August 10th, 2010 by Catherine
Is anyone accountable for proofreading the messaging that’s distributed by your company? If the answer is no, you may be inadvertently making yourself look very foolish.
I’ll be straight with you. For small businesses, grammatical errors only result in lost sales in certain situations. The most obvious victim would be the service provider who’s in the business of communications. Other situations might involve businesses that pitch their professionalism and/or precision. For these businesses, the typos will undoubtedly be spotted by a target customer who knows better and concludes that the “precision” pitch is, sadly, just a pitch. Lastly, a consumer who knows and loves the English language might boycott a typo-ridden business on principle. (And yes, this really does happen.)
For larger businesses, typos can cause far more damage. I have seen typos on multimillion dollar proposals and I have to wonder: if the bids are competitive and the experience equivalent, couldn’t the deal come down to sloppy grammar and punctuation? You bet. After all, a written document demonstrates a company’s attention to detail. If no one notices the error in referring to “the operations team and their vast experience” or even “the operations team and it’s vast experience,” what other mistakes go unnoticed?
Equally damaging would be the typo that changes or dilutes the intended meaning. Say you agree to a custom rush request from a client. You then put in a written request to your vendor to ship a particular order “later than August 25.” But you really meant you wanted it shipped “no later than August 25.” If the intended meaning isn’t sorted out, you end up with a steaming mad client who’s wondering why you make promises when you can’t deliver.
Don’t think it won’t happen to you, either. I cringe every time I see a Domino’s Pizza box that refers to its “regionally-inspired” recipes.
Who’s in charge of proofreading in your organization?
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August 4th, 2010 by Catherine
Trust her, but not too much. If your writer is experienced, she knows more than how to put a few words together. She understands the art of communication and persuasion. She understands how to create a voice that sings, how to draft an intriguing paragraph and how to write for scan-ability. She likely has some specific insight into your industry. For your project to proceed smoothly, you have to trust your writer knows what she is doing. Ask your questions upfront and then let her work some word-based magic.
Having said that, there is a point where you can trust your writer too much. You are too trusting when you hand over a project that you haven’t yet clarified in your own mind. Many writers can do a respectable job with few details, but all writers need specifics to do a fantastic job. They need specifics about the objectives, the audience, the competition, your business.
Here’s an example. Tasked with a Web content refresh, I compiled some key questions for my client. One question specifically dealt with the challenges faced by the target customer when acquiring the services provided by the client. The client’s response was something like, “these deals are complex. There are many challenges.” With this response, I can produce content that speaks to the challenges associated with acquiring something complex–but this is a vague and overused argument. I’d rather work with something far more specific. Unfortunately, that’s not an option if I can’t get those specifics from the client or from outside research.
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July 29th, 2010 by Catherine
It’s business suicide to admit that clients wasted the good money they spent on you. But you know, I’m hoping this embarrassing admission will help others remember the importance of follow-through.
You see, some small business decision-makers have very short attention spans. Now there is something to be said for the “entrepreneurial spirit,” but excessive adaptability can also work against you. Imagine you decide on Tuesday that you want to walk from the 200 block of Main Street due north to the 300 block of Main Street. On Wednesday, you change your mind and decide to walk east first and then north. Thursday, your partner suggests you turn around and walk the other way, because the 100 block of Main Street is where you really want to be. After a week of this, you are likely to end up exactly where you started. You’ve gone nowhere.
I have been both beneficiary and victim to these scenarios: beneficiary because I get tasked to write the path to 300 Main Street, and victim because I also get tasked to write the path back to 100 Main Street. It pains me to see companies and decision-makers turning in circles, flailing to identify a single, consistent strategy. I probe, I suggest, I encourage–but ultimately, I am only the freelance writer, an outsider. I am only immersed in this business in spurts, while those defining the course of action live in that world constantly. In these situations, I am brought in after the decisions have been made. My job is to implement, not navigate.
And so that’s what I do, to the best of my abilities. But I can’t shake the feeling that it’s tremendously wasteful.
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Tags: communications strategy, Writing Strategy
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July 14th, 2010 by Catherine
Businesses, like people, need strong communication skills to thrive. A business with weak communication skills cannot reach out effectively to prospective customers, cannot nurture a sense of need for its products or services, cannot develop loyalty, and cannot upsell existing customers. And then there are the employees, vendors and other stakeholders who must be convinced, somehow, of their essential roles in the business operations. This all-important convincing doesn’t happen when the business cannot speak clearly for itself.
Practically speaking, many smaller businesses today are unwilling to staff a writer or communications specialist. Many are also not convinced that even a freelance writer can add real value to their business. This is unfortunate. The benefits of retaining an experienced writer are pretty widely documented. The underlying theme of those benefits is that a writer knows how to communicate with purpose. Purposeful communication finds its way into the perceptions of consumers; it can shape your business into an authority, a trusted partner, an in-demand supplier–or whatever image you choose. An experienced writer can complete perception-shaping projects faster and more effectively than a non-writer. Some examples of those kinds of projects include:
Development of communication guidelines. A business without communication guidelines reaches out to its stakeholders with random and sometimes conflicting messages. The lack of consistency undermines the business’ attempts to develop a brand image that motivates.
Development of approved messaging. Companies should consider developing approved messaging for every product or service offered. This ensures consistency in how the products or services are presented in the marketplace. It also keeps employees from throwing some verbiage together as deadlines (for ads, trade shows, editorial calendars) approach.
Rebranding program. The words that appealed to customers 10 years ago may not be so compelling today. Take an objective look at your branding materials; do they reflect the hopes, needs, anxieties of your target customer?
E-mail campaign. An effective e-mail campaign solidifies customer relationships. A poorly written or self-centered e-mail campaign is simply annoying.
Social media campaign. Long-term social media marketing programs can make you “real” to your customers, but only if you do it right. A vast number of business marketers are using social media incorrectly. There is an appropriate tone and manner required for these campaigns, and the businesses that ignore the etiquette are foolishly wasting their resources.
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Tags: branding, freelance writer, writing projects
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