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How-I-Did_It Business Blogging

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Again, in this week’s Say It For You blog posts, I’m sharing valuable content writing tips from current magazine issues. Reading through the September 2022 Inc. Magazine, I was struck by the effectiveness of the “How I….” series of business leader stories:

  • how I persuaded my mom and dad to let me run our home-grown beverage brand (Boolyte)
  • how I re-imagined the farmers’ market to deliver local food everywhere (MarketWagon)
  • how I built a home care company during a healthcare labor crisis (BarbaraKares)
  • how I got sweaty and muddy and made non-alcoholic beer cool (Athletic Bravery)
  • how I took on the immigration system to help thousands get their green cards (Boundless Immigration)

    “History is something very important, and fundamental even in the way we communicate as humans. Tell a great story on your blog and you can capture the attention, distract, enlighten, and even persuade… and all this in just a few minutes,” explains Paul Kellin of BlogPasCher. Every great story needs a hero who is transformed as the story unfolds, Kellin says. Ultimately, he explains, it’s your customer who is the hero, who will be transformed by your products and services.

Authenticity is powerful in blog marketing. Through how-we-did-it stories, readers can be provided an intimate view of your journey and what went into developing your products and services. In fact, a survey quoted by Sprout Social showed that 72% of consumers want to learn more about the people behind their favorite brands. How-I-did-it marketing needs to also include how-I-failed stories, we teach blog content writers at Say It For You – writing about past failures is important. Remember that true stories about mistakes and struggles are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind the business. Ironically, I often find that business owner and professional practitioner clients of mine are so close to the subject matter of their own business battles, they don’t realize that these stories can actually be used as marketing tools.

How-I-did-it business blogging can prove to be a very effective way to “get it done”!

 

 

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Blogging About Instead-Of Courses of Action

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In this week’s and next week’s Say It For You blog posts, I’m sharing valuable content writing tips from current magazine issues. In this month’s Good Housekeeping magazine, Stefani Sassos talks about foods that are best for fighting fatigue. Rather than merely listing nutritious foods, though, Sassos organized the material in “instead of” fashion, first naming a popular food choice, then recommending a healthier alternative, then offering an explanation of why the “instead of” choice is the more health-beneficial.one.

  • Instead of snacking on potato chips, Sassos suggests popcorn. Reason – “This fiber-packed whole grain can slow digestion and keep energy high.” Sassos then goes on to recommend a specific brand of popcorn.
  • Instead of energy drinks, Sassos suggests sparkling matcha. Reason: “The L-theanine can help slow caffeine absorption to even out the energy lift.”
  • Instead of pretzels, Sassos suggests peanuts. Reason: Unlike pretzels, which have little nutritional value and raise blood sugar levels, peanuts contain energizing protein.

The content creation concept I’m emphasizing this week is this: In marketing a business or practice, organizing relevant and useful information in a structured format is very useful to readers. Notice that, in this Good Housekeeping “grid”, the author first mentions the “status quo”, the typical consumer choice, showing an understanding of her audience. In blogging for business, you must demonstrate that your product or service can do something your competitors can’t (or something yours does better). In order to achieve that level of persuasion, your content must be based on knowledge of your target audience and their habits. Sassos first offers the reasoning behind the change, only then recommending a specific alternative product choice.

Of course, like magazines such as Good Housekeeping, blogs are designed to appeal to specific audiences. In a way, blog audiences “self-select” by typing their “wishes” into the search bar. But once readers have landed, we’ve learned at Say It For You, the secret lies in your having gotten to know your particular audience, thinking about how they (not the average person, but specifically “they*) would probably react or feel about your approach to the subject at hand. For example, while you may point out that your product or service can do something your competitors can’t, that particular “advantage” may or may not be what your audience is likely to value. Even if your target audience falls in the money-motivated category, for example, they might find appeal in the least expensive offerings. Conversely they might go for the most expensive (prizing luxury and exclusivity).

In either case, in creating blog content that speaks to your target customers and clients, think of blogging about “instead-of” courses of action!

 

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One By One Problem-Solve in Blogging for Business

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This week, our Say It For You blog is sharing insights gained from the book The Writer’s Resource , by Day and McMahan….

“Analysis is always a part of effective problem solving,” the authors assert. Take any topic, isolate the parts, and think about them one by one, they advise. Why is it so hard to study English? Think of the component parts: a) You have not bought the textbook. b) The light bulb in your desk lamp has been burned out. c) You turn on the TV the moment you come home from school. Tackle each of those three, then think up three more rationalizations and deal with those, the authors say. Eventually, you’ll get to the heart of the problem, and the breakthrough will be due to your growing analytical prowess.

At Say It For You, we realize that our clients’ blog readers are not their students, and it’s going to be up to us content writers to “solve” readers’ issues, answering their questions, engaging their interest, and moving them to take action. The secret may lie in the story Day and McMahan tell about the composition teacher who told her students: “If, after writing the opening paragraph of your paper, you find you’ve run out of ideas of what to say next, begin the second paragraph with the words ‘for example'”. Even if you’re not writing about something difficult or abstract, the authors say, you still need examples to prove your point, as well as “to add verve and interest”. All good writing, the authors conclude, uses examples and illustrations.

