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M’splaining Yourself in Your Content

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“We might even be the smartest people in the room,” writes Matthew Grob of Mensa, “but does that always mean we should always be compelled to demonstrate that?” Mensans probably do more m’splaining (boasting of their brain power) than most, Grob admits, but “we might not always be correct, factually or politically.” Given the options in any conversational situation, he advises his fellow Mensans: “select the one that avoids m’splaining.”

One concern many new clients of Say It For You express to me is that they don’t want to come across as boastful in their blog content. At the same time, they know they need to convey the reasons prospects ought to choose them over their competition. Let the facts do the boasting, is my advice. The whole secret of content marketing is that, rather than running traditional ads for your brand of hats, or vitamins, or travel, you provide lots of information on the history of hats, on why vitamins are good for you, and about exciting places to go on safari.  Consumers interested in your subject, but who never even knew your name, will come to see you as an information resource.

When you think about it, blog posts are like “flip-flopped” job interviews, in which the blog reader “candidate” is interviewing the provider. Just as in a face-to-face interviews, those searchers read what you put out there in your blog posts and evaluate that content in light of their own needs.  Subtle “m’splaining” is needed to demonstrate ways in which the provider stands out from the competition.

But, “boasting” isn’t going to do the trick, and language such as “innovative solutions”, “great customer service”, “world-class”, or “game-changing”, as David Meerman Scott points out, can be perceived as exaggeration. Instead, conveying the special “flavor” and personality of your brand and your people is precisely what blogging for business needs to contribute to your overall marketing strategy.

With the right kind of “boasting”, business owners and practitioners can project the kind of confidence that inspires trust and, ultimately, drives sales.

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Content Writers Can Take Inspiration From Big-Hitter Bios

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The Start Your Own Business Magazine 2023’s list of “things big-hitters in business have in common” is one blog content writers might want to keep taped to their computer screens, I couldn’t help thinking…

1. Big-Hitters are perfectionists. Steve Jobs obsessed over small details.
Successful blogging for business is all about detail.  Corporate websites provide  basic information about a company’s products or a professional’s services, but the business blog content is there to attach a “face” and lend a “voice” to that information by filling in the finer details. In fact, details are what people tend to remember long after reading a piece.

2. They stay on task. Warren Buffett invests for the long haul.
In training sessions, one of the main lessons I need to convey to would-be blog content writers is that the real challenge in blogging is sustainability, even more than the content creation. “Every time you write a blog post, it’s one more indexed page on your website. It’s also one more cue to Google and other search engines that your website is active,” Corey Eridon of Hubspot says.

3. They have courage. Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to work on Facebook.
At least some of our readers already know quite a bit about our subject.  What they’re looking for is new perspective on the subject. People are going to want to do business with people who have the courage to offer strong recommendations and opinions in a blog.

4. They do the right thing. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page ended dealings with China (the Chinese wanted to censor search results.)
As business blog content writers, we can work to inspire readers to have three types of trust in the business providers and professional practitioners who hire us: a) trust in their know-how, b) trust in their ethics, and c) trust in their empathy and caring for customers.

5. They think differently. Apple’s Steve Wozniack was the innovator, designing the Macintosh.
Online searchers will undoubtedly have heard some of the information you’re providing before.  It’s your unique slant or innovative approach that’s likely to elicit that all-important “Never thought of it that way!” response.  Your blog post is a way to show readers that this is no cookie-cutter company they’re about to meet. I always advise clients to use their blog to provide information – particularly new information – related to their field.

Content writers can take inspiration from big-hitter business people.

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In Your Post, It Pays to Explain Why

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This week, my Say It For You blog posts were inspired by speaker and humorist Todd Hunt…

 

Both signs outside a store convey essentially the same message – but do they?

  • Sign #1″ No dogs allowed!
  • Sign #2: Unfortunately, the Chicago Health Department will not allow us to have dogs in our shop.”

In content marketing, calls to action (CTAs) often use imperative verbs. Why? To provoke readers to take immediate positive action, from requesting further information to actually signing up for a newsletter, to actually making a purchase. The CTA aims to create a sense of urgency around the offer.

But, just as Todd Hunt demonstrated, the “No dogs allowed” sign is a big turn-off. Online visitors who’ve found themselves at your blog want to know why they ought to keep reading and why they should follow your advice. Because the second sign answers the “why”, it overcomes resentment and skepticism, Todd Hunt explains.

Some of the answers web visitors are going to need include:

  1. Why me?  Why did you target this particular market?
  2. Why you (the author)? What is your expertise and experience?  Why do you care?
  3. Why this (the offer)? What are the specific solutions you provide?
  4. Why now (the urgency)?
  5. Why this price (the value)?

