Marketers: what novelists can teach you

Hi all. Sorry I’ve been away from the blog… I’ve been diving into some fun and challenging fiction writing of late. In fact, I’ve been attending a fantastic facilitated writing group each Tuesday night, in which a bunch of we plain-clothes scribes huddle in our coach’s living room and work with a series of 10-or-15-minute drills to get the creative juices percolating.

 

The exercises are relatively simple: Select from a list of 10 names randomly pulled from the phone book and create brief character descriptions. Pick a series of three cards – one each carrying the name of a celebrity, a location and an activity — and craft a short scene with including those elements. Draw the floor plan of your childhood home and then write a scene about something that happend in a room of that house. Write a scene involving a novelist who’s latest work has been banned – on a distant planet.

 

What’s all this for? Letting go, mainly. Getting yourself to realize that as a writer you need to just write. Don’t think about staring at a blank laptop screen the color of white-hot panic. Just get started and the words will come. It’s also about exercising your writing muscles. Just like when you do your time on the treadmill at the gym or run through your chin-up routine to the P-90X videos you just ordered. Practice builds muscles. Muscles build strength. Strength builds ability and confidence. The same holds true for your writing.

 

As I attend these sessions I am reminded of my many colleagues in PR and marketing are very much in need of this kind of workout. “I can do business writing but I’m no good at creative writing.” Or, “I’m just not a writer. I’m better at strategy.” Both responses are to me a bit sad but also a real sign of missed opportunities. Marketing should be about telling the story of your company, product or service. Or the people behind them. You need to think like a storyteller.

 

Fiction writers understand what elements are required of them to craft a great story: characters, plot, setting, dialogue, drama, conflict.  Far too often I read materials generated by companies that were clearly cobbled together by committee and ultimately say nothing because they neglect most of the key ingredients of storytelling. And then the companies that produce them wonder why no one cares about their brands.

 

What’s your story? Who should care? Why should they care? Who are the people behind the scenes responsible for your amazing products or services? Who is supposed to buy them and why? What problems can you solve? Why are you the only place to go for such a benefit?

 

Do your materials tell a story? Do they contribute to the reader’s experience or are you wasting their time? Are you offering compelling information or just creating literary litter? Are you drowning people in jargon because you haven’t thought through the real-life impact your products may have on actual human customers?

 

Language, people. It’s a marvelous thing. And it’s free (although if I’m asked to help you with said language, which I’m more than happy to do, I’m not so free). Think before you type and find ways to practice telling your story before you publish it. Someone really is out there on the other end of the “Send” button, and they may actually form an opinion about you based on what you’ve crafted. Someone like me. Who may just want to make an example out of you … um, you know, in a completely fictional, non-libelous, change-the-names-to-protect-the-guilty sort of way …

Business Words & Phrases to Retire?

Hi all. Business blogger David Silverman has hit it on the head with his list of top 10 words and phrases to ban in business either because they’re imprecise, clumsy, ill-used or just plain hackneyed.  Another great list comes today from David Meerman Scott.

Both lists remind me of the rampant vaporspeak right before the dot-com bust, when people offered awful constructions like “Our company is the industry leader in value-added, customer-focused, end-t0-end solutions for enterprise.” Eeeeee. Among  those on David’s hit list: “people manager,” “net-net,” and “take-away.”

My additions to the list:

1) “Target.” As in target the consumer, target marketing, target audience. This is one of a long list of military-inspired business words and phrases that can and should be retired. “We want to launch the product (missile) but first we must target (aim to kill) our audience (victims).” Ugh. In the new world order of business communications, aren’t we supposed to be conversing with our customers rather than marking them for annihilation?

2) “2.0. ” Web 2.0. Business 2.0. Life 2.0. Enough 2.0. It was a clunky term to describe a new type of adoption of the Web, mainly social media on user-generated content.  Guess what — the Web evolved, it didn’t enter a new phase of being like drifting from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. I actually had a colleague tell me (in front of a client, bad girl!) that I was “so 1.0.”). She was lucky she was on the other end of a conference line and not in the room with me or I might have 1.0′d her upside the head.

3) Sports analogies. “Kickoff.”  “Home run.” “Full court press.” “Tee off.” “Go to bat.” Pernennial favorites of business and politics, these images let people who should be better with language off the proverbial hook by subsituting good language with clunky everyman images. What’s next, board games? Checkers? Chess? “Id better get my pieces lined up, I don’t want to let the competition to King Me.” “It’s time to start thinking about a nontraditional Gambit. No one’s going to take our queen!”

