Do you struggle with ways to conclude a blog post? It is the most important paragraph next to the introduction, isn’t it? Many bloggers don’t write a final paragraph. They share their tips, and that’s it. Their content just winds to a dull ending. But it doesn’t have to be like that. You can conclude a blog post better than the average bear, right?
But as bloggers, our task is not simply to share tips but to encourage our readers, to make them feel good, to spark action … to be a good teacher.
But how do the best teachers inspire you?
Start with imagining your favorite reader. What’s stopping him from implementing your advice? Does he feel overwhelmed? Does he think he can’t do it? Does he feel it’s too much effort for too little gain? Let’s hope not.
When you understand what’s holding your favorite reader back, you can help him with specific advice. Give a pep talk or remind him of the benefits of implementing your advice.
Once you’ve defined the aim of your final paragraph, write a draft, and edit it for power and inspiration:
Do you agree that an intriguing tone hooks people’s attention right away? We do. This tried and tested method makes people think of a “what if” scenario that keeps them reading on to the next paragraphs. Open with this hook, and you’re sure to keep people interested.
Repeat the best
Imagine a long list post with 18 writing tips.
Would readers feel overwhelmed? Would they remember anything?
A simple way to write your final lines is to repeat the essence of your message—the one thing you want your readers to remember.
In the following paragraph, for instance, the reader is reminded that good blogging is a conversation with your readers:
You’re starting a conversation with your readers. To have a good chat, you need to listen more than you talk.
Learn who your readers are. Understand their struggles. Know their frustrations.
Treat your readers even better than you would treat a friend. Help them overcome their doubts and fears. Encourage them to realize their dreams.
Captivate them. Seduce them. Enchant them.
Sweep them off their feet.
End with a compelling idea
People are tired of hearing the same old thing over and over again. Jumping out at them with an interesting and unique idea makes your content shine through the competition. If you don’t have any snappy ideas yet, try to reframe a simple sentence into an engaging one.
Come back to the introduction
A circle is a simple closed shape; it’s balanced.
So circling back to your introduction gives your writing a finished and balanced feel.
How?
Communicate a powerful image in your opening paragraph, and go back to this image in your closing lines.
For Copyblogger, I wrote a post about vivid writing, and the opening paragraph talks about your message standing out like a red poppy in a sea of gray content.
In the closing paragraph, I repeat this image:
How often do we read content that surprises and delights? That will enchant readers, yes?
How often are we inspired by a blog post?
Life is too short for monotone voices. Life is too short for wishy-washy writing. Life is too short to regurgitate ideas without adding value.
It’s time to have fun, infuse your content with your personality, and dazzle your readers with your words.
Come on. Dare to be that red poppy shining brightly in an ocean of gray content.
Let your ideas sparkle, shimmer, sing, swing, swirl, shock, and sizzle.
You’re the leader your readers are waiting for.
Get ready to spark change.
Tell readers why they should care
You and I both know that change is hard.
How can we encourage our readers to roll up their sleeves and implement our tips?
Tell them why they should care. How will their efforts pay off? How will they feel better?
The paragraph below, for instance, is the closing of a post with six tips for conversational writing. To encourage readers to do the hard work of editing, they’re reminded why a conversational style is powerful:
Do you ever think back to a conversation you had with a friend? Do you hear her voice in your head?
That’s how readers should experience your content. Let your words linger in their minds. Inspire them long after they’ve read your words.
In a world of endless pixels and meaningless likes, we crave human connections and voices that resonate with us.
So, be you. Brew a cup of green tea. Offer your readers a slice of homemade cake.
And have a cozy chat.
Keep it simple
Don’t go over-the-top with your initial paragraph. Your purpose is to hook your readers in, not distract them with a wordy start. Keep it simple with a clear and concise beginning. Avoid putting in unnecessary descriptions or filler words that might move away from your main points.
“Don’t go into great detail describing places and things, unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language” – Elmore Leonard, a famous novelist gave his recommendation for writers.
A pep talk often works well
Sometimes, we ask nearly impossible from our readers.
Because a big obstacle sabotages their efforts to implement our advice. Obstacles like self-doubt, feeling overwhelmed or being totally stressed out.
The concluding paragraph gives readers a pep talk to overcome their self-doubt.
You may feel overwhelmed. But quit doubting yourself.
You may even feel intimidated by others bragging about their huge followings, their launch successes, and the amount of money they’re making.
