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Copywriters, perhaps more than others, have a deep appreciation for words and their power to create unforgettable images. The other evening I was grooving on an episode of the florid and wonderful costume drama, The Tudors. I sat enthralled as the reptilian Thomas Boleyn plotted with his henchmen, and Henry VIII, played by the yummy Jonathan Rhys Meyers, stomped around bellowing orders and acting like a frat boy with a bad hangover.  All of a sudden, it struck me that Henry, at that stage of his life, was a skinny, sexy guy. He was not, as we usually picture him, a corpulent, richly dressed redhead with a bland stare. I started meditating on the word “corpulent” and its origins. Dictionary.com notes that “corpulent” springs from late 14th century Old French and, of course, Latin. Made up of “corpus” (body) and “ulentus” (full of), it’s a perfectly lovely word—full of body! It even sounds weighty. Just think of how many words we use every day that are derived similarly. There’s “fraudulent,” or full of deceit and trickery. “Succulent,” or full of juice. And “belligerent,” or full of combativeness, contentiousness, and antagonism. You’re bound to have a favorite “ulent” word?  What is it? Iqoncept — 123rf.com

 

But wait, infographics are visual, so why are we talking about writing?

Well, according to an article by Mary Walton of Visme, “Images on their own only tell part of the story … That’s why copy needs to be included in the right proportions … It’s all about the quality of the text.”

Ms. Walton presents seven tips for writing effective infographics, and I recommend you click the link in the first paragraph, because her tips appear in an infographic that conveys her message beautifully.

Write a good headline

Your headline should be short and snappy. (Just like an email subject line.) Use numbers, adjectives, and call-to-action words. Use keywords to make it more likely that your infographic will be found in online searches. And make sure your headline is related to your content. An example: “Try these 3 simple tips  to create a better salad.”

Structure your infographic

Just like a longer-form piece, your infographic needs a logical structure. Ms. Walton suggests a title (headline), introduction, section subheadings, labels for charts and graphs, and sources/footnotes. The introduction summarizes what the infographic is all about. Section subheadings call out different topics and move the reader through the piece. Labels briefly describe the visuals. Sources and footnotes are vital, just as they are in any other written piece.

Include branding

Branding creates context; if infographics are shared without branding, your audience can get lost. As Ms. Walton says, “If that happens, you’ll reach your audience but they won’t know where to go to learn more, losing you potential conversions.” Provide a link to your website, include your logo, and use your organization’s colors and design schemes. You paid for that branding, so make it work for you.

Don’t go crazy with text

Yes, I’m a writer, but I wholeheartedly agree. Ms. Walton recommends an average word count between 150 and 400 words and less text than images. “If there’s too much text in your infographic, it can put readers off … This doesn’t mean that your copy should be minimal, though. You should strike the right balance between providing enough information and being too verbose.”

Introduce your infographic

An introduction introduces an infographic and offers context, explaining the topic covered. Make it brief—no more than 200 words and preferably less. Otherwise, in this era of short attention spans, your audience will leave.

 Include explanations

Support the images with explanatory text. Don’t use your text to add anything new to the image or to introduce new ideas. Its purpose is to make sure the reader understands the image. And be brief. It’s almost always possible to find words you can cut.

Proofread

When you’re writing such a small amount of copy, it’s got to be perfect. The writer Betty Rollin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Rollin), who put in time writing for Vogue (I think it was) said that the more frivolous the topic, the more rigorous her editor was about absolute perfection. Same idea here. Ms. Walton recommends going through your copy several times, looking for a different type of error each time. And proofread blocks of text, rather than the whole thing, if that’s a struggle.

Infographics have become insanely popular, to the joy of many. I can hear some folks say, “This is great. I don’t have to be a writer or  hire one.” To which I say, “Hah! You’re not off the hook,” as I think Ms. Walton makes abundantly clear.

Big bonus: an excellent YouTube video, also from Visme, on what makes a good infographic.

macrovector — 123rf.com

Better business writing is a topic that’s bound to elicit a ho-hum reaction in some of the populace. It shouldn’t, though. Dustin Wax, a former contributing editor and project manager at Lifehack, has this to say: “If you’re one of the many people in business for whom writing has never been a major concern, you should know that a lack of writing skills is a greater and greater handicap with every passing year.”

In his article “12 Tips for Better Business Writing,” Mr. Wax gets right down to business. It’s worth the five minutes it will take you to read this article, so I am presenting my favorite five. Just click the link for the rest.

