Don’t Be Like Flynn or Like a Sore Thumb

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No one likes being around someone who “drinks like a fish” and “sweats like a pig”, Richard Lederer observes in a humor piece reprinted in my Mensa Bulletin. “Avoid cliché’s like the plague,” is Lederer’s tongue-in-cheek advice to content writers. One of the ironies of language is that vivid comparisons become clichés precisely because they express an idea so well, the author admits.  Later, though, these “like” phrases become hackneyed and lifeless, turning your calls to action and reader engagement into big “yawns”. In another book I found, Powerful Writing Skills, author Richard Anderson agrees with Lederer that one sure-fire way to bore readers is using clichés, which he feels numb readers’ senses.

As content writers at Say It For You, we know we must be constantly on the prowl for words and expressions that help online readers feel a connection with our clients’ businesses and professional practices. And sometimes, a familiar comparison can help readers understand the latest development in the field, or better comprehend the benefit of a product or service being offered. “Snowclones”, a form of cliché mentioned in The Book of Random Oddities, can be used to reinforce the benefits of an activity (“Knitting is the new yoga.”).

“Like” clichés provide sardonic and funny answers to the question “compared to what?”, and that question is one it’s crucial for content writers to address. That’s particularly true in citing numbers. Real numbers dispel false impressions people have about an industry and can be used to demonstrate the extent of a problem before you set about showing how you help solve that problem. However, numbers, when used in content marketing, tend to be tricky business. For every statistic about the company or about one of its products or services, even with the addition of comparisons, content writers must be careful to address every reader’s unspoken question – So, is that good for me (compared to what I am doing or using now)?

Comparison represents just one of many tools we content writers can use to get the point across, making the word “like” just about unavoidable “Like is a preposition you can’t refuse in our language,” Lederer observes.  But,  the author warns, use that word with caution. After all, you wouldn’t want your content to go over “like a lead balloon”!

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The Power of After-the-Fact Forecasting

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This week , in our Say It For You blog, we’re sharing  content marketing insights  triggered by content in the Old Farmer’s 2025 Almanac …

“How accurate was our forecast last winter?”, managing editor Robert Thomas asks, revealing that, overall, they had predicted  “precipitation departure” (the occurrence of more or less rain/snow than had been anticipated) with a bit over an 83% accuracy rate. A chart on page 204 of the Almanac shows, for eighteen different cities, just how much the Almanac‘s prediction had differed from the actual amount of rain or snow each location experienced. Interestingly, the weather predictions for the coming winter begin on page 205. (It’s as if the editors are keeping readers’ expectations realistic by preceding their predictions with a -” hey-we’re-not-perfect” admission.)

 

Even when the numbers reveal a much worse than 83% “success”, honest “look-backs”, are a good thing in content marketing. In fact, including stories of past mistakes and failures in posts and newsletters, I teach content writers, can help evoke readers’ empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame not only adversity, but the effects of their own mistakes!

Just as the Almanac editors chose to take responsibility for the numbers they had generated last year, business owners can exercise control over the way the public might perceive any negative developments in the industry or even in their own operation.  In fact content writers can help owners directly confront whatever is happening, show that they are taking responsibility and implementing new measures to avoid mistakes in the future.

While past mistakes and failures can add value in content marketing, fear of making mistakes in the future cannot be allowed to cripple messaging power going forward. Besides including information, it’s crucial to incorporate opinion. Taking a stance on issues is how companies and practices can express their uniqueness and deliver “Subject Matter Expertise”. 

When blogging for business reveals your unique “slant” or philosophy within in your field, potential customers and clients feel they know who you are, not merely what you do, and they are far more likely to want to be associated with you.

“Hey-we’re-not-perfect. What we are is looking, listening, processing – and opining” is the message when you do “after-the-fact forecasting” content marketing. 

 

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Titles With Long Tales and Long Tails

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I found lots of “food” for content creation thought in the May/June issue of Reader’s Digest; it struck me that this May/June 2025 issue has even more than usual to teach us about choosing titles….

Surprises: These piqued my curiosity – What hadn’t I heard?

  • Unexpected/ purposely mistaken word use: Have You Herd? (on the topic of the great elephant migration)
  • Simile with a twist: A Tight-Knit Community (on the topic of crafters finishing abandoned knitting and crocheting projects to raise charitable dollars)
  • Slow Your Roll: expecting an article on driving or working out in the gym, instead I found data about how Americans prefer to install toilet paper rolls!
  • Paying Attention to ADHD: Clever juxtaposition – “paying attention” to attention deficit disorder

Sound tracks:

Models, Mistresses, & Muses is an example of alliteration; The Sad Tale of the Soft Sale illustrates both alliteration (repeated consonants)and assonance (repeated vowel sounds)

“Huh”/”Oh!” Titles
Using the element of surprise to lure readers’ attention is a favorite technique of book authors, I’ve found. While titles that pique curiosity can entice readers to open the book, in order to clarify what the subject matter is, authors often use what I call “Huh/Oh” titles. The “Huh?s” need subtitles to make clear what the article is about; “Oh!’s” titles are self-explanatory. For example, one title that caught my eye at a bookstore display was “The Invisible Kingdom”. It might have been about mythology, ESP, or geography, for all I knew. The “Oh!” subtitle read “Reimagining Chronic Illness”, shedding light on the real subject.

Long tail keywords
In online marketing, long-tail keywords (longer, more specific phrases), are used in search engine optimization to attract niche customers. Because “long-tails” often have lower competition, they help make it easier to rank higher in search results.

As marketers, we know that titles, along with their tales – and/or tails – are the way to convey to readers that we’d like to have them “c’mon in”!

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Add the Power of the Photo to the Power of the Words

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“Consider the power of a simple photo,” Bill Shapiro writes in Entrepreneur Magazine. “Those few inches of paper, those few drops of ink — or, you know, those few hundred thousand pixels – have an almost magical ability to transport you back in time, to connect you to your deeply held values, to inspire, to motivate, to thrill…”.

A study carried out by PR News found that content with good images get 94% more views than those without, Bernard Schroeder points out in Forbes. But it’s not good enough to use just any photos, he cautions. The sheer number of images being displayed on product packaging, websites, billboards, ads, and social media can be overwhelming to consumers, so it’s important to select quality and impactful images for your business, he stresses.

At Say It For You, we certainly don’t need to be sold on using images in content marketing. (This very post is actually #2140 of this blog, and in every single one of those, you’ll find a photo or image of some kind.) As Debbie Hemley observed years ago in her post about blogging, pictures have the power to pique interest, aid in learning, and evoke emotions. In any written (or oral, for that matter) presentation, there are three elements – information, “slant” or opinion, and visuals.

To use images and media to their best effect, a Harvard article advises, don’t use them to “spice up” a page; include only those that support or add to the concepts in the text. (Years ago, I chose the image shown above to illustrate the point that the way we dress broadcasts who we are and how we respect others – I felt that image reinforced the opinion I’d expressed in the text of the blog post.)

Side notes: There are technical advantages to consider in using images, in that the “alt text” identifies to search engines what the image is about (formal man dressing for a celebration, event, job interview or wedding on a wooden hanger); incorporating keyword phrases aids in SEO (search engine optimization). There are concerns as well – the use of AI-generated images poses ethical concerns and the danger of copyright infringement.

As content marketers, we can add the power of the photo to the power of our words.

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Content Market to Reach the Ones, Not the Everyones

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Paul was trying to be everywhere, serve everyone, and sell everything. Still, his business had zero revenue for three months in a row. Then, using coach Justin Welsh’s “Rule of One”, Paul was able to effect a 90-day transformation, gaining five clients and a waitlist of three more.

The secret was in the focus, Welsh explains.

  • Paul’s content got better because he focused on one specific topic, posting content on one platform only.
  • His expertise deepened because he chose one offer that solved a specific, expensive problem.
  • He chose one customer type to target; he wasn’t trying to be everything to everyone.

Beginning back in 2008, I’ve returned again and again, in this Say it For You blog, to the theme of target marketing:

Blogs and Podiums – Choose Yours Wisely – Pick one primary area of focus – don’t try to do everything in one post.
Befitting Bloggery – Everything in your content should be tailor-made for one type of customer.
In With Blogging; a Small Business Can Have a Long Tail – high quality content can have a huge effect in a small market.
Smaller targets, Better Hits – Smaller, shorter, and centered around just one idea can turn mini-power into maxi-power.

“Trying to be everything to everyone is one of the gravest mistakes any business can make, the BigCommerce Team advises. Not only will targeting allow you to allocate your advertising dollars and marketing efforts better; “failure to understand the desires, core values, and preferences of your target audience can backfire tremendously”.

I like to call the process of creating content for professional practitioners and business owners “SME-DEV”, (Subject Matter Expert development). Yes, content needs to be focused “outward”, always keeping the needs of that carefully researched target audience in mind. At the same time, we must produce content that focuses on the people behind the business or practice, presenting them as Subject Matter Experts Who Both Know and Care.

Content marketing focuses on the ones, not the “everyones”.

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