Article Marketing – Writing To Your Reader’s Learning Style
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 01:45PM By C Doug Mah
When you write articles for article marketing, a lot of the time, you are writing to teach your reader some new concept or idea. You can really improve your connection with your reader if you use the right framework for your ideas. Also the right framework will help your content flow and make writing so much easier. The framework I will be discussing for article marketing relates to learning styles.
Learning Styles
There are four main learning styles that everybody falls under. If you can use the teaching style that addresses your reader’s learning style, you will have a better time of connecting with the reader and they will relate to you better. But what usually happens is that we subconsciously teach in one style and we alienate all the people that learn with another learning style.
The learning styles can best be described by the primary question on the person’s mind: Why? What? How? What if?
The Why Learning Style
These learners want to know what the goal is, where we are going, the outcome. If they have their why, they are motivated to do something. We need to paint the picture of the outcome, goal, and benefit. These learners tend to lean towards the emotional side of things.
The What Learning Style
These learners are all about the theories, the concepts, the data, the charts. They want to see the flowcharts, the process maps, the system. This is the intellectual learning style. They want and need intellectual comprehension regarding what they are learning.
One common mistake made by the what learners is that they usually feel that if they understand something they automatically assume that they will know how to do it. They rely on their own brains and don’t need somebody else’s detailed instructions, which can be an expensive mistake.
The How Learning Style
These learners are the ones that love the step-by-step instructions and the detailed procedures. They want the specific action steps and the standard operating procedures. They are the ones that read the instruction manuals. The how learners are more oriented to the physical side of things.
It is important to realize that most people are not good at going from the general to the specific without guidance or help. Most people are not good at taking a general principle or rule and figure out how to apply it to a lot of different situations. They need the how.
The What If Learning Style
These learners want to take immediate action. They want to take what they have learned and apply it as soon as possible, even before you have finished explaining it to them. These are the entrepreneurs of the world.
How To Address All the Learning Styles
So here is where we get practical. The way to address all four learning styes is to follow these steps:
1) When you are teaching, the first thing that you want to teach is the why. Here’s why you’re learning this. Here are the benefits.
2) Then, provide the what. These are the underlying theories and concepts.
3) Then, for each concept, provide the how, the specific action steps that should be followed.
4) Finally, lay out the what if. Provide examples and case studies as to how what you are teaching is being applied in the real world.
Conclusion
In this article I have explained a writing and teaching framework which relates to people’s learning styles. I have shown you the steps to apply it to your own article marketing and article writing. And if you have followed closely, you will see that I have used that framework for the article which provides the real world example. Hope you got something out of it.
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About C Doug Mah
Doug is part of the “Super Guides” team with Renegade University and Renegade Professional, guiding and coaching in the area of internet attraction marketing.
Doug’s background is in finance and accounting in the corporate world. In the past 13 years, as a senior finance executive, he has helped grow and position 3 high-tech companies for acquisition. Having gone through the cycle of finding a new job, building a company, selling a company, integratng the company with the new company, and back to finding a job, and seeing what is happening in corporate America with the recent financial crisis and its fallout, Doug sees that future does not lie in corporate America. Developing your own business, You Inc., is the way to build your own economy of the future and secure you and your family financially.
For more tips and training on writing articles see Doug at http://RenegadeTrainerOnline.com/blog
Reader Comments (1)
I'll be coming back to this article again Doug.
I recognize that when I write, I spend more time on the "why" and a little on the "how". I will be thoughtful about how to maintain a balance, or at least a perspective of all four areas in my writing..
Very helpful article.