Advice for younger writers (Or what I wish I knew when my shoes looked as new as yours)

The world is a different place than when I got out of school.

That’s a phrase I swore I’d never speak, much less write down. But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that:

A.     My parents are not, in fact, stupid

B.     Things change

C.     Keeping up with change is everything

So it is with the intention of helping you, younger writers, that I tell you things have, in fact, changed. I will share with you some public service announcements (PSAs) along the way in hopes that it helps you in your collective journeys. Here we go!

When I first graduated from college, there was no Internet (at least outside of the military) and certainly no Social Media. In fact, newspapers (my first two employers) were doing quite well, thank you very much.

If companies wanted to promote their products or services, they advertised. People couldn’t avoid ads back then (no TiVo, no Netflix) so that’s where I wanted to be. I could make great advertising and help companies promote whatever it was that they sold. My argument to myself: hey, who didn’t have things to sell? This is going to be great.

PSA: If you have to convince yourself of something, question it immediately.

While still in school, I sold advertising in the school newspaper. But it wasn’t selling, really. I attended a very large midwestern university with more than 50,000 students as a captive market (did I mention we were the school newspaper?) so we had to beat the advertisers back with a stick.

Selling? I didn’t know the half of it.

After graduation I thought this newspaper thing was going so well, I should do it full time. I accepted a job selling ad space for a local chain of weekly newspapers. I didn’t realize, until it was too late, that I was, in fact, selling space, not ads.

PSA: Make sure you understand what a job entails before you accept it (especially before you give up the one you already have).

In school, I had grown to love the creative side of crafting a message. This was also at a time when Macintosh started to mean less about fruit and more about computers. So, using a talent for writing I inherited from my mom, I started to realize I could lay down the occasional effective headline.

PSA: Try to notice the things you’re doing when people say things like, “You’re really good at that.” or “You make that look easy.” This is what you’re meant to do.

Alas, the weekly newspaper people didn’t hire me to create ads – they had a department for that, they informed me – I was supposed to be selling space. I was told to hit the streets. Yuck.

Needless to say, that first gig didn’t last long. The lesson from this part of the story is to learn to recognize when you don’t like something and get away from it as soon as you practically can. The key word here is practically.

PSA: Don’t quit your job today because you don’t like your evil boss. Everyone has to deal with evil bosses at some point. What I’m saying here is don’t waste too much of your life doing what you hate. This means you’ll have to work harder than most people, but it’s worth it.

So, I sold my soul to the corporate man and took a job in a Fortune 50 company to get out of the door-to-door sales business. I learned quite a bit in this next gig about communication to employees, rather than customers, and gained a lot of respect for my corporate communication brethren. But I needed to keep moving.

PSA: Different people like to do different things. Respect that. When I say I didn’t like sales, it’s because I sucked at it, not because it’s not a worthwhile vocation. Don’t stomp on others’ dreams as you’re looking for your own.

I finally landed a job in a marketing department, albeit a small one, and joined a four-person marketing staff of a large equipment and engine distributor. Perhaps this would be where I would make a difference (I told myself, both thumbs in the air!)

During my time with this firm – 10 years in all – the Internet came to be, cell phones happened and I became friendly with the corporate expense account. All good things, but I learned even more about business and life.

PSA: Appreciate what employers can give you beyond pay and benefits. Take advantage of any and all training opportunities and, if you don’t understand what a balance sheet is or how budgets are made — ask! At this company, I developed friendships I still have today and learned about the business world in ways I could never learn in school.

Rather suddenly, the company I worked for was purchased and my job was eliminated. This is not fun but, if it happens to you, realize two things:

A.     It’s not your fault

B.     This is exactly why you have a rainy day fund (Don't have one? Start one today.)

It was time for me to try the advertising agency world and I was more than ready. I was fortunate to hear about an agency that needed an account guy for one of its major accounts, which just happened to be my former employer. Remember the part about being sure what the job entails before you accept it? I should have known that no part of ‘account guy’ means writer.

PSA: Sometimes you’ll have to do work you don’t love in order to pay the bills. We all have. Don’t get mad at your employer or take this frustration out on your co-workers, they’re all trying to pay their bills, too.

It turns out that travel, another key element of my non-writing job, wasn’t something I loved either. And, with three small kids at home, they didn’t love it when daddy wasn’t home (and ‘daddy’ was my most important job).

