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In Blogging, Clarity Depends on Contrasts

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blog selling
The following true story, shared in Daniel Pink’s book To Sell is Human, involves a blind man sitting on a bench in Central Park with a can for contributions labeled “I’m blind”. With the addition of only 4 words, an ad exec realized, the sign would move more people to put money in the can. When the sign stated “It is springtime, but I am blind”, people were able to feel pity – here they were, enjoying the gorgeous spring day, while this poor blind man was totally unable to savor its beauty….

“One aspect of contemporary society is that people are stimulus-rich and context-poor,” Pink explains. They don’t know what the information means. By contrasting the experience of the passersby with that of the blind man asking for change, viewers saw the man’s situation in perspective.

In the book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely talks about the importance of comparing one thing with another. People want to make their own decisions and own them, Ariely believes. For that reason, he advises, if you want to sell Product A, you must create an Option B, so that customers feel they are choosing A because it contrasts favorably with B.

In blog content writing, with the goal being engaging online visitors’ interest, we can create contrast between analytical content and emotional content, toggling back and forth among It helps to remember that most people are only interested if what you do fits with what they need or want; otherwise they are not interested. You must tell readers, not only how your product or service can benefit them, but how you can do it better or differently than others who do what you do.

The blind man in Daniel Pink’s story needed help creating a Unique Selling Proposition. In carving out your own USP, make sure your message tells visitors not only who you are and what you do, but why you’re different from other providers – and why that difference should matter to them.

In other words, in begging or blogging,  clarity depends on contrasts!

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In Blogging for Business, Remember the Golden Rule Conundrum

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“Most of us were taught in childhood the so-called golden rule,” Garrison Klueck writes in this month’s MENSA Bulletin. The basic directive, he reminds us, is to “do unto others what you would have them do unto you”. What could possibly go wrong with that easy-to-grasp call to altruism and empathy, Klueck asks? Where’s the conundrum?

The basic problem, Kleuck points out, is that the golden rule assumes all people want the same type of things “done unto them.”, and that is clearly not the case. We’re like pet cats bringing dead mice to their owners. The cats consider the mouse a gift and expect their owners to be pleased, but instead, they’re horrified.

Hurt feelings, misunderstanding, disputes, and conflicts arise from the disconnect between how we treat others and how they would like to be treated, Klueck concludes.

Precisely the same conundrum applies in blogging for business, we’ve learned at Say it for You. “A blog’s target audience is the group of people who will find its content most helpful,” writes Mo the blog coach. “Putting specific demographics on your audience helps you to think of them as a real person with real problems and not abstract people.” In other words, the more you can learn learn what your target readers want “done unto them”, the more successful your blog marketing is likely to be.

“If your marketing is not getting enough people into the pool, you’ll find the problem is in one of three places. You’ve either got the wrong STORY, the wrong STUFF, or the wrong AUDIENCE,”  iTeam CEO Thaddeus Rex once told me. “No marketing succeeds if it can’t find the audience that already wants to believe the story being told,” is the way Seth Godin puts it.

Understanding what blog visitors want “done unto them” will ultimately affect every aspect of your blog, including what it looks like, the style of writing, the length and frequency of posts, and how you present calls to action.

In blogging for business, remember the Golden Rule conundrum!

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Picking an Outfit – for an Interview or a Blog Post

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“We all make judgments about the people we come into contact with within the first few minutes of meeting them,” ZipRecruiter observes in IndyStar. “In fact, we tend to assume that people who dress well are more competent, even if they aren’t.”

Interesting, I thought. Two pieces of the how-to-pick-a-job-interview-outfit advice ZipRecruiter offers can be easily adapted to business blog content writing…After all, as content writers, our goal is to make a good impression on visitors to our – or our clients’ – websites..

Observe others
To get a sense of how you might want to present yourself, do some people-watching. For each person that passes, write down the first adjective that comes to mind – professional, confident, stylish. Decide which words you’d like to be associated with and mirror that look.

Business blogging is one way we have of “talking about ourselves”, and we need to make sure we use words in ways that give readers the right impression. One way to “see” ourselves from the point of view of visitors is to visit others’ websites, including those of competitors. Is the “vibe” welcoming and empathetic? Brash? Don’t copy, simply get a sense of how different websites appeal to visitors, and emulate the tone that seems to best reflect the impression you’d like to make on visitors to your site.

Of course, as Neil Patel points out, you can also use “competitive intelligence” to gain insight into which keywords are helping your competitors’ rankings online.

Strike a pose
In the right outfit, you’re more likely to “strike a power pose” and put your best foot forward. Look for fashion at affordable prices or reach out to a friend or family member who can lend you an outfit.

