writing Archives - Page 5 of 15

You are what you post

By Patrick Gant

We used to call it the Web. Or the Internet. Or even (if you’re old enough to remember this gem of an anachronism) the information superhighway. And like good students of Victorian order, we even had subcategories for things that populated this space: blogosphere, social media, chat room, instant messaging” the list goes on.

Many fretted over the need to define these as places.

Some demanded that these words be treated as proper nouns, requiring capitalization and all the formality that we could muster in our language. We did this for a time because it was new, and out of worry that there might otherwise be what editors sombrely call “ambiguity for readers” ” in other words, people just might not understand. Slowly, ~~people~~ most people came to realize that just wasn’t necessary anymore.

That’s all in the past now.

Online is no longer a shelf space or a channel for content. It’s no longer a subset of what was once loosely called mass media.

Online is now the outcome of things.

It’s the record of what we do, of the things that matter to us. Every blog entry. Every tweet. Every comment posted. Every review or testimonial by a customer. Every friend made, or connection reacquainted. Every work sample. Every article written. Every collaboration. Every mashup.

Think about how what you say says everything now.

Today, what you have to say, what you write about and how you say things is all a direct reflection of how people see you.

That includes your clients and prospects.

And you better believe they’re reading what you post.

The number-one thing that people do now when considering doing business with someone is to consult online. Google calls it the zero moment of truth. Others simply call it finding out more right now.

According a US study by Google, 88% of consumers now engage in the “zero moment of truth” prior to making their final decision. As of 2011, they consult more than 10 new media or traditional sources before making the decision to buy—that’s double the sources consulted just the year before.

That good first impression you hope to make on someone? It’s probably already happened whether or not you were ready.

Whether it was successful or not is going to be determined in large part by what you post and how you treat others online.

You are the sum of the choices you make and how you choose to express yourself online. You are what you post.

What a highway can teach you about how to make the most out of taglines

By Patrick Gant

Photo:underpuppy

Today, I want to talk to you about taglines and highways. It’s an unusual mix, but bear with me.

A tagline can be a valuable tool in marketing. When used properly, it can neatly sum up the value of your product or service with a phrase or idea that is memorable for your audience.

As a copywriter, a marketer and as a consumer, the trouble I find with many taglines is that they’re just not very effective at doing the job they’re supposed to do. They describe rather than sell. They talk about features rather than communicate in benefits. They try to say too much, or they state the obvious rather than zeroing-in on a core problem that the market has. They try too hard to be clever rather than be purposeful.

An ineffective tagline is a waste of your money and your audience’s time. And that takes me to my point about highways.

A few weeks ago, I was travelling on business and I opted to take a toll highway to get home. Like many privately owned enterprises, they took great pains to remind everyone of their tagline. So every few minutes I’d pass yet another road sign reading: “Fast. Safe. Reliable.” They had invested a lot of time and money to remind me of three obvious things that I counted on” with just about any road that I drive on, including the ones that aren’t toll roads!

Keep it simple

Remember one of thinkit creative’s top rules about writing that sells: people are busy. There’s no sense in having a wordy tagline, or one where you tell people something they already know, and that doesn’t communicate a unique benefit or value.

Here’s one of my favourite examples of doing tagline copy properly: when Apple launched the very first iPod back in 2001, their tagline didn’t talk about how the device worked or how revolutionary the design was. Instead the copy read “1,000 songs in your pocket.” So simple and yet so very focused on selling through benefits.

Remember purpose

No matter who you are, most people aren’t going to give you the time you want to explain your product or idea, let alone why they should buy it. Taglines work best when they are memorable. That’s their key purpose. Taglines aren’t the place where you explain things. It’s where you connect your product or service to a larger idea.

It’s not just about words

Don’t create a tagline just for the sake of having one. Taglines aren’t about tacking words up there beside your company logo. Taglines are about ideas. And ideas aren’t always conventional. So be willing to take chances. And stay focused on solving a key problem that your customer is facing.

Be persuasive without being salesy

No one likes to be pitched to in an overt way. In fact, there’s a growing body of research out there to suggest that poorly crafted copy can backfire when consumers sense they are in the presence of shameless sloganeering. As with all things in marketing, exercise good taste and common sense.

Sometimes you have to look harder

When it comes to copywriting, the fewer the words, the tougher the task. So where do you go looking for great taglines, elegantly crafted, that stick? Investing in professional copywriting and copyediting services can help you solve this common marketing problem. But even before you do that, it pays to dig deeper and look at who you are and what you do from your audience’s perspective.