4) “The long tail.” Another odd bit of jargon thrown around in tech circles of late reflecting a graphical representation of a particular strategy of selling, inventory and distribution. An arcane term to say the least and often used imprecisely.  Hint – if people in the meeting are scratching their heads while you’re speaking (yes, I’ve seen it) that’s a clue that they live in a ZIP code outside the bubble.  Time to adjust your prose…

5) “Leverage.”  A noun that has been hijacked by action-verbophiles that has a variety of meanings these days.  In one form it’s to “make use of” while in other cases it’s a description of financial obligation.  In general, I’m not a huge fan of nouns that become verbs unless you’re using them artfully in literature or poetry. “The bleak clouds blanketed the morning sky.”  In business it can just be odd. Kind of like that boss I once had was fond of using ”architect” as a verb. “I’d like to see if we can architect a solution.” I’m sorry, I think I just threw up in my mouth.

What are your linguistic pet peeves? Comment away!

Tweeting is quick & fun, but don’t let it harm your writing skills

Interesting piece from Philly.com on business writing skills and recruitment/HR. Seems young professionals are lightning fast at tweeting and Facebook, but skills are lacking big time when it comes to business writing. Many, it turns out may have trouble with even the most basic business correspondence. Yes, Virginia, there is content longer than 140 characters — and keeping up your writing chops can mean the difference between landing — or keeping — your job, or not :

The Society for Human Resource Management surveyed its members three years ago and found that millennials, the latest generation to enter the work force, are widely regarded as lacking in written communication skills.

“Millennials are so caught up in the constancy of communication that they don’t ever pause to give consideration to clarity and quality,” says Robert Hoberman, president, executive search and training division, RW Consulting Group, Holmdel, N.J. “There’s consistent agreement among human resources directors and career consultants I’ve spoken with that this is a major problem.”

The problem has far-reaching implications. For starters, the clash in communications styles causes friction between millennials and older workers, particularly baby boomers, who expect all business communication to be polished, if not perfect. And with boomers expected to retire in increasing numbers starting three years from now, leaving behind millions of managerial positions, “Corporate America is headed for a crisis because it’s difficult to imagine millennials being adequately prepared to take their place if they lack such basic skills,” Hoberman says.

In addition, deficient writing and interpersonal skills of young workers can compromise employers’ success. Ineffective communication, as opposed to insufficient core competencies, is to blame for up to 80 percent of instances in which a goal involving teamwork failed to be met, according to Gallup research.

Most detrimental to millennials, especially in a recessionary economy, is that young jobseekers who otherwise are qualified candidates may get passed over for jobs because their communication skills aren’t up to snuff, says Joseph Scalice, president, RW Consulting Group. Their résumés are too loosely formatted, their cover letters are vague and their spelling is appalling.

“I’m not talking about one or two errors. I see misspellings all throughout, which is amazing in this day and age with spell check,” Scalice says.

Death of Print? Careful What You Wish For…

This in from today’s San Francisco Chronicle, talking about more staff reductions at the paper: http://tinyurl.com/cyoyj3

Before people celebrate yet another harbinger of the demise of that “old school” medium, let me posit something: someday soon we may look back and regret what we let disappear.

Print news is an incredibly inexpensive source of information that is regularly updated by trained news gatherers. It is locally produced, is 100 percent recyclable, requires no batteries or expensive data plans, is delivered to my doorstep each morning rain or shine, and I don’t have to switch it off on an airplane. Print also is the one medium that offers any measure of reflection before packaging and pushing information to its audience, even it it’s only 24 hours. We’ve led ourselves down a path that requires us to gulp information in Tweet-sized pieces, assemble them on the run in our overcommitted brains and assume that we somehow have crafted enough of a big picture to function optimally in a crazy world.

And there are other costs. Online news and opinion, while offering seemingly a unlimited wealth of information, is expensive. Compare the 50-cent newsstand price of a daily paper — or much less for a subscription — to my $30/month iPhone data plan, my $60/month DSL at my office and my $50/month cable broadband at home (total=$140/month). Add to that my cable TV bill ($50 for basic) and even factor in my yearly donations to public radio ant TV. And then I have to gather my own news from myriad sites, blogs and feeds. In my spare time. I will gladly pay a professional editor to sort through the events of the day, sort them out, offer me a timely report with some measure of analysis or thought behind it and then do it again tomorrow and the day after that.

