Word Marketing Blog

Writing

Early on we learned how to "write" our letters, although it was really more like drawing, wasn't it? Then we learned our name, and soon we moved on to sentences. Later we learned about syntax and flow. We were given the basic formula for a five paragraph theme. Some of us took to it right away, and others would have preferred to skip it. But whether you consider yourself a good writer or not, we all know what we like when we read it.

So what makes good writing... good? Here are a few tips.

Decide what details are important, and what can be left out.
I used to prefer :50 second scripts, but have since found that condensing the script to :30 seconds produces something better. When you are limited on the amount of words you can use, you are forced to find the best and most powerful words to get your message across. Brevity is the key. (This is a great exercise for becoming a better verbal communicator as well!)

Get their attention.
Start with something either completely outrageous, funny or meaningful to the audience. Yo have to break through whatever other distractions are taking place in their minds.

Pay attention to flow.
Read what you have written aloud. Is it clunky? Do you sentences seem to go on and on, forcing you to take a breath in the middle? Do they seem short and abrupt? Good writing will flow like a beautiful [piece of music. Be aware of the rhythm.

A few simple improvements will make a huge difference. Now go write something brilliant!

Show Don't Tell

by Anna Lawrence:

I had an assignment this week for my writing class - to find some TV commercials I liked and thought were effective, and identify why. Although I won't get into the specifics of the ads I chose (you have your own), I will tell you this. As I sifted through "Award-Winning" spot after "Award-Winning" spot, there is one thing the majority of them had in common. They "said" very little.

That's right - the ads that made the biggest impact had some of the shortest verbal scripts. Instead of telling viewers about a product or service, they SHOWED it. They used actions. And don't those speak louder than words?

Good writing teachers will tell you the same: do not tell... show.

Think about the ads you like the most - the ones you find powerful and effective. Now think about your own ads. Are you guilty of trying to cram in as much information about your sale/location/years of experience/friendly service as possible?

Now think about what matters most about your business to your customer, and show them! 

Inspiration

Don't waste time waiting for inspiration.

Begin, and inspiration will find you.

Ray Bradbury on life

Ray Bradbury is an American author known for his science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery writing. Among his most famous works are Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Not only does Mr. Bradbury write novels and stories, he's also a very accomplished essay writer. He has written essays on subjects such as arts and culture and was a special consultant to the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.

Ray Bradbury has made a very nice career through the power of the written word. He's fascinated generations of readers with worlds that he has brought into being through his ability to tell a story through words.

I've had the wonderful opportunity to have many conversations with several interesting folks over the years and I'm always intrigued by their thoughts about life.

Today, I'd like to share with you Ray Bradbury's thoughts on the subject.

He says:

"What is the function of mankind amidst the vast universe? To witness and celebrate! Look upon the Creator, the stunning terror of it all, and celebrate-otherwise, why are we here? Your job is to see, to appreciate- but also to work, improve yourself, improve the world. We represent {Him}, and we are beholden to that gift!" -Ray Bradbury

How do you see life today?

Take exactly two minutes and jot down what comes to mind. Only two minutes.

You might be surprised what comes out on paper.

Scanning, not reading

I was reading something interesting over the weekend.

The Internet has changed behaviors in people to a great degree. One area the writer of the article I was reading pointed out is that people don't read anymore.....they scan.

They go faster than ever before.

The big deal on this is........the writing is more important than ever.

We named our company Word marketing because we believed (still do) that the message is the most important thing in your marketing. The effectiveness of various delivery systems (radio, newspaper, television) is extremely dependent upon the memory and quality of the message your ad is conveying.

The delivery system that is the Internet has turned many into scanners, not readers. We scan the information quickly to determine it's value, then move on.

How to stand out in this quick-paced environment.

Have something interesting.

Remember the song from the 90's...."Things that make you go hmmm"?

Your business, product or service needs to make them go hmmmm. Something to make them stop scanning and hold their interest.

Sounds easy. It's not. Try and write something for your business. There's only one guideline.

Don't we-we all over yourself.

What's that mean? You can't make it about you. See how far you can get.