But this time I had learned. I kept working and travelling while looking for something closer to home and finally found what I think is the perfect fit.

At an insurance company. Who knew?

PSA: Don’t pre-judge a potential employer based solely on their industry. A so-called boring category means it’s easier for your work to stand out!

Of course there are other words of advice I could offer, like start investing for retirement as soon as possible and make sure you get all of that company match, but you’ll get that elsewhere.

This diatribe is designed for writers, so I’ll leave you with these few final thoughts:

• Always read your work out loud before you publish it, you’ll be able to hear how it sounds to that little voice in your reader’s head

• Never publish a first draft; even if it’s a rush

• Always make sure you completely understand who your audience is before you start writing to them

• Never send a hastily written message (email, Tweet, etc.) you’ll almost always regret it; ‘save as a draft’ is a message purgatory created to save us writers from ourselves — use it

• Always be gracious to those you interview, they are providing you with an opportunity you wouldn’t have without their insights

• Never change direct quotes to fit your need

• Always try to be consistent; if your brand has standards, don’t just follow them, become the example of how they are followed

• Never present someone else’s work as your own

• Always be able to defend your position; you may not always win, but always have a well-thought-out point of view 

• Never stop writing

Three different levels of writing that radiate out toward your audience

Grammar is critical, but there’s so much more to consider

Some will debate if writing is grammar or something more. I’m in the camp that thinks of grammar as necessary (and often forgotten) but it’s certainly not all there is to writing.

As Ann Handley has said, “Writing is not grammar, writing is thinking.” Carmen Hill agreed, and recently added: “Yes, and grammar helps precisely express your thinking.” With that I couldn’t agree more.

Of course, most of us don’t have the luxury of writing just for the sake of writing. Many of us — even Ann Handley — have jobs. And people who have jobs write to support a brand, whether it’s a company brand or a personal brand.

So, while good writing is good thinking and grammar helps express that thinking, there is, of course, even more.

I recently developed a three-tiered approach to writing that my serve as a good way to help ensure you’ve got all the bases covered. Because each area affects the others, I see it as a series of concentric circles where the writer starts at the center and works his or her way outward toward the audience. I hope this idea will help you in your writing. So, here we go!

Start with core skills, work your way out

I believe the core skills needed for good writing are at the center of what a writer does. This includes pure writing measures for things like grammar, syntax, spelling, sentence structure…you know, the basics. If you’re not confident in your knowledge of these topics, study them. Learn them. Know them. They are your friend.

This also means including the right information (and nothing more). This requires asking the right questions…lots of them. If you haven’t done this basic level of work, your audience is likely to become distracted and unable to receive your message.

Layer on the brand’s voice

The next layer out from core skills is brand voice. This is where the basics that all good writers are capable of get more specific and differentiated. Is your brand a conversational brand (like Target) or are you more formal (like the IRS)?

The difference is important, because the way these two brands would say the same thing is necessarily different. That difference has to make its way into your writing, and this should happen right after the basic levels are assured.

And, of course, don’t forget message alignment

Finally, as you continue to move out toward your audience, the last filter you apply should be to insure your message is aligned with your messaging strategy. If there’s a creative brief, are you aligned with it? Have you done everything you can to assure that your specific audience will respond to your message in the way you intend?

What we need here is an example

Okay, here’s the message you have to deliver: your brand is changing the way it will accept orders and you can now accept credit cards (I know, it must the last brand on the planet. Sorry, I was a little short on examples today. Forgive me.)

Core skills: along with good grammar and spelling, include the basic information your audience will need:

·      Which credit cards will you now accept?

·      Is this additive or are you doing this for the first time?

·      When does this begin?

·      Do I have to use a credit card?

Brand voice: tell the story your way

If this message were coming from Target: “Hey, we can now accept that credit card. Hurry up and get over here!”

If this were coming from the IRS: “Effective April 15, 2016, we will be able to accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover Card.”

Message alignment: spend some time in your audience’s shoes

You can quickly see this message would be different for millennials than it would be for Baby Boomers. But what about male millennials (One swipe and you’re gone!) vs female millennials (Never worry about having to carry real money again!)

Of course, no approach like this is perfect for every situation. But I hope this will give you some ideas as you’re writing and perhaps it will help you hone your message as you’re creating it

Good luck!

