Does your copy make sense?

I seem to have spent much of this week trying to decipher other people’s communication. I’ve had students submit assignments that have little connection with English grammar and been sent marketing materials full of acronyms and meaningless slogans. Sometimes we get too close to our own ideas to see wood for the trees.

The art of communication is all about being understood in the manner in which we intended. When writing we have to think about our audience. What do they know already? What will interest them? What else will they be doing when they get our missive? How much effort will they be prepared to invest in understanding our copy? We live life on the run and few of us have the time or inclination to interpret communication which is not clear, so here are a few tips for business communications:

• Give your target a reason to read your message. An engaging, benefit laden headline will help.
• Keep it simple. Use language that your audience will understand without having to think too hard.
• Avoid acronyms and abbreviations
• Don’t assume that your reader has prior knowledge and understanding
• Posing and then answering questions can help your audience relate to your message. This is a trick to engage the brain actively.
• Keep one, or at most two, thoughts per paragraph
• If you are using Word check the readability of your prose (on the spelling & grammar button)
• If you can, write a draft, put it to one side and go back and read it with a fresh pair of eyes before you send it. Alternatively get someone else, preferably not an expert, to read it.

We all need to remember that we are writing to be understood, not to impress. Our communication should have a purpose and our readers should understand that purpose without too much effort. Do yours?

 

 

How to confuse a brand!

Every Christmas I buy a box or two of Matchmakers chocolates as a treat. If you’re not familiar with them Matchmakers are long, narrow strips of dark chocolate with various flavourings, my favourites are mint and orange. I’ve always considered them to be quite a sophisticated option for serving after a dinner party and to adults so I was somewhat crestfallen when I went to buy my Matchmakers this year.

Gone was the fairly tasteful, understated box. This was what I got instead:

Brand confusion

So we have three brands promoted, Nestle, Quality Street and Matchmakers. Nestle I get, it is the company which makes Matchmakers but why Quality Street? Quality Street is a brand of wrapped chocolates in different shapes and colours; many have flavoured centres. In my view Quality Street is an alternative to Heroes and Celebrations. So why Quality Street and Matchmakers?

According to Wikipedia (and I can’t find any information on the Nestle website) Matchmakers were made a part of the Quality Street brand in 2008 in order to appeal to 15-35 year olds. I must be very odd! Quality Street is a brand I associate with my grandparents and my kids, who fall into the target age bracket, have never asked for Quality Street. I assume that a company as large and sophisticated as Nestle will have done its homework but do young people really buy Quality Street and will they then buy Matchmakers because of the link? Where is the synergy in the brands?

I bought the Matchmakers and duly served them to my guests on New Year’s Eve. I only served them because our guests are great friends and we know each other very well. We were all agreed that the packaging was awful and none of us could see the point of confusing the brand with Quality Street. We also thought that the packaging took the brand down market and would alienate its regular customers.

What do you think? Do you know if the link between Quality Street and Matchmakers has worked for either brand? I’d love to hear your take on this topic, please click the comment button.

Get organised for 2012? Show me how.

I’ve just received an email from a major supplier; nothing new there then! This one had an enticing headline ‘Get organised for 2012′. So far so good. The headline was likely to generate a good open rate as plenty of us will have determined to be more organised this year and will be looking for miracle cures to help us achieve our goals.

The email offered a number of click through boxes each offering a different type of deal so I clicked on a few. These took me to the company’s catalogue. In some cases there was a price written in red but the regular price was not shown. I’m left wondering if there is any deal to be had or whether the offers are non-existent. What a mistake!

If this email was meant to tempt me into spending money, which it surely was, it failed. I was intrigued to know what products would help me get organised for 2012; my question was unanswered.  I would have liked to know what products were discounted by 50%, I didn’t want to plough my way through a whole catalogue.

If we apply the marketeers’ mantra of AIDA here, the email attracted my attention and interest but failed to deliver on desire or action. It did not speak to me beyond the headline. How different it would have been if there had been a short letter highlighting some of the products which would help me to be organised with a few buy now special deals that I just wouldn’t want to miss. Each of those products and deals could have been backed up with a click to page to give me the information to convert my interest into desire and action.

