Whom do you believe? The Internet is full of so-called experts in every field. Anyone with a device connected to the net can post his or her shingle and claim to be a know-it-all. Throw in discussion forums, where everyone has the right answer it seems, Facebook and Twitter, and cyberspace is full of expert
Proofreading: a forgotten art
I’ve noticed that in today’s business world, which can best be described by the adjective “now!” (exclamation mark and all), it’s easier than ever to make typographical errors—or worse: missing words, spelling errors, improper subject-verb tense agreement and more. The pressure to respond instantaneously causes our brains to move faster than our fingers can comply.
5 Keys to Great Newsletters
If you’re going to do it, do it right. No business wants to produce a terrible newsletter. Unfortunately, there are many of them out there. So if your marketing plans call for creating a newsletter this year, follow these tips and best practice suggestions. 1) Make the newsletter attractive. Use borders, backgrounds, appealing colors and
Phablets: phailure?
We all remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Porridge: too hot, too cold, just right. Chairs: too large, too small, just right. Bed: too hard, too soft, just right. Goldilocks, meet the phablet. A portmanteau of “phone” and “tablet,” the phablet is meant to be “just the right size” for today’s mobile
Ten Steps to a Successful Group Document
Your team is asked to write a document. Define team however you’d like: department, working groups, sales force, or other stakeholders. The specific nature of document isn’t important, either—it’s just something that everyone in the group will use, like a sales brochure or a mission statement. What do you do?
Five steps for a successful business
One of our writers was recently reading a thread on a guitar discussion forum about the struggles that “mom and pop” guitar stores are having competing with big box music stores as well as online retailers. Retail has never been an easy business. Margins are small, overhead is high, and every purchase of inventory is
The History of Public Relations
Here’s a little bit about the history of public relations. Did you know that the first press release issued in America was a literal train wreck? No, it wasn’t full of grammatical and spelling errors. It gave the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad’s account of an electric train derailment before reporters could start drawing their
A(n) historic question
It’s a simple grammar rule that we all know well: if the noun begins with a vowel sound, the article should be “an.” For example: An apple If the noun begins with a consonant sound, the article should be “a.” A pear It doesn’t matter whether the noun begins with a vowel or consonant. It
Straying from the herd
It’s almost always a good idea to do the opposite of what the herd is doing. Why? When entire industries head in one direction, they leave a vacuum behind. No one is serving the customers who prefer things the way the industry used to do them. Take the newspaper industry. The herd mentality at the
Facts and opinions
The Internet has ruined radio trivia contests. No longer must one rack one’s brain to recall who the ninth president was or what the ninth planet is (Hint: now there are only eight. Pluto was jilted.). Being caller nine is still a matter of luck, but the Internet and Google have taken away half the
5 Questions to Ask Every Newcomer
In my last blog entry, I wrote about how newcomers and outsiders to the organization can provide important insights to management that can result in valuable contributions to the company’s success. This is especially true from a marketing perspective. There are five key questions every marketer or corporate communicator should ask new employees or visitors
Newcomers are valuable asset
One of our writers recently joined a service club in his town. Like many organizations of this type, membership in these clubs is shrinking as older members pass away and aren’t replaced by new ones. Our writer, a welcome, youthful addition to the club, was asked about ways to grow the membership. Freeze the action
Google hones in on the right idea
It’s no secret that many newspapers and magazines are struggling as readers turn to the internet for free content. While some online media have successfully adopted paywall systems, most traditional media are finding that online revenues don’t come close to what traditional print revenues once were, and that customers are reluctant to pay what they
Being heard in the 21st century
Sometimes blogs are challenging to write because it seems like everything has already been said. Or, more correctly, it’s being said, all over the place, all the time, by everyone. Information overload via the Internet has gone beyond a novelty and well into the realm of a worldwide social experiment, the outcome of which we
The medium is the message
Any communications student at one of America’s universities know Marshall McLuhan’s famous dictate, “The medium is the message,” which means that how a message is communicated influences how it is received. In other words, the medium is inseparable from its content, and the two influence one another. American author William Faulkner, writer of classics like
Words that sell
Quick! Free! Easy! Now! Madison Ave. knows all the keywords to get consumers to buy their products and services. There are hundreds, even thousands of them, and they’re good words to know. If your writing doesn’t compel your readers to act—to fill out that web form, to place that call for more information or to
Bilbary must be bil-kidding
If you read e-books from your local library, you might be aware that books from certain publishers—Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin, to be precise—are not available for check-out. Why is this? I’m going to cut to the chase and say money. The big publishers are afraid of losing money if they lose control of
Anthropomorphizing Mother Nature
The Weather Channel announced in early October that it would be taking up the practice of naming storms this coming winter. No big deal, right? After all, “summer” storms—that is to say, tropical cyclones—have been given names by the National Weather Service (NWS) for decades. Every year, the NWS releases a list of what the
Bursting the myth of the spirit of entrepreneurs
A belief that most every America holds is that with hard work, determination and a little luck, anyone can be successful. And this is true. American history is full of successful men and women who rose from rags to riches, who built great companies and amassed great fortunes through their iron will, their smarts, and
NextIssue tops magazine apps
Why do digital media companies make it so complicated? Why do we need a unique paywall for every newspaper or magazine that wants to sell its content online? (Ever heard of a little thing called “PayPal”?) And, if you haven’t, you’ve probably heard of Netflix and Amazon Prime, which allow unlimited streaming of video for
Mancx.com
Do you need answers to your business questions now, and are you willing to pay hundreds of dollars for them? That’s the premise on which Mancx.com is hanging its success. The Swedish online Q&A company is planning to stand out from the crowd—whether that be Google searches or dedicated, free Q&A sites like Quora—by charging
Going Beyond the Elevator Speech
Most business executives are familiar with the “elevator speech”: a very short synopsis of what your company does that can be given to a stranger in 15-30 seconds, or about the length of time you might spend on an elevator with someone. It’s usually a message given in response to the question, “So, what do
The purposes of communication in 2012
I wonder if anyone truly realizes the vast amount of information available via the Internet. In my experience, it seems that if a thought, idea, event or reference is conceivable, someone has posted it online. Even with the most esoteric topic, hundreds and even thousands of people have written about it. When wise King Solomon
Monroe’s motivated sequence
Monroe’s motivated sequence is a technique that is used to make presentations, speeches or sales pitches more effective. It was developed by Purdue University professor Alan Monroe in the 1930s and has five steps: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization and action. Let’s run through this tongue-in-cheek piece and see how it fits into Professor Monroe’s sequence:
