Telling to Win in Your Business Blog

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Tell to Win book"Today everyone – whether they know it or not – is in the emotional transportation business," says Peter Guber, author of the new book Tell to Win. Guber’s title refers to what he calls "the hidden power of story".  

As a freelance SEO copywriter reading that intro to the book, I couldn’t help thinking ,"Bingo!"  If the power of story is to be directed towards the marketing strategy and tactics development of any business, there’s nowhere it’s a better fit than in corporate blog writing.

I’ve written about Peter Guber before. As a professional ghost blogger and corporate blogging trainer, I’m fascinated by the way Guber studies stories as business tools.  What Guber calls a "purposeful story" is exactly the sort of story begging to be brought to life in corporate blog writing.

"Simply put," asserts Guber, "If you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it." In fact, while business blog posts are part of a company’s marketing plan, they are not advertorials, billboards, or what Guber calls "soulless Power Point slides". That means blog posts must be effective by presenting stories that in themselves are calls to action for readers.

What can stories do, asks Guber?  His answers need to appear in any manual about blogging for business:

  • Capture your audience’s attention first, fast, and foremost.
  • Motivate your listeners by demonstrating authenticity.
  • Build your tell around "what’s in it for them".

"Your story is your ‘secret sauce’", concludes Guber.  Are YOU using blogging as a key tool in your marketing strategy?  Are YOU using corporate blog writing to tell YOUR business’ great story?  What is YOUR secret sauce?


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Pink’s Tips for Women Entrepreneurs Can Keep Business Blogging in the Pink

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Immediately upon hearing Daniel Pink address the Butler College of Business Freshman pink ladyConvocation last fall, I decided the man belonged on my Favorites list when it comes to good business ideas. One very good recent Pink idea was inviting Butler pharmacy professor and entrepreneur Erin Albert to pass along advice from some of her subjects to Pink’s blog readers.

Although my own Say It For You blog writing services are not targeted specifically towards women entrepreneurs, the Albert business tips are simply good ideas when it comes to corporate blog writing, period. Here are just three of the ones I like and which illustrate points I stress in corporate blogging training:

Do your homework, be a sponge.
In corporate blogging training, I teach the importance of keeping an "ideas" folder to collect word tidbits, clever sayings, articles, and thoughts – all fodder for future blog posts. The more you can be a sponge, soaking up information from everywhere and everyone, the richer and more compelling your blog content writing will be.

Fire clients if they aren’t the right fit.
In business blog writing, of course, it’s not about "firing" anyone, but about attracting clients of the right kind.  Targeting blog content towards "that segment of society that your product or service is perfect for" is the job blog writing is designed to accomplish.

Take action.
Writing for business is one area where action per se beats inaction.  That’s because business blogs, through sheet frequency, are favorably positioned to drown out all the "noise" created by your business competitors.  The cumulative use of keyword phrases in blog posts over weeks, months, and years, is a powerful force when it comes to company branding and corporate identity.

Balance knowledge of facts with gut feeling.
Sometimes I find that business owners are so focused on writing about the facts and features of the products and services they offer, they forget to use their blog posts to reveal who and what they are. People do business with those they like and trust, and your corporate blog writing (even when posts are written by a professional ghost blogger like me!) must reveal what kind of person customers will be getting along with the products and services. 

See what I mean about keeping your business blog writing "in the pink"?



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Taking Longer to Keep Business Blogs Short

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Short is not easy in writing or in speaking.  In fact, short is much more difficult, stresses short pencilUSA Today founder Al Neuharth.

Neuharth wasn’t trying to offer business blogging assistance, but he might well have been. "Getting things short and to the point is the most important thing we should keep in mind…in writing or speaking," he explains.  Why? "Long-winded stuff loses the attention of listeners, readers, viewers, friends, and even family", he adds.

As a freelance SEO copywriter offering business blogging help, I can say that Neuharth’s advice about losing attention is doubly true when it comes to online searchers.  Scanners rather than readers, searchers who arrive at your business blog need virtually instant assurance they’ve come to the right spot for the information, advice, or products they need.

Deborah Tannen, linguistics professor at Georgetown University isn’t as forceful about brevity as Neuharth.  "Brevity hones thinking and forces clarity," she concedes, "but can also mean losing subtlety and nuance."

In corporate blogging training, I offer advice that’s a compromise between the two views: Make blog posts as long as they need to be to get the point across, but not a single sentence longer. Remember that blog content writing needs to be personal and conversational, not terse.

Daniel Scocco leans more towards the Neuharth camp: "If you’re lucky," he warns, you will have online readers giving you 30 seconds of their time.  He advises: "Get to the point, quickly." "Choose simple words."  "Edit, removing unnecessary words and sentences."