Also, the next time you catch yourself scanning and not reading. Ask yourself, what would make me stop? Email me and let me know the answer, I'm very curious.

Poets Of My Generation #2

Irving Berlin was originally born in Russia in 1888 and moved to the United States in 1891, then died in September 1989. He was considered a very prolific American songwriter, composer and lyricist.

In his time, Berlin was one of the very few who actually wrote both the words and music for his songs. Even though He never really formally learned how to read music beyond a basic level, he wrote and composed over 3000 songs. He produced 17 film scores and 21 Broadway scores.

Many songs that he wrote left an incredible mark on American culture, such as:

God bless America, land that I love

Stand beside her, and guide her

through the night with the light from above

from the mountains, to the prairies

to the ocean, white with foam

God bless America, my home sweet home

-God Bless America, Irving Berlin

Who isn't inspired by those words?

Words have the power to inspire, to motivate and to create. Irving Berlin was a master at crafting songs with the power of words. The ability to create customer interest about a product or service in contained in how the message is crafted with the power of words. Irving Berlin created an American iconic piece of history when he wrote God Bless America. There have also been iconic marketing messages crafted. What about "I'd like to teach the world to sing" or "where's the beef?" or even "whazzzuupp?"

Irving Berlin had the power of words working for him in 1942 when he wrote something I'm sure you've heard this Holiday Season:

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

just like the ones I used to know

where the tree tops glisten, and children listen

to hear sleigh bells in the snow

-White Christmas, Irving Berlin

Words are the most powerful thing in the universe. Actually, words created the universe when God said, "Let there be light!"

Irving Berlin is definately a Poet of my generation.

What marketing messages are you creating with words? Do you need help creating iconic images and messages. We'd love to help. Click here.

Word Of The Year-2006

As you know, words are very important to us at Word Marketing. So, when something as important as The Word of the Year is announced, we take note.

Last year, the Oxford University Press announced it's Word of the Year for 2005 was "Podcast".

The previous Word of the Year from Merriam-Webster include:

2003: democracy

2004: blog

2005: integrity

And the Word of the Year for 2006 based on votes to the Merriam-Webster website is :

"truthiness"- which means:

1. truth that comes from the gut, not books (and)

2. the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wished to be true

By the way, Stephen Colbert introduced this word on his show "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.

Where's Your Passion?

Everyone has a passion for something.

A deep rooted desire to engross themselves in that particular endeavor as deep as knees, then waist, chin until finally totally submerged.

A person told me this weekend every person needs that thing deeply, the reason for being, the thing to drive them.

If you don't know what your passion is, realize that one reason for your existence on Earth is to find out.

-Oprah Winfrey

We find often a reason many business owners are not satisfied with their advertising and are not seeing the results they should could be because the passion they feel and their customers feel for the business is not conveyed into the advertising messages.

Why do business with you?

One of the reasons we decided to call our business Word Marketing was because we felt words could properly convey the things business owners really wanted to say, but weren't saying it.

Words are the basis for human communication.

Passion is what you feel and what drives you on in your business.

How you make them intersect can make all the difference.

I worked for a really smart man back in the mid-80's named Charlie Mifflin. Charlie taught me a lot about business. I had what I thought was a really great idea and I told Charlie I thought we should do it.

He said no....conversation over....next subject.

About two days later, in the break room while we were getting coffee, Charlie said, "Tony, it's really not that your idea was bad, I thought it was pretty good, you just did a bad job of communicating it to me and why you thought it was important."

I've never forgotten the advice he gave me some twenty years ago. If I had a lot of passion for that idea, I certainly didn't communicate it to Charlie. So...he said no.

How clearly can you communicate your passion for your business? How clearly does your advertising communicate it? How clearly do your customers understand it?

Choosing the proper words in your advertising is more difficult than "we're here for all your ________ needs."

It certainly can be more effective, too.

Where's your passion?

Is it in your advertising?

Poets Of My Generation #1

Poets Of My Generation-Jack Tempchin

I'm starting a new series about writers whose work really strikes a chord in me. They might write songs, books, plays, poetry, commercials, essays, etc. Writers that throughout my life have meant something to me and the face of culture.