But remember, everyone starts at zero. Zero followers. Zero subscribers. Zero profit.
You may doubt whether you’re able to pull this off.
That’s normal.
Even people like Neil Gaiman, Sheryl Sandberg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Emma Watson feel like a fraud sometimes.
Nobody is perfect. Nobody knows everything. And nobody possesses the perfect blueprint. We all stumble around from time to time.
So pick up the courage to get started.
And keep moving forward.
Ways to conclude a blog post … paint an image
A vivid picture in people’s minds will give your conclusion a better edge. To create a neat but descriptive start, think of just one main idea. Once you’ve zeroed in on your chosen topic, describe it in the best way you can. Don’t resort to simple adjectives. Think of more unconventional and creative ways to paint that image.
Provide comfort to readers
As a blogger, you position yourself as a voice of authority.
But the problem with authority is that it creates a distance between you and your readers. Readers might think … she can do it; she’s an authority. But I can’t. I’m not good enough.
This is when you can offer comfort and a sense of connection … tell readers they’re not alone and that you’ve had the same doubts:
When I started writing, I didn’t think of myself as a writer. I doubted my skills. I didn’t know whether I had enough ideas.
But every time I had to write an article, I learned more about writing. I followed my curiosity. I discovered what I’m passionate about, and I learned what resonated with my audience.
You might think you don’t have enough to share. Or you might doubt your writing skills.
This is what I’d like to tell you:
You’re unique. You have unique experiences. And you’ll discover your voice and your passions when you write more. Writing brings clarity, deepens your understanding, and strengthens your ideas.
So, commit to writing. To creating valuable content. To be helpful to your readers.
Start making tiny ripples.
That’s how change begins.
Invigorate your readers
A good blogger understands the beauty of language, and how to use words for maximum impact.
But choosing the right words is a superficial form of beauty.
The real beauty comes from within … a willingness to help, to be honest, and generous. A spirited drive to share your ideas. A real sense of human connection.
The real beauty of writing comes from a deep understanding of your readers, and a desire to spark change, no matter how tiny.
Empower your readers.
The bottom line
These are things that we already know, of course. They are not rocket science and shouldn’t be.
This list of little things simply reminds us of what we have forgotten. Then it is up to us to put these lessons (or reminders) into daily use through persistence and practice.
Remember … your experience and learning trumps all!
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to innovating your social media strategy?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on social media marketing creativity from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on, and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced. And brand advertising is key. Allow me to illustrate how Facebook uses brand advertising.
And the more feeling and emotion you express, the more attention to a brand. And the more influence it can create. Not rocket science is it?
As long as it’s positive, there is no such thing as too much attention for your brand. If you play your cards right, you can roll all of that great attention into growth for your company.
Here are some of the best and most creative steps to get people to notice you and your brand.
The other day one of my readers commented I was the oldest person she knew social media content all the time.
Then she said it was a compliment.
We both laughed.
Then there was an awkward pause.
Whileher statement clearly wasn’t true, being relatively seasoned in business means I had learned many valuable brand lessons that would have been great to know when my business career started. Many from how Facebook uses brand advertising.
That’s how it has always been.
A significant portion of a company’s value is intangible, so a strong brand is a significant competitive advantage. As Philip Kotler wrote:
The art of marketing is the art of brand building. If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. Then the price is everything, and the low-cost producer is the only winner.
Brands, marketing, and communication have long been highly related. From TV ads and press releases to events and endorsements, the way consumers view a brand will influence their decision making, so crafting and reinforcing a brand image has long been a top priority for marketers.
Here are my 13 recommendations for improving attention to a brand:
Facebook uses brand advertising … Listen well
Facebook learned this one quite early in their marketing. Remember your first step in online marketing is not broadcasting messages. It is much more about being social, and building relationships and those skills demand good listening.
Tell stories
Think about the stories that you were told as children. They are etched into our subconscious.
Use pictures and videos to tell your brand stories in creative new ways. Ways that will be remembered and talked about.
Attention to a brand … be consistent
Always be consistent in the subjects you choose to talk about. Know the subjects that customers are interested in. That means the interests of today. Select your subjects and then stick with them.
Facebook uses brand advertising … use tone to reflect a brand’s personality
Every successful brand has a specific tone of voice. One that relates to the brand’s personality. And yes, of course, a brand has a distinctive personality. Decide what personality you want for your brand and let your tone reflect it.
