Now THIS is viral marketing at its best

Viral marketing is a damnably tricky thing to do right. Trust Volkswagen and its ingenious ad agency to teach us the lesson that straddles the fine line between inspiring creatives to throw themselves from the nearest precipice and inspiring them to do greater work.

It makes me want to buy a VW just so the car manufacturer can continue to invest in such fantastic marketing initiatives.

And who DOESN’T want a little more fun in their everyday lives? You surely know how it is – you can be feeling a little glum, watching a drear world carry out its mundane Groundhog Day-style existence, when something touches you, and your mood is immediately uplifted. Sometimes you can barely force the smile away; you stroll instead of walk, that spring in your step suddenly free of restrictive rust. Could be a baby gurgling with delight, could be a chance encounter with one of those can’t-help-but-like-them-do-they-talk-to-everyone-or-am-I-special strangers, but a musical staircase will have the most beautiful music playing in your ears all day long I suspect.

AH Copy interviewed at the Social Media Portal

The Social Media Portal talks to Anthony Hewson at The Copywriter’s Blog and AH Copy about blogging, copywriting and social media.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about The Copywriter’s Blog, what is it and what are your objectives?

AH: It’s a place for me to dish out advice on topics linked with my primary business activities: copywriting, copy editing and proofreading. I have found for the most part when you go to specialist blogs that the same topics get regurgitated in slightly different formats every few months, so I wanted to go a little beyond that and apply my experience working in small family firms and international corporate outfits to open up slightly wider debates…read the rest of the interview at the Social Media Portal

The three Cs (and the fourth)

Imagine a relationship between two people.

Maybe it’s yours, with a partner or a friend. Maybe it’s your parents’ relationship, or a friend’s marriage.

Maybe it’s blissful, maybe it’s wobbly from time to time, or maybe it’s a continual stream of misunderstandings and niggles. If it’s good, you can bet the couple in question have got the three Cs down to a T. If it’s bad, they’re not applying the three Cs.

“What are these three Cs,” I hear you mutter impatiently, “and what the blazes has this babble about personal relationships to do with my business?”

The three Cs are communication, co-operation and consistency.

In a relationship most people would agree that communication is fundamental to success. A couple that communicates well is given a greater chance of success; each party knows the other’s views, concerns and hopes.

Co-operation ought to speak for itself. No relationship can work if the people involved are continually at loggerheads. Identifying one another’s needs and goals, and working together to meet and achieve them is critical to fulfilment.

Consistency needn’t mean predictability or lack of spontaneity. It does mean peace of mind, no misunderstandings and no mixed messages.

And the reason this is all relevant is that business is a series of relationships.

Think of the various relationships between directors, managers and staff; department and department; company and stakeholders; company and staff; company and press; company and public; and company and client.

Now think about which departments are involved in these various relationships. Imagine all the room for miscommunication and misunderstanding, and the innumerable adverse ways this could affect your business.

You can reduce the risk of lost sales, failed client relationships, staff disengagement, department rivalry and damage to public confidence in your company by applying the three Cs carefully.

How?

The most sensible way to ensure there is good communication internally and externally, co-operation between departments and consistency of message is this: all communications channels sit under the stewardship of one senior staff member, preferably at board level.

He or she should have a modern and collaborative approach, great delegation skills and trust in his or her teams, and an awareness of technology and its benefits.

It’s also crucial that relevant departments (marketing, communications, public relations, human resources and IT) understand that they are service departments first and foremost. They’re there to aid staff, other departments, and the company as a whole to achieve aims. They’re facilitators. I’ve seen IT departments, for instance, with their own agenda and the mistaken belief that they should choose and own all technology. Wrong. IT is a collection of tools to help others do their jobs. The role of the department is to facilitate this – to store, safeguard and assist in the dissemination of company data. HR is more than capable of evaluating the software it requires to do the job, IT needs to confirm the software will work, and then do everything possible to deliver and support that choice.

The understanding that these departments are service departments is vital to cut out conflict and ensure co-operation.

Consider now all the methods of communication a company might use.

Internally:

• Email, intranet, news announcements, department and company newsletters & in-house magazines, training guides, introduction pack, staff handbooks, document templates and more

Externally:

• Email, website, blog, advertising, marketing material, sales letters and bid documents, company newsletters and magazines, sponsorship, signage, branded goods, press releases, articles, report & accounts and other stakeholder communications.

