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Blog Away Purported Providers

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“Do you know who does most of the estate planning work in our country?” attorney Brian Eagle asked at the start of his professional education lecture series. The startling answer – not legal professionals, but real estate agents and corporate human resource departments.

Since proper and complete estate planning, Eagle teaches, is meant to help organize one’s affairs in such a way as to “give what I have to whom I want, the way I want, and when I want, saving every last tax dollar, professional fee and court cost possible,” merely signing 401(k) beneficiary forms or property purchase agreements is hardly going to get the job done….

One core function of a business blog is explaining to readers what it is you do. As Certified Business Coach Andrew Valley once explained in a 2020 Say It For You guest post, “You must tell the listener how your product or service can benefit that person, and how you can do it better or differently than others who do what you do.”

But what about those many others who think they can offer advice on “what you do”, pushing out content on your topic, but who totally lack experience and training in your field of expertise? Your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, Valley stresses, must be unique; something competitors cannot claim or have not chosen to emphasize in their promotions. A USP, Valley says, raises your business or practice above the “noise”.

Just as Eagle Wealth Management lists client objectives that can be accomplished only with the guidance of experienced and trained legal professionals, including:

  • control – giving “to whom I want, the way and when I want”
  • tax savings
  •  avoiding court costs
  • privacy
  • conflict avoidance

through your blog, you must make clear to readers how your experience and training benefits prospects and clients in ways that “shortcuts” – and lesser-trained providers – cannot.

“A good way to get more participants is to address and solve their challenges. By first mapping out the challenges your audience faces and then showing what it takes to  truly satisfy and solve these challenges, you will be able to stand out in the crowd of providers,” Eline Hagene writes in frontcore.com.

You can leave “purported providers” in the dust when you demonstrate ways in which your clients can achieve “what they want and how they want it”!

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Blog Like a Fundraising Round

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One of the all-time best pieces of advice for blog content writers that I’ve heard comes from an unlikely source – corporate startup fundraising consultant Kristen Copper, CEO of Startup Ladies. “A round is a cycle of fundraising that clearly defines the amount of money being raised and how it will be used within a defined time,” Cooper explains

It’s important for business owners and freelance blog content writers to remember that the title and the actual blog post content must be congruent, so that readers find the kind of information they’ve been led to expect. It’s all well and good to use keyword phrases in blog titles in order to win online search, but the blog post must deliver on that implied promise, by providing content that is on topic and on target for the search terms.

Blog content writers face a challenge when it comes to clearly defining readers’ expectations. Analytics can offer after-the-fact clues (how long readers remain on the page, who many of them click through to website landing pages, email us, or sign up for an RSS, but it is our job to communicate clearly the extent to which our product or service can be expected to deliver results within a clearly defined time period.

On another note, Cooper mentions the importance of a “lead investor”, a person or group working directly with the founder of a company. The “lead” not only makes a substantial initial investment in the company, but makes introductions and connections, putting their own name behind the fundraising effort. The parallel in blog marketing is testimonials.

Client testimonials can boost credibility in two ways: Customer success stories help prospects decide to do business with you. At the same time, the process of writing or posting the recommendation or even being interviewed for a testimonial reinforces the commitment of the “lead customers” themselves..

In blogging for business, content writers can use the model of a fundraising round, clearly defining expectations and using “lead customers”.

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When Blogging, Be Prescriptive, But Be Present

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Understanding how the point of view differs in three different types of personal narratives is crucial in telling a story effectively, William Kenower explains in Writer’s Digest.

  1. A memoir is how we tell a story about something that happened to us in the past.
  2. A personal essay describes a solution to a problem the author sees in the world and lays out how the solution should be brought about.
  3. In a prescriptive, the author is an instructor and the article or piece is an instruction manual.

“Though the author may use stories to illustrate their lesson, in a prescriptive piece, the reader expects and understands that the author will be the one delivering the knowledge. To write these kinds of pieces, the author must feel comfortable in the rule of a teacher or guide,” Kenower says. But even in telling a story, he adds, an author is driven to write because of what experience has taught them.  

“Consumers are used to telling stories to themselves and telling stories to each other, and it’s just natural to buy stuff from someone who’s telling us a story,” observes Seth Godin in his latest book All Marketers Tell Stories.

Not all stories succeed, Godin points out, because not all stories have the following essential elements:

  • Great stories are authentic
  • Great stories are subtle, allowing the target audience to draw their own conclusions.
  • Great stories appeal not to logic, but to the senses.

In business blogs, when we tell the story of a business or a practice to consumers, we “frame” that story in a way that will appeal to the target audience. The business owner or professional practitioner is the “teacher”, driven to write because of what experience has taught them.

Blog marketing is prescriptive, offering how-to advice on solving a particular problem or filling a particular need. At the same time, we’ve learned at Say It ForYou, blogging is a very personal form of communication, and our clients’ corporate messages need to be translated into human, people-to-people terms. The blog is the place for readers to connect with the people behind the business or practice.

Because of what experience has taught me, my advice to bloggers is to be prescriptive, but be present!

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Blogging Your Pull Quote

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In graphic design, a key phrase or sentence is sometimes “pulled” from an article and placed in a larger print in a box on the page. The “pull quote” is used to draw interest, but also gives readers a a “preview” of the thesis to be proven or at least discussed in the article.

