We hope you'll enjoy this edition of Strategy Matters, a newsletter bringing you news, tips and strategies for effective communications from Strategic Communications, LLC, committed to bringing you success through strategy. www.stratcommunications.com |
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Blogging Best Practices |
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When considering whether a blog would make sense for you, it really comes down to two very simple - yet critical - questions:
1) Do you have something to say?
2) Does anyone care?
If you can answer "yes" to both of those questions, here's how you can get started:
Get to Know What Blogs Are All About
Spend some time reading blogs, particularly those that represent your industry or area of expertise. How to find blogs? There are some search engines that can be helpful. Here are two: www.technorati.com, www.blogdigger.com.
Find Your "Voice"
Choose a consistent topic that's directly aligned to your business strategy and what you want to be known for. Pick a title that's reflective of what you're trying to do and a very brief purpose statement that quickly conveys the purpose of your blog,
Post frequently.
It doesn't have to be every day, but several times a week or at least on some consistent basis so people can anticipate. The more frequently you can do it, the more likely you are to attract a loyal following.
- Include your blog address on your letterhead and other business communication materials
- Add information about your blog to your email signature
- Include a prominent link to your blog on your web site
- Talk about your blog at networking events, professional meetings, etc.
The Key to Success - Delivering Real Value
Starting a blog is not hard to do. Wordpress.com is a popular - and free! - tool used by many bloggers. Your blog can be easily linked to your web site - or you can buy a unique domain name for the blog through a service like GoDaddy.com.
While there are certainly bloggers whose objective is to generate business, that is not always - nor should it be - the main objective. To be effective your blog should offer useful information that represents value to your target audience.
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"You" and "Your" vs. "We" and "Our" |
Whenever I'm called upon to offer a critique on, or advice about, a company or consultant's copy - whether it's on a web site, in a brochure, an ad, a blog, or whatever - the first thing I do is read through the copy to see whether the focus is on "we/me" or "you/your."
Most of the copy I look at is the former. A quick, easy and relatively painless way to improve it is to make it focus on the latter - "you/your."
Usually (but not always) the me/we copy is written by "insiders" - people within the organization, often the owners/principles. They often simply have a tough time focusing not on what they have to offer and what makes their product/service so great (after all, they are understandably proud of their product or service!), but on what the audience might be interested in.
In copywriting there's an old acronym - WIIFM - that stands for "What's in it for me?" That's the question, from the prospect or reader's point of view, that copywriters are taught to focus on when writing copy for any audience.
Most copywriters grow to do this instinctively, but they are sometimes (okay, often!) challenged by clients, bosses and internal customers, who don't have that same perspective and share all of their key copy points from the internal point of view.
This can be particularly prevalent when writing for technically-oriented products/services. Do I really care what exactly is inside my computer or do I care how what's inside will give me the functionality I need - ability to store lots of stuff, open programs quickly, etc. ?
Now, of course, how much detail I require will be driven by my audience's demo/psychographics. But, the point - as always - is you have to know your audience and you have to write to their needs/interests not about you.
The ability to translate internally-focused product or service-related features into externally-focused benefits is critical in terms of convincing prospects that you have something they may need - or better yet, something they can't live without.
Getting rid of "we" and "our" and focusing on benefits ("what's in it for me?") are important first steps in improving or developing great copy.
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Mass Media and Awareness |
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Diffusion theory is a theory of persuasion and social influence that suggests that there is a process that people use to review and accept information. It's a five-step process that involves:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Evaluation
- Trial
- Adoption
I've always liked this theory because I believe it suggests a very simple, straightforward - and strategic! - approach that can be used with any marketing communication challenge.
The first step is awareness. Awareness is what the mass media market was built upon. Advertisers wishing to inform consumers about their products and services turned to mass media to get the word out.
Traditional advertising in mass media remains the best way to generate awareness for a product or service - assuming the target audience is representative of "the general public."
Awareness, of course, isn't enough. Consumers also need to be interested in what you have to offer. This step involves careful consideration of the media to be used. Advertising dollars can be wasted if the audience reached represents a significant number of individuals who are not part of the target market. For instance, if newspaper readers are primarily "older" consumers, running newspaper ads to promote a trendy jazz club geared toward the GenY audience may not be the best mass media choice.
Interest also requires that the advertising message contain specific benefits designed to address the target audience's needs, desires and concerns. And, the message, must also position the product or service relative to available competitive products/services to impact the evaluation process.
Step 4 in this process is possibly the most critical of all - the moment of truth - the point at which a consumer decides to try a product or service. If the trial experience is a good one, the consumer will move on to Step 5 - adoption - and, as part of that step, will likely tell others about the experience, spreading positive word-of-mouth (WOM).
If the experience is not so good (if access is difficult, the product is unavailable, the service is bad, the product/service does not live up to the promises made in advertising messages, etc.), the consumer is not likely to move on to Step 5. However, after a negative experience, the consumer is even more likely to spread the word to others. Studies have consistently shown that negative WOM spreads more broadly and more quickly than positive.
Diffusion theory outlines a process that represents the foundation of any strategic marketing campaign. It is deceptively simple in its elements, yet sometimes exceedingly complex in its application. For those who "get it right," though, the rewards can be significant!
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Strategic Communications, LLC, specializes in strategic communication planning and implementation for brand management, community, customers, employees, marketing and media relations.
We work with businesses, large and small, to help them apply strategy to address their communication challenges.
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