One of the actions I’m taking to allow me to gain control in 2012 is to reduce the number of emails I get. I am looking at every new email and asking how it adds value to my business or my life, if it doesn’t I am unsubscribing. This is one company who will be losing me as a subscriber. With one email it has gone from having my attention and interest to losing the opportunity to market me forever.

So next time you send an email marketing message make sure you have a headline that will encourage your target audience to open it and then deliver what they are looking for.

• Make it easy for them.
• Speak their language.
• Sell the personalised benefits.
• Make the comparisons.
• Give them a deadline.

If you would like some help putting your message together drop me an email to glenda.shawley@thetrainingpack.co.uk

Good luck with getting organised and winning more business in 2012.

Reuse and recycle Christmas decorations

Every year we bring out the Christmas decorations collected over the years but my hairdressers had a whole new take on the idea of reusing and recycling.

How many cups of coffee have they served to make these creative displays?

Used milk cartons and a dollop of imagination make a creative Christmas display

A creative use for empty coffee wrappers.

Don’t knock the success of others; learn from it.

Some people astound me! In the last week I have heard four separate stories of business owners knocking the success of others. These owners are jealous of the success of owners doing better than themselves whether that be in turnover, media coverage or business development.

Envy is a destructive emotion. It wastes our time and energy. Instead of being jealous we should look for the lessons we can learn from those who are more successful than we are. What are those owners doing that we are not? Perhaps they are trading different hours, working harder, undertaking marketing campaigns, networking, using the latest technology etc.

One of the stories I heard was of a retailer complaining that the Internet had stolen his business, asked if he was on the Internet his answer was, ‘No, wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole’. How ridiculous! The Internet has opened every business to a global market, it has created multi-millionaires, it has provided our existing customers with a new, more flexible way to do business with us, it has allowed us to communicate more effectively and for less money than traditional marketing. Frankly if a retailer is not going to touch the Internet they don’t deserve to have a business.

Another story was of a PR consultant complaining about the media coverage one business owner is currently enjoying and moaning that this was at the expense of other local business owners. Rubbish! I suspect that other business owners had done nothing to promote their businesses to the media. It isn’t difficult to get our local paper to write about us, there are at least two opportunities in every edition. The journalists look for ‘subjects’ on Twitter most weeks. It wouldn’t take a lot of effort to secure a good few column inches. If I can do it so can anyone else.

Twitter post leads to an article in our local paper

The next time you find yourself listening to the green-eyed monster, or even becoming one,  stop and ask some questions. What can we learn from this other person’s success? Do they have any contacts they would be prepared to share? What are they doing that I could copy or even improve (taking care not to break intellectual property laws)?

Is it time to take a fresh look at your business? Sometimes an outsider can help you see the wood for the trees so if you would like some help click here to send me an email or use the comment button to get in touch. By all accounts 2012 is going to be a challenging year but we have to remember that our customers will still be spending money on things that are important to them, we just have to make sure our offer meets their needs and that we make sure they know about it.

Let’s have a better deal for unemployed people.

The latest government figures show that there are currently 2.62 million people unemployed in the UK. The highest figure since 1994. In reality there are probably even more people who are not on the register but who would really like to work. At the same time the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is predicting that the UK will slip back into recession, hardly good news for the job market.The likelihood is that the unemployment statistics will remain high for the foreseeable future, not good news for those out of work or facing redundancy.

I know that there are some people who abuse our benefits system but living on state handouts is not fun and I see a lot of people trying to improve their lot in order to get a job or become self employed. The system doesn’t make it easy. The more I meet with people who have to ‘sign on’ every two weeks the more troubled I become with the quality of advice that they get. It seems that every job centre adviser has a different interpretation of the rules and there is no flexibility or room for negotiation.

Today a single mother of three told me that her job seeker’s allowance has been withdrawn because she will not give up the training course she is on! She is in the third year of a beauty therapy and hairdressing course and the course takes up 16.5 hours per week over two days. Apparently because the course is for more than 16 hours she is ‘not available for work’ so can’t claim job seeker’s allowance. When she is qualified she aims to set up her own business but in the meantime she needs to work to support her three children. She is available to work five days per week.

