3 Business Tips that don't involve Marketing Content

As content marketing professionals go, I've been told I'm...different. (OK; the word "weird" has come up a time or two.) I'm perfectly happy to play to that crowd.

While I'm a BIG fan of (good) content, there are many other pieces of the puzzle to making your organization a whole and happy one. Here are three to consider:

Find out how working with other organizations can help yours (and theirs). In other words, talk to other people. It's painfully obvious and simple, and there's absolutely no guarantee of immediate payback. Try it anyway. A meeting about your business and someone else's can lead to wonderful opportunities for both of you. Be straightforward about wanting share ideas and learn from each other. Start by asking: "Any chance you're free to discuss areas of potential collaboration?"


Require your employees to use good manners with each other and with everyone who interacts with your business or organization. I wrote about HR and employment law for 12 years. Trust me, there are a lot of things you can't require of employees. Making it mandatory to say "thank you" and generally be helpful and courteous while they're representing your company is still TOTALLY legal. If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you write it into your employee manual.



When you buy promotional items, buy good ones. Cheap pens! Thin t-shirts! Ugly mugs! In a word, NO. If you're putting your logo on it, it should work - and look good.

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Looking for a writer who "gets" business? I'm that kind of different. 

DianeStresing.com

Better Headlines + Better Content = Better Reader Action

Headlines matter. Unless the point of your content is JUST to get clicks, the article that follows the headline needs to be good, too.

Here are 3 good articles on headlines from some content leaders: 

Dam good headline.

A recent post from Inbound.org reminds us why the big picture (whole content enchilada) matters.

Sort of on the flip side, however, is the classic approach - the essentials, in a nutshell, I learned in my Advertising 101 class. Important note - this addresses advertising headlines.

Betteridges' Law (and Columbia Journalism Review) reminds us that headlines - especially headlines in the form of questions - can be too clever. Especially when you need readers to get past the headline. Because it's CJR, the article also offers some exceptional advice, as applicable to writers as it is to readers: “You’ve always got to question what you read.” 

The bottom line: Good copywriting attracts and keeps readers.
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"I'm sorry this is so long. I'd have written a shorter blog post but I didn't have time."

Or so I paraphrase what many have said before (some in fewer words) - and what is one of the most telling bits on writing ever written, IMHO.

Which brings me to Twitter, Reddit, and the all-too-human tendency to search for a more complicated answer when a perfectly good - if unbelievably simple - answer is sitting right there, in plain sight. SMH.

In a weak moment, I waded in to the silly media stories of the day to find out if Twitter has The Magic Formula for social media success and What Newspapers Can Learn from Reddit and was disappointed in both. The Twitter article disappointed me more, because it points out how myopic many (most?) advertising industry pundits are. It's possible people read/like Twitter because it's short and easy to read, right? No, that's too easy. Let's search instead for a new, improved, 2012 answer because it's no longer fashionable to use the 2010 answer. It's also possible people respond to Twitter's ads because there's a higher proportion of good ads and/or they're targeted and/or timed better and/or they're not lost among quite so many distractions as Facebook, where you can plan your family reunion, have a virtual high school reunion, lose your job, and run your own business? Augh. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. And when it's not a cigar, it shouldn't take a semester's worth of discussion to figure out what it really is.

The second article, about newspapers and their impending doom (not) ticked me off because the headline is a sell-out for an article that's quite worth a read.

Here's my crazy, all-too-simple answer for the industry watchers: news outlets that offer news - aka important information that has nothing to do with what Snooki named her baby or how Nicki Minaj will vote - will have an audience. Advertising that's good, and seen, will work. In the newspaper, on the evidently nearly dead Facebook, or on today's SM darling.

If your ads are good, in front of the right people, when they're not too terribly distracted, they'll work.

I repeated it because that ups the odds that you'll get the message.

Which is something that was once taught in advertising 101, before distractions were born, right after Al Gore invented the internet.

Hey I read it online. It's gotta be true. Source? I don't need no stinkin' source. It was on ABC News, and they got it straight from Twitter.

So back to ads on Twitter, or anywhere.  Here's a tip: No matter how good your ads are, they won't return well this month/quarter for folks interested in the DNA ENCODE reports or cool photos of Mars. Those are called distractions. Both of which are undoubtedly better and probably more important than one election on a planet that supports more than one country.

Thanks for reading and by all means keep thinking out there. I'll edit this down to 140 characters when I get a round tuit.