Keep it simple
It is difficult to be heard above all the noise in the marketplace, isn’t it? It is essential to grab attention and hold it. Make it easy for consumers with simple messages.
Relationships are key
Social media is all about building and exploring customer relationships. Continually looking for new ways to engage and be remembered is a must.
Now more than ever, things are changing at blazing speed. There are only two ways to keep up. They are continually learning and applying what you learn.
Spend time understanding changing trends and patterns. Apply them as often as you can.
Don’t be fooled by the deceptive simplicity of being social online. Building an effective network takes a lot of time, energy, and resources. Schedule time to make it happen.
Facebook uses brand advertising … keep ahead of new things
Familiarize yourself with new tools and applications that can help you and your customers. Consider carefully what platforms are best for your customers. You can’t do them all.
Be relevant
Derive timely and valuable insights into customer wants and needs. Talk about useful, helpful topics on these insights. Give your customers good reasons to return.
Start small
Social media takes a lot of time and energy. And there are no shortcuts. So start small and grow a little at a time, just like Facebook.
Be patient, it takes time for good results.
Facebook uses brand advertising … quality over quantity
It’s not about the number of followers you have. Nor is it about the numbers of people you follow. Forget about these numbers and concentrate on the engagement of customers and making friends.
Facebook tells us this all the time.
The bottom line
To be effective in this new era, we as marketers need to see our jobs differently. No more just focusing on metrics like clicks, video views or social media shares.
We must successfully integrate our function with other business functions to create entire brand experiences that serve the customer all the way through their experiences throughout the business.
We can do better. Much better. But first, we need to stop seeing ourselves as crafters of clever brand messages and become creators of positive brand experiences.
It’s up to you to keep improving attention to your brand.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your branding design strategies? Such as creative branding ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?
Do you have a lesson about making your brand marketing better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on brands and branding from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Never be done with things as the design is a perpetual prototype. Reaching a target audience the way you hope and expect to is never guaranteed. With the right team and the next best practices, however, you can get you where you want to be in infographic design practices.
From word clouds to network data visualizations, infographics have become a primary format for content in a relatively short period. Although the ‘infographic’ is nothing new, its proliferation and evolution have been nothing short of the exponential in the past few years.
Whether you love them or hate them, the rising popularity of infographics can’t be denied.
If you want to get a message across, whether it is for your business, blog, or book club, using an infographic can be the best way to do it. If you’re incapable of drawing a recognizable human stick figure, let alone entire data visualization, you may be agonizing over the disturbing fact that infographics are all the rage.
It just so happens that there are many people out there who want to deliver a message using an infographic who do not have any artistic skills. It’s lucky for us that tools and resources have popped up all over the place to help even the most hopeless create beautiful infographics.
Did you know that we remember 80% of what we see, yet only 20% of what we read? The power of visual content is hard to ignore.
Great reference: Free infographic
And that’s why an infographic is such a valuable piece of content.
Not only is it one of the most engaging ways to tell your story, but businesses who market with infographics gain on average 12% more traffic than those who don’t.
So what makes a good infographic? Well, stay tuned, and we’ll give you the next best practices for building them.
To entice, inform, entertain, and impact your target audience, it’s up to you to design well—and with them in mind. That means you can’t overlook the little things (colors, fonts, etc.), nor can you be blind to the big things (proper infographic design styles for target demographics and publications).
To even attract those eyes in the first place, though, you need a strong presence in the right places. You have to ensure that relevant contacts have your content and that it’s easy to share with others. Not only that, but it’s up to you to push it through your channels: your blog, your social, and your employees.
Yes, it sounds like a lot of work, but yes, it does deliver. How do you do it? Keep these best practices on hand the next time you design an infographic.
Infographic design practices … know your design objective
Before you do anything else, ask the following: What kind of client is it? Who is their target audience? And so on.
Ask these questions up front, either directly to the client or quietly in your head in some fevered batch of online research. Blanketing your decisions with broad generalizations rarely works out as anything beyond a surefire study in laziness.
Design spacing is more important than you think
Consistent spacing is really important, and people forget that way too often. Grids and baselines ensure the viewer’s eye has the opportunity to look at, adore, and internalize each component of your infographic.
After all, no one wants their audience’s reaction to their infographic to be dismissive.
Sometimes, an infographic gets lost in its resizing.
The designer makes it huge, and then the developer has to downsize it. In the process, the readability gets lost.
Many infographics have a variety of font sizes. Make sure that the smallest font on your infographic can be seen without too much difficulty.