Be brief

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this essential business writing tip in other posts. Mr. Wax says, “ … as written information becomes more and more important to the smooth functioning of businesses, people are less and less willing to read.” So be concise. Get to the point, and wrap it up.

Proofread

I can hear you saying, “But I don’t have time!” Unless your manager is standing over you, ready to grab your copy, you have time. Maybe not a lot, but enough to grab a cup of coffee, do a quick breathing sequence, and then get back to work. If you have the luxury of an hour, take it. Mr. Wax notes, “The brain is tricky and will ignore errors it’s just made; some time working on something else will give you the detachment you need to catch those errors before anyone else reads them.” Rereading your work with a critical eye can also help you avoid errors in tone.

Save templates

This is a biggie. If you’ve created a presentation, business requirement document, or whatever, you’ve put a lot of effort into something that can likely be repurposed and save you time. Create a folder for these pieces so you can grab them when you need to. Just make sure you do a careful reread and a search to make sure your doc isn’t referring to Company A when it should be referring to Company B.

Be relevant

Just as in a news story, make sure your audience knows what’s relevant to them—the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Anticipate the questions readers will ask. And if the information is particularly important—corporate lay-off policies, for example, be as brief and clear as possible. Don’t meander or sugar-coat. (My thought.)

“Be professional, not necessarily formal”

This may be the most challenging of Mr. Wax’s suggestions. Formal language, like business jargon, tends to become invisible or paid little attention to. On the other hand, you want to avoid a snarky tone or, worse, phrasing that you’ll need to apologize for. “Remember,” says Mr. Wax, “that many businesses (possibly yours) are required by law to keep copies of all correspondence — don’t email, mail, or circulate anything that you wouldn’t feel comfortable having read into the record in a public trial.”

Mr. Wax ends his article by recommending that you hire a freelancer. As a freelance content creator myself, I heartily endorse this suggestion. Writing, with all it entails, takes time and concentration. At the same time, I also recognize that many of us must write during the course of our business day and can’t hire help. We may not have had formal training, and we may not be enthusiastic about writing tasks, but clear writing usually means that we’re clear thinkers. And who doesn’t want to be respected for the quality of our intellect?

Bonus: a YouTube video on writing a bad-news letter. I leave it to you to decide whether or not the writer has done a good job.

Marek Uliasz — 123rf.com

Image ID : 49154528

 

 

Data storytelling  is much in vogue these days says Matt Cooper, CEO of SkillShare, and “many brand executives are now asking their marketing teams how they too can tell engaging stories with numbers.”

Sounds great, eh? Come up with some relevant numbers, craft a jazzy-looking infographic, and wait for cheers of admiration. Unfortunately, notes Mr. Cooper, many organizations don’t have a clear idea of what’s involved in data storytelling. As he so succinctly puts it, “Companies are often surprised to learn that storytelling with data is much more difficult than simply throwing some numbers and statistics into a few colorful charts.”

Data storytelling comes with its own set of best practices:

• Use a data journalist. Who knew there was such a field? But there is, and it’s a fast-growing segment of the media business. Data journalists can tell you what’s newsworthy, how to present it, how to assess its accuracy, how to source and reference it, and how to make sure it isn’t misleading. Sounds great, but what do you do if you don’t have the money to hire one? I recommend staying on top of trends, bookmarking credible sources, and talking to knowledgeable peers. Of course, you’ll also need to make sure that you can legitimately use the data you find.
• Make sure your data is high quality. Cooper notes, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen infographics that cite unscientific internet polls or pull apocryphal statistics seemingly from thin air.” Ouch. You should be looking at academic studies or official government statistics, company internal data, or you should consider commissioning a poll. Now, polls are expensive, but you can go the DIY route with options like Survey Monkey or Google Consumer Surveys. If one of your colleagues has survey experience, consider leveraging that.
• Consider emotional resonance. Though numbers and statistics may strike you as being cold, they can tell a story that evokes an emotional response. Consider, for example, the decimation of elephant herds worldwide or deaths from drinking filthy water. Of course, there are good stories to tell, too.
• Be clear. Says Mr. Cooper, “Some of the worst data visualizations are the ones you have to stare at for several minutes before you even comprehend what they’re trying to say.” I love infographics and enjoy working on them. And I particularly appreciate the ones that are quick and easy to grasp. You need to make sure that your data tells a story your audience can understand and use.
• Go where the data leads you. Cooper comments that, all too often, companies are looking for data that supports their agendas. This approach can compromise your integrity. And it can also cause you to miss out on a great story. “If you begin with the answer already in mind, you may be missing out on a bigger or more interesting story.”

