What to Blog About Next? How 'bout Now? part 2

I heart evergreen posts. Now and always.

Blogging got off to a suspicious start. Even auspicious, maybe. But I'm not blogging about run-of-the-mill, run-off-the-mouth blogging. I'm blogging about corporate/business/ghost/marketing content blogging.

Which means your blogging efforts will probably require meetings. Schedules. A plan. 

Yeah, I know. Borrrrr-ing. But do it right and you'll be hearing ca-ching!

Here's the good news about planning your blog posts: it doesn't have to be hard, they don't have to be long, and variety is the spice of blogging.

In other words, sometimes you can blog about what you're doing right now.

We're having a sale! is a great way to start a blog post.
Hurry to renew your contract before the price increase! works too. 

Seasonal tips make for great blog content. Got a landscaping business? Why not blog about liability as it relates to snow plowing contracts?

But wait, it's not exactly snowplow season, you're thinking. And we're not having a sale this week. So what do you mean, blog about "now?"

I mean, time is of the essence. You will have to spend some time planning and writing and scheduling your posts to make sure they're always timely. Get it? Blog about now means now, AKA your publish date. You want your content to be very timely ... or very evergreen. And sometimes, in-between.

I'll address evergreen posts (I love evergreen posts!) later, and tweeners too. Meanwhile, if you're wondering what to blog about now, I suggest you plan now to blog about something that will feel like you wrote it just now when the reader reads it... later.

Later! 

~Diane Stresing

Honoring Dads (through better marketing)

It's not quite Father's Day but it IS high time we (copywriters) started showing Dads a little more respect. Ashley Silverman of Playground Dad offers a well-crafted post on marketing to the "other" parent and gives us a few reasons to pay attention.

Don't Be Blah, Blog Well

Sure, anyone can blog. And if you're in business, you should. But you don't want to just do it. (Sorry, Nike.) You want to do it well.

A good blog is like a good friend. It calls from time to time, with news, a joke, a timely reminder. Occasionally sends a picture of someone you knew in high school or asks, "what did you think of that Glee episode with all the Whitney Houston songs?" A really good friend (or blog) will sometimes even pop by with a job tip for you.

The thing is, if your friend doesn't call, doesn't answer your emails, or just sort of forgets about you, you'll probably move on.

So will your customers, if your company blog becomes a piece of internet history, or just plain irrelevant. Don't let that happen to your blog.

What should your blog say? Who should say it? and What's the point? 

You should ask these questions before you start blogging. There's more than one right answer to each question, but you have to make sure you have answers, and that your answers make sense for you and your strategic business plan.


What should your blog say?
Well, honestly, only you can answer that. Make sure it's relevant TO YOUR READERS. That's the best advice I can give you. Bonus tip: pay attention to how I formatted that. I very, very rarely type using all caps, and even rarer still are they bold, italicized, and underlined. Hint, hint.

More good advice falls under the heading, "Don't write BS."

Who should say it?
Anyone can blog. But if your company president/CEO wants to put his/her face on the blog, you gotta ask: how often will it be updated? Maybe you should consider a ghost blogger to help keep things fresh. 

What's the point? 
The point of blogging is baiting, at least in the commercial world. Take Marcia Yudkin's advice so your bait doesn't swim away and land on somebody else's hook. Make sure your strategy includes an easy way for your prospect to get something helpful from you (for free - infographics are nice, for example) as long as that something is clearly copyrighted (by you!) and then, follow-up. Check regularly to make sure your bait (white papers, tips and trends articles, whatever you're offering for the price of an email address/contact name) isn't trolling for customers behind someone else's ship.

Last summer, the Social Media Examiner published a fairly detailed look at how to bring more eyeballs to your blog.  More to it than you thought? That's one of the primary reasons why savvy companies hire professionals to manage their blogs. 

Blogs are so easy to create, it's ridiculous. I wonder how many poor, unwanted blogs are out there, abandoned in the ether? Too many. And worse - at least, I think it's worse - are that many great blogs are horribly neglected. You know, you get all excited reading a few good entries and then...the dust starts to build up. Pretty soon it's just another moldy blog. Please, don't be that guy.

~Diane Stresing

Customer newsletters: Ignore at your peril

Read the latest studies on customer retention and loyalty, and you might need some cheering up. We're a fickle lot, and apparently, even more so when the economy is this bleak.

You've got to give new customers reasons to come back, old customers new reasons to return, and remind all of your customers that they love you so much they simply must recommend you to all of their friends.

In other words, you need a customer newsletter.

Form and content matter (consider the print v e-newsletter debate that still lives and will for years, here) but any newsletter is better than none. There are no hard-and-fast rules about discounts,  frequency, color schemes, or even distribution methods. There is one fact that can't be ignored, however: you need customers. Don't you?

If you don't need customers, you don't need a newsletter. There. Debate settled.

What should your newsletter look like, what should it say or do? When and how should you send it? These are questions only you can answer for your business. You'll have a better shot at finding the best answers for your business if you noodle over the questions with someone who has experience working with newsletters. (Thanks for asking. Yes, I do.)

The advice that seems to apply to almost every type of business - and non-profit organization, for that matter - is not surprising. Make it worth reading, and keep it short. If you leave 'em wanting more, and they know where to get it, your customers will find you. And isn't that the point?

