Working backwards
How often do you hear a speech, read a blog, watch a commercial, or peruse an email blast and say, huh?? What is this about? Or, what does this have to do with me? Keep that confusion in mind the next time you need to communicate. The point is, you’ll be wasting your time… unless […]
Lincoln: A Master at Making Ideas “Sticky”
A recent book entitled Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, focuses on the six characteristics that make ideas memorable (“sticky”). To be sticky, they say, ideas have to be: • Simple • Unexpected • Concrete • Credible • Emotional • And tell a story […]
Knowing When to Quit
I remember Sinatra in the 1980s, preening before adoring crowds as if he were still the coolest cat around. But the pipes were rusted and he couldn’t hold a note for very long and he couldn’t fake it with technique anymore. It was painful to watch, though his legion of grey-haired fans didn’t seem to […]
Becoming a writer… because your boss says you have to
My friend Gil has a problem that appears to be typical for these economic hard times. No he didn’t get laid off, but he had to let go several of his creative staff. Gil is a marketing guy – a group marketing director at a consumer products company, to be exact. And while he has […]
How to Identify a Great Writer: 6 Skills Every Wordsmith Must Have
You and your business need content. Not just words and explanations but clear, useful, compelling and persuasive content that powerfully separates you from the competition and the clutter. Now that we’re into the new year, how do you find a good writer who can consistently provide the goods? It’s important to know the specific skills […]
Getting your team to be better writers. It’s essential.
tem: A brilliant process engineer at a major chemical company is trying to tell representatives from a personal care products giant about the cost-savings and performance benefits of a new hair-care ingredient. But she’s getting tangled up in minutiae and arcane data; she’s lost them before she even gets to the good stuff. Item: The fundraising team […]
Good writing is good editing. Write first, edit later.
Ernest Hemingway famously said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” Tough language, but he was right. The goal of a first draft isn’t to be brilliant. It’s simply to overcome your “how the hell do I get started” anxiety 😳, put your ideas down in a reasonable sequence, and rough out sketches of your […]
Trim these needless words
Planning for Content
