Staged-Based Blogging for Business

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“So, how can your sales and marketing teams ensure that they’re catering to the preferences of their consumers?  The answer is stage-based marketing,” says Jenna Hanington of Pardot.

It seems a study conducted by Jenna’s colleague Matthew Sweezey revealed that 96% of B2B consumers start their research on Google (no big surprise there).  But then 76% indicated that they return to Google two to three times to continue their research, each time searching for more specific information. “As consumers progress through the sales funnel, they seek out different types of content.” The lesson that’s so important for us blog content writers to glean here: Consumers want different content at each stage of their research.

Offering different content at each stage of the sales cycle is the foundation of stage-based marketing, concludes Hanington.

Top of the funnel: For prospects at this beginning stage, content should be light, educational, and product-neutral.  Blog posts can focus on industry-relevant topics rather than on product. “Often, prospects in this stage don’t even know that they have a fixable problem.”

To appeal to those online blog readers who are in “first-stage”, we can include statistics that demonstrate how widespread and significant a particular problem is, then going on in the blog content writing to allude to your (or your client’s) experience in handling this precise problem.

Middle of the funnel:  As prospects move through the funnel, the content can get a little more specific. “You want to get your prospects thinking about the advantages of having your product, as well as the disadvantages of not having it,” explains Hannington.

Marketing blogs will succeed, I teach, only if it’s clear you (the business owner or professional practitioner) understand online searchers’ concerns and needs, and that you and your staff have the experience, the information, the products, and the latest technology to solve exactly those problems and meet precisely those needs.

Bottom of the funnel: Once the prospect has made it all the way to the bottom of the funnel, you should be focused on selling them your product or service.  They’re sold on your industry and are deciding among vendors, Hannington points out.

A reader who has reached the final decision-making stages will be looking for unique value propositions, asking him/herself: “What’s in it for me?” If your content answers that question, the reader’s next step will be to follow one of your Calls to Action.

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Not-An-Ad Blogging For Business – Even If You’re No Olympian

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“When you’re a winter Olympian, there are no sick days or nights,” reads the headline for the Vicks Dayquil® and Nyquil® ad.

Now, there‘s a good example of a “pow” opening line, I thought, recalling the way I advise blog content writers to begin each post, grabbing readers’ attention and offering a glimpse of the topic to be discussed.  But, really, is it a good line?” I reflected. After all, 99.9% of the Oprah Magazine readers who will see that ad aren’t Olympic athletes!

(This week, I’m focusing all three of my Say It For You blog posts on lessons we blog content writers can learn from advertising copy writers.) On closer examination, this particular ad appears to fly in the face of one important rule I teach about blog content writing. The content of each post, I continually stress, must be centered around the needs of our target audience, and, as I pointed out, Opra's audience probably isn’t made up of Olympians.

Still, what makes the ad work is that it’s “au fait” (informed, up-to-date, and abreast of what’s going on in the world.) “The blogging format lives and dies on current information,” emphasizes Susannah Gardner in “Writing a Good Business Blog”. The Olympic Winter Games are in the news now, and it’s easy for readers to compare the demands of their own busy lives with the even more rigorous demands of the athletes.

In general, I teach, it IS important to blog about time-sensitive, current topics everyone else is covering. Sure, searchers have the choice to go directly to more complete and even more authoritative sources when it comes to topics in the news, but what you have to offer is your unique perspective as you "translate" the information for the benefit of readers. If your post helps readers make sense of the news, you'll come across as a trusted and understandable authority.

Even if you’re no Olympian, you need a good night’s sleep.  And, even if your readers are no Olympians, linking your business blog content to what’s in the news can be an effective way to grab attention.
 

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Not-An-Ad Blogging for Business – Made of Something Better

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“Made of something better” is the headline of a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream ad in Oprah Magazine. This week I’m paying special attention to ads, sharing what I learn with Say it For You readers.  Even though business blogs are definitely not ads, there are a host of takeaways for us content writers in the ways advertisers sell their products, services, and ideas.

In this particular full-page spread, Ben & Jerry’s makes several different claims.  One simply differentiates their product by its density: “We don’t add a lot of air to our pints, which means rich and creamy ice cream.”

