Every time I attend a conference, I’m reminded of one of my many PowerPoint peeves. It’s not my biggest peeve (which is the presenter who subjects you to copy-heavy slide after copy-heavy slide, and makes it worse by assuming that you’re illiterate, so he reads every word to you), but it comes close. No, the … Read more
Marketers frequently place maps on websites and other communications materials to indicate the locations of businesses and events. That’s a good thing for the visual learners in the crowd. But sometimes those same marketers shoot themselves in the foot by ignoring the conventions that have become common in mapmaking. For example, professional mapmakers indicate bodies … Read more
One of the most powerful forms of legal protection is also one of the easiest to obtain. Under federal copyright law, you can declare your ownership of an article, blog, website, or similar creation simply by affixing a legal copyright notice to it. (Mandatory legal disclosure: I am not an attorney, nor have I played … Read more
Companies try to handle their marketing communications needs in-house for many reasons. Sometimes, budget is the primary driver, but more often, there’s a belief that nobody in the outside world could ever understand the company as well as its employees. Actually, that’s exactly why an outsider offers you a significant advantage. You see, … Read more
Back when computers were the size of your garage, programmers often summarized a particular situation as “garbage in, garbage out.” It normally referred to either bad data or bad instructions that, when fed into a computer, led to worse results. For example, if the programmer’s client didn’t provide a precise description of the program’s objectives, … Read more
When you want to convey an example to illustrate how your product is used or how your service made life easier for someone, one of the most effective techniques is to create a fictional case study using a fictional person’s name. When you use a name, you create a stronger connection with the reader, and … Read more
Why do so many companies put people who are unable to communicate clearly in frontline roles? Whether it’s someone at the counter who can’t deliver a coherent answer to a customer question, or “Bill,” the highly accented voice that tells you he is really sorry you are having this problem, and then offers advice you … Read more
Recommendations to emphasize benefits rather than features when communicating are so old that I think they may date back to cavemen. Still, some marketers don’t understand the difference between features and benefits, so they miss out on an opportunity to connect more powerfully with their audiences. Simply put, a feature is some aspect of your … Read more
I was at a conference with a group of freelance writers when the subject of websites came up. One of the writers asked if there was any way to develop a website for next to nothing, and she was nearly overwhelmed with suggestions. My fellow attendees mentioned a host of templates, free sites, and other … Read more
Even if your job makes you say something 150 times a day, never lose sight of the fact that it may be the first time your audience is hearing it. I think about that every time I’m shopping in a store and the cashier or an employee on the PA mumbles “thank you for shopping … Read more