Back when you were in elementary school, your teacher worked hard to help you understand a concept called homophones. If you’re like most people, homophones bedeviled you then, and they probably still trip you up now and again. What are homophones? They’re those words that sound the same, even though they have very different meanings … Read more
I have overwhelming respect (and more than a little sympathy) for English teachers. But I do have to say they manage to make being an effective writer more difficult than it should be. Now, I’m not referring to all English teachers. Anyone who’s dedicated their adult lives to convincing bored adolescents to fall in love … Read more
There are many differences between today’s online marketing tools and the brochures and other printed pieces that dominated marketing for decades. Many of those differences are obvious, but one of the most important often slips right past people: a website is never complete. Think about developing a brochure, a white paper, or a publication. Most … Read more
Few people really understand the relationship between content in white papers and copyrights. When they develop a white paper, they often consider including good information they’ve seen published or posted elsewhere. However, that could involve breaking the law. About copyright law Which law? Copyright law. If you copy and use something that’s been created by … Read more
Mention spelling, and most of us feel our hearts skip a beat. It’s a throwback to our anxiety about those word lists we were quizzed about every Friday morning as children, and we still become embarrassed when someone points to an error in our writing. Of course, now we count on our devices to let … Read more
Social media’s ever-increasing presence in our lives is a clear reminder of just how badly we humans want to connect with each other. Unfortunately, too many companies completely ignore that reality when they try to communicate with customers and prospects. Doesn’t matter whether they’re using an Insta video, an email newsletter, a website, or an … Read more
Many people have a strong aversion to repetition. It isn’t that they can’t tolerate others repeating a message; it’s that they don’t want to risk echoing their previous efforts when developing their marketing communications materials. The concern about repetition crops up most often in planning for ongoing marketing programs, such as social media or customer … Read more
You have access to tens of thousands of fonts. But you probably shouldn’t use more than a couple of them. Why? Once, businesspeople communicated primarily using devices called typewriters. Most typewriters offered just one font, and the most popular model in offices, the IBM Selectric, used a font we know as Courier. Somehow, everyone managed … Read more
Creating white paper titles may well be the most important task when developing a white paper, because it determines how likely your target audience will take the time to read it. In these ever-more-busy days, we have little patience for the items competing for our time. When glancing at a social media feed or a … Read more
You’re well aware of the internal structure of your company, and the politics and complex challenges that spring from that structure. When a customer needs something, you mentally consider which departments will be involved and what it will take to make it happen. Your customers view you differently. They see you as a single entity. … Read more