Scott's Blog - Page 53 of 67 - Scott Flood Writing

SUCCESS STORY: HERITAGE ON RYE

September 28, 2011 by Scott Flood

You operate a century-old restaurant that everyone loves, but often forgets when faced with all sorts of well-advertised chains. How do you bring people back to the table?

Shapiro’s Delicatessen has been serving corned beef and pastrami sandwiches and other Kosher-style deli fare to Indianapolis residents since Louis Shapiro found his way to the Circle City just after the turn of the last century. The restaurant was still a local favorite (and even managed to impress visiting New Yorkers), but saw its business facing tougher competition.

IS IT OPINION OR KNOWLEDGE?

September 21, 2011 by Scott Flood

Much of what I learned in high school was most effective at setting one up for a lifetime of therapy. But there were a few gems here and there that have managed to stay with me throughout the ensuing years. One of those was the difference between facts and opinions. Several of my teachers devoted many class periods to helping their charges grasp what separates the two.

It’s a lesson that seems to be lost on many people, who develop their own opinions about something and then state those opinions as though they were factual knowledge. While the most obvious examples are those modern-day idea marketplaces — talk radio, cable news channels, and online forums — I’ve also seen the trend drift into the ways in which companies promote themselves or their beliefs.

SUCCESS STORY: DIFFERENTIATING WITH A COLORING BOOK

September 14, 2011 by Scott Flood

If you’re selling a high-quality product in a category that’s considered to be a commodity, how can you set yourself apart?

Plymate Image Mats provides a higher-quality product with far superior service in a market that’s saturated with – and accustomed to – low-end competitors. Their challenge is twofold: convince prospects that they need more than what they’re already buying, then sell it to them.

HASSEL-FREE PROFESSIONALS

September 7, 2011 by Scott Flood

Sometimes marketers can be their own worst enemies. Take the writing practice that invested in Google pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

I won’t mention their name, but their headline promises “Fast, affordable and professional written copy by experienced copywriters.”

SUCCESS STORY: LIVELY FUNERAL DIRECTORS

August 31, 2011 by Scott Flood

How do you convince people that your business is truly a part of the community when they only associate you with death and sadness?

Like most family-owned funeral homes, Ziemer Funeral Homes had been experiencing growing pressure from roll-ups of local competitors and other national chains. They wanted to remind potential customers that they are truly local businesspeople who hope to serve the community for decades to come.

ONE STEP TO MAKE ANY PRESS RELEASE MORE EFFECTIVE

August 24, 2011 by Scott Flood

As I’ve said before, most editors are inundated by press releases sent by companies and organizations that desperately want to be covered.

Amazingly, many of them miss a simple step that can dramatically increase the likelihood that their release will be among the few that will actually be picked up and used.

SUCCESS STORY: PUNCHING PESKY CO-WORKERS

August 17, 2011 by Scott Flood

How do you catch the attention of people who spend all their time trying to catch the attention of others?

The pioneer in management information systems for the advertising agency industry, Adman faced aggressive competition from programs that weren’t as comprehensive or targeted, but appeared to be more affordable.

SUCCESS STORY: BREEDING BETTER BABIES

August 10, 2011 by Scott Flood

How do you convince mothers-to-be that your local hospital is a better place for giving birth than the big-city hospitals that are just a short (if frenzied) drive away?

Bloomington Hospital faced just that situation in trying to promote its maternity services. They knew that a hospital’s image is particularly important when it come to maternity. Parents-to-be labor to choose the right site for their arrivals. With powerful challengers less than an hour away, this hospital needed a campaign that could deliver.

WHERE’S THE PEE-ZONE?

August 3, 2011 by Scott Flood

If you’re going to come up with a cleverly invented name or spelling for your product or service, make sure it doesn’t create any inadvertent pronunciations.

Case in point: Pizza Hut has been promoting its line of calzones as P’Zones. They want you to pronounce that as “puh-zones.”

SAVE YOUR BEST WORK FOR EDITING

July 27, 2011 by Scott Flood

One of the surest signs of a professional writer is that his or her first drafts are absolutely terrible and often unreadable.

Surprised? It’s true. While most non-writers assume that those of us who earn a living stringing words together try to create brilliance and beauty with every keystroke, the simple fact is that our real skill emerges in the rewrite stage.