Fabulous critique of ghostwriting
CEOs shouldn’t write. Not because they’re useless at it, but because their time is better spent elsewhere. CEOs should be leading and doing, not researching and writing. But they should still (often) be the public face of the business; which is why ghostwriting has become commonplace. That’s fine (writers have made a good living from ghosting […]
Is there room for comedy in B2B?
A cracking piece from VentureBeat entitled ‘Is there room for comedy in B2B?’ http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/05/is-there-room-for-comedy-in-b2b/ To which the answer is, of course, a resounding yes – but the author’s point is that even in a B2B context, we speak to each other as people first and business owners/buyers second. The age of corporate posturing is long […]
Newsletters: the Newschool is positively oldskool…
In this piece, entitled “Why everyone is obsessed with email newsletters right now”, TechCrunch reminds us that sometimes the old ways are the best. Great content, effective metrics, engagement across age and gender barriers – what’s not to love?
Good enough v brilliant – the changing roles of content delivery
With bags of experience as a jobbing journalist, I have been through the fear factor of technological change before. When I was in my 20s, at the vanguard of online writing, I laughed in my youthful way at how people like me were supplanting much more experienced journalists. It’s not really funny (people’s livelihoods never […]
A living style guide for corporate writing – it’s about ‘feel’, not rules.
Corporate journalism style is a living and evolving beast. When I began writing, over twenty years ago (eek!), many businesses spent months putting together lengthy droning white papers; today, nobody has time to read them. Yet, before we dismiss them with a laugh, it’s worth remembering that in those days there was a different subtext. These […]
The death of long-form has been greatly exaggerated…
Lovely piece here from the gang at LikeMinds (interview with a VP at Ogilvy) on the value of long-form in advertising. The idea that we have the attention span of a goldfish is simply not true – and particularly in B2B, there is immense value in the consultative sell. Bespoking, relationship-building and value generation all […]
Is Buzzfeed really that bad?!
Back in June, that doyen of business reporting, Robert Peston, gave the Charles Wheeler Memorial Lecture at the University of Westminster. He spent some of his time sticking a couple of well-manicured fingers up at Buzzfeed, the hugely successful content stream business which relies significantly on Listicles (lists of bitesize nuggets) and animated GIFs. He says, […]