Posts

Featuring the Seconds-to-None in Your Blog or Newsletter

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

 

“Secondary characters add depth and interest to the world your main character inhabits, helping to make the tale more memorable,” Ellen Bulkema writes in the writersinthestorm blog. As a source of support for the protagonist of a novel, secondary characters can also be used to present an obstacle or challenge, or to serve as teachers or guides. Supporting characters don’t need as much detail as you’d give to primary characters, Bulkema admits, but can help clarify the mindset and relationships in the setting.

In a business or practice, the employees, who, while seemingly “secondary” to the business owner or practitioner him or herself, are key to the customer experience. Featuring those players in blog posts and newsletters help humanize a company and create loyal fans. As Disney Parks’ Thomas Smith explains, “…we like to go behind the scenes to show the dedication and inspiration that make our park experiences so magical for our guests.”

A corporate blog is the “space for your company employees to help prospects , providing customers with practical solutions,,” greatcontent.com explains. “It will help customers relate to you even more because they will see human faces and names behind the blog posts.” Sproutsocial agrees. “Real people are the key to authentic relationships,  Consumers want to learn more about the people behind their favorite brands.”

At Say It For You, our writers understand that, because the employees are the ones in the field and on the phone with customers and clients, they know the strengths and best uses of the company’s products and services and it is they who can best supply the anecdotes that are so useful for marketing content. One way we involve employees is to highlight specific accomplishments in a blog or newsletter. When readers learn about an employee’s enthusiasm and how that person put in extra time and effort in serving customers, that cements the customer’s relationship with the company or practice.

Featuring those “seconds-to-none” employees in the company’s or the practice’s communications can be a gift that keeps on giving.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

“Facing Up” Blog Content is a Great Idea

/0 Comments/in , , /by


Webpages with lists of staff are often one of the most-viewed pages on a company’s website, yet some companies don’t have any people represented in detail, Karen Carlson of LRS Web Solutions regrets. “They say it’s too much work to maintain, they receive spam emails, or that they’re worried other companies will pilfer their best employees.” While acknowledging those very risks, Carlson emphasizes that “The bigger risk is leaving your business faceless.”

AARP editors agree, recognizing eight senators, among them Thomas TIllis of North Carolina caretaker for his grandmother, and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, caretaker for her son who has cerebral palsy. The photos, along with the stories, serve to make real legislators’ tireless efforts to improve the U.S. healthcare system.

“Today’s users want to do more than just purchase from a company,” Carlson explains. “They want to put faces with names.” At Say It For You, we translate that into “authenticity blogging“, using the content to provide readers an intimate look at what goes into providing your products and services. After all, it’s the employees who are in the field and on the phone with customers and clients. Although often employees see blogging as just one more task to make their work load heavier, my team members want to interact with those employees and, in fact, highlight their accomplishments and insights along with their photos.

For some business or practice owners, a combination blogging plan turns out t be just right, with my Say It For You team providing professionally written content, thus maintaining the regularity and research needed to win search engine rankings, but with employees providing their very special touch when their time and their regular duties allow.

Blog content marketing based solely on the features of products and services is simply not likely to work. Yes, for blogs to be effective, they must serve as positioning statements and describe a value proposition. But blogs cannot do that without connecting. Showing the “faces” and the people behind those faces has the power to “amp up” the connective power of marketing content.

“Facing up” your blog content is a very good idea!

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Use Unlikely Comparisons as a Teaching Tool

/0 Comments/in /by


“From turtle doves to lords-a-leaping, the price of the ’12 Days of Christmas’ just hit a record high,” CNN observed in what I found to be a wonderfully effective use of an unlikely comparison to make an important point. In fact, every year, PNC Financial Services publishes the Christmas Price Index, measuring the average change in price for each of the items in the classic Christmas song. The tongue-in-cheek index, CNN explains, is meant “to highlight market changes over time while educating consumers about the economy”.

Years ago, I’d read a review of a band playing at a restaurant near me on Halloween, telling how this band was able to keep the crowd dancing and singing along. The reviewer had mentioned something that I continue to think is good advice for content writers: “It was especially fun to see Tammy dancing with Elvis, and a ladybug dancing with a monster”. To help capture interest, we suggest at Say It For You, put “ingredients” together that don’t seem to match.  In fact, suggesting a totally new way of using your product or service may open up new possibilities for that potential customer to do business with you.

“Turns of phrase catch readers by the curiosity,” I realized years ago. Putting ingredients together that don’t seem to match is not only an excellent tool for creating engaging business blog content, but also a good teaching tool. Going from what is familiar to readers to the unfamiliar area of your own expertise, allows your potential customers to feel smart as well as understood.

