Golden Practices Blog

Blog Post Fodder

Had a blast doing a webinar today for Moore Stephens North America about blogging for lead generation purposes. My presentation is on Slideshare.

Blogging for Lead Generation

And I promised attendees I'd follow up with this post about where to get posting ideas. 

It is geared for marketers who are supporting their firm's blogging efforts, but bloggers can do these things, directly, too!

• Search Twitter and search Google regularly for articles/news in your topic areas using keywords and phrases (experiment and adjust them to refine your results for greatest relevance)
• Subscribe to above searches in Google Reader so you can just check your Google Reader daily for new blog fodder!
• Subscribe to ALL related industry blogs (in Google Reader) and e-newsletters
• Comb through "sent items" in your email to find past emails you can sanitize (or have someone help you sanitize) as great "one Q at a time" postings. Add a sentence or two of context at the front and voila! Instant blog post.
• Feature clients, referral sources and PROSPECTS (like Scott Heintzelman of Exuberant Accountant does) by posting about neat stuff they are doing
• Seek out guest blog authors - people who are experts in your blog's industry focus area are best. Most willing might be experts who don't have their own blog or who are new to blogging and are seeking to build an audience.
• If you're a firm marketer, interview practitioners and draft some posts for them (but if they sit on them too long, stop doing this…don’t let them take more than 24-48 hours to turn a post around...this represents it's too low of a priority for them) 
• Suggest an editorial calendar, but allow for flexibility as spontaneous posts (as inspired) work best

Most importantly, if you're targeting business clientele, aim content at a very HIGH level for your intended audience. 

If you blog on business topics, don't be tempted to write "down" to a basic level or your posts are likely to seem too "101" to the executive level people you are targeting. Even if (especially if!!) it's a little over their heads, it will showcase your knowledge. Writing down or posting content that's too simplistic (e.g. new tax mileage rates when you are trying to showcase your consulting brilliance) makes you seem out of touch with your audience's real needs, and perhaps even condescending. 

Keep it high-level and this will differentiate your firm!

Oscars Results Reflect Today's Marketing Climate - Content Reigns

 Some interesting backstage comments followed the Oscars on ABC News/Entertainment made by Kathryn Bigelow (Best Director for Hurt Locker) on the quality of the 2010 Oscar nominees. She said, 

"This has been a really extraordinary year for content, and content-driven material that is diverse and complex."

I was really moved when I read this. 

It's a reflection of what's garnering the most attention, and exactly mirrors what's happening on-line. What draws is content. 

Sure Avatar is beautiful. Very beautiful, indeed. Far surpassing any movie ever made. But let's be real. The story line is a re-do. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen the flick by naming the 80s movie the story parallels, but you'll know when you watch it. 

Funny when you think about it because, despite pretty redesigns, most current law and accounting firm website content is nearly IDENTICAL to the stuff the firms said about themselves in their first websites, circa 1995. 

And, THAT text came from where? Yes. Straight from the blah-blah, we-we-we, all-about us, fluffy brochures the firms used since.... when? The 80s. 

Just sayin'...

That approach is done. And those sites are so dead they don't even stink anymore! 

Today's web is ALL about content-driven material that is diverse and complex. 

I do see some firms venturing into web content with very watered down, Info-101-type content that wouldn't teach my 16 year-old anything, much less be a worthwhile resource for the C-Suite exec it is supposedly targeted to. 

No no no. Content should never be dumbed down. Please. Punch it UP. Aim high. 

If your audience doesn't get it because it's over their heads, they won't think LESS of you, they'll think MORE of you. This is far safer than dumbing down the content so much that it comes across as insulting or condescending. Be very careful of that.

Get out there. Show your intellect. Show your depth. MOVE people. Give them something to applaud. Stand out!

So, back to the Oscars for the lesson... Pretty is pretty. Popular is popular. But content wins. 

Photo: AP