How Grand Central Station's Black Spot Improves Your Content

You make your content sticky when you use the power of curiosity. It is a subject we discuss here often. And on my recent trip to NYC, it was yet again underscored while standing in the center of Grand Central Station.

Here's the story...

My youngest son lives in Norwalk about an hour north of the city. He, my oldest son and I rode the train in on Saturday morning to celebrate a birthday weekend. After getting off the train, I remember walking up into the "palace" and felt my jaw drop at all the splendor greeting my very wide opened eyes. The three of us just stood there not saying a word and letting it all...soak...in.

After a minute, Ross pointed out a very small black brick in a corner on an otherwise perfectly pristine and breathtaking ceiling. I looked at him and felt an immediate need to know why and now not later. Curious, indeed. He said that during the station's mass restoration in 1988, the team transforming this historical American icon decided to leave a nod to what the ceiling once looked like.

Initially, I thought it was the result of decades of soot from the trains chugging in and out of tunnels below. Wrong. Research proved it was mostly nicotine and tar and the result of the cigarette smoke swirling inside the terminal in earlier times.

So what does this all have to do with sticky content you're asking?

Well, research has proven time and again that when curiosity gets used in a well-crafted title, a post always gets more eyeballs and engaged minds. We've said it before and we will say it again. Curiosity is an itch that must be scratched. It's what well-known content marketing company Upworthy calls the curiosity gap. It basically piques human interest so much that we want to close the gap between what is known and what is not known.

Needless to say, they use the strategy day-in and day-out as the foundation for the volume of engaging content they craft and produce. In terms of how they approach that content, these brilliant marketers sum it up in one sentence:

Simply write a headline that is tantalizing enough to get read to click through but does not give away the whole story.

Centuries ago, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes said, "Curiosity is the lust of the mind."  No argument here as I lusted to know why that "black spot" was on the beautiful ceiling of Grand Central Station.

To get our book, "25 Building Blocks To Create a Conscientious Organization" free, go to HCollaborative.com for an instant download.

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Older PostLesson from the Workplace: The Power of Simpatico

Why NYC's Oldest Bar Is a Content Writer's Dream

Picture Abe Lincoln. Babe Ruth. Teddy Roosevelt. John Lennon.

Can you imagine their conversations over a beer or three? The heated discussions about politics? The talk about America's favorite pastime? The words about Dylan, the Stones and McCartney?

Well, these icons at one time patronized the Irish establishment pictured above (circa 1937).

It's better known as McSorley's in the East Village. And it is said to be New York City's oldest bar dating back to 1854.

Two Saturday nights ago, my sons and I sat at the table in the foreground. We shared the joint with a loud and lively crowd of men and women of all ages, from 21-year-olds to octogenarians and everyone in between.

Talking, laughing, yelling and yes, drinking beer. No doubt many offered their own solutions to the world problems of the day.

No fancy IPAs, Stouts or Lagers served here.

Just your choice of a white or dark ale. And because two beers are better than one, suds are served in pairs of seven to eight ounce glass mugs. Simply remember two words: light and dark. It’s the only type they offer. And cash only, please.

You want an appetizer you say? Sure, how does an unadorned platter of white cheddar slices and a sleeve of saltines sound?

Because that's what you get. 

Everything's stripped down to the bare essence of a good time.

I thought about the stories the dark wood walls of McSorley's could tell.

Stories of love and joy.

Stories of anger and hate.

Stories of betrayal and revenge.

Stories of life.

Very compelling content, indeed.

In fact, enough ideas for a content writer to engage their audience for awhile. Make that a good...long...while.

Think about that the next time you struggle for an idea or angle into a story.

What things do people feel strongly about?

What keeps them awake at night?

What makes them laugh so hard they snort?

What brings joy to their daily grind?

Ask enough of those questions and you get unstuck quicker than the Great Bambino's swing at a pitch.

It's something skilled content writers and conscientious leaders already know. Not to mention the patrons frequenting McSorley's over the past 162 years .