In a recent issue of Health Magazine, the article “The Digital-Era Brain” (a discussion of whether the Internet is eroding our memory) features the following pull-quote, printed in bold: “In one study, a group of students said they spent 20 percent of class time texting, playing games, and checking social media”. A second article discussing the USA Memory Championship, titled “Battle of the Big Brains”, features the following pull quote: “Though the brain accounts for only 2 percent of the body’s mass, it uses up a fifth of all the oxygen we breathe and burns a quarter of our glucose.”

In blog posts, both titles and images can serve as “pull quotes”.

“Pull quote” titles

When it comes to blogging for business, titles matter, and for two basic reasons: a) Keywords and phrases help search engines make the match between online searchers’ needs and what your business or professional practice has to offer. b) Exactly like the pull quote on the magazine page, the idea is to “pull” in readers by engaging their interest.

If the title is phrased as a question, asking readers if they’re grappling with an issue or a need that you not only know about, but which you’re accustomed to helping solve – that’s perfect as a pull quote tactic.

“Pull quote” images

Adding images to blog posts has been shown to increase readership. In fact, consumers have been shown to be more likely to consider or contact a business when an image appears in search results. What we’ve found at Say It For You, interestingly, is that commercial images, or “clip art”, which don’t depict the actual products, customers, or colleagues of that business or practice, work particularly well as interest “pullers”, capturing the main concept that will be articulated in the post.

In a very basic sense, blog posts themselves function as “pull quotes”. In fact, one of the most important reasons blogs have a distinct advantage over the more static website copy is that each post draws visitors’ focus to just one story, one aspect of the business, practice, or product, precisely in the manner that a pull quote draws attention to just one main concept embodied in the full article.

Use blogging as a set of pull quotes for your website offerings!

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Blog About Your Roots, Favorite Materials, and Clever Hacks

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While I spend very little time crafting candles or crocheting cushions, I absolutely loved Taryn Mohrman’s article “Let’s Get Crafty” in the March issue of Woman’s Day, presented in honor of National Crafting Month (who knew?).

Taryn’s introductory piece had three parts:

My crafting roots – When she was little, her dad encouraged her to re-imagine and re-create., encouraging her love of design.
Favorite material – spray paint.
Clever hack – She uses shellac primer and sealer before spray painting, so that her projects last much longer.

As head of a team of blog content writers at Say It For You, I realized that Taryn Mohrman had used several of the blogging “hacks” we teach content writers:

First person business blog writing – it shows the people behind the posts, revealing the personality of the business owner, practitioner, or the team standing ready to serve customers.

Sharing personal background – People tend to buy when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message.

Stating an opinion (favorite material) – Whether you’re blogging to promote a business, a professional practice, or a nonprofit organization, you should share your opinion or slant.

Offering a specific practical tip or trick to help readers do what they want to do, but faster, better, and more easily. Mohrman includes a simple recipe for a scrub – sugar coconut oil, and gel food coloring..

Other articles included in this Woman’s Day issue illustrate other blog post approaches and “clever hacks”:

Toni Lipse answers the question “What’s the difference?” (between crocheting and. Knitting). In creating content for marketing blogs, we need to keep in mind that people are online searching for answers to questions they have and for solutions for dilemmas they’re facing. But searchers haven’t always formulated their questions, and so what I suggest is that we do that for them in our content. .

A testimonial by Nancy Landrum explains how crafting helped her battle depression after being widowed twice and losing her eldest son. Customer testimonials in blogs are a powerful form of social proof; readers are more likely to follow the actions others have already taken.

Whether you’re getting crafty with spray paint or with words, make sure to share some clever hacks – and, even more important – a glimpse into your own roots, favorites, and opinions!

While I spend very little time crafting candles or crocheting cushions, I absolutely loved Taryn Mohrman’s article “Let’s Get Crafty” in the March issue of Woman’s Day, presented in honor of National Crafting Month (who knew?).

Taryn’s introductory piece had three parts:

  1. My crafting roots – When she was little, her dad encouraged her to re-imagine and re-create., encouraging her love of design.
  2. Favorite material – spray paint.
  3. Clever hack – She uses shellac primer and sealer before spray painting, so that her projects last much longer.

As head of a team of blog content writers at Say It For You, I realized that Taryn Mohrman had used several of the blogging “hacks” we teach content writers:

  1. First person business blog writing – it shows the people behind the posts, revealing the personality of the business owner, practitioner, or the team standing ready to serve customers.
  2. Sharing personal background – People tend to buy when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message.
  3. Stating an opinion (your favorite “material”) – Whether you’re blogging to promote a business, a professional practice, or a nonprofit organization, you should share your opinion or slant.
  4. Offering a specific practical tip or trick to help readers do what they want to do, but faster, better, and more easily. Mohrman includes a simple recipe for a scrub – sugar coconut oil, and gel food coloring..

Other articles included in this Woman’s Day issue illustrate other blog post approaches and “clever hacks”:

  • Toni Lipse answers the question “What’s the difference?” (between crocheting and. Knitting). In creating content for marketing blogs, we need to keep in mind that people are online searching for answers to questions they have and for solutions for dilemmas they’re facing. But searchers haven’t always formulated their questions, and so what I suggest is that we do that for them in our content.
  • A testimonial by Nancy Landrum explains how crafting helped her battle depression after being widowed twice and losing her eldest son. Customer testimonials in blogs are a powerful form of social proof; readers are more likely to follow the actions others have already taken.

Whether you’re getting crafty with spray paint or with words, make sure to share some clever hacks – and, even more important – a glimpse into your own roots, favorites, and opinions!

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