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Blog Marketing – Defining to Attract

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In a Schwab benchmarking study for Registered Investment Advisors, it was found that firms who had documented an ideal client persona for targeting their marketing efforts attracted 42% more new clients. “In order to drive growth over the long term, any company has to understand what type of person they are perfectly designed to serve,” When providers focus on the unique needs of their target audience, they can develop an experience that is perceived as valuable by those clients, was the takeaway.

That advice about targeting your market is right on target for content marketers, we know at Say It For You. Your business or practice can’t be all things to all people. Everything about your blog should be tailor-made for your ideal customer – the words you use, how technical you get, how sophisticated your approach, the title of each blog entry, all must focus on things you know about your target market – their needs, their preferences, their questions – and only secondarily on how wonderful you and your staff are at satisfying those needs and preferences.

To go about creating an ideal client persona, Schwab urged its advisors to:

  • identify favorite clients, clients who are engaged, profitable, and loyal, and from whom “you get real joy and energy”.
  • create a composite of the best characteristics of those clients, identifying commonalities such as concerns, personality traits, communication preferences.
  • create a value proposition that “resonates with that composite profile”. Paint a picture of why those clients will look back and be grateful they made the decision to work with you.”

Ten years before that Schwab survey, I had shared insights from an article in the Journal of Financial Planning explaining that financial advisors have three basic roles:

  1. As listeners, advisors’ goal is to uncover and address the source of clients’ concerns.
  2. As connectors, their goal is to help clients connect the different aspects of retirement planning, and when necessary, connect clients with other professionals whose expertise they need.
  3. As resolvers, their goal is guiding clients to decisions.

In marketing, focus is everything. As content writers, we cannot position ourselves (or our clients) within the marketplace without studying the surroundings for our target audience. For blogs to be effective, they must serve as positioning and differentiating statements. We need to know our readers, and our readers need to know we know.

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The Big 5 for Content Writing

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“A writing conference is a perfect mix of all the ingredients you need to grow as a writer,” Scribd.com asserts. Novelists will start out learning the importance of the Big 5.

  1. Who is your hero?
  2. What do they want?
  3. Why do they want it?
  4. Why can’t they have it?
  5. What happens if they don/t get it? (the stakes)

At Say It For You, we teach content writers to help business and practice owners discover the answers to those very same Big 5 questions about their target audience. To a certain extent, online searchers have found the blog. A certain number of them have stayed long enough to assure themselves that the information you’ve provided is generally a good match for their needs. Now, however, you’re hoping those prospects will choose to become your clients, buyers, patients, or customers.

  1. Who is the target reader? What is their education and sophistication level? Where are they “hanging out”? What organizations do they belong to?
  2. What do they want? Status? Health? Knowledge? Technical advice?
  3. Why, in today’s world, is it important for them to find a solution?
  4. What factors stand in the way of their getting their “it”?
  5. What are the stakes? Why is it crucial for those readers to satisfy those needs?

Some special observations are in order about those “what-happens-if-they-don’t-get-it” stakes. People getting “scared” into action is an important topic in marketing, but at Say It For You, we are not fans of business owners using fear tactics in galvanizing customers into action. Instead, our recommendation to content writers would be to aim towards helping readers envision the potential comfort and relief that that using your advice, products, and services can bring.

On the other hand, it’s important in all marketing to convey a certain sense of urgency, using a “why now?” approach. Knowing the “whys” behind the “whats” – what your target readers want and what factors stand in the way of their getting it – allows you to offer marketing content that provides Big 5 answers!

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Who Should Definitely Read This Blog?

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Every month my Mensa monthly newsletter Mind has a book review section, and I love the way that review is presented. First, there’s a page-long description of what the book is about. But then, there are three smaller sections:

  1. Has this book changed the way you think or your attitude towards life?
  2. Who should definitely read this book? Why?
  3. Provide a short characteristic section, an awesome sentence, or an inspiring quote.

Question #2 is one that we blog content writers need to ask ourselves each time we work on a post on behalf of a client – Who should definitely be reading this?? That’s because, just as the only people who will be receiving the Mensa newsletter are those already qualified to be members, visitors to our blogsite “self-select” in terms of choosing to click on the link and read our content.After all, while I’m fond of thinking of ghost blogging as an art, there’s quite a bit of science to it as well.  A blog can’t be all things to all people, any more than any business or professional practice can be all things to everybody.  The blog must be targeted towards the specific type of customers you want and who will want to do business with you.
Years ago, I heard humor speaker Ron Culberson at a National Speakers Association meeting tell an anecdote that neatly sums up the need for audience targeting:

A woman attending a conference says, “This is the most boring conference ever. I’m going to skip the keynote address that’s coming up next and go to the beach.” Overhearing her, a man asks, “Do you know who I am? I’m the division president and I’M the keynote speaker!” The woman responds “And do you know who I am?” “No,” responds the man. The woman gets up and leaves…..