This lady has shown a real desire to improve her status in life. She has shown dedication to self development having studied for two years already. What she needs is a system with the flexibility to support her and her family until she can start her own business. She does not need to be spending hour after hour being passed from one benefit office to another to get a little financial assistance to keep her children fed and a roof over their heads. At the moment, because she has lost her job seeker’s allowance she is not entitled to housing benefit and she is also being told that she cannot have income support. What is she to live on? The irony is that if she gave up her course she could be on benefits whilst she looked for work but until she completes the course she has few qualifications with which to get a job.

This lady’s case is not unique, I hear similar stories all the time. I believe that the job market will remain in the doldrums for years to come and that people will need to take a new approach to work. This means more people will need juggle several part time jobs, to work freelance or set up their own businesses. We need a benefits system that will provide them with a safety net as they develop their own individual solutions. We need a flexible benefits system which is properly understood by those who administer it. We need a system that encourages people to improve their skills and to find work whether as an employee or self employed. Above all we need a system which does not treat the jobless as second class people and which knocks all self confidence and self respect from them.

I have been running an Enterprise Club for six months now helping people who are unemployed to set up their own businesses. It is slow progress for a number of reasons one of which is the lack of flexibility in the benefits system. Have you found a way to move from benefits in to self employment? Have you found the obstacles just too great? Whatever your experience I would love for you to share it here, click on the comments button at the top of the page.

 

Engaging with customers

It isn’t always easy to engage a prospective customer in conversation but that is what we need to do if we are to identify their needs and offer a solution.

Years ago retail staff used the greeting, ‘Can I help you?’ A really bad question because there are only two answers and most people use the negative one. Once we’ve replied, ‘No thanks I’m just looking’ the assistant is left with no real way of taking the conversation further. So retailers learned that ‘Can I help you?’ was a bad question and substituted, ‘Are you OK there?’ Even worse! It’s worse because it implies that I might look troubled and does nothing to convince me that the assistant could or would help.

This week, visiting Westfield in West London we discovered a new greeting, ‘Are you looking for anything in particular today?’ Oh dear, don’t retailers ever learn? What struck me and my students was that all of the assistants had a real desire to help but they go about offering that help in the wrong way. Ask a closed question and the chances are your prospect will give you the brush off leaving you stranded in no-man’s land.

Image via Wikipedia

Before we can begin to sell we need to establish a relationship with our prospect. ‘Good morning, how are you?’ is welcoming and shows interest. If the customer is a familiar face we need to make that greeting more personal, a name is helpful but anything which shows the customer they have been remembered will be appreciated.

It’s really important that we develop our own personal style. When I reviewed our Westfield visit with my retail management students we had all been greeted with, ‘Are you looking for anything in particular?’ It didn’t matter which shop we were in or which assistant spoke to us. That makes it all too easy for us to give the assistant the brush off without even engaging in eye contact.

Finding a personal style that is both genuine and engaging takes effort. We Brits have a reputation for talking about the weather so that could be one approach. The French are known for their concern with their health so ‘How are you?’ might work. A compliment about something our target is wearing is a possibility. Seeking an opinion from a prospect will often lead to a conversation, e.g. ‘this is a new line, what do you think?’ If all else fails then at least use open questions, ‘How can I help you?’ ‘What brings you here today?’

Do you have any tried and trusted ways to get your customers in conversation? Why not share your ideas by commenting on this article?

A classic marketing mistake

I’ve just been browsing the pages of London Business Matters and stumbled across an advertisement for a ‘creative communications agency’, to spare their blushes I will not name them. The ad is a classic example of how not to market your business.

There are two fundamental mistakes with this advertisement. The first is that the advertisement is all about the advertiser and what they do and not about what the prospect has to gain by using the advertiser. The second, and in this case more important, mistake is the use of English. If you are in the communications field surely it is a fundamental requirement to demonstrate competence in the subject.

The ad starts ‘** is a creative communications agency, which thinks strategically, applying all our expertise to deliver innovative communication solutions’. I will admit that light years have elapsed since I was in an English grammar lesson but I think there is some confusion of the subject in that sentence. First we have an inanimate agency with the ability to think. Clever! Then we move to talking about ‘our’ communication solutions. OK I might be accused of being pedantic after all the grammar check on Word found nothing wrong with the sentence but if one is peddling communication surely it is important to demonstrate an aptitude for the subject.

