Marketing communications
Where’s the value in your writing activity?
20th March 2023 | Posted in Marketing communications
Whether you’re creating the words for your website, writing blog posts, pulling together newsletters, keeping up with social media, or pushing out marketing communications, there is a question to be asked. Just because I can, do I need to? You can choose to make the time and the resources for all these activities, but what […]
This ‘Do you want to hear from us?’ thing. A bit obvious?
9th March 2023 | Posted in Marketing communications, Mature marketing
A few years ago I applauded one company’s email to ask if I wanted to receive their Mother’s Day marketing. As I was a bit raw from the loss of my own mum, this felt genuinely thoughtful and I reacted positively. Fast forward a few years and they’re all at it. For various reasons I’m […]
6 questions to ask when you’re writing marketing communications
9th September 2022 | Posted in Marketing communications
Whether you’re putting together a website, email campaign, brochure, newsletter or any other piece of marketing collateral, starting with these questions can help all the stakeholders focus on what you need to achieve and how. What do we need to create? Maybe it’s a brochure, but what sort of brochure? My current project is a […]
Thank goodness for Mrs Sweet, Mrs Hooper and the staffroom in general
21st May 2020 | Posted in Editing, Marketing communications, Website
I’ve been thinking of late how much I owe to the lessons at school that I didn’t really appreciate at the time. During lockdown I’ve reacquainted myself with my exceedingly dusty sewing machine. Quite honestly, if I hadn’t been taught by the terrifying Mrs Sweet about how to thread up the machine (and why are […]
Just one audience at a time keeps your messaging simple
11th May 2020 | Posted in Marketing communications, Small business, Website
You’ve got great ideas. They’re popping out of your head at the speed of knots. Offer these services to those people, these products to another set of people, add value and upsell with another great bunch of ideas …. Enthusiasm for your business – especially if you’ve got a new great idea you want to […]
Does being a number make it true?
17th January 2020 | Posted in Marketing communications
‘Smallpox cases double in three years’, screams a headline. I’ve made this one up, but we’ve seen plenty of similar stories over the years. Great pulling power, but what’s the real story? Suppose there was only one case three years ago, and this year there are two. Not the need for panic that the headline […]
Rules for writing – sensible or balm for the ego?
6th August 2019 | Posted in Editing, Marketing communications
Plenty has been written about Jacob Rees-Mogg’s rules for writing for his staff, and I am no doubt very late to the party. Like many before me, I have worked through his list and muttered along the lines of: Right Right Wrong Bizarre Where did he get that from? Hmm, maybe (Though not necessarily in […]
Tips for creating a consistent writing style
2nd July 2019 | Posted in Editing, Marketing communications
When you’ve got multiple contributors to a document, it can be tricky bringing together different writing styles into one coherent piece. If you want just one style, which of your authors wins? And how do you explain your edits to the others who have ‘lost’? It’s their hard work that you’re altering. And people who […]
Checking facts for credible writing
16th April 2019 | Posted in Blogging, Content creation, Journalism, Marketing communications
Once upon a time I was berated in a journalism training class. I’m not often told off for anything, being almost a perfect rule abider and non-risk taker. There was that time in a Body Balance class when I stretched further than was wise, and I vaguely remember my mother not being that impressed […]
When you ask me to edit or proofread, what exactly do you mean?
14th January 2019 | Posted in Blogging, book, Editing, Marketing communications
You know what you want. But do I? “Editing” and its sibling “proofreading” are words that mean everything and nothing. So it pays to make sure we agree. Let’s take the examples of Jack and Susu (who are not really called Jack and Susu but they are real customers). Jack is way out of […]