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On Tuesday this week I had a fault on my landline. On the same day, Orange had three masts in the area down, so I had no mobile phone either. Thankfully my broadband is on a different line, so at least I had email and internet. But it was quite strange not being able to talk to people.
Before all this technology, we all used to talk to each other all the time; the only other alternative was writing a letter, and sometimes that just took too long. But email and text messaging mean that we can get quick answers to our questions without actually speaking to anyone. We can also use it to pass on information, even deliver bad news. But is this a good thing? Personally I’m not sure how I survived without email; there is no question that it makes my work much more efficient, not to mention cheaper and easier. But let’s not forget that there are times when a good old chat is by far the most appropriate way to communicate.
It’s very difficult to establish a relationship with someone when you only communicate by email. It is also very easy to be misunderstood or misinterpreted, and no, emoticons are not good substitutes for tone of voice! Sending an email in order to avoid a “difficult” conversation is quite common, but not really good form. And frankly, at times email “conversations” are just tedious.
Language is one of the amazing features of the human race that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Let’s not lose the ancient art of conversation, the original, and in many ways still the best, method of communication of them all.
On the BBC website today is the forum topic “Is the Big Brother TV format dead?”
Oh I do hope so!
I’m rather interested, though, in the fact that the BBC has seen fit to take up space on its news front page with a headline about a TV show. The final series of Big Brother is to be screened next year. Wow! So what? Even in the so-called “silly season”, is that really news? Is there nothing else going on in the world that is more interesting and more deserving of space on a well respected and well visited news website?
I met a lady recently, who shall remain nameless, with a bit of a communication problem. When you speak to this lady about what she does she is articulate and enthusiastic. You come away from the meeting filled with confidence about her ability to do her job, and full of admiration for someone who is making a living doing something she so clearly enjoys. So what’s the problem? Well, reading her website and literature doesn’t produce quite the same reaction.
It’s funny how some people can speak very eloquently about a subject, but produce the most uninspiring writing. For some people, there is something “free” and unbounded about speech, and something formal and staid about writing. Possibly even worse, sometimes people write as though they are speaking, and that really doesn’t work either.
Just as there are many styles of speech, there are also many styles of writing. Business writing must be clear and correct, and there are many occasions when being concise is good, too, but it certainly doesn’t have to be formal and staid. Like people, businesses can have personalities too, and that personality should come across in marketing communications.
If you’d like to know more about this contact me.
Following the Tour de France? If you’re not, you should be; it’s very exciting. Yesterday Lance Armstrong missed out on the yellow jersey by two tenths of a second. Yes, after four days and nearly 500km of cycling, there’s just two tenths of a second in it. Talk about nail biting.
Clearly Lance is a contender. But surely he’s already won the real prize. Is getting to the START line not a huge achievement for him – more than most mortals could achieve – let alone the finish line?
If you’re looking for inspiration or motivation, look to Lance.
I’m usually a big fan of doing something rather than nothing. If you do nothing to grow sales, improve productivity, make your marketing more effective, then nothing is exactly what will happen.
This viewpoint, however, must be balanced by an equally strong regard for that other cliché, “you only get one chance to make a first impression”.
So you need to make sure that the something that you do is effective and done well. If your first communication with a potential new customer doesn’t have the right impact, you may never make up the lost ground. If you do, you’ll have to work ten, twenty times harder to get the sale than you otherwise might have.
Remember the printer cartridge company mentioned on this blog back in February? That company’s first communication with me was poor; even if the content of the letter had been first class, it was still badly printed on poor quality paper. As a company selling printer ink, surely you’d make sure that anything you printed looked fantastic; how else are you going to demonstrate the quality of your product? There are lots of other companies I can buy printer cartridges from, so the letter went straight in the bin. If that company had taken a bit of time to think about their production values and make sure the letter was written correctly, sure, there might have been a delay in sending it out, a week maybe, but the results would have been so much better.
So, do something, but take the time to make sure it’s done well.
As a copywriter, one of my tasks is to ensure that the copy I produce is grammatically correct and that all the words are spelt correctly. Sometimes I get a bit obsessive about this. I freely admit to annoying my friends and family by pointing out mistakes in brochures and magazines, on signs and packaging and anywhere else someone might have written or printed some words. Buy why? Why does this matter so much?
There are some people who don’t really care whether their communications are grammatically correct or not, and in some cases it’s true that the reader will still understand what you’re saying. Take this example.
looking forward to seeing you friday regards nigel
This should, of course, be written as follows:-
Looking forward to seeing you on Friday. Regards, Nigel.
In this case, even though what has been written contains a number of errors it is still clear to the reader that Nigel is looking forward to seeing them on Friday.
Have a look at this, however.
Verily I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with me in heaven.
FANTASTIC! One day, one undefined day sometime in the future, I’m going to heaven.
