Svaha: the time between seeing lightning and hearing the thunder
I will be eternally grateful for your great gift of taking in to the fullest extent what it is that I have to offer, living it, and then reflecting it back in terms of the potential experience of others. You have given words to a process that defies words. And you’re constantly in a position to help me continue to hone that, deeper and deeper and more and more resonantly, who I am and what I offer, which is truly invaluable. — Jon Hansen, The Remembering Room, Richmond, Illinois
What you’ve sent me is so darn perfect it hurts! It’s a sheer pleasure to work with someone who writes as beautifully as you do — and in “my” voice. — Ariane Goodwin, Ed.D, smARTist® Telesummit, Millers Falls, Massachusetts
You have a real gift for words. You’re really, really good at it. — Sherry Essig, Priority Ventures Group, Raleigh, North Carolina
You’ve built such integrity of message in your company. I know that’s because it springs forth intrinsically, but you stay so focused at your core! I can’t think of a better way to phrase that laser-beam focus you have. It’s funny, because in someone else, laser-beam focus would be intense, but somehow you manage to make it much more kind and easy. — Jessica Albon, Thrive Your Tribe, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
I’ve never worked with anybody in the way that I’ve worked with you in terms of trusting in your abilities to the level that I have. — Catherine Hajnal PhD, Eight Branches Consulting, Vancouver, Canada ... facilitating and nurturing joyful living
You have an uncanny ability to see through what is being said and surface all the “unsaid” issues. Then you quickly give candid feedback and have a tremendous toolbox to help me move forward through your expert guidance of the right tool.
I have worked with many facilitators/coaches/counselors relating to work and personal situations. Your skills are exemplary and moved me faster than I ever expected. — Jennifer Baker, Fishers, Indiana
You bring both a spiritual perspective and some real-world hard-headedness. — Janet Bailey, Mindful Time Management, San Francisco, California
Brava! I wish I could draw a picture of me — you’d see me in a deep bow to you!
I read your newsletter as soon as it hits my in-box and you’re always right on with your advice. I had to let you know that this issue is particularly brilliant.
I will definitely keep this info — and your contact info — in a secure place.
Thanks so much for sharing your insight and wisdom. — Debbie Rodgers, CGA
July 20 2010
As small business owners, we hear it all the time: content is king.
What people mean by that is that to engage your customers — to attract them, to get them to attend to who you are and what you offer, to interest them in your products and services — you need to give them good, useful, pertinent content. And you need to do this consistently and reliably.
To accomplish this, most small businesses offer a newsletter and/or publish a blog.
Marketing gurus tell us that this is the best way to have a loyal following of fans who will buy from us.
And it’s true. But it’s not always as easy to do as you might expect.
It sounds obvious, but before you write a single article or record a single podcast, you need to know who your audience is, very clearly and very explicitly. And you need to know what questions and concerns are actually important to them (versus what you think should be important to them).
I’ve written many times over the past months, in this newsletter and on the blog, about identifying your audience and their problems. I won’t revisit those topics now; links to some of the articles and posts are below, if you need a quick reminder.
But even when you know your audience and the topics they care about, creating useful content can be challenging.
Small business owners are often so deep in the details of what they do that they lose track of how to talk about it. When you understand what you do on an instinctive level, it’s hard to remember that other people might not have the slightest clue. Translating that deep expertise and experience into small nuggets of wisdom that the beginner can use is hard.
Here are some tips to help create article, podcast, or blog content that your audience can understand — and that they’ll use.
Because if they can easily, simply, and quickly use what you give them, they're a whole lot more likely to buy from you!
A friend of mine refers to really good food as “tiny bite food.” What she means is that she wants to savor it, to make it last.
That’s a great way to look at providing content for your audience: tiny bites they can savor and, in taking action, make them last.
It’s easy to think you need to provide big, impressive chunks of content in order to gain credibility and become an authority — a guru! — in your market. But stop and think about your own experience. While a lot of information and ideas may be impressive, it probably leaves you feeling tired instead of inspired. And it’s unlikely that you actually use much of what’s presented in big chunks.
So instead of giving your audience lengthy articles packed with lots of great material, try giving them tiny bites — shorter articles with just one idea and a few action steps they can take right now to make things better.
As you may have noticed, it can be surprisingly hard to present concepts in straightforward simplicity.
And when you’re deep in the details of your work — details that you’re proud of, details you enjoy — it’s hard to resist the temptation to explain things at length.
But that isn’t what your audience wants at the tiny-bite stage.
It’s fine to go into detail when you’re working one-on-one with someone, or when you’re writing a book or creating a program. But in your introductory material — which is what your articles and blog really are — keep it very, very simple.
Reading your own writing aloud probably seems like an odd thing to do.
And it’s the absolute best way to catch strange wording, over-complicated sentences, and logical speed bumps.
It’s a daunting task when you’re looking at a hundred pages of e-book or program content — but your articles and blog posts should be under a thousand words (significantly under!), and that will take only a few moments.
It’s a well-known trick in professional writing circles. Give it a try. You’ll be in good company.
Is content really king? Yes — it can be. But only if you take the time and care to make it worthwhile for your audience to read, appreciate, and implement the wisdom it contains.
“A short saying oft contains much wisdom.” Sophocles, 469BCE-406BCE, ancient Greek tragedian.
I mentioned above that I’ve written other articles and blog posts on identifying your audience and their problems. Here are links to a few of them.
So who ARE your clients, anyway?
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