Two “Stop-Its” for Your Business Blog

Sometimes knowing what not to include in your business blog writing makes you a better blog content writer.  I was thinking about that the other day while reading an article in Advisor Today (a journal for financial planners) called "How to Discuss the Work of Other Advisors."

To me, it seems the advice in that journal article applies to corporate blogging training. Here’s why: It’s almost axiomatic that, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we stand out from the competition, and we also write with search engine optimization in mind. But, as Advisor Today reminds us, "Golden Rule" ethics dictate that we say only those kinds of things about specific competitors that we’d want them saying about us! The article’s author, Frank Beardon, puts it this way: "What can I say that is truthful and helpful?"

In offering business blogging assistance, therefore, the first "Stop-it!" I need to teach is "Stop putting down the competition!" So how, then, can you get the point across that readers should want to choose you – your expertise, your products and services? It’s simple: the high road in marketing strategy and tactics development is what Bing Crosby used to croon, "Accentuate the positive…latch on to the affirmative."

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean:

• Some dry cleaners are in the practice of ______, but at ABC, we believe _______ is best."
   
• Some cosmetic surgeons pack the nose after a rhinoplasty, but, at XYZ clinic, we ____…

  You’re saying what your competitors do, and then going on to say why you do things the way you do.
  

Want business blogging help? "Stop closing", advises yet another Advisor Today article, this one by Annette Bau. Certified Financial Planner Bau notes that too many financial advisors focus on selling products instead of helping their prospects achieve goals.

"Stop-it!" #2 is something I emphasize as a freelance SEO copywriter, as well as in corporate blogging training sessions . Hard-selling doesn’t work, and it certainly doesn’t work in writing for business.  Use your blog to demonstrate knowledge, focusing on topics your target customers care about.

Bashing the competition in business blog writing?  Putting on the hard-sell as a blog content writer?  Stop it!