I love data. Effective data storytelling is what makes your message come alive and helps differentiate it from what we laughingly refer to as marketing fluff. Not that marketing fluff doesn’t have its place, but data supplements fluff and makes it possible to tell a stronger story.

iqoncept — 123rf.com

 

You want to be known for clear writing, but you’re not sure how to go about it.

Jane Rosenzweig, director of the Writing Center at Harvard, presents three tips in her Harvard Business Review article, “3 Ways to Make Your Writing Clearer.”  They’re so beautifully simple that I wish I could take credit for them.

Here they are:

“Cut the ‘Since the dawn of time’ opening and get right to the point.”

I remember a meeting where our manager was at pains to tell another writer that he needed to dive right into his topic and skip the friendly intro. I also remember being glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of those remarks and feeling fortunate because my predilection at that point in my career was to start a piece with a nice, fluffy lead-in.

Ms. Rosenzweig, who presents wonderful examples in her article, says, “In most cases, your readers don’t need to hear every thought anyone has ever had about your topic. They need to know what they should think about the topic right now.”

Focus your reader’s attention by getting to your point in the first sentence and include only important background info as you develop your topic.

“Turn those descriptive topic sentences into topic sentences that make claims.”

A claim sentence tells readers what to expect in the rest of the paragraph and, of course, focuses their attention. A descriptive sentence can offer useful information, but as Ms. Rosenzweig points out, readers don’t know why it matters. A claim sentence helps you as a writer, because you know what you have to deliver. A claim-based topic sentence also means that you’ll need to do less editing.

“Make sure people are doing things in your sentences, unless you don’t want them to be doing things.”

Here, Ms. Rosenzweig is saying that you need to be clear about who is taking action. As an example, she offers these two sentences:

“All managers should approve and submit expense reports by Friday at noon.”

“Expense reports should be approved and submitted by Friday at noon.”

The first sentence makes it clear who should do what, that is, “all managers.” The second sentence, not so much. The active voice clarifies who takes action. The passive voice can be very helpful in obscuring the actor; you may want to consider using it when circumstances warrant. Consider that much-used expression: “Mistakes were made.” Wikipedia notes that it is “an expression that is commonly used as a rhetorical device, whereby a speaker acknowledges that a situation was handled poorly or inappropriately but seeks to evade any direct admission or accusation of responsibility by not specifying the person who made the mistakes.”

The reason I like this article so much is that it calls attention to the tendency of many a writer—myself included—who wastes precious time in our deadline-driven world making minor word- and sentence-level edits instead of clarifying the message from the get-go. This, says Ms. Rosenzweig, is pretty much like “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Iulian Dragomir — 123rf.com

Copywriting is a skill anyone can learn. Concise copywriting is also an art that anyone can learn.

In a recent post, Marcia Yudkin of The Marketing Minute details her journey to conciseness. She notes that an editor and a novelist once looked at her writing and slashed words, sentences, and paragraphs. She says, “These were two of the most valuable and consequential learning experiences for my writing career. In both instances, my ego was forced to admit that the word slashing was brilliantly justified.”

Ms. Yudkin, as all writers should, hunts for elements that can be cut. Even in “low-stakes writing tasks, like tweets.” She’s a huge advocate of cutting what you can—without changing meaning, of course—and always working to tighten your copy.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Give it time: After you’ve finished a piece, take a walk, load the dishwasher, brush the cat. Create distance between your first draft and your second look. 24 hours is ideal, but sometimes you don’t have that luxury. Even a 15-minute break helps.
• Prune: Get rid of expression like “in order to,” as in “You must prune in order to create concise copy.” Doesn’t “You must prune to create concise copy” sound better? Removing two, three, or more words here and there can make a big difference. (Your audience will probably appreciate not having to read so much.)
• Respect editors: I write for a living and confess that I’ve sometimes been miffed when an editor comes up with better wording. Put your ego to the side and rejoice in great edits. They will only make your work stronger.

photochicken — 123rf.com

 

 

Miri Rodriguez, the author of “Brand Storytelling: Put Customers At The Heart Of Your Brand Story” and an award-winning storyteller at Microsoft has written an excellent article about how to structure the story you tell about your brand.

