Hey, Martha – what should I write in my business blog?
Does your blog pass the ‘Hey, Martha…’ test?
One of my favourite parts of my job is ghostwriting thought leadership pieces. But often my clients hit a stumbling block before we’ve even started: what on earth should they talk about?
Below I discuss how to choose a winning thought leadership topic, including a step-by-step guide at the end.
How to choose a thought leadership topic
As a journalism student, I learnt a simple test to see if a news story had punch. It goes like this: a man sits at a breakfast table reading the morning paper. Occasionally he comes across something so incredible he exclaims to his wife, ‘Hey, Martha…’ and reads it aloud.
This test can be applied to thought leadership pieces, such as a blog post, email newsletter, or LinkedIn publishing article. The trick is to think of a topic so captivating that your clients and prospects simply have to talk about it.
What will make people share my blog?
By ‘share,’ I do not just mean a click of a button but a real discussion of your ideas. An ideal outcome from this very article would be the CEO of a small business calling her co-founder and saying, “Hey, I’ve come up with a great idea for a blog.”
To elicit that ‘Hey, Martha…’ moment, you just need to do just one thing: be useful.
A thought piece should ultimately help your clients. This does not necessarily involve writing a ‘how-to’ list - although those can be great. It can also mean giving them a fresh perspective or a new piece of information that will help them improve their business.
To do this follow three rules:
Be original
Use evidence
Don’t pitch
Be original
There’s no point adding another humdrum explainer - on say, GDPR - to the dozens already out there. Your clients are looking for fresh insight.
Ditch standard thinking and focus on the issues that really bother them. A good way to do this is to imagine them stepping out for a coffee break – what do they moan about with their colleagues? Also, think about what animates them. What solutions are they searching for online?
Imagine your clients work in the IT department of an investment bank where an arduous sign-off process makes quick decision making impossible. They want to read about examples of institutional change, new project management techniques and even how to influence their seniors!
Remember, you want your reader to share the blog with their colleagues: “Hey Martha, could we do this?”
Use evidence
You are an expert, because you know more about your field than anyone else. Show your readers! Make sure you can back up your opinion with evidence. This can be data, unique research, a personal anecdote or a case study.
Don’t pitch
This is probably the biggest no-no in B2B (business to business) thought leadership writing. Never try and sell your product or services – there are other parts of your website that do this. The purpose of your blog is to build trust and position yourself as the go-to expert in your field. Sales should naturally follow.
For example, as a house hunter, I have just received a blog from a local estate agent explaining the potential impact of a forthcoming election on the housing market. At no point in the video does she try and push me ‘a delightful four-bed semi’. However, her relevant and useful insight has improved my trust in her business.
A step-by-step guide to brainstorming thought leadership topics
Step 1 In your area of expertise, jot down at least two current examples for each of the following:
Industry trends
Immediate and upcoming industry news
A transformative new process or technology
External forces (e.g. an election, budget or law change)
Product launches
Consumer/B2B client behaviour
Management trends
HR and people issues
New regulation (GDPR or IR35, are recent examples)
Step 2 These are your talking points. For each, ask yourself: ‘What unique insight will be useful to my clients?”
Step 3 Make sure that you can back up your insights with evidence.
Step 4 Now put yourself in your clients’ shoes. What is their reaction upon reading your piece: was it a waste of time, or worth a mention in their next board meeting?
If it’s the latter, congratulations, you have arrived at a ‘Hey, Martha…’ blog topic.
An example
Let’s reverse engineer the estate agent’s blog mentioned earlier to see if the author followed these steps.
Step One She has identified an external force impacting my house search - the forthcoming election.
Step Two She has shared some information that is useful to me – the likely scenario should each party win the election.
Step Three She has backed up her insight with evidence – housing market data from previous election years.
Step Four Did she achieve a ‘Hey Martha, moment’? Yes, I shared it with my husband, a key decision maker in our house search.
Now it’s your turn
A lot has changed since I was a journalism student. Today our breakfast table husband would be reading his iPhone and housewife Martha might even be deemed capable of reading the news herself. However, I believe the ‘Hey, Martha…’ test is still a powerful indicator as to an article’s ultimate success.
Try it and let me know how you get on at mail@emmavickers.com