But, in order to follow that opening-paragraph-followed-by-examples format, it’s important to first isolate one small aspect of your topic, focusing on just one idea in each blog post. Not only will that add more “punch”, but it allows the content writer – and the reader – to focus on that one central point. Remember, that opening paragraph is there to make clear not only what need, issue, or problem is to be discussed, but also what “slant” the business or practice owner has on the issue.

Then, the “for example” content might be based on real customer experiences, an issue with which the founders had wrestled before discovering the solution.

In blogging for business, it’s a good idea to tackle problems one by one!

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“That’s Just It” Blogging for Business

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“You know what descriptive writing is, The Writer’s Resource authors Day and McMahan say. “It makes you smile or sigh, brings tears to your eyes, makes you say to yourself, ‘Yes, that’s just it'” Good descriptive details are welcome in almost any kind of writing, they add. “Amen to that”, we believe at Say It For You. Blog content writing might be high-quality and informative and still not engage with readers, absent the kind of personal connection that gets prospects emotionally involved. Even in B2B marketing, there’s always a person saying “Yes, that’s just it!” who will be key to doing “a deal”.

But how is it done? You don’t need to add a slew of words to a page to achieve impact, Day and McMahan suggest, just the most specific ones. You feel terrible about something? In what way? Are you humiliated, guilty, fearful, frustrated, sickened, sad? Consult a thesaurus if you need help narrowing down the word choices to find the “That’s just it” way to express your idea, they advise. In blog content, emotional “capital” can include biographical stories showing problems solved or narrowly avoided in the course of building the business or practice and evocative descriptions of situations solved by using the product or service.

To put power into business blogs, use “close-ups” for emotional connection and impact, because it’s the details that stimulate emotional responses in readers. In fact, blog posts have a distinct advantage over more static traditional website copy precisely because of that close-up effect. And the “closer up” the focus, (and that goes for business-to-business blog writing every bit as much as B-to-C), the greater the impact. Introduce real people into the content, helping each find “That’s just it” words to convey their thoughts to readers:

  • real employees delivering the product or service to the public, portraying them as real people with real lives of their own, dealing with real frustrations, but who take real pride in their work
  • real business owners who overcame real hurdles to launch and to continue growing their business
  • real customers who have been helped in real ways

“Advertising is ubiquitous in modern society, and while many people have some understanding of the power it wields over our everyday choices, few realize the subtle nuances of advertising that cause it to be so effective,” formationmediaco.uk writes. “The power of an advert becomes that much stronger when it is personally attached to your own daily life…Understanding how to use language in adverts is a skill in itself and you’ll know when you get it right; the customers will come flooding through the door.”

Descriptive writing with “that’s just it” words can make them smile, sigh, and hopefully – buy.

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Sharing the “We” in Blogging for Business

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In a Say It For You blog post last week, I mentioned the ongoing debate about the use of the two pronouns “you” and “we” in marketing messages. While many respondents to a Corporate Visions survey had said they used we-phrasing deliberately to position themselves as trusted partners with their customers, a set of experiments reviewed in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that sometimes the use of “we” arouses suspicion rather than trust, because prospects and brand-new didn’t yet have reason to feel a congenial relationship with the company.

My own feelings on the matter, as expressed in my monthly newsletter, are that “we” is a valuable syllable. In communication with the public, and particularly in blog content writing, there’s a very special purpose to be served by using first person pronouns – they help keep the blog conversational rather than either academic-sounding or overly sales-ey. When the owners of a business or practice use phrases such as “we think”, “we believe”, “we see this all the time”, they are offering their unique slant or opinion that differentiates them from their competition.

Much to my delight, as I read through my copy of this week’s Indianapolis Business Journal, I saw that editor Lesley Weidenbener’s Commentary column was titled “we’re listening; we’re focused on business” The article  presents an extremely personal accounting of the way Weidenbener and her editorial staff had wrestled with the decision about whether, as a business-focused publication, they should include breaking news stories about criminal and social events that affect businesses. How would they avoid sensationalism or “yellow journalism”? The newsroom staff met, readers’ advice was considered, and “WE” (the editor shares) “decided that WE will maintain our focus on business news and on how crime….affects business.”, There’s no “royal ‘we'” here; in fact, Wedenbrener tells readers “We want to know what YOU think…”

As blog content writers, we represent those business owners and professions who are – and should be – the “we”, the ones with the ideas, the knowledge, the products and services, and the ones who have the experience and the unique “slants” to share. Those real people behind the “we” are sharing their stuff with YOU, the online readers receiving the good advice and answers to their questions. Blog posts, to be effective, can’t be just compilations or “aggregations” of information, even when that information is extremely valuable. There has to be human connection.

The “oomph”, I’m now even more firmly convinced, comes from sharing the “we” in blogging for business.

 

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