Scott Flood - Scott Flood Writing

SUCCESS STORY: WRITING FOR THOSE WITH DISABILITIES

February 29, 2012 by Scott Flood

Designing a garden to accommodate the special needs of people with disabilities is a wonderful idea, but only if the intended users understand how the design works with them. When the Plainfield Plus community group secured a grant to establish such a garden in the town’s Friendship Gardens park, that’s why they included funds to create a guide to the garden and asked Scott Flood to develop it.

The book provides details of the garden and shows how its various elements address different disabilities, such as raised beds that reduce the need for stooping, and plants with scent and touch characteristics that can be appreciated by people with visual impairments. Just as important, the book detailed how people could duplicate those features in their own gardens.

HOW TO WRITE A BETTER RADIO COMMERCIAL

February 22, 2012 by Scott Flood

The vast majority of people listen to radio to be entertained, informed, or a combination of the two. If you have to write promotional or public-service copy that will be broadcast, it’s important to keep those points in mind.

It’s also important to remember that radio doesn’t have a rewind button. In fact, that’s more important than most people who create radio announcements realize. With a print ad, a website, or a brochure, it’s easy for the reader to scroll back, glance back, or turn to a previous page if he or she misses a key piece of information. That can’t happen with a radio commercial.

SUCCESS STORY: EASY EXPLANATIONS

February 8, 2012 by Scott Flood

Email marketing is an evolving, powerful tool that is widely misunderstood by many in the marketing community. Those with prejudices against the channel fail to see the opportunities it offers for highly personalized, always trackable marketing efforts.

That means providers of email marketing services must devote much of their effort to educating potential customers, so they understand the value that their services offer. Indianapolis-based email marketing pioneer Delivra takes a very aggressive approach to developing understanding on both a macro level and in how their sophisticated, user-friendly platform puts those opportunities within reach.

SUCCESS STORY: SLINKY SIMPLICITY

February 1, 2012 by Scott Flood

Often, the best way to cut through the clutter and communicate a complicated concept is by using a very simple analogy. Over the years, I’ve explained cellular phones by using relay runners and demonstrated what makes molded rubber automotive gaskets effective by suggesting an easy experiment with a rubber band.

That technique works with ordinary consumers, and it’s just as effective with sophisticated professionals. In fact, because the professionals tend to be very busy, simple concepts can be even more effective.

HOW TO DO PRINT TODAY

January 25, 2012 by Scott Flood

Print can still be very communicative, if you pay attention to how people read these days. Someone who clearly understands that is the publishers of Inc. Magazine, who recently unveiled the prototype for a new title called Build aimed at mid-size companies.

The sample page reproduced here shows how savvy print designers can connect with readers in this era of smartphones, tablets, and Web 2.0. Even though there’s a lot of text on the page, it’s broken into bite-size chunks, most of which use a bold lead-in to allow skimming readers to determine whether they need to read the entire paragraph. In fact, you can pick up the gist of the article just by reading those lead-ins.

I’M SORRY I DIDN’T ANSWER THE QUESTION!

January 18, 2012 by Scott Flood

Many companies use surveys to get a better sense of what customers, prospects, and visitors think about them, what they offer, or even what opportunities exist. That’s a good thing. Many of those companies let the IT department develop those surveys. That’s a bad thing.

It isn’t that the IT people don’t know how to accomplish the task at hand. In fact, they’re very good at it. The problem is that they are focused on getting the right information and aren’t aware that a survey creates an impression with the person who is responding. So they design the survey to ensure that they get every piece of information, regardless of how they do it.

SUCCESS STORY: AUTOMOTIVE PROBLEM-SOLVERS

December 21, 2011 by Scott Flood

For many years (before it was swallowed up by a larger company), Fel-Pro was widely regarded as an innovative designer and manufacturer of automotive engine gaskets and seals. The company sold superior products that unfortunately carried a premium price. It developed a reputation for finding solutions to sealing problems that vexed mechanics and automakers alike.

In an effort to improve its visibility and get the greatest value for its investment in PR, the company asked automotive magazine editors what type of information they needed most and just weren’t getting. Time and again, the editors asked for technical information they could pass along to their readers.

SUCCESS STORY: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

December 14, 2011 by Scott Flood

Think schools cost too much money to build? Several Indiana state legislators and the state’s governor do, and have made attempts at cutting the cost a primary part of their agenda. A trade group of architects, contractors, engineers, and others called FAIR disagree, pointing to independent sources that show school costs in the state are far from excessive.

But when the advocates for cutting costs occupy the bully pulpit of majority leadership, it can be tough for opponents to make their voices heard. Many in the media were repeating the legislators’ claims as though they were facts. Unfortunately, the story is a complicated, multi-faceted one. How could FAIR get accurate, understandable information in the hands of media, legislators, and other key stakeholders?

SUCCESS STORY: GAS, NOT HOT AIR

November 30, 2011 by Scott Flood

You’re the largest natural gas marketer in the state, and the people you need as clients have never heard of you. What can you do to convince them of your size and expertise?

During the early days of energy deregulation, Proliance Energy — a joint effort of two of Indiana’s largest utilities — quickly established itself by offering purchase expertise to commercial and industrial customers. Their success at keeping a cap on what those customers would have to pay for natural gas ballooned the company into the state’s biggest. But name recognition was still minimal.