Archive | Publications & Enewsletters

Copyrights don’t give you a right to copy

By Scott Flood on January 17, 2022 in Writing Advice, Online Words, Publications & Enewsletters

I was surprised to see a favorite non-profit had committed an illegal act. On the third page of a recent newsletter, they reprinted an item from Reader’s Digest. It was germane to their mission, and they kindly included a credit line. Still, they broke the law. Which law? Copyright law. Unless they formally obtained permission from […]

9 tricks for better proofreading

By Scott Flood on November 30, 2021 in Writing Advice, Mistakes & Mishaps, Publications & Enewsletters

Is proofreading important? Have you noticed the dramatic increase in the number of typos and other mistakes in materials produced by companies and organizations? I suspect it results from three factors: emphasizing haste over quality, relying on software spellcheckers, and unfamiliarity with spelling and language. Granted, the mistake someone at your company makes may not […]

Bullet points rarely hit the target

By Scott Flood on December 22, 2020 in Marketing Wisdom, Publications & Enewsletters

When creating a website, a brochure, or an ad, many people believe the only thing that matters is the raw facts. “Nobody has time for fluff,” they insist. Given their insistence on using fact-based material, they choose to use brief bullet points instead of sentences and paragraphs. I won’t argue that bullet points are certainly […]

Copying without permission is theft

By Scott Flood on July 25, 2018 in General rants, Marketing Wisdom, Publications & Enewsletters

You’re responsible for your organization’s newsletter, and the other day, you read a great item in a magazine. It’s perfect for your organization’s audience, so you reprint it in your newsletter. If you didn’t get permission to do so, you’ve just broken the law. “Wait!” you protest. “I put the name of the magazine under […]

EVEN MORE GOOFS AND GAFFES

By Scott Flood on April 6, 2016 in General rants, Mistakes & Mishaps, Online Words, Publications & Enewsletters

I miss the days when newspapers and other media wouldn’t publish a story until it had been edited and edited again. Sadly, expediency has supplanted accuracy, and shrinking budgets have eliminated the copy editors who dispatched typos and other errors from their writers’ dispatches. These days, the only thing protecting writers from themselves is their […]

MEET YOUR SILENT SALESPEOPLE

By Scott Flood on January 28, 2015 in Advertising, Direct Marketing, Marketing Wisdom, Publications & Enewsletters

What is a brochure? An ad? A radio commercial? A website? You get 5 points if you said they’re all marketing communications channels. But they’re also something more. You can’t be everywhere, and that includes everywhere your prospective customers are. So you develop materials such as ads and brochures to stand in for you. In […]

TALKING TO YOURSELF IS UNPRODUCTIVE

By Scott Flood on September 24, 2014 in General rants, Marketing Wisdom, Publications & Enewsletters

I once received an assignment to rescue a doomed newsletter for companies providing towing services to a motor club’s members. The motor club didn’t understand why it was failing. So we conducted a random survey of towing operators. What we heard was enlightening. “I don’t read that rag. It’s nothing but PR for your company […]

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