It’s a lot to co-ordinate. And it’s originating from a number of different departments. These are all communication channels which need to be perfected in order to exploit them fully. But you can only hope to communicate internally and externally with real and positive impact if your decision-makers and heads of department are communicating and co-operating consistently.

That attitude, along with the methods and processes they should put in place, will greatly improve internal co-operation and communication. That in turn enables rounded, co-ordinated, complementary and non-duplicating external communications.

Is that it?

No. You see, I’ve left out two communications documents that deliver the third C.

Consistent tone of voice for your internal and external communications is a sign of professionalism. It increases staff engagement, public belief and client buy-in. The same goes for meaningful, aesthetic and consistent branding.

The two missing documents are the company style guide and the corporate identity guidelines. I’ve mentioned these previously as part of how to protect your brand, and they should become a company’s bible, and made available to every member of staff. In combination they help every department and every employee to deliver consistency.

So, the three Cs: co-operation, communication and consistency.

But wasn’t there a fourth?

Yep – and perhaps predictably enough, it’s copywriting.

Every element of every communications channel requires copywriting. That doesn’t mean you have to bring in a freelance copywriter if you already have the skills in-house, but the three Cs demonstrate the importance of the fourth – good copywriting. Your copywriter doesn’t just help you create the style guide and corporate identity which should inform your every communication; he or she has a direct bearing on every piece of communication you embark upon. It’s not fluffy nonsense (although it sure as hell isn’t working in a steelworks) – it’s fundamental to the success of every relationship your company is involved in.

The jargon balance

Hmm. The corporate world is full of abbreviations and acronyms. Buzzwords abound in every industry, mystifying and exciting in equal measure.

It’s a tightrope, and one slip means the loss of potential clients.

Like the rest of this cruel and complicated world, writing and communicating isn’t just black and white. Pepper your prose with jargon and you might alienate the people in need of your expertise. And while ‘jargon-free’ is a selling point, you do have to demonstrate that you’re skilled with the tools of your trade. Want visitors to your site? Your SEO copywriter* needs to draw together a clever combination of industry keywords and plain language key phrases to give you good search engine visibility.

There’s a simple way of getting the jargon balance right.

• Firstly and most importantly, consider carefully the message you want to communicate; the target readership and its level of understanding; and the image you want to convey.
• Secondly use a professional copywriter. Copywriters specialise in crafting custom communications to draw, intrigue and of course explain.
• Finally, work closely together to ensure that any ambiguities are cleared up, your knowledge is beyond doubt and your approach neither patronising nor superior.

Throughout this process bear in mind that every piece of writing you produce, whether advertising copy, email marketing, or even a niche newsletter, should fit your established brand. People beyond your target audience may well be reading, and therefore judging. That can have an impact on recruitment, press perception, sales and more beyond. Walk that tightrope with precision, and take no chances. Above all, write for real people.

*An SEO copywriter is one who specialises in writing search engine optimised text, which in combination with other SEO techniques will boost the website in question up the search rankings for selected words and phrases.

How to protect your brand

Brand is not just a logo, not just a visual identity. Sure, it’s where the concept came about – branding irons marked livestock with a sign that identified each beast as the property of an individual. But brand means so much more. It’s how you want to be perceived. It includes every possible visible facet of your company. Ultimately it’s a feeling you wish to invoke. And feelings, we all know, can be volatile, unpredictable and irredeemably damaged.

So how do you maintain the brand you were aiming to create, its identity and integrity? With rules, I’m afraid. Rules and a robust system of procedures to enforce them. Above all, you need the buy-in and support of the company’s upper echelons and the support for and from a team dedicated to reputation management.

At a minimum there are four sets of rules you should have in place – a checklist of policies which ensure brand protection and reputation management.

1. Press policy
2. Social media policy
3. Corporate identity guidelines
4. Style guide

Press policy

‘No comment’ can do more damage than silence. It carries the whiff of guilt. Equally you don’t want staff, and that should include Board-level personnel, chatting to the press at will. Every company should have a press policy in place, directing all press enquiries to a PR department that’s skilled in dealing with the wiliest or most persistent of journalists.

