If you had 35.7 million business blog readers, would you write like this?

It’s a big night for you.

You’ve achieved an epic milestone in your business after a long and gruelling journey.

You decide to take to your business blog and write about it for your readers.

But back up a little.

Imagine that instead of having 10, 100, 1000 or 100,000 readers you have 35.7 million.

What would you write to them?

They’re waiting for you to say something really, really good…

Click the link below to download the first page of Obama’s acceptance speech.

It takes a couple of minutes to read.

Obama Speech

Done?

Great, now 35.7 million people tuned in to watch this speech on TV.

However, regardless of your occasion or audience size, here are some simple techniques from this content that you can steal to make your business blog more attractive to readers.

From 35.7 million to 1 person

Your business blog is not about you or your company. It’s about your reader.~ Click to Tweet this

And this speech is not about the president, it’s about the voter.

“The task of perfecting our union moves forward.

It moves forward because of you.”

On the first page alone he uses the word “you” to the audience 11 times and he talks to one person rather than saying “some of you, most of you.”

There’s also a smart word that you can steal when you want to talk to a range of people within your ideal target market.

The word is:

“Whether”

“Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone… whether you held an Obama sign or Romney sign, you made your voice head and you made a difference.”

This simple but powerful technique lets him make his opposition just as acknowledged and respected as his supporters.

You can easily do this in your business blog for example:

“Whether you’re a beginner, or you’ve been in business for years, we offer training resources for all levels”

“Whether you want to be a best-selling author or just brush up some short stories, our creative writing courses can help you…”

Takeaway points:

• Where possible, start your blog posts with your audience.
• Use “you” in the singular form to address one reader
• Use “whether” when you want to talk to one reader, but acknowledge a number of different situations.

Simple Language

On this first page, the language is easy to understand.

And the message is clear.

One of the biggest problems when marketing your business online is a confused and muddled message.

It’s easy to get caught up in advertising buzzwords. It seems like every business out there is “leveraging” this, and “capitalising or optimising” that.

Which is why you have an opportunity to get back to basics, strip the flowery language and create content that people read, understand and share.

Poke fun at yourself

“… Whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time.

By the way, we have to fix that.”

If you try to project a perfect business image, you are setting yourself up for criticism. Nobody likes the “holier than thou” approach.

In his speech, the president accepts that things are not perfect, but he acknowledges it and in doing so connects with his audience.

Consumer trust has changed.  According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, Less people believe what companies say about themselves, choosing to favour the opinion and advice of individuals instead.

We’ve been burned by companies telling us everything is perfect, only to be disappointed.

Don’t make out that you’re perfect but have the confidence to accept that these small cracks do not impede your success. If anything, they may even become unusual selling points.

Shine without hogging the spotlight

Let’s face it. On a podium after millions of people have just said “hell yeah!” to the thing you do must be a crazy buzz.

And yet in his speech, unless I missed it, I can’t see anywhere that he says:

“In your face Romney, they wanted me! Me, and all of me. You lose, I win.”

In fact, it’s the opposite. He begins by shining the light on everyone BUT himself.

• He appreciates the voters
• He appreciates his opponent
• He appreciates his team

He acknowledges the efforts of many rather than talking about all the things he did to win the election

And the effect?

He stands out even more.

When blogging for business there are many ways to showcase your talents indirectly:

• Case studies
• Peeks behind the scenes of featured employees
• The successes of your clients

All of this shows success in your business, but in a way that your readers will actually find interesting.

Now I’d love to know from you:

Did you watch the speech? Do you use any of these techniques when blogging for your business? Have you struggled with any of them before? Let me know in the comments below:

No time to comment? (Heck, you’ve got a business to run) then just scroll to the top of the page.

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