Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

May article ideas for coaches

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Just imagine – if you were to spend some time over the next couple of weeks brainstorming and drafting, your May newsletters and/or blog posts could be a real breeze! Here are some potential topic ideas for your May articles: 

  • Life coaches: Happy Mother's Day! 10 Ways to Celebrate Being a Mother
  • Parenting coaches: May is Family Wellness Month – 10 ways that wellness can bring your family together
  • Marketing coaches: The Tweet-Up – Take your online networking offline in the warmer months
  • Money coaches: Were Taxes a Pain? Take action now to create an easier tax season for next year
  • Career coaches: The Spring Job Fair: Plan ahead to stand out from the crowd

Writing prompt: Use these sample titles as a starting point for topics that are relevant for your clients, prospective clients and readers.

Content Marketing à la Carte, Part Two: The connective piece

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Other posts in this series:
Content Marketing à la Carte: Mix and match these three types of online content (Part One: The thought piece)
Content Marketing à la Carte, Part Three: The core piece

Connective pieces are articles, blog posts or social media updates that are based on external content – where you're re-printing, commenting on or building from something someone else said or wrote.

I call these connective pieces because they help us connect in three important ways:

  1. They help us connect the dots for our readers. As Andrea J. Lee writes in her perennial thought piece, Multiple Streams of Coaching Income, we're fulfilling the request, "Excuse me, will you be my Google?" as we filter the most relevant and accurate information in that unique way that our readers have come to enjoy.
  2. They help us connect our own ideas with what else is out there (new thought pieces will naturally flow out of your connective pieces and vice versa).
  3. They help us connect with our community of colleagues and the experts in our industry. These connections can lead to cross-referrals and future collaborate projects.

Connective pieces include:

  • Pre-written articles that you choose from an article bank website or a specialized article service
  • Articles that you commission from a guest author
  • Transcriptions or summaries of expert interviews
  • Case stories about clients you've worked with
  • Reviews of tools, resources or services that might be useful to your readers
  • Tweets or other social media updates where you share links, quotes or recommendations

As you can see, connective pieces can range in length from a 140-character tweet to a full-length article, and everything in between. While there's certainly more room and permission on social media sites to blur the line between your personal interests and those of your readers, generally your connective pieces are targeted specifically to address the needs and concerns of your ideal client.

Writing prompt: Are you stuck coming up with your own original content? How about compiling some content that's already been written? How about interviewing a client or colleague? Or add another head to the job and see what the two of you can come up with!

For more about how to use the connective piece in your content marketing strategy, see my follow-up post, "How different types of online content can help you build a relationship with your ideal client". Watch also for my next post about the third type of online content, the core piece.

Write from the headlines: Earth Hour is on Saturday, March 27, 2010

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Earth Hour is coming up fast, scheduled this year for Saturday, March 27, 2010 from 8:30-9:30 p.m. I haven't made my plans yet, but I'm looking forward to a quiet, simple evening when I can reflect on the spirit of the event.

I feel proud that some of the pledges I've made in previous years are now second-nature – things like washing my clothes in cold water and bringing reusable bags when I go shopping. I'm not perfect (who is?) but I'm trying.

Here are some environmentally-inspired themes for your March articles and blog posts:

  • Life coaches: Taking a stand for the planet
  • Money coaches: 5 ways that recycling will save you money
  • Parenting coaches: Family-friendly Earth Hour activities
  • Business coaches: Green your office: 5 sustainable business practices 
  • Career coaches: Choosing a job that fits your values

Writing prompt: Please join me in darkness, quiet and simplicity for an hour on March 27th. And in the meantime, inspire your readers with one of these earth-friendly themes.

How to turn a client story into a news story (and more clients)

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There are several reasons why client stories are so much more effective than a simple description of your services, or even than a straight testimonial.

  1. Stories are engaging. They allow room for background, drama and time for the reader to really settle in and want to know more.
  2. Stories are evidence. Stories show your reader that someone just like them used and benefited from your services.
  3. Stories are newsworthy. We’re used to reading and hearing stories about people in the news. Information that’s delivered in this familiar format is accessible and credible.

Here are some suggested writing prompts that will help you turn one of your client projects into a newsworthy client story that will be attractive to new clients.

Every story needs a hero: Give your reader some background information about the client – really focus on what will get attention and make your story stand out. Does your client have a unique business or life circumstance? Was their problem particularly dramatic? At the same time, you want to be sure to highlight the circumstances that your prospective clients will relate to.

Write for your destination: My sister and I had a few publications in mind when we started this project, so I was aiming to write in a voice that would fit into those.

I did the same thing last week when I went blog-hopping to launch the Content Creation Capsule. You may have noticed the difference, for example, between the posts I wrote for Molly Gordon and Janet Slack. Both post felt authentic and in my voice, but I presented my ideas in a slightly different format to fit each blog.

Give your hero a voice: Use direct quotes to allow your client to say precisely how he or she felt about working with you. Ask broad questions that will highlight the benefits across all life areas and levels of experience. How is life different? What do you notice as you go through a typical day? What has surprised you most about this experience?

Quote yourself: Remember that you’re the expert here. Study the work of journalists you enjoy reading and notice how they position expert quotes within their stories. Insert a quote that authentically demonstrates how your specific methods, experience or expertise made this story come to life.

Click here to meet my sister Ruth Brickman and read the client story we created for her Creative Memories business.

P.S. As my volunteer editor for many years, Ruth has already provided far more value to my business (and my life!) than I ever would have charged her for this service.

What’s the moral of your story?

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I sat down the other day to work on a case study for a client. I opened my notes from the telephone interview and scrolled through them for a minute or two. I started to think about how I might structure the case study into different sections.

Not five minutes had passed when I closed the document and moved on to another task. The magic just wasn't there. I had no inspiration for the project. And I've learned better than to try and force the process when that happens.

While this brief story is definitely meant to illustrate the importance of scheduling multiple writing sessions, and also to revere the ebb and flow of the creative process, really this was a "post within a post," meant to lead into today's real topic: storytelling.

If you were a writer or a storyteller long before you started trying to use the Internet to attract new clients, it may pain you to apply rules and structures to your writing. Please don't censor yourself, creative one! Let the writer in you write – flowingly, soulfully, abundantly, dreamingly, unabashedly.

But before you publish that story as part of your content marketing efforts, consider its real purpose – the moral of the story.

1. Is your story meant to inspire your readers? If you're a member of your own target market and you're sharing a success about the topic you specialize in, this is a great use of storytelling.

Writing prompt: End the story with a triumphant call-to-action so your reader can build on your experience.

2. Is your story meant to instruct your readers? Perhaps it is an example of a learning point, as mine was at the top of this post.

Writing prompt: Summarize the learning and give a concrete set of guidelines or tips your reader can use to apply the learning immediately, as I've done with these writing prompts.

3. Was writing this story a personal catharsis for you? Be honest, now. Don't worry, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it doesn't mean you have to abandon the story or limit it to a personal blog. Sometimes the most inspiring and instructive stories came to life this way.

Writing prompt: Before you release the story, find its connection to the problem you have pledged to solve for your target market, and connect the dots for them.

Bonus tip: You don't always have to use your own stories as the starting point – client stories can help build social proof for your work, while demonstrating some of your ideas. You can also explore characters or scenes from movies or books or write from the headlines. 

Storytelling is a very effective way to inspire and instruct your readers, while stoking your own creative fire within. And your readers get to be the hero, as they each apply your guidance to find their own success.