Happy Birthday Strunk and White

For all you editors and writers out there, today is a day to celebrate...it's the 50th anniversary of "Strunk and White's The Elements of Style." What's amazing is this reference is still aplicable today (mostly anyway).

To learn more, visit Suite101, a literary blog.

Great Resource: Words that Sell

Clients often ask me how I figure out what to say. The answer is, I brainstorm. And to brainstorm, I go to my resource library. My favorite for brainstorming copy is Words That Sell : The Thesaurus to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas by Richard Bayan. It is simple to use and always helps me get in the copywriting groove.

Happy Birthday To Us!

We just turned 7! It's hard to believe that Jargon and Design Girl have been working side-by-side for 7 years. It's been great though. And we've learned a lot. Over the next few days, we'll be sharing the 7 biggest lessons we've learned over the last 7 years. Today, though, we're going to celebrate our success by working madly to meet a few big client deadlines.

If you happen to pass a chocolate cake today, take a bite for us.

Clear Communications Tip: Write in English

Here’s a fact: Technical experts tend to think that what they do is too complicated to explain in sixth-grade level English.

Here’s another fact: If you can’t explain what your product or service does in plain English, then you don’t actually know what it does.

I probably made some people mad with that statement, but I stand behind it. I’ve been a writer and editor for more than twenty years, with of much of that time spent working on technical information. Without exception, when the technical people I work with really understand how their product will meet their audience’s needs, they are able to explain it in non-technical terms.

So pull out that 6th grade grammar book and see if you can explain your product or service. It’s a great exercise.

Make Your Communications Clear

ABC’s GADGET is an agentless monitoring solution designed to ensure the availability and performance of distributed Web and VoIP IT infrastructures. This proactive, Web-based infrastructure monitoring solution is lightweight, highly customizable, and doesn't require high overhead agents on your production systems.

XYZ is a leading, full-service provider of information technology solutions based on the rapidly growing Linux computer operating system. Linux is the leading alternative operating system produced by “open source” computer technology and is widely recognized for its reliability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, especially in the areas of high-performance, internet and e-business solutions.

What?

Those two paragraphs are real examples from real companies explaining their product and value proposition (the names have been changed to protect the guilty).

Do you honestly have any clue what these companies do and what problems their products will help you solve? Where is a statement about you: what kind of problems you face, and how what they provide can help?

Poor marketing copy is epidemic. We are so accustomed to seeing it we barely register how bad it is. What can you do to make sure your copy is good?

1. Know what matters to your clients and focus on that. Your copy should be about them and their needs, not you.
2. Tell the audience what they need to know to make the decision to get more information from you.
3. Be consistent in your message.
4. Give your audience credit for being smart.
5. Hire an experienced marketing copy writer to develop your content.