To get our book, "25 Building Blocks To Create a Conscientious Organization" free, go to HCollaborative.com for an instant download.

Lesson from the Cemetery: The Secret To On Demand Creativity

They might not admit it. But every creative person wants a muse. You know, that go-to someone or something that jolts right brain stimulation when needed for content and communication.

After all, coming up with revolutionary ideas, powerful words, or world-class imagery is not always the easiest task in the world. Even when your veins are coursing with a triple-shot Americano. Or a handful of M&M's (peanuts, please).

Sure, I'll be the first to admit that strolling through the art museum, listening to a musical savant or taking in a documentary at your favorite movie house can provoke some good thinking...even extraordinary from time-to-time.

But I'll also add that these "arty" experiences are anything but fail-safe.

Over this past weekend, I asked the question if there really is any "tried and true" path to finding on-demand creativity.

I was thinking about this in a pretty off-beat location. To be precise, while at Willamette National Cemetery visiting close family members.

Outside of the warm wind rustling a few trees every so often, you could hear virtually nothing over this 270-acre sanctuary. A rare occurrence I can assure you, in a loud and busting at the seams 2.3 million metropolitan area.

I think the fact that it was the third straight day of mercury hitting the century mark that kept all but me and three others who crossed my path that morning from visiting such a tranquil peace of earth.

But after 10 minutes of peace the answer hit me.

If you really want to tap into a well of creativity at just about any time, you find a place of solitude. No conversation, no music, no urban noise. Nothing to get you amped up, ramped up or angry.

Just peace and quiet.

Just the stillness of your mind.

And it works every...single...time.

Think Lao Tzu, Hawthorne and Monet. It's a secret the great philosophers, writers and painters have known for centuries. When you've quieted your self-talk and emptied your cerebral cortex, all kinds of good things seem to bubble up to the surface.

For me last Saturday, it was the idea and content for this blog post, what critical advice to give my son about a job search and a spark for my biz partner and me, as we create strategies for conscientious organizations.

In fact, I even came up with a creative answer to my most pressing challenge of that day.

I picked a Washington cab over an Oregon pinot for a weekend dinner party.

To get our book, "25 Building Blocks To Create a Conscientious Organization" free, go to HCollaborative.com for an instant download.

How To Write Effectively: Lesson from a Caffe Latte

You sit with a good friend in your favorite coffee shop.

You sip your caffe latte served at a most perfect 185 degrees.

What's more, the rich full-bodied espresso and steamed milk in your Italian handcrafted ceramic coffee cup could not taste better.

You exchange stories about your relationships, your jobs, your lives.

Thanks to that wonderful coffee drink, your conversation flows effortlessly.

And that's how it is with effective marketing communications.

Effective communication is always conversational.

It resembles nothing remotely close to what is found in a textbook or academic paper or Harvard Business Review.

You must begin with a simple conversation to engage your key stakeholders.

Forget about "marketing-speak" or industry "buzz terms."

Just be conversational.

Need a simple hint on how you do that? Write with your ears. In other words, write as people speak.

And keep in mind these proven basics of effective communicators:

·         Your sentences should be short and simple.

·         Your language needs to be jargon-free (see above).

·         And keep paragraphs to just 3 to 4 sentences for easier scanning and reading.

Also, write in active voice. It grabs hold of your audience. (Kind of a like coffee does with your brain.)

Keep these simple tips in mind the next time you need to write an important memo.

Or a put up a blog post.

Or craft a newsletter.

Your ability to be conversational is crucial if you want to engage your audience and get your message to resonate.

 Nothing like a handcrafted caffe latte to get you stimulated to do just that.

www.HCollaborative.com | Tips to help leaders write better and connect with readers

~HCollaborative.com~

10,000 Most Shared Articles on Web: Strongest Emotional Appeal?

You put a ton of effort into your content writing. But how do you make sure you get a big return on all that sweat and time?