I hear an awful lot of people lately calling smugly for the death of print (“what’s black and white and dead all over?”). To them I offer one warning: be careful what you wish for. Print is accessible, efficient, affordable and offers the needed perspective that pausing to think for more than a minute provides.

I’m old school. I want my paper. That, and I find it difficult to wrap fish in an iPod.

Burnout 2.0

Hi all. Is it me? I think I’ve hit the wall with Web 2.0. I mean I’ve kinda had it. Last night I was berated by my colleagues for not posting enough for their enjoyment on Twitter (they’re following me and they’re WAITING!). Fine I’ll get more engaged in Twitter. In my spare time.

Today, I got invited to join someone on Plaxo. That would be in addition to the various levels of activity or profiles I have on Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster, MySpace, Tribe, Twitter and MOG. Oh, and then there’s all those Yahoo Groups I’m in. It can’t just be me…. mercy!

Just had to vent or at least seek some e-sympathy — is it just me? Enough already. I’m not so interested in other people’s day-to-day that I want my attention splintered like this. Or to be made to feel like I’m not keeping up with the Social Joneses.

I want to go outside. And not burp out little microblogs about it.

Advice anyone?

Transparency matters too… get involved

Received a note from a fellow member of in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)  today — a new Federal shield law  for journalists has been introduced in Congress:

Dear SPJ Member:   We’re delighted to announce that the Free Flow of Information Act, more commonly referred to as the Federal Shield Law, was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives today as H.R. 985.   You’re probably aware that the Society of Professional Journalists has been actively urging Congress and President Obama to pass and sign into law a bill that will protect journalists who refuse to reveal their confidential sources. Because you are a member of the largest journalism association in the country, your voice and opinion matter in this extremely important process.   Today, we are asking you to join the fight to improve and protect journalism. Please contact your representative and voice your support for this measure that is essential to upholding a free and independent press. A list of current contact information for U.S. Representatives can be found here.

If ever there was a time to write your Congressman this is it. True press freedom is an essential part of a successful democracy.

Words matter. Just ask Barack.

A large part of my excitement about the new Obama presidency is the return of the art rhetoric in this country. Words matter and the best messages, delivered well, can inspire.

Posting the inaugural speech text here: http://tinyurl.com/9lwlar

Enjoy. Then enjoy them again.

Congrats, America. A new day indeed.

Hard times? Still need to communicate.

SF IABC Presents: Financial Meltdown Madness - What’s a Communicator to Do?
Wednesday, January 28
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
SF State Downtown Campus
835 Market Street, 6th Floor – Room 626
San Francisco, CA 94103

With the financial meltdown, you are most likely experiencing a more stressful work life than you did a year ago. And if you’re feeling that way, what about your coworkers? And your clients and stockholders!?

 

Join SF IABC on Wednesday, January 28, for a thoughtful discussion of the ramifications of the current economic crisis and its effect on working communications professionals–and the people and organizations we work for. The two-tier program will offer a financial analysis of what went wrong and why, followed by a panel discussion with Bay Area communicators who will offer their perspectives of how business is changing, or needs to change, and what corporate communications and public relations practitioners should be doing to respond to and inform an ever more cynical and disbelieving audience.

 

On tap for the January 28 evening program will be Tom Osborne of Exeros, who will offer a brief discussion of modern economic cycles and what he calls the “U.S. bubble experience” that has resulted in the recent economic meltdown–and what is likely to follow. Osborne will provide the framework for the panel discussion that follows.

 

Our experts panel will include senior-level communications and marketing professionals who will offer suggestions in how to deal with the meltdown malaise and continue to bring focus and excellence to your organization and key audiences. These pros will discuss how communications at their organizations are changing, offer best practices for fostering open communications, and share how they and their respective organizations are dealing with the uncertainty of today’s economy. Panelists will include Lee McEnany Caraher of Double Forte, San Francisco; James David of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo Counties; and Aliza Hutchison of Cisco Systems, San Jose. A financial communicator is also invited.

To reserve, visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=174879.

To suggest questions for our panelists, please email Molly Walker, or Peggy Schuerholz.

For more information, see the http://sf.iabc.com.