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Fun with passion…

Apr 11th, 2013 by

Q: How do you feel about your company and the work it does?

A: I’m passionate about it.

Q: Well that’s great. What else are you passionate about?

A: Errr….my wife of course. And running. Oh, and of course the kids, not forgetting them, he he!  Oh, and model railways. That’s such a passion in my life.

Q: OK great. Are you passionate about all of these things in the same way?

A: Yep. Passionate about them all. Umm…well except the wife of course, he he. And of course the kids.  I’m definitely more passionate about them, as I’m sure you appreciate.

Q: Yes of course. Close family relationships are a totally different thing, aren’t they?

A: Of course.

Q: A different kind of passionate, I guess.

A: Yes, almost needs a new word. Or you could add a word to it. Very passionate.

Q: So what about the company and the model railways. Are you very passionate about them?

A: Yes. Very p- …. D’oh!

Q: How about a new word entirely? I think that might be the answer.

A: Yes. You’re right. I think ‘hugely’ is good.

Q: What? You’re hugely about your work and family?

A: No! I’m hugely passionate about them.

Q: And you’re just very passionate about your model railways?

A: Well, more like ‘very very’. Let’s check out what the dictionary says about ‘passionate’.

Q: Eureka.

 

 

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Posted in Language, Marketing, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

A waste of ink?

Jan 7th, 2013 by

I do wish that organisations would do themselves justice by thinking about their printed promo stuff from the consumer’s point of view. Take a look at this card, for example, promoting membership of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).

Tell us *how* it pays to belong…

These cards are given to potential members as an incentive to sign up. Now the ICA is obviously promoting to people who know what the ICA is. But what benefit are they pushing? It’s impossible to know how it pays one to be an ICA member, from this card, isn’t it?

So here we have a good object lesson in what companies and organisations must get right in their promotional materials.

Look at the headline on this card. Yes, it’s about a benefit, telling us that it pays to belong. But there just isn’t enough here to generate interest. It pays to belong, in the sense that there are benefits to membership. But how can we know if the small print membership rates outlined at the bottom are a good deal or not?

The visual, which carries a broad and somewhat vague message to do with belonging, adds little.

The flipside of the card carries a firm call to action – ‘Become an ICA member today’, and then outlines the benefits of membership in detail. Most of this could still work OK with a tie-in to a strong sales message on the front.

So how do you create such a message?

Firstly the ICA marketing team needed to have researched potential members, based upon key questions. Who are these people? What interests them? What problems or issues do they face in pursuing their love of the contemporary arts? How can membership solve these issues? And…what single membership benefit would work best as a persuader?

Once this has been identified, the creative team can get to work on a concept where headline and visual work as one to communicate that benefit. When people are hooked into that, the £40 and £10 messages start to make sense.

Then you can use the flipside to underscore the main message with the specifics – ie take them further down the sales path. A time-limited offer would then work well.

So, hope you found this little example useful in thinking about your own marketing communications. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts here.

Best wishes and a happy new year,

Doug

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Advertising, Language, Marketing, PR | 2 Comments »

Old year’s resolution…

Dec 21st, 2012 by

We told you that we would keep this blog updated regularly over 2012. We didn’t, and we are sorry.

I hope you can overlook this, particularly in light of our resolution, which starts right….errrr…next fortnight. Regular blog posts for you to pick over. Regular guests. More value. Proof of the pudding – hold us to it!

In the meantime, overflowing pudding basins full of gratitude to all friends and supporters of Best Words, and sincere good wishes for a bumper 2013. Here’s wishing you health, happiness and prosperity.

Doug and Best Words

Best Words Christmas greetings

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas season and a prosperous year ahead…

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PR and the art of motorscooter maintenance

Oct 25th, 2012 by

Hey, you’ll never guess what happened to me last week. So stop guessing and I’ll tell you. You’ll love this.

You know my 200cc Vespa Granturismo scooter? Well, there I was stripping down the engine, and after I’d removed the actuator arm with holding spring, I noticed that the little brass bearings had very few cuts or pit marks (other than the oil gap cut through the middle). Fantastic, eh?

I see you’re not jumping up and down with excitement. And neither should you be, unless you’re a subscriber to Scooter Engine Stripdown Monthly.

