My picture with Ann Handley, after her presentation at Content Marketing World 2017
Were you assigned to write a blog post that’s due next week? Oh, horror of horrors! Are you worried about starting with a blank page? Do you dread writing a story from scratch?
Every bit of writing in marketing has an objective. And that can be worrisome if you don’t know your objective. If you think the words matter, then you take writing seriously. So if you’re in this camp, you may want to keep reading.
BEEP! A notification chirps from your smartphone. You pull the phone out of your pocket, wipe your fingers on your cotton jeans and swipe the smooth screen to unlock. Tapping open the email app, then …
BANG!
BOOM!
CRASH!
The emails clamor in your inbox. Each email is screaming at you. Look at me! Look at me! Read this now. Do this now. Emails are reminders of your unfinished tasks.
And your inbox is bursting. Continuously flooding with messages, the inbox is a cacophony that will never be silent.
When you acquiesce and scan the first email, trying to understand the long message on the little screen, do you wish the sender had written more words?
Probably not. You wanted the writer to be brief, concise and clear. Please get to the point, you beg.
Your clients ask, “What is good content on a blog?” What do you say? Their inquiry may be a sign they’re ready to start a blog.
Perhaps your employees are helping the client plan a content strategy. In conversations, the client shares he doesn’t know the definition of the term good content.
A blog webpage is already set up on the company’s website. No blog posts have been created. All the marketing director needs to do is begin. If blogging was easy, the first post would have already been published. He wonders what the blog should be about.
Clients might be stalling, but they want to know:
What is good blog content?
It’s not “I’ll know it when I see it.” Vagueness is evil in marketing. Clarity is heavenly.
Everyone has an opinion on what makes a book worthwhile to read or a meal delicious to eat. Preferences are personal. In judging content, readers decide. They determine if it’s high quality or super awful.
Does that mean we just write 500 words and hope someone will read it? No. There’s more to a successful blog than word count and luck.
What do you advise your clients?
In my opinion, all good blog content has 4 universal truths.
Truth 1. Sticks to Only One Purpose Truth 2. Recognized as a Valuable Product Truth 3. Crafted as an Un-Template Original Truth 4. Leads the Reader Honestly
