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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide
you with real-world marketing tips.If you have any ideas for articles,
please send them along.
Write like every word is your last word
 Is
your organization a world-class provider of cutting- edge solutions?
Do your people offer turn-key robust service? I'm sure you do. Unfortunately,
your customers and donors have no idea what all those abstractions really
mean or should mean to them.
We might criticize teenagers for talking in a language that defies comprehension
(whose BFF R U?), but if you are writing business documents, be careful
that your messages can be easily understood. Business language, no matter
what the business, is too often laden with meaningless jargon. In fact,
it's so common that we stop recognizing the words as meaningless hype.
If you want to build your brand (who doesn't) stop using mumbo-jumbo
and start talking so that your messages are crystal clear. Here are our
tips:
Go back to basics
One of our favorite gurus, Tom
Ahern,
suggests in his book Raising
More Money With Newsletters Than You Ever Thought Possible, that you write on an eighth-grade reading level. Before
you object, understand that people are busy. They have a lot to do and
more importantly process each second of every day. What gets through
are the messages that are fast and simple to understand. How can you
score your writing's grade level? Simple. Microsoft Word will do it for
you. Simply open the "OPTIONS" tab
under "TOOLS" and select "Spelling & Grammar." There
you'll be able to select "Show readability statistics." (BTW:
this paragraph scores an eighth grade plus one month level.)
Make them cry
Readers also connect with messages that
speak to them on an emotional - not purely intellectual level. You can
make your customers take note of your messages, by making them crystal
clear and full of imagery. Need examples? Think about the brands and
products you use, and the advertisements that make you pause. AdAge.com has
ranked the best advertising campaigns of the century. Topping the list
are campaigns such as Nike's "Just
do it" and DeBeers "A diamond is forever." Such simple
messages and yet so effective. The Nike ads still make me want to get
off my couch and go running and frankly DeBeers ads make me cry.
Start with your customers' needs
Stop talking about yourself and start explaining what you can do for
your clients and donors. Your customers need you to connect with you
and your services or products emotionally before they will choose you
over some one else.
Recently we sat down with some doctors to discuss an upcoming campaign
to advertise their medical center's "leading- edge" technology.
The doctors were excited about the new tools at their fingertips and
anxious to tell the world by describing the machines. They boasted the
technology's abilities via "pinpoint radiation delivery."
If I were a patient making critical life and death decisions regarding
treatment options "pinpoint radiation delivery" doesn't help
me. If you told me instead that you can "make my recovery faster
so that I can go back to my life, family, and job." WOW! Now that
might sway my decision because you made it about my life.
Slash and burn
Slash and burn every single abstraction, jargon and meaningless business
speak from your vocabulary. Start with words such as synergy, world-class,
empowerment, user-friendly, quality, leverage, empower and solution.
We love this jargon
finder; use it to banish jargon and abstractions
from your documents.
Give your facts and figures context clues
Without context,
it's hard to give numbers emotion. "In 2006 we
provided 12,500 beds." I have no idea if that statistic is good
or bad and I honestly have not real reason to care. You can give your
statistics impact by giving them context.
Here's our example again, but this time written with context clues. "Last
year our organization provided 12,500 beds to men, women and children
who would have otherwise been on the street. Unfortunately, we had to
turn away thousands of others, due to lack of sufficient capacity. Donation
will mean that no one will be left out in the cold." That doesn't
mean hiding your most important data in a graph. Instead, find a way
to explain the numbers.
Avoid the passive voice
Passive voice almost ensures your readers will be asleep before they
finish your paragraph. While grammatically correct (one reason your
grammar/spell checker catches very few passive voice errors), passive
voice makes for deadly-dull reading. If you've forgotten what passive
voice is, here are a couple of examples along with their more powerful
active voice alternatives:
Passive voice: The foundation was started by dozens of caring donors.
Active voice: Dozens of caring donors started the foundation.
Passive voice: The salesperson of the year award will be presented by
the company at the annual conference.
Active voice: The company will present its salesperson of the year award
at the annual conference.
Using active voice may seem like a small difference, but it adds up
when you do it over an entire brochure, letter or newsletter. Best tip?
Passive voice almost always includes some form of the verb "to be":
am, is, was, were, have been. If you see a lot of those phrases in your
writing, it's time to edit again.
Bottom line: a little red ink goes a long way to perfecting your business
documents. Need help? Send us your brochures, donor letters, website
copy or newsletters. We'll edit them for you!
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