Her article describes eight story structures, of which this post presents my top three favorites. Here they are.

The monomyth

This is probably familiar to you from high school or college English where we referred to it as the hero’s journey and perhaps learned about Joseph Campbell. (Check out the video at the end, a very quick and elegant explanation of the journey.) As Ms. Rodrigues says, “ … this story model is probably the most popular because we simply love heroes and their remarkable journeys.”

The hero’s journey introduces someone living an ordinary life, but after going through unexpected circumstances or conflicts, experience a deep personal transformation. In brand storytelling, the customer is often the hero, but a company’s employees can also show up as a hero—which is a great way to drive employee advocacy. Hero’s journey stories tend to be inspirational, and Ms. Rodriguez recommends that “taking the time to assess what the journey will look like is a critical part of building the brand story.”

 In media res

This is a fancy way to say “into the middle of things.” In brand storytelling, your narrative begins in the middle of the action. Then it loops around to give the story some context. Ms. Rodriguez points out that you need to be skilled at grabbing and keeping the audience’s attention “by creatively bringing the beginning and conclusion together.”

Consider the story of the guy in the dungeon, in a pretty hopeless situation, and how it loops back to reveal how he got there and how he’s going to get out.

Nested loops

Sounds like programming or database management, doesn’t it? Ms. Rodriguez explains that, with nested loops, “you build a number of narratives (loops) to finally arrive at the central story. Large corporations, such as Microsoft uses this technique to eventually reach general audiences. Her team used it to create a technical story and match it with one that showcased a personal angle to expand the audience base.

The team knew that the core audience of IT professionals, developers, and business decision makers wanted heavy-duty content such as white papers and case studies, but that consumer audiences wanted something lighter. The nested loop technique allowed the team to communicate with both groups.

Brand storytelling is something business communicators should live for. It’s rich, powerful, and just fun enough to make writing a pleasurable experience.

Check out the video, which is Matthew Winkler and Kirill Yeretsky’s look at the hero’s story

microone — 123rf.com

When you think about brand innovation, what do you think of? If you’re John Rossman, a former Amazon executive, you think of Amazon. For good reason.

Back in March, which seems so very long ago these days, Mr. Rossman wrote a wonderful article for Branding Strategy Insider, “How Amazon Thrives on Being Misunderstood.” (By the way, Mr. Rossman has also written a well-reviewed book, “Think like Amazon: 50 ½ Ideas to Become a Digital Leader.”)

He starts by asking about Amazon’s greatest innovations. Some, such as drones, cloud computing, and Alexa, are impressive, but the real chart-toppers are Free Everyday Shipping, Prime Loyalty, and Item Authority. (It was Item Authority that led to Amazon breezing past eBay as the “destination site for third-party sellers.” ) The common trait each of these features share is that they are customer experience and business model innovations. And, as Mr. Rossman puts it, “What they also have in common is the fact that incumbents are industry pundits woefully underestimated their impact on the industry and the bottom line.”

Some otherwise bright people—Larry Ellison, Mike Glenn of FedEx, and Mark Johnson of Foot Locker—thoroughly debunked what Amazon was up to, in quotes that probably embarrass them now. (Check out the article, whose link appears earlier if you want to be amused and educated.)

According to Mr. Rossman challenging assumptions about how things work or “should” work will bring the doubters swarming. But over the years, Amazon has kept its head down and moved ahead, impervious to criticism and taking the longer view. A quote from Jeff Bezos: “ … inventing and pioneering involve a willingness to be misunderstood for long periods of time … we don’t make money when we sell things. We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions.” Yeah. Mr. Rossman points to “Look Inside the Book” as a feature that initially called forth skepticism and alarm from publishers and required a huge investment in technology—but proved to be a huge success. Think about it. If you’ve bought a book on Amazon, haven’t you checked it out first by looking inside?

Two sides to innovation

There are two sides to brand innovation, or being misunderstood, to consider says Mr. Rossman. The first is that if the usual suspects are not being negative, you should worry. And the second side is how you prepare stakeholders such as investors and partners for the changes you plan. Amazon, he notes, consistently reminds shareholders in its annual letter that it will “not sacrifice long-term value for short-term results, and it will be misunderstood.”

In assessing your brand innovation and potential disruptiveness, Mr. Rossman suggests that you ask yourself several questions: When have you done something that helped customers but disrupted cherished business tradition? How would the customer experience change if you started fresh? What brand innovations/business model changes might work for your industry?