PR gets a bad name – some regard it as spin, hiding the truth, an excuse for news, and worse besides – but without the benefit of a sound press policy your company can miss out on the chance to pass on positive news, and carry out damage limitation on negative news. Your PR department protects your brand, your investment, your clients, and the livelihood of all your employees.

Social media policy

Like it or loathe it, social media is more than a passing fad. According to a UK Global Web Index survey conducted in January 2009 people trust the opinions of their online social network, and even bloggers they’ve never met, more than television news presenters, and only marginally less than colleagues. Around 40% of UK adults use social media at least once a month, and that number is predicted to increase. Ignore it at your peril; embrace it to control it.

Quite a few companies have suffered adverse publicity through the internet. It’s word of mouth on a global and instant scale. Construction companies have had site staff film dangerous and foolish antics and published their footage on YouTube, complete with company name emblazoned on seemingly ironic safety gear. Elsewhere staff have used social media to deliver damning verdicts on their employers and colleagues. Bad news folks, on the web nothing is truly private. A zero-tolerance attitude towards social media won’t protect you and can even generate negative publicity in itself. It’s time to take social media seriously.

Corporate identity guidelines

The original meaning of brand still matters as part of a whole. Designed well, a logo and rules about its application can influence public perception. Beyond the use of such established psychology, a company’s visual identity is a statement of professionalism. Consistency is sacrosanct.  Any change should be undertaken with a specific aim in mind, and carefully timetabled and introduced. Shoddy use of your visual brand smacks of a ‘don’t care’ attitude, and even at a subconscious level your customers and clients may react negatively.

Think about it – when you receive mailings from Virgin trying to convince you to take up their latest broadband offering – every word, every colour, every instance of logo is positioned just so. If global firms place such importance on corporate identity, why should you be any different? If you want clients to respect your brand, you need to do the same.

Style guide

A style guide might be built into your corporate identity guidelines, but should be available as a standalone document. It should go without saying that both style guide and corporate identity manual are distributed to every department and available to every individual. Of particular importance are bid teams, marketing, PR/comms teams, secretaries/PAs, print & graphic design departments, as well of course as any external PR, marketing, creative or design agencies you engage.

Your style guide isn’t just about when to use a capital or when an abbreviation is acceptable, although these are vital components. It outlines your corporate tone of voice and increases consistency across your communications channels. And as with visual identity, consistency is the essence of a professional image. Why would you want your clients, or even your own staff, to receive anything but the impression you wish to convey?

And why am I, a copywriter, telling you these things? Two reasons. With a background in corporate communications and public relations I’ve seen first-hand how everyone from salesman to Board member can put a foot wrong. I’ve also seen how useful an external perspective can be and how important it is to have your policies worded in such a way their contents are not just understood but embraced.

You’ve spent time and money, sweat and tears creating a brand of which you can be proud – now don’t overlook protecting it.

giveamonkey.com goes live!

It’s been a little while in the making, but social life tool www.giveamonkey.com is now live and active.

giveamonkey is a website allowing users to create wish lists for any occasion, plan parties and events, shop online, and share any celebration with friends. Most importantly, it’s completely free to use. Personally I think the really clever aspect, and one which I’ll be making use of first and foremost, is the Giftermonkey tool, which allows a user to grab the details & photo of any item on the entire web and add it to their wish list. Genius.

I was contracted to carry out all copywriting for the website, brainstorm concepts and development ideas and help with social media aspects of the launch. Pretty obvious then that I’m pleased as that big-nosed feller to see the site go live. Get along there and start party planning and getting your Christmas gift list sorted…

S&M slashes – right or wrong?

Before I go any further, I’d better clarify that by S&M I mean sales & marketing. While the morals of sado-masochism might be a rather diverting topic, it’s not one within the realms of my experience.

Every few days we receive (often conflicting) messages from the media about the current economic climate and the outlook for months and years to come. I won’t let myself get drawn into the role the TV and newspapers are playing in magnifying and prolonging the situation. Instead I’m going to talk about the all-too frequent corporate response – slashing budgets and very often staff numbers in the sales & marketing departments.

You can see why they think it makes sense. Savings on outgoings and reduced overheards. Instant savings at a time when nobody’s buying.

Hmm. Nobody buying. Is that true? Certainly some industries have seen vast slumps in sales: the car and building industries to name a couple. But most consumers are still buying, they’ve just become more cautious and started shopping around and spending less. Which means there’s still a pot of money out there to grab a share of; it’s just that the markets have become yet more competitive.