A recent study by respected web-metrics company BuzzSumo took a look at the web's most shared articles. In fact, 10,000 of them got mapped to a specific emotional appeal. (As you who follow us know, we believe emotion is the foundation for any great piece of content writing.)

The emotions included joy, anger, sadness and so forth. Here's how those emotions ranked when put into a pie chart:

You see that easily the most popular emotions injected into these highly shared articles were:

-- Awe at 25%

-- Laughter at 17%

-- Amusement at 15%

The unpopular emotions in the chart? Sadness and anger.

There's a simple lesson in all this.

If your content is boring, you're not going to grow your audience.

So make sure it is entertaining.

David Ogilvy, my favorite ad guru, famously said in the 1960s:

"You cannot bore people into buying your product."

- David Ogilvy

If he were with us today, I'm certain he would say that applies to content as well.

~HCollaborative.com~

41 Healthcare Blogs in 45 Days: 7 Steps To Writing Posts Quickly

I just finished a 9-week contract with a major healthcare organization.

During that time, I wrote about newsworthy healthcare issues of the day, covering everything from Zika virus to MS, migraines to Celiac disease, "superbugs" to breast cancer, plus 34 other topics.

Clearly, my client and her team recognized that blogging frequency ups SEO and positions an organization  as a thought leader.  But frequency means tight timeframes.

I had a strict 3-hour window each business day to create a solid draft.

So how did I do it?

After receiving a trending topic (and keyword list) by 11 a.m. from my client team, I would go about my work in an organized, methodical manner to make sure an engaging 600-750 word post landed in my client's inbox by 2 p.m. The operative word is organized. Here was my process:

1. Read the abstract or press release so I understood the medical study.  Sometimes this was not as easy as it reads. These studies were written, for the most part, by lead authors sporting a PhD after their names. In some cases, I had to read through some "mind-bending" study notes. Most of the time I needed to go to other health authority sites such as the National Institutes of Health or the Centers for Disease Control to further enlighten me.

2. Create a simple outline. After grasping the general concept of the study, I put together a simple outline. It started with 4 to 5 title options with the keyword(s) in it. To measure the titles, I made sure they fit under one of the 4 "U's":

·         Is it Unique?

·         Is it Ultra-Specific?

·         Is it Useful?

·         Is it Urgent?

Then I would use a classic copywriting structure to develop the content:

·         Opening Sentence (the summary statement)

·         The Problem (study specifics including "the why")

·         The Solution (study findings)

·         Call-To-Action (what the reader can do)

3. Write the initial draft. I would then "fill in the blanks" of the outline. The opening sentence usually created the greatest challenge as finding the right hook  to draw the reader in  took some serious skull sweat.

To make the content visually appealing, I was judicious in my use of sub-heads and bullets to make the reading easy, scannable and bite-sized.

4. Edit the initial draft.  Here it was all about clarity of the content. Did it make sense to our target audience? Did I overpromise on any of the content as opposed to "suggesting" further research needs to be done (as usually is the case with medical research).

I got rid of all the flab, tightened up the sentences and paragraphs, added "active" voice and generally smoothed out the bumps.

5. Select an appropriate image.  I would then search through the client's stock image library and choose 4 - 6 images that "told a story." Finding real people, not glamour shots, was the directive. This took a bit of time because of the subject matter and so many stock images are "posed."

6. Read the draft out loud. This has always been my "secret sauce." Remember: people read with their ears. While reading, they want to see and hear a certain rhythm. If the content is too static, the mind quickly disconnects.

7. Push send. After I was satisfied with that final reading, I would send my draft and image options to my client team. They, in turn, took the content up another notch or two before posting it the following day.

My client informed me that SEO increased during those 9 weeks. Which, of course, made me happy.

So to create engaging content under a tight deadline, you certainly need writing talent. But you can't do it without being organized. As A.A. Milne, author of several "Winnie-the-Pooh" books reminds us, "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."

To that I say, "amen."