Holly here. It’s time for the semi-traditional Thursday guest post: today we’re showcasing other people’s guilty pleasures! I’m a huge fan of Karen’s personal blog (it’s one of the six I make a point of reading daily), so I’m thrilled that she decided to fill in for me today. I’m thinking of turning Thursdays into a regular guest blog spot, so if you’re interested in being featured be sure to send a post in by email! I’ll see you guys later at the teleclass.
What Howard Stern Can Teach You About Marketing
By Karen Friesecke
I was first introduced to Howard Stern in the mid 90s when a Toronto radio station Q107 picked him up for their morning show. My impression of Howard was poor, at best. Stories of him being a rude person and a misogynist kept me away for the first few months. My brother and I worked together in the family business and he tuned in one morning. That was the day I became a rabid Howard fan.
I’ve been a member of Stern Nation ever since. I’m not what you would call a “superfan”, but I’m pretty darn close. Even when Q107 dropped his contract, I would fiddle endlessly with my radio antenna to pick him up from a New York State radio station to get my daily Howard fix. When he went over to Sirius Satellite Radio, I drove over two hours to New York State to buy an American receiver since it took the Canadian branch of Sirius almost a year to put him on their program list.
So what does Howard Stern have to do with blogging? Just like a blogger, Howard has to craft creative content daily to keep his fan base interested. These are some of Howard’s strategies that I apply to my blog post writing.
Be Honest
What appeals to me the most about Howard is his honesty. He speaks openly and honestly about the goings on in his life and freely shares his opinions, whether popular or not. He is even more interesting now that he is on satellite radio since he can now truly say what he wants.
Being honest with your readers is probably the most important writing technique to implement on your blog. If you pretend that you are someone that you are not, your readers will quickly see through the facade and abandon your blog. I pride myself on my honesty, swearing and all. It’s me being me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Have A Great Team
Where would Howard be without Robin, Fred, Artie and Baba Booie? Alone they are nothing, but together they are a force to be reckoned with.
The same applies to blogging. Make friends with bloggers in your niche, collaborate on guest posts and projects. There is nothing more important than having friends in the blogosphere: it isn’t called social media for nothing. You can comment on each other’s posts, twitter each other’s articles to your followers and brainstorm ideas.
Making friends is cool and caring is sharing.
Be Funny
Stern’s all about the jokes, tasteless or not. Most everything that he does on his show involves humour in some way. Nobody wants to read a downer blog post, daily life is crappy enough and I don’t need to be reminded of that. Humor makes you real and humor makes you likable.
Be playful, have fun, try to engage your readers with humorous stories, it makes for a better reading experience.
Have Interesting Guests On Your Show
Howard is the master interviewer of all time and he always has relevant, interesting guests on his show. Whether it’s members of the Wack Pack or the movie star with the newest hot movie, he always has cool guests. So try to get other niche related bloggers to guest post on your site. A fresh voice on your blog every once in a while will surprise your readers and introduce them to another blog they might like. Another voice on your blog will offer your readers a different perspective on the topic that you are blogging about. The same applies to you. Guest post as often as you can, as it will expose your blog to other readers and increase your blog traffic.
Speak To The Common (Wo)man
I don’t mean this in a dumbing down or negative kind of way. You don’t hear Howard using fancy thesaurus-like language when he is talking on his show. He speaks to his listeners like he is having a casual conversation with them. Like they are his friends. It makes his listeners feel like they’re part of the gang and they identify with
him in a positive way.
The same applies to your blog readers. Write to your readers like they are your friends, like you’re telling them a story. Keep it simple, let your writing flow in an easy to follow fashion. Getting hung up on trying to showing off your vocabulary skills can come off as obnoxious and snobby. A conversational style of writing is friendly and invites your readers to maybe read a little more.
So that’s all I have to say about that! Now get blogging, bitches!
Karen Friesecke is the owner and designer behind DoggieStylish, a company that sells fun and unique dog collars. She also runs the wonderful BloggieStylish blog.
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