Even more important, we teach at Say It For You, can be explaining the reasons behind your policies, your way of “running your shop” as compared with others in your field. There’s one caveat – while you want to compare your products and services to others’, it must be done in a positive way, explaining why: We offer…..We believe…. We value…….  Rather than devaluing other companies’ products and services, stress the positives about you and yours.

In store window signs and in blog posts, explaining the “why” can make the difference between a turn-off and a turn on!

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The 3-Act Structure for Plays and Blog Posts

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The three-act structure dates back to the days of Aristotle, Gabriel Pereira reminds readers of Writer’s Digest. In Act I, the status quo is revealed, describing the world in which the story is going to take place. This first act sets the tone and gives the story a reason for starting at this particular place and time. At the end of Act I, there is either an event that shakes things up for the character, or a choice the character must face.

Act II is usually the longest of the three acts, Pereira explains. Here subplots and supporting characters can be added. It is in Act II that the character makes a choice and changes his or her outlook. By the beginning of Act III, the character has reached his/her lowest point, and, by the end, readers get a sense of closure and resolve.

One function of any marketing blog, of course, is to provide valuable information to consumers highlighting the benefits to be gained by using a certain product or service or by following a certain plan. But writing for business needs to draw attention to the “flip side of the calculator”, meaning the costs of waiting to take action. In your blog post, “Act II” might be a good place for the post’s first CTA (call to action), showing readers how to put what they have learned to use.

While the three-act design is by no means the only possibility, Pereira admits, many works of fiction do follow that design because it has a clear beginning, middle and end. “Done well, it takes the reader on a satisfying journey.”

The three-act structure has great relevance to the order in which information is presented in effective blog posts. Online readers will have landed on your blog because they are interested in finding information on your topic and possibly making a purchase. They need immediate confirmation that they’ve come to the right place. To that end, according to blog mavens Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos, key words and phrases should be among the first words in your blog title and then reappear in your first lines of the post. Then, at the “back end”, (Act III), the “pow” closing statement should tie back, we teach at Say It For You, to the opener.

Of course, when it comes to content marketing through blogs, the reader’s “journey” isn’t over at the end of the post. As writers, we can do well today what we may not have done so well yesterday or the day before.  Since blog posts typically appear in reverse chronological order, I explain in Say It For You training sessions, your best blogs will be the ones searchers see first!

The three-act structure can work well for both plays and blog posts!

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Give your Brain and Theirs a Workout in Your Blog

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“Most of us have lived with the belief that we lean left brain or right brain in all capacities – from our hobbies to career to the movies we love,” Hope Clark explains in the latest issue of Writer’s Digest. In reality, Clark points out, there isn’t a defined spot for many tasks we do, and, it takes both right and left hemispheres of the brain’s cerebellum to write. Our left brain chooses words and phrases, constructing sentences, and calculating the “plot”. The right brain, meanwhile, is the “impulsive” side, putting imagination to work in the “story”.

Reading for the left brain
Strong writers are voracious readers, Clark says. First of all, reading takes reasoning and analysis, drawing on your left lobe. Since word choice is left-side behavior, reading diverse sources increases your vocabulary.

One of the principles I stress at Say It For You is that, in order to create a valuable ongoing blog for your business, it’s going to take equal parts reading and writing At least half the time that goes into creating a blog post is reading/research/thinking time!  Business content writing in blogs is the result of a lot of reading and listening on the part of the blogger.

Feeling and sensing for the right brain
Unexpected twists in books, plays, and art “feed” the right side of our brains. Writers can “lock themselves” into their usual ways of using words and the words can become stale, Clark explains. In blog marketing’s race, as Jeremy Porter Communications teaches, “those who make the most emotionally persuasive argument win.”  While blog posts can be informative, filled with myth-busting proof, it’s the emotional impact that keeps readers engaged.

Why change?
If you have a dominant style that’s worked for you, why change? Going against the current strengthens you and gives depth to your writing, Clark is convinced. Maybe your story seems dull or too predictable. Maybe you have lots of ideas but have trouble meshing them into a tale. Don’t be satisfied with “who you are” – be who you can become, she urges her readers.

Combine right brain and left brain in blog marketing
Clark’s message to writers is one all content marketers need to hear. Remember, online searchers arrive at a blog on a fact-finding mission, looking for information about what the owners do, sell, and know about. Posting fresh content that relates directly to the purpose of the reader’s search is exactly how to reassure search engines – and ultimately searchers – they’ve come to the right place to get the facts. But data itself may not be the best way to persuade and to overcome skepticism. The marketing message needs to be emotionally persuasive as well.

Blog to put both sides of your brain – and theirs – to work!

 

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