If your process or method is braggable, then it’s also bloggable. If a recent client project completed successfully, and it’s braggable, then it’s also bloggable. Anything that’s braggable is also bloggable.
But you just can’t go around bragging. It turns people off. People want us to do well, but they prefer we show a little humility and good grace. Sharing customer success stories with all your existing and future customers is something we strive to do in Gateway Blogging. And even though a recent achievement may be braggable and bloggable, you have to remember one very important thing:
Your customers don’t care about you–they care about themselves.
They’re visiting, commenting, and subscribing to your blog because you have something they want. Everything you do on your blog has to be of benefit to them, or it will never benefit you. Everything has to go through our mental language transmogrifiers so that everything we say is presented in terms of customer benefit.
After all, we’re blogging to support our business. We’re blogging to get more business. We want people who are not currently our customers to see the benefits our customers receive, so that they in turn will eventually be persuaded to become our customers, too.
So, yes, braggable means bloggable, but remember who you’re writing for and why.
6 Comments
Hi Michael:
I really like what you say, “Everything you do on your blog has to be of benefit to them, or it will never benefit you.” whoa, very well said. That got my attention.
I think we need to develop some strategies to help people develop meaningful benefits because as you say “Everything has to go through our mental language transmogrifiers so that everything we say is presented in terms of customer benefit.”
I love the approach laid out in the book, Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall that takes it one step further. Features to Benefits. Benefits to Overt Benefits. Overt Benefits to Real Reason to Believe. Real Reason to Believe to Dramatic Difference and finally, “What one thing can you better than anyone else in the world?”
I have also started developing a set of “personas” or customer profiles. Is that something we should discuss in Gateway Blogging? I know that thinking of who I am writing for helps me focus a lot more on the customer and get out of my head. What do you think?
Warm regards,
Greg
P.S. I love the new theme!
Michael - sharing customer service is such an excellent idea… why is it that most people haven’t thought of this!?!? Fantastic…
Thanks, Greg!
I think it is a bit of a struggle to constantly, consistently frame content for customer benefit… especially to try and do it in a natural, relationship-building way that isn’t overselling.
The “one thing that you can do better than anyone else in the world” is the holy grail, isn’t it? But people will never get to see what that is in us if we turn them off with misguided business blog content strategies.
Gateway Blogging provides a system to teach people how to do this so that it becomes second nature.
I’m very interested in the idea of working personas into this. I don’t think anyone else has really done this with business blogging.
I like the theme, too. It’s not pure custom, but in these early stages of a super-soft launch, it will more than suffice.
Christine, I think that business blogging is still very much in its infancy, and we’re still trying to see the obvious stuff that’s right in front of our faces!
Hi Christine: I think part of the challenge is that we get so busy going hither and yon trying to keep up with our business that we overlook the obvious and important. Personally, I need structure to make a major shift in my thinking.
Like Michael says, we are just in the infancy of business blogging and Michael and I are both trying to figure this out and your feedback will be important to helping us keep this ‘real world’.
Michael I will begin to create some articles and content on the topic of customer personas for blogging.
Awesome Greg! I will certainly be following this blog closely!