Archive for June, 2008

(Second in a series of articles about improving your writing.)

By fourth grade in my Catholic grade school, the good nuns had drilled into my head all the parts of speech, the punctuation rules and grammar regulations that were never to be broken, lest they show up on my permanent record. We diagrammed long, rambling sentences, marking the nouns with one red line and the verbs with two, adjectives with a diagonal and adverbs with a squiggly mark. By the time we were done, our diagrams looked like schematics for the Space Shuttle.

At the risk of getting a rap on the knuckles, I’m here to tell you to forget all those rules.

Writing is about communicating. It’s about making the reader feel comfortable with your words, about setting a friendly tone, about being clear and concise. It’s not about blindly following archaic rules that can get in the way of effective communication.

Here are a couple of rules I’m giving you permission to break without fear of an icy glare from the nun in the front of the room:

Continued

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TV viewers in the Philadelphia area have become accustomed to hearing the familiar “do-be-do-be-do” jingle and seeing the bouncing orange ball in commercials for ING Direct, the online savings bank. I’ve been considering opening an account with them because of their favorable terms.

Today, as I’m half-watching the morning news show, I glimpse what seems to be that familiar bouncing ball - so I pay a little closer attention to see if maybe they have a new offer that will convince me to make the plunge.

To my surprise, it’s actually commercial for HSBC Direct, a competitor to ING. And the bouncing ball is really a rounded pig. Now, I don’t know if HSBC has been using that commercial in other markets and it’s just now reaching the Philadelphia area. But it sure seems more than a coincidence to me that the ads are so similar.

I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when does it become a ripoff?

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I came across this post on the Online Publicity Journal. While I agree that the benefits of a well-written press release are considerable, I disagree that just about anyone can write one and be successful.

There are at least Nine Steps to An Effective Press Release including: understanding what news is and how to meet the media’s needs, developing a relationship with reporters and editors, timing, following up, etc. Even basic formatting, spelling, grammar and punctuation are crucial elements.

That said, I often tell prospective clients they have a choice: they can research the media and develop relationship, research background and statistics, write and draft a release, distribute it and follow up, then hope that the release is effective. Of course, they have to do all this while running the day-to-day operations of their business.

Or they can leave it to a pro.

Most times, it’s a no-brainer.

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(First in a series of posts about ways to improve your writing.)

The fact is simple words communicate better than big words. Some writers feed their egos by using pompous language to impress their audiences. Using big words when simple ones will suffice can annoy and distract the reader from what you are trying to say. Some examples:

Use help rather than assist.

Use live rather than reside.

Use help rather than facilitate.

Use small rather than diminutive.

Use use rather than employ. or utilize.

Use get rather than obtain or procure.

Use best rather than optimum.

Use buy rather than purchase.

Go back and re-read your latest piece of copy. I’ll bet there are at least a handful of instances where you can substitute a simple word and see a huge increase in the readability of your writing.

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My mailbox has been a fertile source of blogging inspiration during the last week.

The Good. A small green envelope with vaguely familiar handwriting stood out from the stack of bills when I walked back from getting the mail one morning. It didn’t have a return address and the postage included a 41 cent stamp and a one-cent stamp. Intrigued by the personal look and hefty feel — I could tell there was something substantial inside — I opened it first. Inside, was a page that seemed to have been torn out of a local newspaper, with a yellow sticky note attached. “Joseph,” it read in the same handwriting as on the envelope. “I’ll make you an awesome deal.” It was signed by someone named “Cory.” Only then did I realize this was a carefully crafted direct mail piece sent on behalf of a local car dealership. I haven’t been called “Joseph” since third grade and I don’t know anyone by the name of Cory. The “newspaper” page was actually an ad for the dealership’s Grand Opening Sale. Kudos to whoever designed and executed that piece. It didn’t make me buy a car but it sure made me aware of their sale.

The Bad. The jumbo postcard for a company advertising its trash hauling services was attractive enough. It had all the right elements: it caught my attention, it had a powerful offer and a strong call to action. Only one problem: I live in a community where our trash is collected by the municipality. We don’t get a choice of haulers. If they sent the same postcard to all 2,500 households in the borough, that’s huge waste of money.

The Ugly. A local Realtor sent a postcard touting his success in a tough market. Unfortunately, he cited sales data that was a year old, misidentified a local landmark and had 11 — count ‘em 11 — spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. Didn’t do much to enhance his reputation as a “someone who will pay attention to every detail of your deal.”

The moral? If you’re going to do direct mail, go the extra mile to make it memorable. And if you keep it simple, at least target the right market and use spellcheck!

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