~Diane Stresing

~ the links, in case you want them ~

http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/04/12/more-time-shorter-letter/


http://pandodaily.com/2012/09/04/will-twitters-uncanny-luck-ever-run-out/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=rightrail&utm_content=2&utm_campaign=recirc

http://gigaom.com/2012/09/04/what-newspapers-and-other-media-could-learn-from-reddit/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=rightrail&utm_content=3&utm_campaign=recirc

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=junk-dna-encode

http://www.space.com/17474-mars-rover-curiosity-longest-drive.html

The short of the DNA ENCODE story:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/05/dna-database-unlocks-map-to-genetic-disease/

The long of it:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001046

And the medium but digestible for the liberal arts crowd version:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=junk-dna-encode

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMG5fkiY_-ZH9wjRm8UgfS07Kb-kN5iKUPLdKnOdWer4QhOah491nTehm2q8O_nIgiB3awvWX_Vo6fVAQJ2wLAJZRAwuP1JBBKy1EgVXOoRH7VzG3747fr9LqJ39qEJo6ToN9RXTK941sp/s1600/A_Round_Tuit_Picture.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mouthmotions.blogspot.com/2011/03/round-tuit.html&h=1104&w=1144&sz=216&tbnid=ExrYxeZ4N6wbCM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=94&zoom=1&usg=__lLJ-I0XH6GTQkylPD1kTXVdHtgY=&sa=X&ei=WsJIUL6tL6rO2AW_sIHQDQ&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAQ&dur=1265

Local Gets Social: It's about time

When it comes to media, messaging, social media, branding and business communications in general, I think there are several distinct, parallel universes. (Corporate giants may qualify as a couple of different animals in their own right.)

I also think most of us will agree - by us, this time I mean consumers - that the question isn't IF a small business should use social media, the question is HOW?

>>> Why I'm convinced small businesses need social media
>>> ...and yet another convincing argument

The short answer is, just (about) like anyone else. If everyone on the 'net is all a-twitter about Mother's Day, you probably should be too. But your comments don't need to trend worldwide. They need to reach your local audience, your followers, and entice them to share. (In case you're so busy running your business you haven't noticed, in 2012 "share" means "recommend." And "recommend" still means "new business.") 

If you're a worldwide brand, maybe your Mother's Day comments should ride the coattails of a celebrity story, a la "Do you admire Angelina Jolie's maternal style?". If your business focuses on a 25-mile radius, though, leave Angelina alone. You can focus on something much more personal, much more real.  A bring-a-friend offer is the ideal engagement tool for you and your customers. For example, "Bring a friend who's like a mom to you" or "tell us what your mom did that drove you crazy, that you do now and both of you get 20% off your next service."

See? It's easy. And it's important, because no matter how small your business, you don't want it to get any smaller! The hard part about any form of marketing is finding the time to do it. The next Local Gets Social Tip will focus on finding the time to reach your market and attract new customers.

~Diane Stresing

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Don't let the Pepsis and Cokes of the world define your marketing plan. Yours is probably better, anyway. Need a little help getting on the right social media track? Find out what a professional copywriter can do for you.
  << it's a safe! Isn't that cool?!

Say it in Pictures

Is Slideshare the new content marketing king? And if a picture on Pinterest is worth more than a thousand words, what's Panasonic trying to say?

 Social media expert?

Yeh, well, I don't know either. I've about reached the point that I automatically discredit anyone who claims to be a social media expert. (Really, how long can a person claim a title like that? Twenty minutes?)

Repeat after me: don't confuse the tools with the trade. Marketing, advertising, and brand identity still have more to do with words and customer service than they do with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Foursquare or even MySpace. And you can +1 this, or pin that to your wall.

~Diane Stresing

If Your Business is Local, Why Go Social?

Does your small business need a social media presence? Yep. If you don't have one, you've already lost more than a handful of sales. Don't waste any more time asking this question.

Phone books are dying (faster than newspapers; at least something is) and if a quick search doesn't result in a nice, clean page or full-blown site about your business, your prospect moves on to a business that does. Click, click is the opposite of clink, clink - the money drops in someone else's jar.

The good news is you don't need much. A Facebook page will do. So will Twitter, or another free/low cost option. But it's gotta be all YOU. Your business, that is.  If 'everybody' in town knows John Doe has the best cheese biscuits, that's great. But your personal Facebook page isn't going to introduce others to your talents, snag the catering order, or be top-of-mind when the gang's going to lunch. (Unless the gang's office is next door to your biscuit bistro.)

Case in point: a friend of mine was looking for a craniosacral massage therapist. She'd heard of one in town. A quick online search didn't reveal the local practitioner's name, but it listed several others. My friend called a therapist across town - 35 MILES across town - and has been there several times. That's called a lost opportunity, and it shouldn't have happened.
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New to Fan Pages, need help managing yours, or determining how to use the right keywords in the right places? want to establish a free website or establish your business presence on Twitter? It's time - get started now.
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If your business is local, HOW should you use Social Media? < next Local Gets Social tip.

~Diane Stresing

Watch Your Words, and Not Just on Facebook

What's in a word? Maybe clues to your personality, how many friends you have, and the future of your business.

Sure, this is partly to remind you of the value good writing ;)  but wait, there's more - in this great article about marketing and your approach to Facebook.

The Entreprenuer.com article will sound familiar to those who have really read How to Win Friends and Influence People, however, this article is based on analytic data, most of which was complied by folks at Facebook to analyze that site's business marketing opportunities. (Ad revenue makes the world go 'round, you know.)

The lesson in a nutshell? The words you choose matter, so choose carefully - and think before you share.
(Want to share this on Facebook? Click here - and thanks!)