Crave content? This infographic knows what you want
We love this cracking infographic - no, hang on, list, of the most seductive types of content. The fact that it's pointlessly rendered as an infographic says more about our current obsession with infographics, but that doesn't detract from the quality of the list itself... Enjoy.
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You are not your ideal customer
This fabulous article was prompted by the (hugely expected) to-and-fro of the tech commentariat about Apple's launch of their Watch. It's an excellent object lesson in understanding the product landscape, and its fundamental lesson is: you are not - or certainly unlikely to be - the ideal customer for your own product or service. Even if you are the ideal customer (after all, plenty of people start a business to create things that they themselves like), you're certainly not the only demographic or customer. This is important for communicators and copywriters too. We don't write and produce for CEOs, founders or boards. We produce for customers and slices of the market - slices which are becoming ever thinner. It's never been more important to know who you're talking to.
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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 for decades). But the vast throughput of content required for a well-rounded content marketing campaign means that ill-qualified writers are often being forced into creating second-rate content which neither serves the writer, the CEO or the brand. It's a big problem, it's one which only clarity and bespoke creation will solve, and it's one beautifully articulated in this piece from TechCrunch.
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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?
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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 are). The fundamental difference for my generation is not that I was a better writer. I was just a better all-rounder. In 1990, a good journalist could rely on an editor to polish up their text, research pictures, run a spellcheck and liaise with clients. By 2005, that was the preserve of a select few lucky dinosaurs. I was used to doing it all myself. And I wrote a mental note: don't get lazy. The tech trend is inexorable. Don't think writing is a given living.
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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 documents would stand in stone for a year as the foundation of a company's product positioning. They were rich in careful research and evidence. They weren't fundamentally useless, they just applied to a different sales and engagement process. Today, engagement has changed, and so has the writing. The style is conversational; and storytelling - painting pictures of human experience - carries more weight than a bunch of percentages. That co
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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 take time, especially when the product or service is not a commodity. Twitter and Vine are certainly fine And quick hits are surely engaging But when you take time (as I have with this rhyme) You'll find that despite the lack of scansion and use of second rate poetic devices that the results for your brand of a richer and more explanatory process can be better buy-in, which is amazing. I thank you.
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