Archive for category: the Say It For You blog

If a charitable organization were asking you to become a volunteer or donor, which phraseology would be more likely to get you to act?

At our business networking meeting, the Executive Director of an arts education nonprofit organization gave us members pairs of statements. We each were asked to select one out of each pair as our idea of a better way to spur involvement and open pocketbooks.

1. “Program that improves capacity of schools to teach better”  

            or

2.  “Program that improves capacity of students to think better”

     1.   “a novel business model”

             or

     2.   “a great story”

     1.    Statistics on the program leading to student success in later life

                or

     2.    Statistics on ways the art program helped students succeed in their schoolwork today

All of us in the group found this exercise highly engaging.  The results of this informal survey were especially relevant given my own work as a corporate blogging trainer.  Here’s why:

Our group overwhelmingly voted for #2 about benefiting students, not schools. The relevancy of the content in a business blog can be judged only in relation to the end user.  Are you speaking to the need that drove the searcher your way? Drown out unwanted noise and go directly to a “Relax-you’ve-come-to-the-right-place-for help” message.

Hardly a surprise, the vote was in favor of the “great story” over the “novel business model”. Nothing, but nothing, trumps a great story. That's precisely the reason it's so important to use customer satisfaction stories as content for your business blog. No discussion of how novel the structure of this arts organization can ever have the power of one little boy’s pride in his newfound skills.  And when readers encounter our blog marketing content, no claims, no statistics can ever wield the power of "people just like them" praising the product or service.

I coined the phrase “the Sensa Rule” when discussing blogging with newbie blog content writers in Indianapolis. Every single SENSA® ad is focused on a result, an outcome, on the What’s-In-It-For-Them, and not on the product! One key element in successful corporate blogging for business is usable information that solves problems now.

The closer the potential donor or volunteer feels to being able to help bring about the result, the more likely they are to act, our group concluded, opting for statistics on the art program helping students in their schoolwork today.

Dis or dat? Words count in fundraising and in blogging for business.
 

“Not another self-assessment tool!” I inwardly groaned while dutifully filling out the 77-question form at our Ivy Tech tutor training session. The de-brief, however, turned out to be a pleasant surprise, with insights I’ll use not only in my tutoring but in blogging for business.

One core “commandment” for us blog content writers is that everything we write must be about “them”, meaning the target readers. That means adjusting our communication style to appeal to different types of recipients.

To communicate with an “A” (action-oriented person), I learned at the tutor training, we should state our best recommendations, rather than offering many alternatives.

People are going to want to do business with people who have something to say about their field and about the way they choose to operate within their world. There’s great power in offering strong recommendations and opinions in a blog. That might be particularly true for professional practitioners to whom clients turn for health or legal advice.

By contrast, if the reader is a “PR” (process-oriented person), it’s important to include options and alternatives along with the pros and cons of each.

But, isn’t it true that if you give people too many options, they often choose none? In fact, I teach blog content writers to keep each blog post focused on one idea. Offer choices, but use “chunking”, advises socialtriggers.com. Discuss general categories rather than offering a long list of products or services.

To communicate effectively with PEs (people-oriented persons), we should show how the idea worked in the past and indicate support from well-respected people.

Searchers have some sort of need, and they are recruiting help! To see if you’'e a good fit for them,. They will ask what others would say about you, and that’s where testimonials and client anecdotes come into play in the corporate or professional blog.

The fourth type is “I” (idea-oriented person). Here it’s important to talk about the key concepts that underlie the recommendation, we tutors were taught.

Author Michael Cunningham observes in O Magazine that he’s always aware he’s “writing for someone at least as smart as he, but who’s busy with a job and a mate and a whole life going on.” Even though we blog writers must keep the content short and relevant, that shouldn’t mean “dumbing it down”. For those of our readers who are idea-oriented, they need to get a clear sense of our insights into the issues they face and the concepts underlying our unique way of doing business.
          
Changing communication styles in a blog gives us the chance to reach different types of readers.