The other claims have to do with the environmental friendliness of their operation and their social consciousness: No genetically-modified ingredients are used, Fair Trade standards assure farmers of a fair price, the company uses vendors in the local economy, and cows are treated humanely.

Looking at this Ben & Jerry ad from my viewpoint as a corporate blogging trainer, I was impressed.  The piece is focused, even while offering a lot of information.  The copy writers seem to have followed the rule I suggest to bloggers – emphasize only one central point in each post.

What’s more, the Ben & Jerry ad gives magazine readers a “learn more” option, leading to the website.  In designing blog content, we need to present the “condensed” version of the information, then offer as one CTA (call to action) the ability to click through to a landing page on the business’ or practice’s website to obtain more information. In fact, blog posts have a distinct advantage over the more static website copy, because you can have a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business in today’s post, saving other topics for later posts.

Imparting one new idea or calling for a single action, your post has greater impact, since people are bombarded with many messages each day. Make no mistake – focused blog posts are made of something better!
 

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Not-An-Ad Blogging for Business – No Famous Wedding Dress Designers

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Ever pay attention (I mean really pay attention) to ads? I do, even when I’m not out to buy anything. And, even though I’m constantly stressing to business blog content writers that blog posts are NOT ads, there’s a lot we can learn from advertisers.  Let’s face it, like them, we have stuff to sell – whether it’s products, services, or ideas, and whether it’s for our own or our clients' businesses or practices.

One ad I keep hearing on my favorite radio station is a case in point.  The commercial for Bowles Mattress caught my attention for a couple of reasons:

First, this isn’t one of those where the DeeJay or talk show host tells how he and his spouse had had their house painted or their financial plan done and how glad they are for having chosen that particular provider. No, in the Bowles ad, it’s the business owner talking right to me, the listener. That very personal “from-me-to-you” tone is perfect for business blog writing.

The second thing that stood out about the Bowles “pitch” was the indirect and lighthearted criticism of a competitor. In writing blog content for a professional practice or business, the big challenge we have is demonstrating to the readers why we or why our client will better serve their needs, and doing that without “slamming”. Sure, we have to clarify how we stand out from the competition.  It’s doing that graciously that’s the trick.

The Bowles ad is emphasizing that they have the same quality as the “big box” store brands, but at a much lower price. How can they make such a claim?  40% of the cost of a typical mattress is in the advertising, the mattress man explains.  Bowles, he points out, doesn’t spend money “talking about famous wedding dress designers or bowling balls” (a semi-humorous reference to Serta® and Sealy® ads), so the company can pass those savings along to the consumer.

What Bowles has accomplished with the ad is what branding specialist Thaddeus Rex calls “painting the clown”, getting us to laugh at competitors without coming out and naming them.

No, I’m not backing off my original statement.  Blogs are not ads, nor should they ever be. But emphasizing the positive in your blog content writing may mean first explaining what your competitors do, going on to explain why you do things the way you do.
 

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Borrow-Plus Blog Content Curation

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“We write with you in mind,” says Tim Roberts of Trustpointe Sandler Training.  To that end, Roberts offers a series of promises to us loyal newsletter readers, including these two:

  •  We will present original thinking.
  •  We will cite our sources.

On the face of it, it might appear that these statements contradict each other (if the material is original, then what’s this about citing sources?)  But as a blogging trainer, I know there’s no contradiction at all.

I encourage freelance content writers and business owners alike to curate, meaning to gather OPW (Other People’s Wisdom) and share that with their readers, commenting on that material and relating it to their own topic.

To sustain our blog content writing over long periods of time without losing reader excitement and engagement, we need to constantly add to our own body of knowledge – about our industry or professional field, and about what’s going on around us in our culture. Business blogging can serve as a form of market research in itself, and through curating material we find and then adding our own original thinking about what we’re sharing – that brings our readers the best of both worlds.

HubSpot explains the concept well, defining content curation as “selecting and aggregating information into one place that creates more value for information consumers.”

Trustpointe’s twinset of promises make for the perfect credo for writers of business blogs – collate and curate valuable sources of information for readers’ convenience, and apply original thinking that reflects the practices and philosophies of the business or professional practice you’re promoting!
 

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