The ad doesn’t get any better. The next sentence is ‘Our approach results in producing both inspiring and effective solutions.’ What does that mean to the prospective customer? The ad goes on ‘It is our continual endeavor to provide clients with the very best publishing communication service.’ So they try hard but do they succeed? This is an English company specialising in communication but they have used an American spelling for endeavour. There’s a further spelling horror in the offer where they refer to ‘a free design consultation of you’re magazine’.

I suspect this advertisement will have been a complete waste of money for the agency concerned.

It is always difficult to make advertising work but we can increase our chances by focusing on our prospects and customers:

• What problems are they having that we can solve?
• How will they benefit from our solution?
• Why should they choose us rather than our competitors?
• How can we minimise the risk of purchase?
• How can we encourage them to read our advertisement? A captivating headline can help or a photograph might gain attention.

When you are reasonably happy with your advertisement get someone else to check it.  The best person will not be too close to your product or service so that they can ask questions which might reveal weaknesses in your message. Make sure that person can spell and will recognise grammatical errors. When you are happy test your advertisement on a small audience before you pay mega bucks for a campaign. Tweak it to see if you can improve response rates but only change one thing at a time or you will not be able to identify what it was that made the difference.

If you would like some help with your marketing drop me an email or comment on this article. An initial consultation is free and doesn’t commit you to anything.

Passion is not enough!

Yesterday I had an email which really upset me. It upset me because it accused me of negativity towards people and their dreams. Given that my whole raison d’etre is to help people achieve their dreams and goals this email really got me where it hurt but it got me thinking.

Having a passion for what you do can be what will keep you going when times are hard. It is my passion for what I do that will help me bounce back from what has been a very trying week. It is why I take criticism to heart and use it to think what can I do better? But it is not what puts money in the bank.

A successful business is built on having a workable, affordable solution for a problem that your target customer has. That problem has to be big enough and important enough for them to want to spend enough money on the solution you provide and to buy that solution often enough and at enough money for you to make a reasonable profit. Your customer does not buy your passion although it may help them to choose you over your competitor.

As a business adviser I am going to challenge my clients to establish that there is sufficient demand for their products or services at a price that allows them to make a viable profit. I will ask questions. I will challenge statements. I will play devil’s advocate. I will not say ‘that is a great idea’ just because it is my client’s passion. If that seems negative I’m sorry. The business world is tough and not getting any easier. I want my clients to succeed. If I challenge them to make better decisions, to re-think or revise their ideas then I have done my job. If you think I am wrong prove it.

No I haven’t thrown my toys out of the pram. I mean it. I will not always be right (the Dragons aren’t either!). My criticisms are intended to be constructive. Use them to go out and get the data, to test your product or service with potential customers, to sell what you do. Prove that your business idea is viable. I’ll be the first to join the celebrations and, with your permission, I will use you as an example here, in training sessions and in meetings  with clients.

I really hope that you can align a good business proposition with your passion and I genuinely wish you every success. What’s more I’d love to hear how you’ve done it, so why not share your story here?

Well done Harry Moseley. RIP

An inspirational young man.

As I write this #RIPHarry is trending on Twitter worldwide. (For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter that means that this is one of the most popular topics of discussion currently.)

Harry Moseley died at 11.10pm yesterday in his mother’s arms. He was just 11 years old.

When Harry was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour he vowed to do something to help others with a similar disease. He set up a charity, Help Harry Help Others, http://www.helpharryhelpothers.com/ and has raised over £85,000 from the sale of his hand made beaded bracelets . He also helped Cancer Research UK raise thousands more by speaking about his disease.

I didn’t know Harry but every picture shows him smiling. He clearly had the ability to inspire others and gained a great deal of support from a wide range of celebrities. Harry made a huge impact in his tragically short life. What is more he has left his grieving family with a purpose that will hopefully help them cope in the coming months and years.

Harry had an all too short time to make his impact on the world. When he was diagnosed he could, quite reasonably, have withdrawn and dwelt on how cruel life was. He didn’t and I think we owe it to Harry to take his example and make something significant of our lives. When your time is up will your name be trending worldwide on Twitter because you made an impact? Today isn’t too soon to decide your purpose in life and then start living it.