Doug's Vespa Granturismo 200

My PiaggioVespa 2oo Granturismo – too much information

If that’s the case, you’ll possibly be wanting to know whether the breather was clogged when I unscrewed the clutch cover. You may be tempted to invite me to your ‘Scooter Nerds’ Facebook group. And if I told you about the Piaggio Vespa Bores’ Jamboree later in the year, you’d probably be asking ‘where do I sign?’

I’m sure you know what I’m driving at here and sorry if I’ve laboured the point a bit. But this is a good PR parable.

Message = don’t bore people who ain’t interested in the story you’re obsessed with telling.

Do match the story to the audience via the best outlet to ensure you end up with the kind of publicity you want and need.

It’s common for organisations to think in too narrow a way about PR and see it as just the regular sending out and monitoring of press releases. But I think it must be seen in a much wider context.

What kind of value should your company expect when paying for PR services?

If your company wants regular stories in targeted trade press outlets and mainstream media, your PR team must look beyond the carrying out of semi-automated mailings and move to a different way of doing things, encompassing all your marketing. First step: all the basic block must be in place…

Are all your social media profiles built and established? Is your branding done, and does it reflect what the company does and how it does it?

How are you reaching out to existing clients and staying in touch with them? Are you reaching out to key influencers, people who will help to create the stories that will enhance and build your reputation?

Is your MD or other key person identified as a thought leader in her or his industry? Are you helping them work towards this status, with blogs, ebooks, presentations and other media appearances, providing the requisite media training to do the job adequately?

Are you prepared to stand your ground with your PR agency when you need to? Do you respect and want your PR company to stand up to you and argue their ground when they are within their own area of expertise?

What you must demand of your PR agency

Your PR agency must work to create your stories and tell them through ALL your marketing channels, not just via pinged-out via mass-mailed press releases. So they must build and maintain key relationships.

And the stories that you create together must be authentic  - or you’ll certainly be found out.

We often hear the term ‘marketing mix’ but for me this kind of implies that all the elements combine to form some kind of amorphous mass. Which I don’t think is right. All the online and offline elements need to work together in a joined-up way, but each must stand as a separate entity too.

Centralised co-ordination of all comms – internal and external is how you get the best results. A PR agency that can work with senior managers to agree strategy then build and manage an overview of everything, from blogging and social media to the creation and propagation of company stories, will almost certainly give you much better value than one which just pings out regular press releases. So you can see the importance of choosing your agency carefully.

Summary – good PR is  a whole picture story.  (A bit like how all the bits of a scooter engine work together.  Errr…except for these funny shaped cog type bits of metal I’m holding in my hand. Oops, where did I put that screwdriver?)

Motor scooters aside, I hope you found these ideas interesting or provocative. Perhaps you disagree on some or all of the points. Please share your thoughts here.

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Marketing, PR | 2 Comments »

New Esso ad – ‘We fuel progress’. Why I hate it…

Oct 4th, 2012 by

If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that I don’t want you using the expression ‘we pride ourselves’ in your promotional materials.

The mantra must be benefits, benefits, benefits. It’s not about your pride in yourself. So what kind of example is Esso now setting with its new TV ad?

Esso Strapline/ Tagline

You fuel…what?

It’s a poor ad, in my opinion. Whilst it touches on some of the benefits of using Esso fuel in your car – e.g. it cleans your car’s engine, the ad doesn’t attempt to sell the end benefit for the car owner.

Now look at that strap line: ‘We Fuel Progress’. So…what? Are we bovvered? It’s a weak pun, nothing more. (‘We fuel progress. Get it? Fuel?)

Agreed, there is a benefit statement beneath this dire strapline. But look at it:  ‘Our petrol and diesel have been developed to improve your car’s fuel economy’. Yes, yes, but come on! Why is it good if a car’s fuel economy is improved?

Crikey, these things shouldn’t be hard for an ad agency to get right! Many agencies do get them right on a regular basis – as, of course,  they should.

So what’s gone wrong here?

I’m not sure, but the end result is a mediocre ad – a far cry from that classic: ‘The Esso sign means happy motoring’!

The Best Words verdict:

Must do better, Esso!

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Posted in Advertising, Language, Marketing | No Comments »

Why scatterbrains can make great copywriters

Aug 15th, 2012 by

It’s been far too long  since I posted here, and for that, please slap me on the wrist. Only virtually, you understand – I need my wrists intact, for copywriting. (In case you don’t know about copywriting, it’s all in the wrist action).