Move the comma, however, and this happens:-
Verily I say unto thee, this day thou shalt be with me in heaven.
Ah. Not such good news. I’m still going to heaven, but I’m going TODAY!
In this case, just moving the comma has completely altered the meaning of the sentence. And this is why I get pedantic about grammar.
When you are communicating in writing you need to be very, very clear. The person you are communicating with has to understand exactly what you mean just by reading your words. You are not there to provide additional explanation. Getting the grammar wrong can mean saying something completely different to what you intended. If everybody follows the rules, then it is always clear what you mean.
So I think it’s good to be pedantic.
This isn’t really about communication, per se, but is a classic example of how a publicity stunt can backfire and how the power of the internet can be harnessed for good.
You may or may not be aware that last weekend 3,700 cyclists converged on Pitlochry to take part in the Etape Caledonia, the only event in the UK for amateur cyclists that takes place on closed roads. It is estimated that the event puts around £250,000 directly into the local economy (not taking into account the people that might be tempted to make a return visit) and this year raised a further £250,000 for Macmillian Cancer Support. So far so good.
The vast majority of local people and businesses welcome the event and deem it a “good thing” for the area. There is, however, a small but very vocal minority who object to the closed roads. Bear in mind it’s a rolling road closure, so any given stretch is only closed for an absolute maximum of three hours. One of these people decided on Sunday to endanger the lives of the 3,700 people taking part by strewing large sections of the route with carpet tacks.
I find it very difficult to get inside the mind of someone who would even contemplate such a thing, let alone carry it out, but I can only assume that the individual concerned wished to discourage entrants to next year’s event; indeed may even have hoped that his actions would result in the cancellation of the event altogether.
And this is where it starts to get interesting. Since Sunday the organisers of the event, the local police, the local chamber of commerce and a community website that has previously given a platform to the protestors have been inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of messages in support of the event and condemning the mindless actions of this one person. Rather than those actions resulting in the cancellation of next year’s event, they have served to galvanise two communities – that in Pitlochry and the wider cycling community – into making sure that next year’s event is bigger and better than ever. The internet has given like minded individuals the means to communicate with each other, share their views and encourage support from others. It has enabled them to stand up and be counted, not be bullied by someone who has the ability to shout louder.
A man appeared in court yesterday (20.05.09) charged with “culpably and recklessly placing carpet tacks on the road”. He entered no plea and has been released on bail pending further police investigations.
When you are writing copy for your marketing material it is important to make your product or service sound good. In fact you really need to make it sound fantastic. But you MUST NOT misrepresent it.
I’m thinking about this today as I’m just back from spending four days cycling one of the many waymarked long distance routes you can find around the country (243 miles if you must know), which was not at all what I was expecting. I’d read about it on its own website, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting as it was made out to be. My expectations had been raised and the product (the cycle route) didn’t meet them.
Don’t make the same mistake with your marketing material. It’s easy to get carried away when enthusing about your product or service, but if you raise expectations too high and then can’t deliver you will soon get the sort of reputation you could do without.
Be positive and upbeat about your products and services and describe them truthfully and accurately at all times and you won’t go far wrong, but avoid over-inflated claims and don’t bend the truth.
Continuing the theme of writing in plain English, this quote is just too good not to share. It’s from the Annual Report of a very large international company and refers to the fact that production at said company is to be cut because the current economic crisis has resulted in a decline in demand for its products.
“Company X is taking steps to change its production plans in accordance with the new global economic outlook that has emerged from the recent intensification of financial market stress and the adverse feedback loops between the financial system and the real economy.”
Excuse me? Clearly the writer is desparately trying to avoid admitting that this company is finding it tough, but really, “adverse feedback loops between the financial system and the real economy” – what on earth does THAT mean?
I’ve come across many businesses that would benefit from taking the advice offered today to local councils, that is, to avoid jargon and speak in plain English.
The dictionary offers two definitions of the word “jargon”:
1. Specialised language concerned with a particular subject, profession or group
2. Pretentious language
Businesses are guilty of both crimes.
When two accountants, engineers, solicitors, whatever, are speaking to each other, then sometimes jargon can make the conversation easier and quicker because the two people involved both understand what the words and terms mean. But when speaking to customer, plain English is the only way. Never, ever assume that your customer knows what a particular industry term means, and don’t patronise them by explaining the jargon; just don’t use it and speak, or write, plainly instead.
The same applies to abbreviations, which are just as much part of jargon as words and phrases. If someone is talking about IP are they referring to internet protocol or intellectual property? If they mention PI, is that professional indemnity or personal injury?
Then there are those who think that using long words or trendy phrases (pretentious language) is cool and makes them look good. Believe me, it doesn’t. It makes them look like pretentious idiots.
Stick to simple, plain language and you really can’t go wrong.
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