In your hurry-up work world, are you letting “non-essential” copy (or any copy, for that matter) go to publication offline or on without first being proofread?
Please tell me your answer is no. And the spellcheck function on Word is not proofreading.
Here are some of the most common errors proofreading will help you avoid:
Protect your organization’s reputation, brand and credibility by having every piece of copy in your organization proofread before being printed, sent, mailed, emailed or posted online.
No CommentsRecently I spent an afternoon with a client talking about his service offering. Naturally my client was well-versed in the particulars, going so far as to quote ROI, stats and sales figures. Interesting and important, sure, but not interesting enough to keep prospective customers engaged for very long.
It wasn’t until I started probing for anecdotal evidence that we got to the real heart of what makes his service different — and better — than the competitor’s. More importantly, we uncovered what will make prospective customers care.
Pepper your copy with anecdotes and you’ll easily have a story worth telling.
No CommentsI recently filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I didn’t want to but we paid for repair and waterproofing of our chimney, and the waterproofing still has not been done. The company refuses to return our phone calls, apologize or complete the job. As a consumer, it’s a very frustrating, very helpless place to be.
The worst part is, my chimney vendor is knowingly providing bad customer service, in spite of claiming on their web site and in their marketing materials to be a company that’s “hard working,” “reputable” and “honest.”
Read on for more about the importance of synching your marketing messages with your service offerings from my guest blogger Jennifer Hodroge.
Service. What does it mean to you?
We recently received a cleverly written letter offering us 15% off services, or an even better 25% off service for advance payment. Sounds like a great deal, right? But how we got that letter is the real story.
We had a nasty lawn. The more our service provider came, the worse it looked. Then an expert arrived late in the summer to conduct a survey about the company and their service.
We asked, “Why is our lawn so bad?” We couldn’t figure it out. The expert dug up our grass and gave the dreaded news, “You have grubs.” He dug into a small area in our lawn and found more than 50 squirmy grubs in a small area. That’s what had been eating the lawn (roots, actually) and the reason why grass wouldn’t grow no matter how much we watered.
Until then we didn’t really think of bugs as the culprit. Honestly, we didn’t give grass much thought at all. We just wanted it to be there, alive. I did my duty. I watered during the hot summer months. We had a service come and spread fertilizer and weed killer. But even though we did those basic things, our grass was the worst in the neighborhood.
So, great, we found the reason behind our lack of green grass, right? Wrong. Once the expert came and shared his wisdom, we paid an additional fee for a grub treatment (it’s August). Then after some research, found out we should have done this treatment back in April, possibly saving our grass. Unfortunately, our service provider never suggested a grub treatment. We only found out after the fact. So, not only did we have to reseed our lawn among other things, we were going to be charged by that same company an additional fee to perform services to re-grow grass that we should have never needed in the first place.
So we got our grub treatment, a couple of weeks later, and then canceled the service from that provider. Why? Because I felt they should have prevented the situation in the first place.
Now we get letters weekly and phone calls almost daily offering discounted services from this provider. But we’ve learned our lesson. Now we take care of the lawn ourselves. We do this because even though we paid for service, they didn’t serve. They didn’t address issues ahead of time. They didn’t forewarn of potential problems. They didn’t step in when there was a problem and address it immediately, taking responsibility. No matter how much you discount the service it’s not worthwhile.
Before you develop your next sales pitch or ‘we want you back’ letter, take a moment to make sure the service or product you are providing meets some basic expectations. Be sure that you can live up to the claims you make. Otherwise even the best written materials will not improve your company’s sales and could actually backfire.
And, you’ll be happy to know, we have one of the best lawns in the neighborhood now!
Jennifer HodrogeFreelance Writer, Columbus Ohio
http://www.jhcomm.net/
Who says a brainstorming session can’t involve just you and your laptop? This is my favorite way to jump-start a new project because there are no deliverables, no expectations and no “bad” ideas.
I just did this yesterday and walked away with some kickin’ ideas that will probably end up in front of my client.
The beauty of one-person brainstorming is that there is no process; just open a Word document and start typing.
But for those of you that insist on a process (and you know who you are), here’s mine:
Type words you like, words that make sense, ideas, phrases, fragments and partial sentences. Go until you can’t go anymore. Pull out supporting collateral and read through it, adding some of those words and phrases to your list. Rework some of those words and phrases into your own. Go until you can’t go anymore. Jump online and start looking at your web site, your competitors’ web site, your favorite inspiration site. Keep adding to your list of words. Finally, move the words around and create variations of words and phrases (kind of like Scrabble).
Do not delete or modify anything on your list. Keep absolutely everything … even the so-called “dumb” ideas.
Start a new document and bring over some of your best ideas, fleshing them out until you’re “there.”
No CommentsI subscribe to a handful of newsletters that are must-reads for me and Ann Wylie’s free e-zine is one of them. This bit of advice from her latest issue is spot-on. Heed the advice, dear reader. I have.
No CommentsHaving trouble identifying buzzwords and jargon when you use them? Try the “Hey, did you hear?” test. That is, read your copy aloud after a friendly greeting or phrase.
Here’s how it works: “Hey, did you hear? Let’s discuss how we can redefine B2C partnerships, target collaborative infomediaries, harness 24/365 Web services, engage plug-and-play e-commerce, drive proactive models, scale robust experiences and engage transparent models so we can facilitate out-of-the-box ROI.”
If your copy sounds like the adults in a Charlie Brown special — “Wah Wah Wah Wah” — after a simple greeting or phrase, chances are, it’s too stiff, bureaucratic and jargon-filled. Rewrite it.
Ann Wylie’s Writing Tips is copyright 2007 by Ann Wylie. Ann Wylie, Wylie Communications Inc., 4618 Warwick, Ste. 7A, Kansas City, MO, 64112
Must drive people to your web site.
Must have them take action.
Although my imitation of James T. Kirk may be a bit hokey (and a bit lost in translation), you get the point — you want people to visit your site and then do something.
Which takes us to the topic of landing pages …
I’m working with a new client, writing copy for several landing pages. Of course, each landing page will be optimized for search, especially since my client is relying on organic vs. pay-per-click search engine marketing.
While working on the project, it occured to me that many of you may be unfamiliar or unsure of the term, so here’s a masterful and succinct explanation of landing pages from Seth Godin’s blog archives.
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