Well, it isn’t really. In fact, there are no ‘tried and true’ formulae for writing good marketing copy,  despite all that ’7 Best-Kept Secrets’  baloney that abounds online.

Look at your desired end product. You may know what kind of writing you want to produce and the job you want writing to do, but there are many routes to the destination, depending on how your brain works. This is what I really like about NLP, Myers-Briggs, Gardiner’s Multiple Intelligences etc – they tell us very clearly that our own way of looking at things is not, and can never be, the one and only correct way.

Remember that last post I wrote – all that time ago – about  tidiness and untidiness? It caused a bit of consternation for some, and confusion for others. One guy flew into a kind of rage about it. He spent some words venting his anger with all the untidy people he had worked with in the past.

And what on earth did all that have to do with my usual writing and marketing themes? Quite a bit actually, because writing and marketing are, fundamentally, about processes. And as freelance service providers, we are free to follow whichever processes we find work best for us.

When untidy people scatter things around – seemingly at random – why do other people become enraged? It’s because of the different ways that these scattered items are perceived.

Before putting items away, the tidy person has already defined them.  They have a name, a function, a place. Tidying up is about knowing precisely where things go. Each object is part of an established order.

Now what happens if we substitute objects for thoughts, concepts or ideas?  We start to get an inkling of the advantage that the ‘scatterer’ has in the whole creative process.

Delaying the whole ‘imposing order’ dynamic gives the writer a tremendous creative freedom which is denied to that ‘tidy’ person. The ‘scatterer’ can remain open to many more possibilities.

A major part of this openness is the act of throwing away. If an idea has too much definition or deemed importance, it becomes harder to cast aside. But if everything is open to change, if nothing is ‘sacred’, the writer has much greater facility for inventiveness.

This also helps explain writer’s block. The ‘tidy’ writers are much more prone to it, because  they cannot shake loose from an idea that they somehow think is central to their work. (In many cases, this is the very thing that is holding them back, but they are unable or unwilling to chuck it away, or just put it in another space for a while).

The facility for ‘letting go’, on the other hand, can help engender surprisingly clever ideas and concepts. This surely, is how the great inventors must have worked.

So there we are – my profound thought of the week. What do you think? Do you agree with these thoughts on the creative writing process? Or am I just being an apologist for the hopelessly messy slobs of the world?

Cheers,

Doug

 

 

Posted in Language, Marketing | 4 Comments »

Untidy and organised? Is this actually possible?

Jun 15th, 2012 by

We hear a lot about the importance of being well organised – ‘the secret is the system’, clarity of purpose, clear goals, thorough planning etc. But what does ‘organised’ really mean? Can you be untidy and still ‘organised’?

Back in my lecturing days I shared an office with 2 women whose different work styles were reflected in their desks. One desk was of the ‘new pin’ variety; its computer looking out like a commanding monarch over a clear acreage of wood veneer, broken only by a pen pot and a photo frame of the kids.

It all depends on your viewpoint

The other person’s desk could only be described as ‘chaotic’, with documents, reports, books, stationery, photo frames, whiteboard markers and goodness only knows what piled into high mountains which totally obscured any wood veneer and which regularly overflowed to the floor. (I know you’re wondering, so I’ll tell you – my own desk was somewhere between these 2 extremes). Now if you were entering this office for the first time, what conclusions might you jump to?

Well one thing you might think about is ‘control’. The tidy desk was owned by someone who knew where everything belonged, and who made sure everything always went where it belonged. No doubt this made her feel in control.

To the untidy desk owner, this sense of ‘a place for everything’ seemed to be a foreign concept. For her, everything belonged together in one broad area. She used a filing cabinet – but only to take the overspill from the desk.

So which of these 2 was better at developing and sticking to strategic plans, do you think? You’d hazard a guess that it was the tidy one. But what about when you ask which of the 2 was more flexible and  able to adapt to new demands more readily? You’d probably veer towards the untidy one.

Plans are great things, but sticking to them blindly can bring you unstuck. Because no matter how thorough and all-encompassing your planning, life, to paraphrase John Lennon, is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.

What – besides ‘linear’ – are effective approaches to planning? Are business plans over-rated in their importance?

I’ve opened up a big area here – one that I find quite fascinating. Does it trigger any responses or thoughts for you? If so, please share them in whatever haphazard or systematic way you choose. Talk soon – I’m just off to shovel some paper into the filing cabinet.

