Identifying “WHAT PROBLEM does this blog post solve for them?”
“What problem do you solve for your clients?” Knowing what problem your blog post solves for your potential clients is one key to writing powerful blog posts.
This is typically one of the hardest questions for students in my blogging class to answer when they fill out their Blog Post Preparation Worksheet. If you fall into this group, it may help to imagine yourself in your readers’ shoes.
How would your target reader complete the following sentences?
- My problem is…and you’re going to solve it by…
- My problem is…and it’s keeping me from…
- I’m worried about…
Here’s my problem statement for my blogging class for financial advisors:
My problem is that it takes too darned long−or it’s too hard−to write great blog posts. You−Susan−are going to solve my problem by showing me some techniques I can use to write faster and better.
Here’s a sample from the financial planning world, along with my rewrite:
1. ORIGINAL: My problem is how to save for college.
2. RE-WRITE: My problem is that I don’t know anything about how much my kids’ college education will cost and you can help me figure that out and also assess how best to save for it.
Does this help? Let me know if you have questions.
