Browsing Category: "blogging"
Use Twitter to practice writing more concisely
blogging, content, effective communication, social media
Ever been to a party and been trapped by a non-stop talker? Those standing monologues (especially the ones by complete and total strangers) are annoying at best and a buzzkill at worst.
Droning on and on without engaging in any kind give-and-take dialogue is absolutely awful for the person on the receiving end.
That’s what I like so much about Twitter. The microblogging site lets you “talk” but forces you to do so in short snippets of 140 characters or less.
I recently conducted an informal survey of people who follow me and found that most think using Twitter has helping them communicate more concisely (and hence effectively).
Now, mind you, long prose certainly has it’s place. But in business writing I see so much extraneous copy that it drowns the core message. Get to the core message quickly. Put it first. Your reader will thank you and be more likely to take the appropriate action.
If you’re not on Twitter, sign up for a free account. Follow a few people (me included) and start paring down your dialogue. I promise you’ll be the life of the next party you go to.
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The answer is simple. Irrelevancy.
Self-serving blog posts (and other types of internally focused interactive content for that matter) do nothing to engage and inspire.
Now I’m not saying that corporate bloggers can’t talk about themselves at all; I’m simply saying that when they do talk about themselves or their products, they must do it in a way that’s real, transparent and relevant to their readers. Only then can they build relationship and boost credibility.
Read this AdWeek article for a recap of a Forrester Research study that found less than 20 percent of consumers trust corporate blogs, then share your thoughts here.
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I’m in the midst of creating a Get Great Web Copy Toolkit and I want to be sure to answer some of your most commonly asked questions.
So, tell me …
What’s your biggest web copy challenge?
Post your comments. Thanks.
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The one thing you must stop doing right now.
blogging, content, effective communication, marketing, miscellaneous, writing
If you’re a corporate communicator, creative director, marketing manager, small or medium business owner, solopreneur, marketer, blogger or writer of any type, please take heed.
Stop — right now, right this minute — writing, saying or speaking these words or any variation, thereof:
In these tough economic times …
In times of uncertainty …
In these interesting times ..
Please, just stop. These words are overused, not to mention highly annoying. Why? Because they mean absolutely nothing to your customer, reader, client or audience. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nyet.
Let me be blunt about what using these words means. It means someone (you or your writer) is lazy. It means you’re not taking the time to think about your customer’s need. It means you don’t know how to communicate how current events relate to your customer through you or your product or service.
What precipitated this bold and forceful blog post? Just the umpteenth email newsletter that began with some of those very same words. Aargh. I cannot differentiate one company or offer from another. And I cannot relate to, nor care about, what these companies want to tell me. I’m doubing their perceived value in my life and my business. I may click “unsubscribe.” I may not read their next few newsletters. I may miss the important offer that was buried beneath the mumbo jumbo filler copy.
So, before you put another word in front of your customer, take 30 seconds to think about what really needs to be said. Then say it. Simply and clearly. Speak to the point from their perspective, not yours — and certainly not from some vague collective “we.”
Here’s a made-up example to illustrate my point:
Save $50 today only.
Now that is lead copy that’ll get attention a lot faster than this, wouldn’t you say?
In these tough economic times, everyone is looking to save money.