The caveat though, is that, when it comes to blog content writing, misdirection needs to end up by offering direction; if it’s overdone or too far-fetched, it can come across as “bait ‘n switch”. The unlikely comparison must clarify and help readers get the answers they came to find.

The 12 days of Christmas price index being up again concept sparked my curiosity, but, since turtledoves and French hens are not on my shopping list, the fact they’ve risen in price doesn’t really reflect my own buying patterns. Still, learning that 2023 was the first year in history in which the cost of buying all the gifts in the song passed $200,000 – that got my attention. I was now ready to learn about retail sales, wage growth, savings rates, and consumer sentiment….

Try using unlikely comparisons as teaching tools in your blog posts.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Boxing Day For Bloggers

/0 Comments/in , , /by


Day after Christmas is when Boxing Day is observed in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada, a time for retail sales, special sporting events and for making gifts to the poor. In a way, though,  for business people, today, the day after New Year’s, is our “Boxing Day”, our first best chance to put all those resolutions into practice….

Our big challenge
As content writers, our big challenge moving forward is overcoming “content shock”, which, as readable.com explains, is “the experience of being desensitized to perfectly good content by the sheer volume of texts being thrown our way every day due to technological advancement”. The secret is to make content accessible, written in a way that is easy to understand, the Readable authors advise.

Keeping it conversational
Formality may be appropriate for whitepapers, but for blogs, an informal style is preferred. At Say It For You, I stress first person business blog writing because of its one enormous advantage – it shows the people behind the posts, revealing the personality of the business owner, practitioner, or the team standing ready to serve customers. Still, all content writing in blogs is actually “second person” in that every piece of information offered has to be about the readers. I prefer first and second person writing in business blog posts over third person “reporting”.

Keeping it readable
According to Readable.com, the golden rules for readability are:

  • Write at the correct reading level.(An eighth-grade reading level is recommended for most blogs. Web FX cautions).
  • Shorten your sentences. (Short sentences have “pow!”, and, particularly in titles, can be easily shared on social media.)
  • Reduce the number of long words. (Blog readers are scanners, and their eyes will focus on the most important words, the ones relating most directly to their search.)
  • Scrub your copy of jargon and acronyms. (While jargon is admittedly a handle-with-care writing technique, I believe it’s important to add lesser known bits of information, giving readers a feeling of being “in the know”.)
  • Don’t overuse adverbs.(The shorter and more direct a statement, the more impact it will have.)

Today,  the 2024″blog content writers “Boxing Day”, is the first day we have to put all these writing tips and New Year’s business-building resolutions into action….

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Counting Down and Looking Up

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

 

“Yes, the end of December is the perfect time for a year-end review, for taking a few moments to look at what you’ve accomplished over the past 12 months, and taking stock of all the things you still want to accomplish,” Nathalie Thompson of vibeshifting.com so aptly writes…

Counting down the past year, you are reading the 130th semi-weekly Say It For You blog post of 2023, There have also been twelve monthly Say It For You online newsletters, Meanwhile, year-round, the team has generated dozens upon dozens of blog posts and other content pieces for our clients.

Is blogging still going to be “a thing” in 2024 and beyond? A resounding “Yes!” is our answer, The Say It For You blog is on a WordPress platform; on that platform alone, there are now more than 20 billion views per month. “Even in today’s world,” Creative Boom remarks, “where brevity rules and attention spans are seemingly at an all-time low, there undoubtedly remains a place for a regularly-maintained blog that’s crafted with care and with its audience in mind.”

While Mark Prosser of Score.org lists reasons for keeping an active business blog (driving traffic to the website, informing customers about the good work you do, sharing client testimonials, finding out what customers want, promoting your brand to potential employees, and analyzing marketing demographics), there is one important thing about blogging that I try to impress on each business or practice owner: a blog is an ongoing training course for you.

You see, the interesting thing I’ve found over the past sixteen (yes, count ’em!) years of business blogging is that the very exercise of thinking through the themes and the ideas for the blog, even if the actual content writing task is being outsourced, helps train business owners and practitioners to articulate those ideas when interacting with their own customers. In a very real sense, maintaining an active blog not only helps your business, it can help you do your business better! 

Meanwhile, for us on the content writing team, the ongoing learning process is the true blessing. The tremendous variety of topics –  from dry cleaning to electromagnetic fields, from family law to finance, from HVAC to dry cleaning, from air quality to architecture, organ transplants to trucking, car painting to long term care…..every assignment is a doorway to fascinating insights.

At Say It For You, we’re right there with you, counting down to the end of 2023, and looking forward – and upwards – to 2024.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail