by Miriam Hara | Aug 13, 2013 | Business Success, Communications, Latest, Marketing
The Editor says “Cut” and in many cases rightly so. In advertising, professional writers must develop copy based on the media they write for. But you don’t have to be a copywriter to write strong copy in the day to day business arena. In verbal communication some words naturally roll off our tongues when we speak. Words that help make our point strong. Often, we don’t talk in full sentences when we speak: we stop, we repeat, we gesture. That’s fine as it all contributes to the delivery of our presentation. However, in silent communication such as writing reports, posts, articles and business communication, less is more for writing stronger and succinctly.
The following are four unnecessary words that will make your writing stronger. Eliminating them for your business writing, will make a definite improvement.
Cut “very” from your writing
Generally, when we want to make our point stronger we tend to add extra words. So, we write: this is “very” important or we have a “very” big problem. Or how about this? One of the “very” first words to cut is very! Here’s a fun exercise taken from one of Mark Twain’s famous quotes: Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be!
Adding the word “very” does not help make your point stronger. It should be cut. Think about it. How much more stronger is “this is important” to “this is very important”? You decide.
Cut “really” from your writing
Really? Do you mean that? Is really, “really” necessary? “Really” is in the same boat as “very” and should be cut. It sucks the power from your words. You are not Ed Sullivan and it is not a really big show. The use of the word really as an adjective is the writer’s lazy way out. There are so many words in the English language to communicate the concept of proportion. Consider this. It was a “really” good meeting or it was a good meeting. Which sounds more professional? If you have to add the word really to the describe the meeting, maybe it really wasn’t that great a meeting!
Cut “just” from your writing
When you write “just” you “just” sound weak. I “just” wanted to follow-up. I’m “just” writing to see… With email and now texting, understandably, our language has become more casual. The word “just” almost feels apologetic. You almost never need the word “just” in order to make your point. It often is redundant and adds nothing to the point you are trying to make.
Cut “thing” from your writing
This is one of my pet peeves. What exactly is a “thing”? When you write ‘thing’ it is not clear what you mean. For example, you write an email to your boss, “following are 3 things that resulted from our meeting”. In this case what does “thing” mean? Are they action items, are they observations, are they deadlines, what exactly are they? Things make the points irrelevant. It doesn’t add any credible to the issues you are detailing. The word “thing” has it’s place in writing, but not to illustrate or to establish a list or issues. Better and clearer to cut the word “thing” and state explicitly what it is that you mean.
Take five… let your writing be a cut above the rest.
As easy as it is to include these four words in your writing, it’s equally (not just) as easy to remove them from your repertoire of writing. Before you press the send button, or make your word document into a PDF for general viewing, take five minutes to review what you have written. Use technology to your advantage and “Find and Replace” to cut these 4 unnecessary words. After that, your writing will be strong.
by Lisa Wedmann | Aug 9, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Latest
“Life can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.” – Steve Jobs
I was reading about the soon to be released movie “Jobs” with Ashton Kutcher and this quote jumped out at me. So much knowledge packed into one simple sentence.
I get it. I totally agree. Jobs is a testimony to this philosophy. I can easily live vicariously through Jobs and let this knowledge spill into all areas of my life. In this case, it captures my interest in marketing and brand building. Brand can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. It’s about a brand’s life cycle and it being able to live in the now.
Embrace it
There’s much to be said about your product and positioning your brand. But embracing it, now that’s where it gets juicy. Embracing is about nurturing and caring. It’s the point in your product life cycle where you have done your research. You understand what it takes to make your brand strong and resilient. You are not afraid to stand behind your brand and make your mark. You own your product. You protect it. And you embrace it.
Change it
For brands, change is not always good, but sometimes it’s necessary.. Knowing when to tweak an element of your brand or when to re-haul it takes a keen sense of timing and a marketing intuition. In most cases when brands (not products) need a total re-position, it’s because the brand hasn’t had the attention it deserves…for quite some time.
Improve it
Improving your brand is not about changing it. It is about realigning your brand to keep it current. It’s about paying attention and having your brand live in the now. Improving how your brand is presented and keeping it relevant to the market ensures its success. Staying on trend. Being fresh. In today’s marketing landscape, this is keeping current with social media and all that it has to offer.
Make your mark upon it
And here’s where Jobs was so distinctive. We can all agree he made his mark. We are all familiar with the iconic apple symbol, the brand and all that it means, not only as a product, but as an experience and a promise.
Jobs left us the formula for life success that can easily be adopted to brand success
We can all follow in Jobs’ footsteps. He left us the formula albeit, for life. To my way of thinking, Brand has a persona, and therefore, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, Brand has a life. We all refer to a brand and it’s product life cycle. Create a cohesive brand identity. Develop a unique identity that demonstrates your company’s personality. Make your product so impressive that people rush to do business with you and not your competition. Do whatever it takes to make it happen.
by Lisa Wedmann | Jul 26, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Latest, Marketing, Objective
Quick… Pop Quiz
Answer the two following questions with the first answer that jumps in your mind.
- Who is the most creative person you know?
- Who is the most objective person you know?
Now think of those two people joined into one brain. Kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but they are both nice.
On the one side you have the creative person, full of original thoughts and insights, willing to try and experiment with new and innovative ideas.
On the other side, you have objective Judge Judy. Straight and by the book. Judgments are objective, based on facts and not influenced by personal feelings in the courtroom.
Creative ideas can turn into billions of dollars
Creative originality is valued in advertising and marketing. We create fresh views that draw and keep people’s interest. Just think of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerman or Bill Gates. They all took a creative approach to their businesses; conducted creative campaigns and turned their ideas into billion dollar empires.
Objective thoughts balance creative ideas
At the same time business must be objective. You can bet that Steve, Mark and Bill were as objective as they were creative. They mixed their creative idea with business objectivity. They asked questions such as who is the market, how big is the market, where the market is headed, how much money can be made. This is objective thinking and the answers are the objective facts that are required to run a successful business.
Inventors need to be both creative and objective
We only have to look at a few examples of Dragon’s Den to understand where creative and objective didn’t always mix. On the television show inventors and entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a successful business panel. They hope to get money to grow and expand their business.
Many of these inventors, although creative come up with ideas that nobody wants. For example edible greeting cards for dogs or a pair of roller blades you strap to your knees to get from one kneeling job to another fast.
And for that reason they’re out.
by Lisa Wedmann | Jul 25, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Communications, Latest, Management, Problem Solving
Writing communications for business is a lot like swimming, if you don’t know the water you better stay out.
How deep is the water? What’s the temperature? Jumping in cold water… brrrrrrr… jumping into hot …well, just ask a lobster. Rocks in the water? In case you didn’t notice, rocks don’t move. And what if someone else is already in the water? What if they get in your way, panic and try to pull you under?
There are many dangers in not knowing the water.
Writing business communications is similar. If you don’t know what you’re getting into you can get yourself in some serious trouble. Here’s how to avoid those common, sometimes dangerous, errors when writing business communications.
Communications Tip #1 HOW DEEP IS THE WATER?
Many communications are written without knowing the characteristics of the audience. Who is reading your communication? Is it your team member, your boss, your client or the CEO? Each of these communications need a different style and tone appropriate to the audience. Don’t think that one style of communication fits all. Each of these audiences requires a different degree of information.
Your CEO doesn’t need all the details. What the CEO needs is a high level summary of the important points. Your client needs something different as does your boss and your team members.
You must fit the style, tone and content of your communications to the audience.
Communications Tip #2: WHAT”S THE TEMPERATURE?
Is this a hot communication or cold? Is this high priority or low?
Be clear on the urgency of your communications. As in all things in life, timing is critical. Act and expect actions depending on the pressures of the situation.
Communications Tip #3: WHERE ARE THE ROCKS?
