How to Engage & Connect for Greater Profits

Editor's Note: I rarely have guest bloggers but loved what MaryEllen Tribby wrote about how to reach an audience and wanted to make sure you saw it—and learned about her new free special report.

By MaryEllen Tribby

“Here is a simple but powerful rule: always give people more than what they expect to get.” 

~ Nelson Boswell

Have you ever noticed that a lot of writing in your niche is actually fairly boring or not in the least bit helpful?

Well that’s actually good news for you. Because if everyone else in your niche is creating dry, mediocre content, then you’ll stand out if you create something entertaining, educational and enriching.

And if you really connect with your audience, you can bet they’ll want to read every word you publish. And over time consider you a trusted resource and once that happens you have a bona fide fan base! 

That was exactly what happened to me almost six years ago when I started Working Moms Only. I noticed that the market was sooooo under-served. All the other newsletters and products were tedious and quite frankly not practical. 

So how did I create this connection between words and the heart and souls of the audience?

Well just like this...

1) Tell Stories

Stories are good ways to connect with your readers, because a story tends to help you form that emotional connection. It helps the reader identify with you. And a story is much more memorable than simply telling a reader what to do.

You can write this story either about you or someone else. Either way, however, the story will be more impactful if the main character is very similar to your readers.

So if your readers are moms who are looking for an opportunity to make incremental money or money from home, then you’ll connect to these readers if your story is about a real mom who overcame this same problem.

Another thing a story can do is help demonstrate to your readers that you really understand them and their problems.
And when a reader feels like the author understands him, you can bet they will keep reading.

2) Create “Reader Oriented” Writing

Your readers have no doubt read plenty of articles, reports and ebooks on the same topic as the one you’re writing about. However, a lot of this content is “author oriented.” That means that it seems to be more about the author rather than the readers.

Example: You might read a book about dog training in which the author seems to boast repeatedly about his credentials or delve into personal stories that actually aren’t of interest or relevant to the reader.

One way to quickly check if your writing is author-oriented is to see how many times you’ve used words like “I” or “me” versus how often you use words like “you” and “yours.” You want to use more “you” writing, since this is reader-oriented writing.

Here’s a great example:

• Author-oriented writing: “I’m going to tell you about how I lost weight.”

• Reader-oriented writing: “You’re going to discover a weight-loss trick that’s worked for me – and it will work for you, too.”

3) Engage the Audience

If you’re writing a “how to” article, then it’s easy to fall into the familiar pattern of writing a straightforward article: “This
is step 1... this is step 2...”

Basically, it’s the same kind of article everyone else publishes. Instead, engage your audience by freshening up your writing.

This includes:

• Adding in your own tips. In particular, include unique tips and tricks not found anywhere else.

• Using stories to illustrate points. Be sure to engage all five of your reader’s senses to really bring him into your story.

• Inserting examples to make things more clear. Just look at the way I gave an example of reader versus author-oriented writing above.

• Including “spiced up” writing. For example, instead of merely describing someone as nervous, you could say “He was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

That’s much more memorable, impactful and fun – don’t ya think?

You’re writing with a purpose, whether it’s to presell your readers, teach them something, solve a problem, overcome a challenge or just develop a good relationship with them.

However, these goals are not possible if your writing doesn’t engage and connect with your audience.

That’s why you’ll want to use the tips above to improve your ability to engage and connect with your readers!

And here’s the best news – you can start today. You can be among the first to check out this extraordinary new report.
I have just put the finishing touches on a brand-new, hot off the presses, special report with 52 Essay and Blog Posts Ideas to save you hours and hours of writing time. 

----

MaryEllen Tribby is the premiere business consultant and coach to some of today’s most successful entrepreneurs in the information publishing and digital marketing arena. She also works with a number of the largest most lucrative traditional corporate publishing organizations in the world. Her quarter century experience includes but not limited to successfully running multi-million dollar divisions of companies such as Forbes, Crain’s New York Business and Times Mirror Magazines.

Later taking the entrepreneurial world by storm as Publisher and CEO of Early To Rise where she was responsible for growing the business from 8 million dollars in sales to 26 million dollars in just 15 months. In 2008, she founded and remains the proud CEO of Working Moms Only, the world’s leading Media Company for the empowerment of the working moms.

Tweetable:

Engage & Connect with Your Audience for Greater Profits. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)
 

If You Missed Some Goals for 2013...

By the end of 2013, I wanted to have over 100,000 twitter followers. Yes, I set this benchmark as a goal and worked hard at trying to achieve it day after day throughout the year. I'm not going to make this goal. 

In the process of working at this goal, my twitter followers grew substantially to over 80,000. When I think about how many people have less than my twitter following, I'm glad to have worked on this goal.

Maybe you wanted to get something publishing this year which hasn't happened. Or possibly you wanted to sell a certain number of copies of a particular book—and that didn't happen. Yes you have missed these goals which you set for yourself.

I have several points to make about missed goals:

1. You are to be congratulated that you even made goals. Many people do not then they wonder why they didn't achieve what they wanted. There is an old saying, “If you aim at nothing, you will be sure to hit it.” Are you setting specific yet realistic goals for the new year?

2. If you missed your goals did you move forward with the project? Did you make progress toward your goals? If so, this success is another achievement that you can celebrate.

3. Reset your goals for the new year. Write them down and make them specific, realistic and achievable. I'd like to sell a million copies of my newest book in the new year—but since I've not even come close to that mark in the years past, it's not a very realistic goal for the new year.

Successful entrepreneur MaryEllen Tribby created an infographic called The Success Indicator. It received such a reaction, MaryEllen turned the infographic into a free full blown report (follow the link to download it). While I haven't read all of this report, I did read enough of it to see that it contains valuable insights and information for you.

I will be continuing to write goals for the new year and work toward them. As for my twitter followers, I'm setting 125,000 as my goal for the new year. It's not just some idle benchmark but realistic and something I believe I can achieve. I've also got detailed plans which I'm executing on a daily basis to grow my follow and achieve this revised goal. 

The very worst action you can take in my view is to set aside your goal and give up. I've watched many would-be writers miss their goal and they give up and stop trying to achieve their publishing dreams. 

What plans do you have for the new year and how are you going to achieve them? I'm expecting great things for you.