 

Beware headline generators, formulas and shiny red apples

You see more of them everyday. Ads, blog posts and social media posts talking about the latest headline generator or headline writing formula.

Please.

There are no shortcuts here people. If you want great design, you hire a great designer. If you want great photography, hire a great photographer. Great video? You get the idea.

Heck, if you want a great haircut, you don’t look for a magic formula — you go see a professional at a great barber or salon.

Guess what? If you want a great headline, you need to hire a great writer.

I know, I know. People out there will tell you they have statistics that can prove their generator/formula/magic potion will help you write the best headlines and earn attention all across the kingdom.

When I hear that, it reminds me of scary things, like witches who offer up apples to innocent young girls — “Just take a bite,” she says, “and the prince will fall in love you.”

Sound familiar?

We all know how the story of Snow White goes. Her insecurity is manipulated and she’s fooled into thinking she needs magic to have the best headlines, er, I mean to have the prince fall in love with her. Of course, the prince was already in love with Snow White, as he would prove later, saving her life with true loves fist kiss…but I digress.

There’s no doubt that the arguments being made for magic headline generators are compelling. The apple is, indeed, shiny and looks delicious. But don’t fall for those who would tell you they have your problem solved. If it sounds too good to be true, you know it probably is.

When you start to dream about having the fairest headlines in the land, don’t ask a magic mirror — hire a really good copywriter.

He or she is the real prince of the story and they would love to help you.

Content Marketing: it’s not your grandma’s marketing (unless, of course, your grandma is Betty White)

She’s 93 years old, stars in a show called Hot in Cleveland and has more than one million followers on Twitter (is your grandma even on Twitter?).

She’s Betty White and she’s everything that’s right with marketing today.

In fact she’s proof, I’d argue, that what we know as Content Marketing today will simply be Marketing tomorrow.

Let me tell you why.

See, like typical grandmas, marketing used to be all about the safe and sound. Put your (product related) message where the largest audience is and wait for the world to knock down your door.

Oh, sure, the kids all liked the sugar cookies at grandma’s house, too…because that’s all they had to choose from. But that strategy won’t work anymore, for grandma or brand marketers. There are simply too many other doors that all look the same.

And sugar cookies? Please.

Today’s marketing — Content Marketing — gives people what they want and pulls them toward a helpful brand, rather than pushing a message at them that’s sponsored by a brand. (Yuck.)

News flash brands: people have found ways to avoid these messages; they're even willing to pay not to see them — can’t you see they don’t want them?

The best example may be Betty herself. Is she in a rocking chair at some nursing home playing it safe? No way! She’s rocking hilarious TV commercials for brands like Snickers, hosting her own practical joke show Off Their Rockers and starring on Saturday Night Live.

Let the difference here be a lesson to you, brands. Do you want to sit around pushing advertising messages and waiting for your time to come (looking at you Radio Shack)? Or do you want to get out there and market yourselves with the gusto of one Betty Marion White?

I would recommend the latter.

And it’s official: the word ‘content’ is just too generic

So you’re watching a cooking show and the chef tells you, ‘Now, take some ingredients — you know, good ingredients — mix them together, bake at 350 degrees for an hour.  Viola!'

Or you go to a car dealership and tell the first person you meet, ‘I want to buy a car, a really good car… today.' You’d probably get lots of attention, but it’s doubtful you’re going to get what you need.

Let's face it, like the words 'ingredients' and 'car,' the word content has simply become too generic to be out there on its own.

Content can mean so many things, including: the words on a (digital or printed) page, a photograph, video, movie, story, poem, bumper sticker, billboard, text message, tweet, email, even some commandments carved out of a stone tablet.

It’s all content.

So talking about content alone — especially in the marketing world — just isn’t helpful anymore. But don’t despair, it’s not the end of the marketing world.

All you need to do is provide some context. Are you talking about marketing your brand with content? That’s Content Marketing. Are you talking about defining how your content will be used? That’s Content Strategy. Where and how your content is stored? Content Management. See how it works?

Here’s a handy-dandy chart designed to help:

Doing this?                                                                     Call it this!