The infographic should be easy to read and view, whether the user clicks to enlarge or not. 600 pixels wide is a good width to aim for.
Infographic design practices … target communities
“People” aren’t a target demographic. That’s the answer you’d get from someone who’s never really considered their intended audience.
If somebody asked you to design clothes for “some person” without any details beyond that, your head would explode. Designing anything well requires details, and the Internet certainly isn’t one-size-fits-all.
To successfully stand out in the wild chaos of the digital void, think about all the places your infographic might appear:
What’s the biggest size the blog, landing page, or microsite will allow for images?
Don’t forget social. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest all different display dimensions, so consider whether you should truncate your information to focus on 1 or 2 main points. Is there a chance it will be printed? If so, that it changes the color game. RGB for Web; CMYK for print.
Did you already know the ideal resolution? Well, here it is 72dpi for Web, 150dpi for retina screens, 300dpi for print.
Coming up with an infographic idea is half the battle to creating a killer infographic. And the way to come up with great infographic idea is to figure out what your audience wants.
The infographics with the most traction, most attention, and most virality, are ones that meet your target audience right where they want it most.
Your goal is to create an infographic for your audience, not necessarily for the whole world. Keep it specific, relevant, and targeted.
Data visualization techniques matter a lot
Let the information be your guide. Bar charts make no sense with standalone stats: What are you comparing? And choosing a pie chart to illustrate 20 different percentages will make you insane.
It comes down to determining the data visualization type that’s most sensible and most effective. Is the data information collected over time? Are there multiple categories in the data set? Make it clear to the reader. Assume they are 1) interested, 2) not a data scientist, 3) having a relatively good day.
The next step should be to find the right data for your infographic, and this should be a heavy focus throughout. Don’t create one because you think it looks cool. For people to want to share it, it needs to feature stats that will back up your case.
The key here is to find stats that will help prove to your audience that your product or service is the solution that they need in their life.
Keep it simple and focused
One of the advantages of infographics is that they can distill advanced ideas into a simple visual form.
But the inherent advantage of infographics can be their demise. An infographic can become needlessly complex, creating a mind-numbing cognitive overload rather than an “Oh, I get it” experience.
Like everything else in life, infographics are better when they are simple.
Simplicity wins. Always.
Break your infographic into appropriate sizes
Beautifully breaking up your infographic into smaller images extends your content’s lifespan. Empower your content by giving it the well-deserved opportunity for multiple social posts across different channels. Your traffic will blow up, and you’ll be the hero your team need and deserves.
My favorite infographic tools
Social Image Resizer Tool
The Social Image Resizer Tool is an absolute must-have if you need to resize images for your social media profiles often quickly.
It lets you upload your photos and easily resize them to set sizes for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, as well as custom sizes and common icon and avatar sizes:
Another similar tool is this Social Media Image Maker which includes even more social network options, such as YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Vimeo.
Easel.ly
Easel.ly offers a dozen free templates to start you off
This free web-based infographic tool offers you a dozen free templates to start you off, which are easily customizable.
You get access to a library of things like arrows, shapes and connector lines, and you can customize the text with a range of fonts, colors, text styles and sizes. The tool also lets you upload your graphics and position them with one touch.
Piktochart
Piktochart is an infographic and presentation tool enabling you to turn boring data into engaging infographics with just a few clicks. Piktochart’s customizable editor lets you do things like modify color schemes and fonts, insert pre-loaded graphics and upload basic shapes and images.
Its grid lined templates also make it easy to align graphical elements and resize images proportionally. There’s a free version offering three basic themes, while a pro account costs $29 per month or $169 for a year.
Infogr.am
Infogr.am is a great free tool which offers access to a wide variety of graphs, charts, and maps as well as the ability to upload pictures and videos to create cool infographics.
Customizing the data that makes up the infographic takes place in an Excel-style spreadsheet and can easily be edited, watching the software automatically change the look of the infographic to represent your data perfectly. When you’re happy with your infographic, you can publish it to the Infogram website for all to enjoy and even embed it into your website or share it via social media.
The bottom line
The next big thing always starts out looking like nothing at all. If it was easy to see coming, everybody would be doing it already and the market impact would be minimal. So you can never create something truly new based on what you already know. The only way to find it is to start looking.
Not all who wander are lost. The trick is to wander with a purpose.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy innovating your social media strategy?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add to the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Network Connection … 23 Actionable Tips for Relationships
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.