Drawing More Readers with Inspiring Aspirations
One of the big struggles when you are launching a business blog, is how to write content that will both appeal to your audience and have some connection to what you have to offer.
I have been helping a couple of clients pull their blog topics together, they both were frustrated that there was apparently very little to talk about the widgets they sell. The solution for both was the same, even though they are in starkly different industries. You might find the same solution works for you also, even if you have nothing to sell.
What motivates your audience? Not just “interests” but really motivates?
How does this connect with what you do and how you do it?
This is why it is helpful to create a very detailed Mind Map, talk to potential or existing customers, get into your audience head space. Otherwise there are opportunities you can miss.
Without giving away my clients niches before they even launch, both sold something seemingly straightforward and practical, but there was something for each that connected with the audiences self-identity and aspirations. One was in the way the product ingredients were sourced and manufactured, the other in the customers overall life goal.
Rather than creating a “widget blog”, talk to topics that will make your audience really take notice. We often talk about addressing needs and problems, but when you are talking about products and services you can also address your readers sense of purpose, hopes and dreams.
Goals, Inspiration and Aspirations
What is the ultimate benefit you are the solution or part of the solution for?
- Make more money
- Freedom and free time
- Be famous, Prestige
- Safety and security
- Adventure and excitement
World View and Activism
Are your potential customers facing a challenge, are they of a particular moral/political/advocate group? Do they share beliefs with you?
- Fair Trade
- Environment
- Organic
- Alternative Energy
Successful Inspiring Blogs
Consider the following successful blogs, what are the aspirations behind them?
Some are obvious, some not immediately obvious, but all have a promise that they deliver on. Everything from “make more money” to “look good without spending a fortune”.
This blog you are reading has a promise connected to my services (build more business through new media), but the promise with real crystal clarity I spun off into Authority Blogger.
Where do you fit Into your readers world?
Rather than just focusing on your widgets or services, think how you can fit into your customers world. What can you talk about that is inspiring, fills a need but also connects authentically to what you do and offer.
For any blog you need to go beyond merely supplying information or being “kinda useful”, if you do not connect in some way to what really matters to your audience, then you will get lost amongst the sea of alternatives and the many distractions of modern life.
Can you think of any other brands or blogs that are attracting readers through inspiration and aspiration?
