Needed to make it easier for community members everywhere to connect with their neighbors, build strong relationships, celebrate one another, and in turn, create communities where everyone can thrive. The site offers resources and advice on how to make strong neighborly connections and build safer communities.

 

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