A Blogging Process to Meet Your Audience Needs…What Covey Didn’t Do
By Kyle McNeil - Dec 13 , 2010
Sometimes I just want the A-Z of what’s involved to do a great job. That’s what I love about Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, because it’s so step by step. Isn’t there something about how the models and frameworks take care of all the loopholes, details, and considerations? So thorough with no stone left unturned. No doubt Covey is a genius, and below I’ll share with you how you can be very effective in your writing too.
Fact: Methodicals account for 40% of the population.
This leaves 60% of the remainder of the population as other personality types. And as you’ll notice, Covey’s book is built almost 100% for the Methodical. Realistically, how much more methodical does the title “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” get? In all fairness, Covey’s book is aimed at middle management, who are mainly Methodicals. And because he knows his audience so well, he has eliminated everyone else.
So let’s set some context by admitting that Covey is in a whole different stratosphere.
We have a different set of circumstances, thought, as we are not at the point of “cutting down our market reach”. Quite commonly, our problem is that we write blogs and copy to ourselves, meeting our needs and forgetting our audience is made up of 4 unique personality types.
For example …
Until I learned about this from Michael Drew, I wrote on my blog in story format. 90% of my audience love stories; what about people that don’t? I’m not delivering them value, therefore they don’t read my blog. I’m okay with that, because it’s personal; but what about blogging for business?
Well, the other day, I spoke with a woman, aMethodical who’s brilliant at what she does in organizing business owners. I pointed out that her blog is primarily directed to the Methodical. After some clear guidance, she now understands that writing to other Personas allows her to reach a bigger audience and meet their authentic needs. And as Brandon Allen points out in What Does Your Client Value?, clients value their needs being met.
Here’s a step by step approach to move you forward in that:
- Are you a Methodical? Just to be sure, take this free Myers Briggs test. You likely write to your personality type!
- Build a book outline as a daily reference point when blogging. Skip the “writers block” and just blog!
- Read about writing to the different Personas in Michael Drew’s post Accomodate Human Temperments – Building a Marketing Platform for the specifics.
- After the next book outlining call, you’ll have no shortage of topics or clarity to get blogging at least 4 times/week. In doing so you’re building successful pull, refining your voice and joining the conversation.
- Stick with the process and watch your audience expand. Also keep tabs on BeneathTheCover.com for more content about Personas.
Consider now that the 7 Habits has sold over 10 million copies. What would happen to sales if Covey wrote to other personality types, too? Logic suggests meeting more of his audience’s needs equals more book sales. You’re maybe not at that level, but what kind of effect would this have on your business? The logic still applies.
Before we go, my question for you is what Personas were these posts written to? Check it out for yourself. Possible answers are the Humanistic, Spontaneous, Competitive, or Methodical.
Success in a World Without Details
The 5 Most Effective Ways to Get in Facebook’s Top News Feed
3 Things Your Competitors Aren’t Doing…
Post your answers below, and let’s see how you did!
P.S. – Can you tell this is a post for the Methodical type? If I’ve done my job, you’re a Methodical and I’ve met your needs 
