Honored to be the guest on the current edition of Roundpeg’s “More Than a Few Words” podcast, talking with host Lorraine Ball about the importance of conversational copy. It’s about a 10-minute interview. Content Begins with a Conversation
From time to time, I get requests to write something that clarifies a client’s existing instructions or procedures. When I ask the reason, I’m nearly always told that the customers or other audience just doesn’t understand. They aren’t doing what we want them to do or following the steps in the order we prefer. My […]
Frequently, copy contains words that don’t really need to be there. A great example is “appropriate,” as in sentences such as “once we review the information, we’ll take appropriate action.” That’s because saying “once we review the information, we’ll take action” is every bit as meaningful and effective. Since it says the exact same thing […]
Singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain had a profound and positive impact on rock music, but I blame his band’s second album for perpetuating a spelling error that is becoming increasingly common. That album was 1991’s “Nevermind,” a title Cobain chose in part because he knew it was incorrect. How so? “Nevermind” isn’t a word. The expression is […]
Are you unique? That’s good. Are you very unique? Probably not. No, I’m not suggesting that individuality is a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing. And the word “unique” should be a very good word. Unfortunately, it’s misused so often that it is losing its uniqueness. In simple terms, “unique” means “singular” […]
Have you ever attended a spouse’s office party and not been sure how to react when someone’s comment sends the room into gales of laughter? Someone says something like, “Yeah, but don’t ever hand Karen a glass of milk,” and everyone but you collapses into convulsions of hysterical laughter. You glance at your spouse, who […]
Most of us are well-acquainted with the concept (if not the term) of “death by PowerPoint.” It’s a reference to any number of excruciating presentation types. To me, the worst offender is the presenter who subjects you to copy-heavy slide after copy-heavy slide, and must assume you’re illiterate, so he finds it necessary to read […]
A local food retailer undergoing a major renovation apparently intended to plead for patience on a social media site, but wound up asking for participation in a nudist event. The retailer’s post asked customers to “please bare with us,” which is actually asking them to disrobe. Clearly (I hope), the store wanted customers to “bear” […]
Imagine the average math professor being asked to lecture to kindergartners. As he described chaos theory, the group would become so baffled and bored that it would revert to real chaos. Now imagine that one of your company’s engineers is sitting across the table from one of your product’s end-users. Would they have a mutually […]
One of my most successful projects began when I received an assignment to rescue a doomed newsletter for companies providing towing services to a motor club’s members. The newsletter wasn’t being read and the motor club didn’t understand why. It was full of valuable and important information, but nobody seemed to be paying attention, and […]