Jack Tempchin is probably not a name that immediately comes to your consciousness as instantly recognizable. But I bet you would recognize some of his best writing:

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay, against your skin so brown

And I want to lay with you in the desert tonight, with a billion stars all around

Cause I get a peaceful easy feeling

and I know you won't let me down

cause I'm already standin on the ground

The song Peaceful Easy Feeling by The Eagles probably owns enough real estate in your brain that you can't actually read those lyrics without having the melody of the tune going along with it. Jack Tempchin wrote that song and The Eagles with their Southern California sound and vocals took us right into the desert skies with the one that we wanted to be with. Who's actually in that mental picture with you? Don't answer that.

This masterpiece of classic musical material started with words. Words that transport you under a billion stars. Words that create mental images of sparkling earrings and cactus. Words that convey a confidence of a love affair that can't end badly because the initiator already has his feet on the ground and can't be disappointed.

And I found out a long time ago

What a woman can do to your soul

Ah, but she can't take you anyway

You don't already know how to go

I believe that Jack Tempchin wrote Peaceful Easy Feeling as a statement that love affairs can hurt, but both sides really go into it with eyes wide open and know what the consequences are.

Why can't commercials have this kind of writing? They can. Why do consumers like songs better than commercials? Because they don't have this kind of writing. Most commercials talk at the consumer. Most commercials don't put the consumer there like Jack put us in the desert.

Here's a another cool thing to share with you. I've known some great writers. I don't think I'm one of them, but I do this too. One thing the great writers I've known personally and the ones that I've read about share in common is that they always carry something to write on.

A pad, a notebook, a journal, a small book, scrap pieces of paper, a bar napkin (I've written some cool stuff on bar napkins). Ann Marie writes a lot of stuff on the back of Door Mail. She moves her favorite stuff over to a small black notebook, but sometimes in the kitchen a scrap piece of doormail becomes a canvas of wordsmithing.

Jack Tempchin started writing down the impetus of Peaceful Easy Feeling on a scrap piece pf paper that also included some other lyrics he was working on and a list for maybe a old car he was trying to fix up. (Notice the list of wiring, heater and paint).

If you write, carry something with you always that you can quickly jot your thoughts down on. Some writers call it catching "lightening in a bottle".

I hope you catch some lightening like Jack Tempchin did.

Most Influential with an *

I've sort of been caught up in nostalgia recently. This year marks the 25th year since I graduated High School. My reunion is coming up in November, so I've been walking down a road that I haven't navigated in quite some time.

Some refer to this avenue as "memory lane".

So far, it's been quite fun. I've re-united with some classmates that I haven't spoken to in a while and reviewed some pictures that have run the gamut of emotions from hilarious laughter to heartfelt tears. Of course, I've also dusted off the 1981 edition of my class Yearbook and read the writings of my fellow graduates. Writing is powerful and when connected with nostalgia, it can be very compelling.

Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan and Jeremy Salter have connected writing with nostalgia and a list.

Everybody loves lists.

They've published a book called "The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived."

The 101 Most Influential People in our society with an asterisk attached. They're imaginary.

It's all about characters in fiction, movies, myths, television and more have shaped our lives and society. Writing created all of these cultural icons. They were created inside someone's imagination and then transfered to the written page for creation in some sort of media for distribution to the public.

The number one spot on the list is occupied by a character created by advertising. The Marlboro Man. Can you hear the music from "The Magnificent Seven"? Bump bump bump bump...bump bump bump bump...no? Well, possibly before your time....but I bet most of us can because it occupies real estate in our memory. If not....try this....Download various_artists_the_magnificent_seven.mp3

Other icons on the list include Big Brother from 1984, Santa Claus, Batman, Luke Skywalker, Mickey Mouse, Barbie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more. In the book, each icon is accompanied by a short essay about it's impact on society.

I'm writing about this today just to illustrate to you how powerful writing can be and what kind of impact it can have on the public. What kind of impact is your advertising creating in the minds of your future customers? Are you creating an "iconic" brand that is being paid attention to? What would have to happen? Contact us and let's talk about it.

By the way, I was not voted "most influential" by my classmates. I was dubbed "most cooperative" without an asterisk.