Using content to market your brand	Content Marketing
Defining how your content is to be used	Content Strategy
Deciding where & how your content is stored	Content Management
Choosing how content will promote your brand	Content Marketing Strategy
Using others’ content to promote your brand	Content Curation
Allowing others to use your content	Content Syndication
Delivering your content to others	Content Distribution
Determining how your content will be delivered	Content Distribution Strategy

See? It’s easy. So the next time you’re using the word content, please give some thought to including context so your audience will know exactly what you mean.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my cooking class. Ciao!

Content Marketing: a not-so-new way of thinking

Ask 100 people in the marketing world today about Content Marketing and you’ll get 101 different answers. It’s one of the most popular and, at the same time, ill-defined terms around. Why?

I believe Content Marketing is more of a philosophy than a specific tactic or strategy and I’ll tell you why — it’s because of how we got here. What created Content Marketing was a confluence of three different but related technological advances:

1.     The advent of technology that allows consumers to avoid marketing messages like never before, such as DVR technology, satellite radio and streaming video

2.     Other technology that allows a brand to become a publisher of its own messages without the need for traditional media; this includes web technology and Social Media

3.     And, finally, technology that connects consumers more than ever, including smartphones, blogging and the increasing importance of consumer reviews

The first change probably seems obvious, but we can’t underestimate how this has changed the ways brands are spending their marketing dollars. While the TV commercial isn’t dead yet, except for things that have to be seen live (like concerts and sporting events) it may be on life support. Individual consumers are now in charge of their own TV programming schedules and can — and do — skip commercials at will.

The second point may be less obvious, simply because it’s been a more gradual change. Companies have operated websites for more than a decade and Social Media, while newer, has been around a while, too. But companies are now turning to these new(er) media as a way of directly and efficiently communicating with their target audiences without the need of an intermediary like television or newspapers.

The third change is less about technology and more about what people are doing with it. Today’s mobile-enabled consumers are ever-connected; with each other, with the brands they prefer and with the world at large. With blogging, anyone who wants to can at least try to be an expert about something...essentially for free. And nearly all of us have the world’s information right in the palm of our hands. Brands have to deal with these new dynamics everyday.

Enter Content Marketing.

As brands look for ways to deal with all of these changes, they have an opportunity to think differently about how they send messages to consumers. Quickly leaving are the days when a brand pushed its messages at consumers. They must now talk with them. This is the essence of Content Marketing. It doesn’t have to be digital (although most communication today is) and it doesn’t have to be high production value like traditional TV spots (although video will continue to be prominent).

In fact, Content Marketing as a philosophy has been around for hundreds of years. The idea of giving consumers the information they want in exchange for loyalty existed in the 18^th century when Benjamin Franklin promoted his print shop — not by offering discounts on printing or even talking about printing at all, but by giving people the information they wanted, like astrology and weather predictions…in Poor Richard’s Almanac.

Content Marketing isn’t a specific tactic like blogging or email. And it isn’t some esoteric strategy only the experts can understand. It’s the idea that people will listen to you and may — may — do business with you if you help them.

Now, isn’t that something worth doing…and doing well?

Three things to remember when creating content

Let’s call them the content triumvirate. Not just because it sounds good (which it does) but also because — if you include all three of these things — I believe you will almost always be creating great content.

If you make sure your content is relevant, connects emotionally with a targeted audience and is within your brand’s authority, you’re well on your way to content greatness.

Let’s take a quick look at what each of these mean:

Make it relevant

Seems obvious. But the important part here is relevant to whom? When creating a message of any kind, whether it’s a TV spot or a postcard, you must make sure it’s relevant to your target audience…otherwise, why should they care? But here’s the thing: this means you must have a target audience in the first place.

Ensure that it connects emotionally

Truly good content must make an emotional connection with your aforementioned audience. Anything else is just content, not Content Marketing.

Stay within your brand’s authority

This is the least intuitive of the three but, perhaps, the most important. Your audience will listen to you if your message is relevant and connects with them emotionally. But the message also has to be on a topic in which you have some authority. For example, if you make shoes (like Converse) anything shoe related will make sense coming from you. But what if you send a message about how to fix a leaky sink (Converse Liquid Drain Opener)? Not so much.

As you may have noticed in the graphic version of this concept, the spot where all three things converge is quite small…and that’s by design. Make no mistake, this is not an easy task.

But, if you’re able to do these three things simultaneously — creating relevant content that connects with a targeted audience emotionally while staying within the space of your brand’s authority — you’ll be creating great content indeed.

Good luck!