Bye-bye BookTour

"We regret to inform you that BookTour will be shutting down on Thursday, September 1, 2011. On that date, all of our services will end and our data will be unavailable."

So begins the message from BookTour.com to users, sent today. Although I agree with the company's assessment that its basic services are well-managed by others (including Amazon's Author Central, which I mentioned in a previous post) I'm sorry to see another casualty in the publishing industry, and it was especially painful because BookTour so clearly calls out the elephant in the room: lower book marketing budgets. Duh, but ouch.

Here are the two take-aways from this little post:
1- If you have any info in a BookTour.com page, go get it, and while you're at it, clean up and replace any links to BookTour you may have on your website (or other sites) before September 1, and
2- If you're an author, you're in charge of marketing and sales.

Now Sell This

Now that the second edition of my hiking guide, 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cleveland, is available, I've set some pretty lofty sales goals. Dublin, Ohio-based artist and author Carmen Ambrosio kindly invited me to offer this guest post on her blog regarding my author-as-sales manager philosophy. (Thanks, Carmen!)

Five Reasons Client Newsletters Rock

1. Newsletters deliver repeat business.
2. If you build a website and they don't come, a newsletter can drive clients to your site.
3. Keep your friends close.... newsletters increase customer loyalty.
4. ...and your enemies closer.... um, if you have enemies, you definitely need a newsletter!
5. Newsletters are referral reminders. As in, hey, I should mention Charlie's Landscaping to my new neighbors...


Do you need a newsletter? Well, no. Not unless you really like repeat business...customer retention... client referrals...

Top Ten Signs You Need a Copywriter

10. Your website still has a "coming soon" message on the home page.  (Or on any page - "coming soon" tells the visitor "goodbye")


 9.  Your employees don't know what's going on...and it's costing you money. (A short, simple employee newsletter can increase productivity, reduce accident rates, and improve morale and retention rates.)


 8.  You found a typo...in your contract. (Better you than your client's lawyer!


 7.  You rely on the cable/radio/newspaper salesperson to write your ad copy, or...

 6.  ...you do it yourself.


 5.  You lernt all the English you needed in high school.

 4.  Your products are very unique - and you see nothing wrong with saying so. (Don't get it? see #5 again.)


 3.  You're shipping a panda overseas, or doing something else noteworthy.

 2.  You're shipping a panda overseas, but you don't have time to write a press release about it.

.....And the number-one reason that you need a copywriter....


 1.  You're reading this.   --------------------------------------------------(written by a copywriter)


Contact this copywriter to discuss your needs.

Practical Intro to Using Social Media

Outback Steakhouse is one company that's gotten a bang for its buck using Twitter and Facebook. But scads of companies are wasting their time (and $$) on social media "campaigns" that are just so much cyber-waste.

If you're in marketing/advertising/pr (or advising someone who is) I urge you to read this marketing brief from motivelab, which, before it launches into some very practical advice, acknowledges that social media is just good-old-fashioned word-of-mouth with a much speedier delivery mechanism, thanks to current technology.

Why it's worth the download and some thoughtful consideration: it reminds us how to use the old tried and true marketing theories online, on mobile devices, and such. Clarify your positioning is good advice that will never go out of style; figuring out how to do it (and not muck it up) using social media vehicles is what writers need to know, now.

As the article points out, very wisely, "Ultimately, your most influential audience are human beings, not computers, so don't let your SEO ambitions take the life out of your blog."

Of course, I translate that sentence into "content is still king." (If you've been paying attention, you're not surprised.)

If you've got a solid grounding in advertising or copywriting, do you need to read this? Yes. There are plenty of new twists marcomm writers need to understand.

For example, we still need to leverage the one- or two-percent response to convert good marketing into better sales.

See, the game hasn't changed; social networking is just like the new sharkskin-inspired swimsuit - and we all have to swim a little faster now.

Online Copywriting

I have great faith in words. When used properly, they communicate.

When I hear phrases like "writing for the web" and "online copywriting" I cringe, or roll my eyes, or both. (My anti-wrinkle cream really doesn't stand a chance.)

OK, disclaimer now delivered, today I'm pointing to an article I deem worth reading - even worth printing, but only if you promise to consult it once in a while. Deal? Ok.

Read this: The A-to-Z of online copywriting by Chris Lake.

As is true of almost every piece of formulaic writing, the content is stretched a bit thin here and there in order to suit the formula.

When Lake tells readers "Q is for Quality," I wholeheartedly agree. Attracting quality visitors to your website is crucial; attracting visitors for the sake of visitors only lowers your conversion rate, eg, the percentage of visitors who do what you want them to do (buy/donate/sign up/add a link).

But Lake's "R is for Repetition" needs some serious tempering. Repetition is a very dicey - and largely personal - thing. Too much makes me suspicious, and I'll go elsewhere. I agree with Lake's advice to "ram your message home" but I think if you get your message across the first time (or two) you risk losing sales/visitors when you repeat ad nauseam. I'd substitute "R is for Reach," meaning your writing needs to reach out and touch/grab/wake up your reader. Connect with your readers, and you'll keep 'em.

Quibbles aside, Lake's article is packed with good advice, almost all of which (I feel compelled to mention) applies to all writing, anytime, anywhere. Even writing on the web. There. I'm repeating myself. Got the message?