In blog marketing, as I teach at Say It For You, the visual elements are as important as the content itself. The main message of a blog is delivered in words, of course. Where visuals come in, whether they’re in the form of “clip art”, photos, graphs, charts, or even videos, is to add interest and evoke emotion. You should take pride in your blog’s appearance, ease of navigation, and correct grammar.

Whether for a job interview or a blog post – it’s important to pick an outfit!

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Bloggers and Advisors Seek Ways to Get Discovered

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“Why did you choose me?” That’s a question one California financial adviser asks new clients. Bryce Sanders, in Financial Advisor. suggests nine ways financial advisors can “get on people’s radar”. Since, at Say It For You, that’s the very goal of the blog marketing work we do, I was interested in what Sanders had learned from his advisor friend…

Four of the ways prospects “found” the financial advisor, I realized, involved no outreach or specific effort on his part, evolving naturally out of his ongoing presence in business and social circles and his work with existing clients.

  • word of mouth
  • family connections
  • same faith or beliefs
  • referrals

In the same way, of course, prospective buyers might find their way to any service provider or vendor of a product line. In today’s world, though, a visit to the website will generally come next, as the prospect “checks out” the referral or the community connection. That’s precisely where e recently posted blog information has the power to move the prospect closer to taking the next step.

politely persistent – the advisor treated prospects as friends, “dripping” on them with postcards and informational notes. Staying regular in posting blog content helps both readers and search engines come to “rely” on regular bursts of information.

awards won – “People want to do business with the best,” Sanders says. Although at Say It For You, I remind owners and practitioners that blogging is not boasting, it’s good to offer “credentializing proof”, alluding in blog posts to your years of experiences, weaving into the text mention of your degrees, quoting articles you’ve written – and even citing awards you’ve won.

community involvement – People tend to be comfortable associating with professionals and business owners who give back to their community. Blog content can focus on personal anecdotes and on the personal values of the business owners and of the people delivering professional services. But, taking it further than that, the content should actually reflect and even allude to current community happenings and concerns.

advertising – When your face or firm name is on bus shelters and shopping cards, Sanders points out, when they need a specific product or service, you are the one who comes to mind.. When we bloggers enter conversations that are trending at the time and tie our blog content to current events, that serves the dual purpose of “playing off” already existing popular interest while possibly earning search engine “Brownie points” as well. Did we attend a performance or rally? How does what we heard and saw tie in with our own work in the community?

Like financial advisors, other professional practitioners and business owners seeking ways to get discovered can bring their message to attention through blog marketing.

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Laws of Likability for Bloggers

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In her rare downtime, Michelle Tillis Lederman confesses in her book The 11 laws of Likability, her guilty pleasure is watching TV reality shows. The characters she’s most drawn to, she realized, are being real. Contestants who accept themselves and have a sense of humor about their faults are the most likable, she concluded.

How does that insight apply to networking? Lederman asks. Being authentic is not a permission slip to be rude, obnoxious or inappropriate, but what it does mean is letting your true self show through so that others can connect with you, she concludes.

Can this insight be applied to online content marketing? In-person communication, Lederman explains, is based on three components – verbal (the words you choose), vocal (the tone and animation of your voice), and visual (facial expression and body language). In web-based marketing, we realize at Say It For You, words become our primary tools for transmitting the “true you” of our business owner or professional practitioner clients.

Lederman offers four pieces of practical advice about word-based communication:

  1. Start with the positive.
  2. Choose strong, actionable verbs.
  3. Focus on what can be done.
  4. Translate your own ideas into knowledge and opportunity (for them)

Nothing is more real – and more “likable”, our blog content writers have learned, than citing the real-life obstacles the business owner needed to overcome and the wisdom she’s gained in the process.

A connection is something that requires two, Lederman reminds readers. In the world of blog marketing, it is the visitors who’ve initiated the “conversation” by virtue of searching online for answers to a question they have or a product or service they are seeking. The blog content is there to do what Lederman calls “meeting them where they are – almost”. As bloggers, we’re validating the readers’ “energy state”, showing them we “heard” what they are saying and that they’ve come to the right place.

In relationships, Lederman realizes, when you give freely to others, you increase your likability. Still, you don’t always get something in return. A favor, she reminds readers, is only a favor when someone wants it!

In pull marketing (of which blogging is an important part, you have advice and valuable information to offer freely to all visitors to your site. Yet “what one person finds valuable may be another person’s spam,” the author remarks ruefully. Just be yourself and be there, she concludes. The rest is up to them.

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