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Author: Patricia Iyer

Do you have an amazing business success you want to share? Pat Iyer has worked with experts helping them share their knowledge since she first began writing and editing books in 1985. Pat Iyer has written or edited over 800 chapters, books, case studies, articles or online courses. She delights in assisting people to share their expertise by writing a book. Pat serves as a developmental editor and ghostwriter.

Pat built a service business assisting attorneys with cases involving medical issues. After growing that business to a multi-million dollar one, after 25 years, she sold it in 2015 and now devotes her time to mentoring, writing and editing. Get tips for polishing your writing style and gaining business through the material you write: Listen to Writing to Get Business Podcast on the C Suite Radio platform.

Reach her through Patiyer.com|Do you have an amazing business success you want to share? Pat Iyer has worked with experts helping them share their knowledge since she first began writing and editing books in 1985. Pat Iyer has written or edited over 800 chapters, books, case studies, articles or online courses. She delights in assisting people to share their expertise by writing a book. Pat serves as a developmental editor and ghostwriter.

Pat built a service business assisting attorneys with cases involving medical issues. After growing that business to a multi-million dollar one, after 25 years, she sold it in 2015 and now devotes her time to mentoring, writing and editing. Get tips for polishing your writing style and gaining business through the material you write: Listen to Writing to Get Business Podcast on the C Suite Radio platform.

Reach her through Patiyer.com|Do you have an amazing business success you want to share? Pat Iyer has worked with experts helping them share their knowledge since she first began writing and editing books in 1985. Pat Iyer has written or edited over 800 chapters, books, case studies, articles or online courses. She delights in assisting people to share their expertise by writing a book. Pat serves as a developmental editor and ghostwriter.

Pat built a service business assisting attorneys with cases involving medical issues. After growing that business to a multi-million dollar one, after 25 years, she sold it in 2015 and now devotes her time to mentoring, writing and editing. Get tips for polishing your writing style and gaining business through the material you write: Listen to Writing to Get Business Podcast on the C Suite Radio platform.

Reach her through Patiyer.com

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development

How You Talk May Matter More Than You Know

Most people don’t write the way they speak. However, if you develop the habit of speaking in an overly-casual or thoughtless way, that habit has a tendency to creep into your writing.

In contrast, if your speaking is clear and lucid, those habits of precision will influence how you write. Corporate employees put great weight on what you write. They may dissect every word. Errors in your writing can change the entire meaning of your communication and destroy your credibility.

The simple formula here is: Improve your speaking, and you will improve your writing.

And this isn’t the only reason to learn how to speak well.

People Are Listening to/Reading What You Say

In the privacy of your home or at dinner with close friends, it doesn’t usually matter whether you use clichés or are grammatically incorrect. However, if you’re talking with a colleague or participating in any public speaking opportunity, it does.

There are more grammarians out there in the world than you may think. They are listening to what you say. While the advantage of speaking is that spelling and punctuation don’t count, correct grammar does.

What to Avoid

Filler words.  These include, “Kind of,” “Like,” “Totally,” and many, many more.

Turn the tables around. If you were listening to a speaker trying to sell you on the benefits of the services he was marketing, and he said, “You will like totally love this service,” would you be interested or looking for the exit?

Or this: “It’s kind of one of the real selling points of this service.” Do you see how “kind of” weakens what’s meant to be a strong statement?

Odds are that most people are at least somewhat careful about this kind of excess in a speech that’s partially or entirely written out. Podcasts and other kinds of interviews are more dangerous because they have an informal flavor.

I have listened to podcasts where if I had gotten one dollar for every “kind of,” “totally,” “just, “maybe,” etc., I could have retired.

Sentences that never end. I mean sentences of easily one hundred words. These are bad enough in written form. When someone speaks them, the poor listener will have long since forgotten what the original point was.

Incomplete sentences. This is actually a subcategory of the endless sentence. As the listener forgot what the speaker was talking about, so, too, did the speaker, who changed subjects in the middle and roared off on a new tangent. Neither the first nor the second subject terminated in a nicely formed conclusion.

Clichés. In the paragraph above, I originally used the phrase, “switched horses midstream.” I like that phrase, but I couldn’t write about clichés after using one. When I replaced it, I remembered why they’re so popular. They’re lazy substitutes for accurate description.

Words serve many purposes. One of these is that they are tools. You wouldn’t change a tire with a sledgehammer. You don’t give or write a persuasive statement about something in which you believe by loading down your prose with awkward, unnecessary words.

Need help editing your articles, papers, or a book? Pat Iyer is a C Suite Advisor (one of the original 100) and a ghostwriter and editor. Contact her at http://patiyer.com/contact

Categories
Best Practices Leadership Marketing Personal Development

Writing: It is Not Just for Writers

“I’m not a writer. Why should I have to learn about grammar, spelling, and punctuation? No one expects me to be good at that.”

I’m not talking about great writing skills but about basic competence. Too many people don’t have this.

What if Getting a Job Depended on Your Writing Skills?

Bizzy Coy, in the article, “Why You Can’t Get a Job Without Solid Writing Skills,”  on MediaBistro, writes that 75% of businesses want employees skilled in writing. However, nearly 50% of applicants don’t have those skills.

He lists six areas where good writing skills are essential: video, audio, social media, B2C copywriting, sponsored content, and B2B copywriting.

If you don’t have these skills, you’ve reduced your chances of getting a job. If you do, your employment future looks a lot brighter.

Solopreneurs and Owners of Small Businesses Need These Skills, Too

 You might say, “I have an administrative assistant who takes care of all that.” All of it? Every email you write? Every text or IM?

You say, “No one expects them to be perfect.”

You will find, however, that people do expect them to be readable. All too often, they aren’t.

I am currently collecting the world’s worst emails. If you have a contribution, I’d love to see it. Many of the worst ones, though, are private communications that only the person with whom you’re trying to establish a cooperative agreement or to whom you’re trying to sell a product sees.

For example, you’re trying to win a new client, and a lot of communication takes place via email. Does it matter if you make grammatical and spelling errors?

William Arruda, in the Personal Branding Blog, writes:

“Poor grammar is one of the reasons why customers avoid certain companies. When users visit your website and read poorly constructed sentences, the initial impression is the site and the company behind it are not trustworthy. This is why it is always important that you check and proofread your work before posting or sending messages.

A simple spelling mistake can lose you a customer and that would be your competitor’s gain. Using proper grammar denotes a professional approach to business. By constructing a well-written letter or response to a query, you are giving your customers and suppliers the impression that as business professionals, you are treating all your transactions seriously and you value them highly.”

What he says applies as much to a CEO as it does to a solo-preneur. You wouldn’t show up for a business meeting in an unironed, dusty, shabby suit. What you write should have the same degree of grooming as your personal appearance.

It’s worth taking the time or, if necessary, spending the money to learn the basic rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It’s money in the bank.

Just one new customer could make the effort worth it.

Reach Pat Iyer, one of C Suite’s original 100 advisors, through her website at patiyer.com

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development

What is the Em Dash, and Why Should You Care?

This is an em dash:  — It has the approximate width of a capital H. The poor em dash is perhaps the most misunderstood and misused of all punctuation marks. Used well, it adds emphasis and precision to your writing.

This form of punctuation is a newcomer to the world of writing and printing. It’s believed to have originated with the Gutenberg Bible, but it wasn’t widely used until the 1700s. That is short in the writing world; this means it hasn’t been around long enough to have hard-and-fast rules attached to its use.

One Rule We Know

The easiest rule about the em dash is that it can be used to indicate an interrupted thought.

“Let’s go to the store—oh, I didn’t notice that you were reading.”

“I had the greatest time at—watch, you’re about to step into a puddle.”

“Yes, I really want to hear your story—oh, hi, Max, did you have a nice time last night?”

In the above examples, no other form of punctuation will work.

Em dashes can also be used for a less extreme form of interruption.

“I was going to the board room—but I changed my mind because the fire alarm went off.”

Unlike in the examples above, the em dash doesn’t mark a complete change of subject. It could also be replaced by a comma.

“I was going to the board room, but I changed my mind because the fire alarm went off.”

Here I prefer the first version because I think of the em dash as a more dramatic form of punctuation, which in this case describes a dramatic event. It’s saying, “Pay attention to this.”

Here’s another example of using the em dash in a dramatic way.

“Pfizer, the largest drug manufacturer, raised prices for 40 drugs—with some increases hitting 9 percent.”

Other Accepted Uses for Em-dashes

The em dash can mark an afterthought, especially when it’s intended to be humorous or ironic.

“I don’t believe in ghosts—except the one in my closet.”

It can connect a series of subjects with a conclusion.

“Yoga, chi kung, tai chi—these are excellent methods of gentle exercise.”

In fairness to other forms of punctuation, you could also write

“Yoga, chi kung, and tai chi are excellent methods of gentle exercise.”

Em dashes can be used to surround a parenthetical set of words.

“The Presidential hopefuls—Biden, Harris, and Hickenlooper—disagree sharply on foreign policy.”

Commas or parentheses could be used here, but they wouldn’t set off the names so distinctly.

“The Presidential hopefuls, Biden, Harris, and Hickenlooper, disagree sharply on foreign policy.”

“The Presidential hopefuls (Biden, Harris, and Hickenlooper) disagree sharply on foreign policy.”

Avoid Overuse

Most grammarians agree that this is the biggest danger of em dashes. Keep in mind that they break up a line of thought and can thus lead to choppy and disjointed writing—and reading.

If your paragraph has more than one em dash (or two, in the case of em dashes setting off words, as above), replace them with commas or parentheses.

Remember, above all, that an em dash is best used for dramatic effect. This can highlight your prose. Used too often, it will simply overwhelm it.

Need a skilled editor? Pat Iyer Is a C Suite Network Advisor, ghostwriter, and editor. Reach her through her website at www.patiyer.com.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Skills

Use Quotations to Enliven Your Writing

Sprinkling quotations into your writing is a very effective way to improve it. Doing this serves a number of functions.

  1. Quotations summarize a point you’re making in your work.
  2. They also emphasize this point.
  3. A quotation by someone both famous and respected gives confirmation to your ideas.
  4. They serve to break up large blocks of text.

Choosing Quotations

I’ve found that the most effective way to find quotes is to search for a topic. For example, if I want a quote from a successful woman entrepreneur, I use that term and put “quotations” in front of it. A number of sites come up, and I scroll through them.

I need to know what I’m looking for before I start reading them. I pick out several that come the closest to my goal for a suitable quote and compare them.

Several factors influence my decision.

How long is the quote? A one-sentence quote is ideal, two sentences if it really makes the point. If it’s any longer, it begins to diverge into something that looks more like text.

Is it accurate?  Random House copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer points out in the hilarious Dreyer’s English the need to verify quotes are accurate. He cites three sources for verifying or debunking quotes:

  • Wikiquote.com
  • Books.google.com
  • quoteinvestigator.com

Who said it? I tend not to use quotations by “Anonymous.” They may sound great, but they lack the additional clout of name familiarity.

I usually don’t use quotes by anyone I’ve never heard of. They have the same lack-of-clout problem. However, bearing in mind that I’m not swimming in the mainstream of popular culture, if the quote really has an impact, I may look the person up. If he or she is well-known, I’ll use it.

Sometimes the person’s name isn’t well-known, but her company is. For example, Debbi Fields is the founder of the Mrs. Fields company. If I saw a powerful quote by her, I would use it and name her company.

If I’ve heard of the author of the quote but think others may not have, I will, as in the case of Debbi Fields, add, “author,” “playwright,” or some other identification.

A different problem can arise if someone who is always quoted made the quote. Yes, Oprah, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk do have a lot to say, but I’d be cautious about quoting them. People might say, “Oh, another Oprah quote” and skip past it.

My rule of thumb here is: The more I see one name in my scanning of quotations, the less likely I am to use it.

I would also avoid using quotations by people who may have a polarizing effect, i.e., those who are on extreme ends of the political/social spectrum. This would depend on what I was writing.

Build a Quotations Collection

The other way you can work with quotations is to collect them so that you have many handy to put into your articles and books. File them in categories so that you can find them easily.

Sometimes you’ll get an unexpected bonus. A quotation may spark in you an idea for an article. You can deliberately activate this effect by going through your collection when you’ve run out of fresh ideas.

I close with this quotation:

A quotation in a speech, article or book is like a rifle in the hands of an infantryman. It speaks with authority.—Brendan Behan, Irish playwright

Pat Iyer is an editor and ghostwriter who helps authors shine. Contact her for a free consultation at patiyer.com.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

How a Competent Writer Can Become Good

Stephen King, in his book, On Writing, lists a hierarchy of writers: bad, competent, good (and sometimes really good), and great, which he also describes as the genius level of writing.

Bad writers, King says, do get published. They may write for your local weekly paper. Some of them write best-sellers. If the subject of a book is sensational or compelling enough, a bad writer can do well.

Competent writers achieve a higher level of journalism. They may write genre fiction, which, again, if the subject is compelling, can do well.

He says little about his category of good writers, but he would probably include himself among them. He does very well.

The last category, the great ones, include Nobel Prize winners, Dickens, James Joyce, and others.

King says that bad writers can’t become competent. Competent writers can become good. Rarely will good writers become great.

I’m focusing here on how competent writers can become good writers.

Read a Lot, Write a Lot

In King’s view, doing a lot of reading and writing are fundamental aspects to being or becoming a good writer. I fully agree. I was Independently taking books out of the library at 4 a clip as soon as I was old enough to ride my bike one mile to the library. (Those were the days when kids could roam around town without fear of kidnapping)

Read doesn’t mean social media. While you may accumulate information, you will also pick up a lot of bad grammar and abbreviations. If anything, your writing may deteriorate from over-exposure. You’ll see such atrocities as “Me and him went to the library.” No.)

Reading does mean both fiction and non-fiction. If you’re planning a writing a non-fiction book, read a lot in the area of your specialty, from the perspective of seeing what’s been written. Make sure your book hasn’t been written, and absorb the style of your particular area of interest.

You should also be reading fiction. Your book may be non-fiction, but you will be telling stories in it. You want those stories to catch readers’ interest. Study how fiction writers write.

King recommends reading both good and bad novels so that you can learn the difference between them. Good writers write economically: no roller-coaster sentences, no nouns preceded by three adjectives. Without consciously knowing it, you will absorb a lot.

The odds are good that competent writers write every day. They may be journalists or technical writers. Your job in the C Suite may keep the words rolling out, but a different kind of writing can help you go from competent to good.

Keep a journal to develop more skill in expressing yourself and to focus on accurately describing what you feel. Write down a story about something that happened to you today or yesterday. Tell a story that’s interesting.

Take risks. (Remember, no one but you has to see this.) If you have an urge to write some seemingly unrelated words and phrases, do it. Write a poem or dialogue. Stretch yourself. to help you leap the gap between competence and good writing. Imagination makes the difference.

Seeing the progress you make during your daily writing will encourage you to continue to take more risks. As regular physical exercise increases your comfort in your body, so regular writing will help you to experience even greater enjoyment from writing than you already do.

Pat Iyer is a ghostwriter who helps busy people share their expertise without having to write a book. She also edits other people’s writing, an activity which she loves. Contact her through her website www.patiyer.com.

Categories
Growth Personal Development

Lean Writing: How to Cut the Bloat

Bloat occurs when one word makes another unnecessary.

This post presents tips on unnecessary pairings of words. These pairings weaken your writing.

Free gift: NO! Sorry to shout, but this is the worst of the worst, and it’s creeping like fungus into the wording of countless offers. Use “gift” or “free.” No exceptions. Or, for truth in advertising, if the gift isn’t free, write, “some strings attached”—which no one wrote ever or will.

My personal belief: If it’s yours, it’s personal. The same applies to saying, “My own.” The use of “personal” or “own” implies a need to make sure your claim is clear.

Plan ahead: Have you ever planned behind?

Possibly might: “Might” and “possibly” suggest “maybe.” Choose between them.

Protest against: A protest communicates that one is opposed. You don’t need to say “against.” This is different from using the word, “argue,” since you can argue either for or against.

Unexpected surprise: What is an expected surprise?

Unintended mistake: We can safely assume that a mistake is unintended.

Absolutely certain: Certainty is its own absolute. Avoid “Absolutely,” as an adverb. As an adjective, it can be used with caution. “It was an absolute victory.” That would mean that the victory was unquestionable.

Actual experience or actual fact: “Actual” is generally a tricky word. People use it to give emphasis to something as being real. However, “This was my actual experience” doesn’t make it more believable. In similar vein, a fact is a fact. It has been confirmed as true.

Postpone until later: See “plan ahead.” No one postpones until earlier.

Add an additional: There’s a big clue in this pairing. “Add” is part of “additional.” This is the best possible sign that “add” is unnecessary. Subtract is from your writing. Or subtract “additional.”

Added bonus: This is the cousin of “free gift.” A bonus is something added.

Advance notice: Giving notice is letting someone know something in advance. You can use either “advance” or “notice,” but not both. And please correctly use “advance”. You should have an Advance Directive, not an Advanced Directive to specify your healthcare wishes.

Ask a question: This is so commonly used that most people don’t pay attention. However, to ask is to question.

Usual custom: Customs are what is usual. You don’t need both words.

Difficult dilemma: Dilemmas are never easy. You can eliminate “difficult.”

Direct confrontation: A confrontation is always direct.

End result: Results always occur at the end of a situation or series of action. You don’t need “End”.

Sneaky Redundancies Are the Opposite of Lean Writing

These combinations are  subtler and require thoughtful editing. Look for words in a sentence that say the same thing, i.e., one of them is redundant.

“This winter we may potentially have mild weather.”

“May” and “potentially” say the same thing. Eliminate “potentially.”

“The existence of mild oceanic temperatures implies that global warming may be accelerating.”

“May” is unnecessary in this sentence. Replace “may be” with “is.”

This series doesn’t cover every unnecessary word. Develop a healthy suspicion about your writing. Practice learning to make each word earn its place so you have lean writing.

Pat Iyer is an editor and ghostwriter who works with business people to present their polished best writing. Reach her through patiyer.com.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development

The 1st Line of Your Blog: Your 2nd Chance to Grab the Reader’s Attention

If you pull them past the headline line, make sure you keep them.

80-90% of your readers won’t go beyond the subject line. However, I suspect that their eyes may stray to the first line that follows. If you write a good one, you have another chance to get someone to read your email.

Sample Headlines and Follow-ups

Your Headlines Can Save You or Sink You

Here are 10 great ways to write headlines that zing.

Your Doctor Says: “Lose Weight or Die.”

Resist the urge to run home and bury your fear with food.

Noise Pollution is Making You Sick

Turn off the sounds that kill.

From Problem to Solution

In these pairs, the headline presents the problem, and the next line demonstrates that by reading the blog, you can find solutions.

This is a very popular approach for solution-based blog. However, the first line is important for any kind of story.

Shock-Value Headlines and Follow-ups

I Grew Up in a Satanic Cult

I ran for my life when I was sixteen.

Below are some examples from old issues of True Confessions magazine. This magazine is worth studying, not because you want to write those kinds of stories but because they know how to ramp up the dramatic value of headlines and following lines that get read.

When a Girl Goes to Prison

What really happens on the inside.

Search and Rescue

I saved a life and found love.

Your slightly less lurid pairing might read:

I Was 30 Days Away from Bankruptcy

I had given up all hope.

He Asked, “Why Should I Hire You?”

I had 10 seconds to come up with an answer.

Location Is Everything

This is especially true when you’re writing a blog post. Position the first line so that it falls ABOVE whatever graphic you use. That way, it’s a continuation of the headline.

If you’re writing for a publication where you don’t have that kind of design control, you can keep the headline and first line together by making the line a subhead.

For example, you could do this:

I Was 30 Days Away from Bankruptcy:

I Had Given Up All Hope

I’ve changed the former first line to upper and lower-case and deleted the period.  The character count is 29 for this revised title. Given that 55% of people read blogs on their phone, keep your titles at no more than 34 characters and spaces.

Be Creative

Experiment. It’s always important to check your statistics and to study the comments you get on blogs. It’s unlikely that someone will tell you, “I loved your title and first line,” but if they leave a comment, these elements pulled them in enough to read further.

And that’s what you want.

Pat Iyer started blogging in 2009; since then she was written over a thousand blog posts. She is one of the original 100 C Suite Network Advisors. Connect with her at patiyer.com.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Skills

Can Your Headline Make Me Eager to Read Your Article?

You can write the best story ever told, but without a good headline, it might not get read. Whether you are doing the writing or one of your staff is, pay attention to headlines.

Experts estimate that 80 to 90 percent of people who read a headline won’t go on to read an article because the headline didn’t grab their attention. How disheartening when you are using company’s resources to create what you think are compelling articles!

That doesn’t mean that you can write a mediocre article and focus solely on a catchy headline. It means that your headline has to provide a compelling reason for the reader to go beyond it.

Here are some do’s and don’ts.

Don’t Use Clickbait

 In general, clickbait refers to content that deliberately misrepresents or over-promises something. It can be used to entice someone to click on a link that will take them to a web site.

When used in headline content, it attempts to induce someone to read the article.

Some examples could include:

  1. “Lose 20 pounds in 4 days ”
  2. “Seven Investments That Can Save You From the Coming Crash”
  3. “How to Keep Your Child From Turning Into a Drug Addict”

They all use exaggeration. The first headline about weight loss is probably not even safe. The next two incite fear and try to make you feel that if you don’t read further, your life is doomed.

Rarely do the articles connected to such headlines deliver on expectations.

Readers will remember a click baiting writer who uses a byline. They won’t click again.

Clickbait isn’t ethical and it doesn’t work.

Promise to Answer a Strong Need

  1.  “How to Make Your Doctor Listen to You”
  2. “7 Questions You Should Always Ask Your Pharmacist”
  3. “Exercise: the Low-Cost Lifesaver”

Follow-Through

Important as your headline is, your article must fulfill its implicit promise about your company’s products or services.

If you write about exercise, present a range of exercise practices so that people of different physical abilities and ages can benefit from them.

Put your own experience into the story. How did you make your company achieve success in solving a problem?

Also remember this: Click through is not the end of the story. Are people commenting on your articles? Do they sign up to receive your blog in their newsfeed? If you have a special offer, do they download it? Positive answers to these questions indicate growing success.

However, you need a compelling headline in order to have a chance at achieving those goals. Practice until you get them right.

Pat Iyer is one of the charter members of the C Suite Network Advisors. As a ghostwriter and editor, she helps her clients shine. Contact her through www.patiyer.com.

Categories
Best Practices Marketing Personal Development

Why Your Website Needs an FAQ

You probably know that few businesses can thrive these days without an online presence. Sometimes, though, even the largest corporations neglect to have an essential web site element: a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. All web sites need one for a number of reasons.

It Answers Questions

How much of your employees’ time gets spent answering potential customers’ questions by phone or email? How much time can be saved through a thorough FAQ page? The answer to both questions is: a lot.

In addition, an FAQ can answer questions during the hours when your business is closed, thus allowing you to serve potential customers 24/7. People can get to know your company better by studying it.

What Goes on Your FAQ?

 The specifics depend, of course, on the particular nature of your business, but some general principles apply.

A good web site will have a lot of information about products and services, but the information in it can’t answer every question. In addition, the information is often spread across a number of pages.

An FAQ provides a highly condensed distillation of the most important facts for your customers and potential customers to know. If you’re not sure what’s important, do this:

  • Ask those who answer customer questions what the most commonly asked questions are.
  • Take this a step further by brainstorming additional possible questions.
  • Study your competition’s FAQ pages. This gives you ideas.

Sometimes it’s best if your answer is a link to another page. For example, if your company sells vacuum cleaners, people might ask the difference between Model VC-20 and VC-30. This tells you the benefit of a page dedicated to a chart that clearly shows the different features of various models. Your FAQ can link to that page.

Basic and Essential Questions

  •  What payment methods do you accept?
  • What warranties and guarantees do you offer?
  • What are your return policies?

This last question is very important and a subject in itself. I recommend that every page have a link to your return policies page and the information on it be repeated on the FAQ page.

An FAQ Page Tells More About Your Company

 A common question in FAQs is “Why is your product better than X’s product?” This provides a great opportunity to both show your expertise and praise your product.

A question about how fast you ship products allows you to state that customer satisfaction is your highest priority.

Demonstrate Your Company’s Unique Qualities

 Make sure that your answers are engaging in character. Show a sense of humor when appropriate. Create answers that use the simplest and clearest language possible. Make it clear that you care about communicating to your customer.

People Will Still Call

 You won’t be shutting down your customer service lines. Some people won’t understand the answers in the FAQ. Some will have questions you never dreamed anyone would ask. Others find it important to speak to a live person because it gives them more confidence in your company.

Nonetheless, having an informative and engaging FAQ can do a lot to help you attract—and keep—customers.

Pat Iyer is an editor, book coach, ghostwriter and online course creator who assists busy business executives share their knowledge. Find out more about her services by visiting www.patiyer.com

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development

Blogging and Relationship Marketing

Blogging and relationship marketing go together. Blogging shows your expertise – you’re connecting with clients, but you are not selling them anything. You are a resource and provide them with good information on your web site that can help them.

The focus of a blog is not selling. It’s more educating, communicating, persuading, and story telling. You’re making an investment in a relationship with your target audience, rather than bombarding them. Your clients are inundated with marketing messages from commercials, emails, billboards, and social media.

Blogging and Relationship Marketing go Hand in Hand

Use your blog to educate, entertain, and teach them something new. By doing that you start to build that “Know, Like and Trust” factor. It’s about them.

People listen to two different radio stations, especially on the Internet and face-to-face. Many like to broadcast on the radio station WIIAM. What WIIAM stands for is “What Is Interesting About Me”. When people are searching out content on the Internet or social media, people are listening to WIIFM: “What’s In It For Me”.

As we know in radio, AM is a lower frequency and doesn’t have the quality as FM, which is better for music and sounds better. People are much more interested in “How Can You Help Me” as opposed to “Who You Are” and “What You Do”. That’s one of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they’re constantly trying to sell and promote themselves. Instead, provide great information on a blog that helps the other person.

There is a common misperception among many business owners, which is it’s effective to say, “Let me tell you all about the services that I offer”. Blogging and relationship marketing supply information to the prospect that will entice the client to find out find out more. This is one of the primary purposes of a blog.

A real relationship takes time. It takes caring and giving equal benefits to both sides. Building a relationship in relationship marketing is about thinking about “What’s In It for Them” that I can provide that’s different.

  • “How can I be a resource?”
  • “How can I be a support mechanism?”
  • “How can I give them something that everybody else in the marketplace is not doing other than trying to come in, get work and take their money?”

Blogging and relationship marketing put some of the pieces of the puzzle together.

Pat Iyer has been blogging since 2009. She’s written thousands of blog posts. Connect with her and read her writing tips blogs on www.Patiyer.com.