Whoever said this blog content writing thing would be easy?  As Scocco reminds us all, "Size does matter, and less is more."



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Business Blogging With Trivia

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Ultimate Trivia bookAlways on the prowl for fresh content, I look for different techniques blog content writers can use to help business owners present what they know, what they do best, and what they have to sell.

Fact is, when I’m offering business blogging assistance, I talk about the need to create as much fresh material as possible.  WebInkNow explains that, in blogs, content needs to inform, educate, and entertain.  That’s a pretty tall order for busy business owners and employees.  Yet, without maintaining a system for consistently posting new, fresh content to their SEO marketing blog, the tactic cannot hold its own as part of a company’s market strategy and tactics development.

Do You Know? Ultimate Trivia is a little book I came across the other day, realizing it could offer very valuable business blogging help. Reading through those trivia puzzles reminded me of a theory I have about quizzes in general, namely that our curiosity is most intense when we’re testing our own knowledge!  That’s why I believe tests, games, and quizzes are hard to resist, including those incorporated into corporate blogging for business.

Author Guy Robinson welcomes readers by saying, "This is a quiz book with three kinds of questions:  those you know, those you once knew, but can’t quite remember and it’s driving you mad, and those you can’t answer but you’d really like to know."

Here are just a few of the trivia questions from the book and what types of businesses might use a trivia question like that in its business blog:

DO YOU KNOW WHICH?

Q: Which dates furthest back in history: Popcorn, Tulips, Cockroaches, or Elephants? 
A: Cockroaches.
Blog: Pest control company

Q. For which instrument did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart never write a concerto: Trumpet, Violin, Bassoon, Clarinet?
A. Trumpet
Blog: Music store, Music school, Band uniform house

DO YOU KNOW WHO?

Q: Who was the inspiration for Billy Crystal’s "Saturday Night Live" character Fernando, famous for the catchphrase "You look maahhhvelous!": Sammy Davis, Jr., Fernando Lamas, Ricardo Montaban, Crystal’ s uncle Fred?
A: Fernando Lamas
Blog: Beauty salon, Cosmetic surgeon, Weight loss company

DO YOU KNOW WHAT?

Q: A garden with soil pH of 4.5 needs what for balance: Something alkaline like limestone or ash, Something acid like gypsum or sulfur, Sand, or Compost?
A: Something alkaline
Blog: Landscape company, grounds maintenance company

Busting myths, offering fascinating but very useful information, and above all allowing readers to test their own knowledge, can showcase the expertise of the business owner while using the irresistible force of curiosity.

Robinson ends his intro by saying, "In these pages, you can show your stuff, refresh your memory, and maybe learn something along the way." Much as bloggers for business want to add more things online searchers can do (click through the shopping cart, download a white paper, submit a request, BUY!), as a longtime professional ghost blogger, I’d have to say starting with Robinson’s three would be a terrific strategy for all of us blog content writers!


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Business Blogging to Say Thank You

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thanksYears ago, says Talent Builders CEO Barbara Giamanco, she learned the importance of expressing thanks and of showing customers you care.  The art of appreciating others, she explains, goes a long way, but, on the other hand, "people can detect fals flattery from a mile away."

As a trainer for corporate blogging for business, I find both sides of Giamanco’s statement relevant.  As freelance SEO copywriters, we at Say It For You aim to attract traffic to clients’ websites by providing business blogging assistance.  In corporate blog writing, we accomplish that, at least in part, through the use of keyword phrases in the titles and in the text of corporate blogs themselves.

But, to be effective (that is, engaging to readers), business blog writing needs to be conversational and personal – in other words, sincere.  Otherwise, online searchers will detect the falsity and click away!

It occurs to me, though, that in addition to being a vehicle for attracting new customers, writing for business in blogs could take the form of customer appreciation.  

In a recent guest blog post, my friend Damon Richards talked about addressing issues with existing customers through the corporate blog.  "While the primary purpose for business blogging is to provide useful information to prospective customers so they will want to do business with you, a useful added benefit is the ability to send messages to your existing customers…"

Expressing sincerely appreciation for the privilege of serving your clients and customers is a message that has appeal to everyone in writing for business.  And while Damon was referring to technical information of which he wanted both new and existing customers to be aware before his support staff engaged with them, I’m talking about using corporate blogging for business to share your own "attitude of gratitude" for the trust your clients have placed in you.

Blog content writers saying "thanks" to people – now, that’s a winning marketing strategy if ever I’ve heard one! 

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