Like some folks, I guess, I’ve cheered Amazon’s speediness and convenience. At the same time, I’ve been disquieted by reports of its poor treatment of employees and its tentacle-like movement into so many aspects of daily life. In pointing out the courage and single-mindedness it requires to be truly disruptive, this article has helped me balance my view of what Amazon is about. Probably not enough to sign up for Prime again, though.

Marina Putilova — 123rf.com

We live in an attention economy—human attention is a scarce commodity—so your brand story must captivate prospects from the very beginning. Jerome Conlon, former director of brand planning and marketing insights at Nike (among other prestigious positions) says, “More and more, brands are finding their way to the intersection of brand and entertainment, adopting Hollywood’s tools and techniques that lead to blockbuster story brands. Rightfully so in an attention economy that rewards brands that are both meaningful and interesting.”

In a recent article, Mr. Conlon discusses the role of a brand “brain trust” in building a brand story. Pixar Studios has used this concept to great effect to create one winning film after another.

A brand brain trust brings a team together to discuss how products, advertising, branded content, and social media can be fashioned into an integrated, multifaceted brand story. And, of course it can also be used to take a serious look at brand campaigns that have succeeded or failed.

A brand brain trust sounds academic and perhaps intimidating, but the basic idea behind it is pretty simple. Pixar learned that “the brain trust process involved relying on the combined intelligence and instincts (thoughts + feelings) of a cross-functional team to fully understand how key scenes played and to explore with each other how the entire story was playing.” Intellectual and emotional honesty were required of the trust, and its members wrote notes that described how they felt about a story or character.

What else is required for success? Detail is critical. Notes must lay out what is wrong, what is unclear, what makes no sense, what is missing. A good note may not propose a solution but is offered before it is too late to fix a problem. Candor is important, which means the team must have open discussions, without a single personality dominating. In my opinion, this last point is particularly important. I’ve been in meetings where one person with an insistent personality overshadowed colleagues. The result was that good ideas often weren’t heard, to the detriment of all.

What were the key benefits of Pixar’s brain trust?

• It fostered an environment where team members could air their thoughts and emotions.
• It defined what were good—that is, useful—notes.
• It established rules for polishing rough ideas.
• It focused on a single goal—delivering the highest quality entertainment.
• It reduced project risk and improved project quality.

I have certainly done my share of groaning about meetings and the outworking of herd mentality. But here is a technique and the leadership to back it up that has produced good work and has allowed all voices to be heard.

tumsasedgars — 123rf.com

Actually, this post about sales conversations discusses one of Jill Konrath’s wonderful posts about value propositions.

Ms. Konrath starts her post logically enough by asking how you can tell if you have a weak value proposition. Well, prospects don’t respond when you contact them or they brush you off with a phrase like “We’ve already got that handled.”

“You can’t sell if you can’t get in the door. You can’t inspire buyers to take action if you don’t focus on what matters to them,” says Ms. Konrath. And she continues by commenting that a great way to discover your value proposition is to ask your customers. But not just any customers. You don’t want to talk to happy customers, because they’ve probably forgotten the issues and challenges they faced before adopting your product or service.

Instead, talk to those who have recently made the switch. Their pain points are still fresh in their minds, and they can likely articulate how you helped them out. Even if they don’t have precise figures, their anecdotal information will be helpful.

That said, what kind of questions do you want to ask? Ms. Konrath lists 11, of which I show five. (This is an inducement to read the article, because not only is she a sales guru, she’s also a pretty darn good writer.)

My top five faves

Of course, you’ll want to put these questions in your own words, so they sound like you. And you notice they’re all open-ended to overcome peoples’ tendency to cut you off and play to their desire to talk.

1. What did you do before you adopted our product/service?
2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the effectiveness of our product in helping you reach the results you wanted?
3. What were the three most important benefits your received from our product (our work together)?
4. What was that worth to you?
5. Can you help me quantify the payoff your organization realized from using our product/service?

Ms. Konrath reminds us to ask the same questions to more than one person in your customer’s organization and to talk to more than one client. Some people will give you better insights and information.

What have you done for me lately?

These are great questions. (Because we’re all selling in one way or the other, I think you can adapt them to your everyday life of work and relationships.) And I love Ms. Konrath’s parting comment: “Remember, no one wants to buy your product or service. They only want what it can do for them.”

And now, the inimitable Ms. Konrath in her own words.

Aleksandr Davydov — 123rf.com