What is lying in wait for your communications?
Is there a chance your communication could be interpreted the wrong way? Could someone take the wrong action based on this misinterpretation? Could your communication get blocked?
And though seemingly innocent, you mustn’t overlook those nasty little fish that hover around rocks and cause you distraction?
Don’t assume that you can simply avoid issues without knowing the dangers. Know the danger of your words and write your communications with these risks in mind.
Communications Tip #4: IS ANYBODY ELSE IN THE WATER?
This is the tip that many tend to forget. Who else is in the water? Who are the other players? Are they sending communications for or against your needs? How can you take advantage of communications by others? Can you piggyback on their information?
Be aware of others, whether they support or negate your cause and determine your best approach.
STAY SAFE
In swimming and in business communications, play safe. Do the right thing, at the right time and you will enjoy your day and all going well, catch some additional rays.
by Miriam Hara | Jul 24, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Latest, Marketing
Sales makes money and marketing spends money. It’s usually said in a snotty way and the person saying it usually acts all superior as if they have the secret to life and anyone who doesn’t understand is low, low down on the food chain. Say what you will, those of us in the advertising and marketing business we understand what’s behind the comment. We know where the truth lies. Let’s clear up a major misconception. Marketing and the advertising it propels gets customers and clients in the door, sales closes the deal. There’s different types of marketing for different types of business. But regardless of what business you’re in, there are considerations that should be part of the equation when you decide to go the do it yourself route.
Cutting Costs: Bring marketing tactics in-house
Since sales generates money, there are times when the marketing support areas feels that they are looked upon as an expense… not an investment. Therefore, the quick and superficial analysis says…cut costs by bringing design and media planning in house. You say the media commission and you don’t have to pay agency premiums of simple design. Bright idea in theory. But not so bright in application. There are two very real impacts to this decisions.
1. In-house marketing doesn’t cut costs
Hard to believe? But time will tell. Consider this.For you accountant types out there… outsourced marketing doesn’t require vacation pay, pensions, statutory holidays, office space, computers….think of the savings!!! All kidding aside… look at it from this perspective. Chances are in house marketing creative staff are not as skilled as specialists in an outside agency. The real aspect of a design is being challenged creatively. That ceases to become an option once they have been working on the same business of over a year. An outside agency works on many business, thereby creating a natural environment of creativity and growth. It wouldn’t be fair to expect your in house marketing creative team to be as nimble. They have little exposure to other creative talents. They must rely on themselves for inspiration. Isolated, tucked away in some remote area, creativity comes hard in this type of situation. Time drags on. And no, a marketing coordinator can’t do the media strategy and planning…nor should they. There’s an artform to strategically choosing which media to go to and what the benefits and results are going to be . A handful of people can’t be experts in graphic design, copywriting, social media, web design, packaging, advertising, television, radio… do I need to go on. In house staff will give their best efforts but their efforts will take longer and they can make costly mistakes.
2. In-house marketing can cost money
Mediocrity becomes the norm. Breakthrough thinking becomes a thing on the past.This will, over time, weaken sales. Unfortunately lack of inspiration, creativity and lack of expertise will slowly destroy your brand. It’s an insidious degradation, hard to detect and even harder to understand. Sales weaken and everyone wonders why. Some will say it’s the economy, the company needs restructuring, let’s burn the sales manager but few will look at their marketing department. Take this recommendation. Rather than try to staff for a department that is a vertical business to your business, take the time to choose the right agency. Agencies provide a new perspective. An outside perspective and will stand and fight for the right solution for your business and brand. Based on expertise and experience that is vast and varied. To make sound analogies and fair business assessments to grow your business. It’s important to choose the right agency for your business. Before you bring your marketing in house find and talk to a few advertising and marketing businesses and discuss your needs.Instead of bringing your marketing in house consider outsourcing your advertising and marketing. Let’s see, you want to know if we can give you a referral? Oh yes… a company called 3H comes to mind. 🙂