Doug

 

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Posted in Career, Marketing, Social | No Comments »

Saying it’s so doesn’t necessarily make it so

May 1st, 2012 by

There’s a pub around our way that wanted to change its image from drab urban eatery to rustic country pub. So it changed its name to…wait for it… ‘Rustic Pub’.

I’d never been particularly impressed by this place so I went paid a visit to see if it had changed at all. But it was still the same dull place with the same bored staff serving the same mediocre food. The only thing different was the name. The owners now called it Rustic Pub, as though the name would somehow transform everything and make it all work better for them. But what’s in a name? In this case very little. All this is a bit like calling your son England Striker in the expectation that he’ll  be top goal-scorer for your national soccer team when he grows up.

In similar vein, check out this car park sign.

How polite is this really?

You’re expected to think of it as ‘polite’ because that’s what you’re told. But is it? Wouldn’t it be better if they’d written it in a way that showed it was polite?

You may have heard the phrase ‘show, don’t tell’. That’s a corollary of ‘actions speak louder than words’. Labels like ‘Rustic Pub’ always end in failure, because the name isn’t reflecting the brand. In this particular instance they might have attracted better interest by calling the place ‘Crappy Pub’ and playing up their second-rate food and slip-shod service into some kind of perverse attraction.

Got any thoughts on this?

 

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Posted in Language, Marketing | 8 Comments »

I’m the only one who should be allowed to spam

Apr 30th, 2012 by

“Dear friend,

Hope you are well. Sorry for mass email, but I’ve got to get the word out to you about my latest offering which we will all benefit from. It’s called ‘How to help me make a million bucks by signing up to ‘Golly-Gee-Whiz Enterprises and messaging all your contacts….”

You’ve seen this sort of thing on LinkedIn, have you? It seems that while spamming is a very naughty practice, there are some who are happy to let themselves off with a quick ‘excuse the mass mailing…’

But does this tactic actually work? It doesn’t for me, and I suspect, many others. But then, throw enough mud at a window and some of it will stick.

What’s your take on this?

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Posted in Language, Marketing, Social | 2 Comments »

The persuasive artistry of the wordsmith

Mar 13th, 2012 by

Reading the newspaper can sometimes be a joy. This morning I was genuinely moved by Adrian Searle’s Guardian piece on Blinded by the light – a new exhibition of paintings by JMW Turner and Claude Lorrain. It opens tomorrow at the National Gallery and this piece of writing has convinced me to go.

See how this paragraph captures the very essence of Turner’s broad appeal:

A picture's worth

“We admire his muck and mess and painterly frankness, the almost careless way he could depict veiled sunlight, mist, rain, cliffs, things looming and dissolving, a ship on fire or a train hurrying through the countryside. He painted space as substance, and the world’s solidity as evanescent, vanishing and looming – and he could do it with what appears to be little more than spit, breath and the power of suggestion.”

I read this and thought: ‘Yes, that’s it. That’s exactly why I love Turner’s work’.

So how did the article do such a good persuasion job on me?

Firstly be speaking to me about what I recognise, know and love – as just mentioned.

Secondly the tone of the writing. It’s authoritative: “How Turner came to paint such startling and compelling images was as much a matter of looking at other people’s art as it was a kind of naked encounter with the world as it appeared to him.”

Thirdly by building on my scant knowledge  and teaching me something new.

Fourth – by creating desire right through the piece. The language is lyrical, emotive and sensual: “Standing in front of Claude’s work is to be faced with  huge, light-filled confections, with pink and silver fringed clouds, biscuity sun-struck mountains and many-tiered cake-icing architectural fantasies.”

And perhaps the key bit: “Looking at Turner and Claude can be a ravishing optical experience as much as an evocation of place, time of day, weather and – above all – light.”

Peering out through my office window onto  the grey gloom, I realise how deeply entrenched is my winter moth-syndrome: It’s the light that’s attracting me.

Interesting then to see how a piece of finely-wrought journalism can persuade a target audience to action. Sometimes, thankfully, powerful persuasion isn’t about knock-down, time-limited offers and ‘hit you over the head with a hammer’ calls to action. Sometimes words just get to your soul.

Cheers,

Doug

PS:

 

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Posted in Language, Marketing, Social | 2 Comments »

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