What problem do they have that you help solve? In the case of that toll highway, a much better solution to their own business problem was found on a single sign near the end of the road, in typeface so small that a driver could barely read it. It doesn’t appear on any of the firm’s marketing collateral as far as I can tell. But its message is infinitely more effective, more memorable and more benefit-driven than all the other signage combined.

That sign simply asked the following question:

“How much time did you save taking this highway today?”

Remembering Steve, a Switcher tells his story

By Patrick Gant

With this sad news today, let me share with you something personal.

I was one of the people who appeared in the original batch of Apple “Switch” ads, back in 2002.

They ran for a little while on TV and elsewhere (a decade later and surprisingly it’s still not hard to find the entire series of ads on YouTube).

Back then, it was a different time for Apple. But already, you could see this was a company in the midst of a remarkable rebirth, thanks to the creative genius of Steve Jobs. I was happy to lend a hand when I emailed Apple way-back-when, explaining why I took a chance and bought that first iMac when I had launched my new company a year earlier. That email led to my involvement in the campaign, which was a lot of fun at what was for me a huge personal turning-point in life. So in many ways, I’ve always had a particular fondness for Steve Jobs and Apple.

It wasn’t just that Steve was the head of a company that made great products that helped in my own personal rebirth, building my business into what it is today. Steve set an example for so many of us: the best way to give a damn about things that matter deeply to you is to show it with great work that moves and inspires others.

Thank you, Steve.

I’ll keep giving a damn, working hard to put my own dent in the universe.

[Update: My old friend and fellow Switcher, Pete (Damon) Wright has posted his own recollections today, too.]

How you can improve your PowerPoint presentation today

By Patrick Gant

1. Your Powerpoint or other slideware material shouldn’t compete with your presentation. Sounds obvious, right? But anyone who has had to squint to read all the copy on crammed onto dozens of slides in a presentation knows this mistake is still a common one.

2. When sharing data-based information with your audience, don’t just report on numbers. Explain the meaning behind numbers. Infographics and tastefully designed charts make a major impression and enlighten” in seconds.

3. Don’t cram your logo onto every slide. Ignore those who tell you that this age-old practice is all part of branding. It’s not. In a presentation, it’s just clutter. You’re on stage speaking directly to people. They know who you are already. What they don’t know yet is whether what you have to say is useful to them. That should be your #1 point of focus.

4. White space is your friend. Your audience will appreciate it more if you have more slides with less content on each page than just a few that are jam-packed and hard to read.

5. Always remember one of thinkit creative’s top rules about writing that sells: people are busy. You have less time than you think to attract and sustain the attention of your audience. So invest wisely in fine-tuning the design that drives your slides as well as the content that connects the value of who you are what you do with the needs of the people listening to what you have to say.

A new era in design

By Patrick Gant

The evidence is everywhere. We are entering a new era in design.

Today—more than at any other point in human history—more thought goes into the construction of things around us. That’s a development that has implications for everyone in the business of marketing to other people. In other words, everyone.

Today, design is about more than creating objects of beauty. It’s about creating ideas that are memorable, or an approach that strikes an emotional chord with people. It’s also about having better tools to understand and filter a world that’s cluttered with messages. Just as important, it’s about finding the right methods to execute those great ideas, approaches and tools.

You see it in consumer products that have a fit and finish once reserved for high-end scientific equipment. You see it in the way that some businesses set an example for others in the market by saying that consumer experience matters to them ahead of just selling more stuff.

You see it in self-published ebooks: an industry that once required a publishing firm just to get your foot in the door. You see it in the array of consumer apps developed for mobile users. You also see it in consumer signage that you see every day. Whereas we used to see material printed on paper and updated on a fairly slow cycle, today a lot of signage is being switched to LED and LCD monitors—products that cost a fraction of what they used to and that can be updated and tweaked regularly without incurring many of the expenses that saddled conventional marketing.

Design today is the sum of a million little things that, when added together, become something that connects with people on a deep, meaningful level. That doesn’t just mean that you need great visuals and colours that match. It means that visual elements and the written word have to bond closer than ever before so that audiences connect, understand and respond.

As a result, professionals who are skilled in design, strategy and content matter a lot. They can help you make better choices on developing your products, services and ideas so that messages are clear and purposeful. Just as important, they can show you through field-tested experience the right approaches to presenting those products, services or ideas.

They are brokers in good taste: and that’s something every business can benefit from having more of.

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