One of the very first principles of blog marketing is targeting.  Not only must the content you include in your business blog (or, in the case of Say It For You clients, the business blog content created by your freelance blog writer) offer valuable and up-to-date information, you must make clear to readers that the information has been assembled specifically for them:

  • You understand their concerns and needs .
  • You and your staff have the experience, the information, the products, and the services to solve exactly those problems and meet precisely those needs.

If readers find themselves asking “Don’t you know who we are?” those searchers are going to do what that woman conference attendee did – get up and leave.

A tantalizing title, well-researched content, opinion, story – all important elements to include in your well-thought-out blog post. But, before hitting the “Publish” key, ask yourself, “Who should definitely read this blog and why?”

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Content Writing With No Need to Doubt

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buyers' doubts in blogs

During the winter months, look to the frozen food aisle. Says the Daily Meal. And for those doubtful concerning the loss of nutritional value through freezing, no worries. A research team at the University of California, Davis tested blueberries, broccoli, carrots, corn, green beans, peas, spinach, and strawberries, finding that “good frozen produce is essentially a head-to-head toss-up with good fresh produce.”

Anxiety and doubt about any decision is an autonomic nervous system response hard-wired into every human being, the Real Estate Realist reminds us, part of our instinctive reaction to sensing danger or threat in the wild. Salespeople must recognize that, in the final moment of indecision, their customers are likely to experience what’s known as “buyers’ doubt”, and you need to eliminate, or at least minimize the risk factor, advises Shaqir Hussyin of Wealth Academy. Two of the silent questions floating around the prospect’s mind, explains saleforcetraining.com, “Can you prove it?” and “Who else says so?”.

“When you’re writing to attract customers, what you’re really doing is persuading them to choose you over someone else. People tend to take action when they’re presented with facts, not assertions,” Amy Pennza of the Content Factory asserts. At Say It For You, we absolutely agree. Searchers arrive at your blog already interested in your subject, but to move them to the next step, you need to prove your case by offering:

  •  statistics about the problem your product or service helps solve
  • “reverse proof”, comparing what you are proposing with alternatives on the market
  • “credential proof “, sharing your experience, degrees, and articles you’ve written

The Daily Meal article about frozen veggies was using a fourth type of proof, “evidential proof”, by citing the research done at the University of California. Just last month, in Who-Else-is-Doing-It Blogging for Business, I suggested yet another way to remove doubt and move readers to take action is using “who-else-is-doing-it” proof. According to the theory of social proof, as humans we are more willing to do something if we see other people doing it.

Answering those “silent questions” can prove to be one of blog content writing’s biggest strengths. Yes, we can prove it, and yes, there is somebody else who says so!

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Focus 2 Blogging for Business

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ExamFocus™2, a career and education planning system for college students that we use with our students at Butler College of Business, talks about three types of people:

Helpers
People with a social orientation enjoy helping people and are very interested in human relationships. They are often described as patient and idealistic.

Persuaders
Persuaders like to influence others, and enjoy working with people and ideas, rather than with things. They are adventurous and ambitious.

Organizers
Organizers like to follow set procedures and routines, and to work with data and details.

What this suggests for us business blog content writers is that, for each post, we target one of  the three types of readers.  Over time, we can address all three types of readers.

For example, Rich Brooks of socialmediaexaminer.com lists different types of blog post formats, including:

– How-to’s and tutorials
– Resources and link lists
– To-do’s
– Reviews
– Controversial posts
– Interviews
– Series
– Case studies
– Stats
– Daily roundups
– Breaking news
– Personal stories

I can see where “Organizers” would love the to-do’s, the how-to’s and tutorials, the resources lists, and the stats. The “Persuaders” might like the controversial posts and the reviews.  The “Helpers” might like the personal stories and interviews the best.

Our task as blog content writers is to signal to target customers that we understand their needs and are dedicated to helping them. Our knowledge of who our target audience is must influence every aspect of our blog –from the words we use in the title, how technical we get, to how sophisticated we try to be in our approach.

But, since, no matter how skillful our analytics, we don’t really ever know who will be reading our blog post on any one day, let’s target the helpers, persuaders, and organizers in turn!

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