And as for B2B, well, the same applies. Spending might be reined in, but ultimately every business needs certain products and services in order to function. Again, smaller pot, more competitive market.

Now what’s the best way to make sure your company gets its hands on some of the cash that is being spent? Er…pretty much the same way as always: sales and marketing. Except more so, because the pot’s smaller and it’s being guarded more closely.

Presumably if you freeze advertising budgets, cut marketing activity and lay off sales staff you’re going to be relying rather heavily on luck to maintain income. Not something you’d be anxious to include in a business plan: “Our five-year strategy is heavily focused on an intense and carefully co-ordinated combination of crossing our fingers, praying to assorted deities and twiddling our thumbs nervously.”

It might seem counter-intuitive to assign more cash to sales & marketing when times are tough, but it means not only are you increasing your chances of beating your competition, but you’re better equipped as the economy recovers.

If you’ve laid off half your sales staff, how do you handle demand as it increases? By recruiting more staff, which costs time and money. Instead a company could look at avoiding excessive redundancies by offering short-term reductions in basic salary, or commission-only salaries as an alternative. Either way a company should make every effort to support staff in looking for more stable roles as they work. That would mean living the corporate social responsibility policy, but potentially reaping a great financial benefit as well as countering negative PR.

Get your sales & marketing staff embracing social media, or engage a freelance copywriter or social media specialist to work with the teams, and the distance between you and your competitors could be even greater.

But to use a cliché beloved of my AO Level French teacher, perhaps I’m preaching to the converted. Perhaps it’s your seniors, or the Board that’s the problem. Read the article Is your board damaging your brand? to find out more…

Franchising guidebook published

Basil Plews‘ book The Franchise Way has now been published and is available to buy. All budding business owners take note…

My role in the production of Basil Plews’ book The Franchise Way was as freelance copy editor and proofreader.

Basil approached me because the original print house he was dealing with claimed to have proofread his book, but when he got it back there were more errors than before… Now that’s got to be dispiriting.

Proofreading turned into copy editing, as I can seldom hold back if I think there’s room for an improving tweak, but the bulk of the book is Basil’s insight into the franchising world. Enough to give a chap ideas.

Is your Board damaging your brand?

I hope you’re reading that headline disbelievingly, aghast at the very notion. But I know a good few people who’ll be nodding in recognition and sighing wearily.

There are a lot of firms out there run by Boards without representation from the ‘business’ side of the business; particularly in more traditional industries. So very often marketing, public relations, comms, sales, IT and so on are viewed really as a necessary evil. We need them, we wish we didn’t need them, and really we know best anyway.

If you’re involved in company branding, whether your function be corporate communications, public relations or marketing, I’d like to think you value the role you play. You’ve spent years honing your skills, gaining qualifications, perhaps even pursuing your passion in your spare time. Sure, it’s your career, and for your benefit, but the primary way of applying your expertise is for your company. Loving your company helps, but if you’re a pro, you do your best regardless.

And then your ideas and recommendations get scuppered or ignored. You’ve made a fool-proof case, undertaken endless research, spent valuable department resources… Only to get the dreaded ‘no’. Worse still, decisions are being made without your input or your expert advice is ignored. Perhaps you’ve even got a department head who’s, to put it politely, rather behind the times.

Ouch. It’s the sort of situation that can put your stress levels through the roof, stop you sleeping, affect personal relationships and damage your self-esteem and even professional image among colleagues. The company of course isn’t just suffering the results of ill-informed and often over-cautious decision making; it’s alienating its staff.

Recognise this? Your Board is damaging your brand.

The big question, and one I fear without an easy answer, is ‘how does one address this?’

The shortest answer I can give is: evidence.

That includes meaningful statistics, relevant case studies and proposals that answer every conceivable question or objection. And keep it jargon-free. People are suspicious of and turned off by abbreviations like ROI, no matter how important the actual concept might be. Recognise that if your Board is reluctant to relinquish control, or trust your decisions, they’re unlikely to be swayed by buzzwords and trends. Link every suggestion you make to sound marketing strategy.

And if you’re one of those unfortunate people whose line manager or director is the kind to take the credit for your ideas (and we ALL know they exist), then keep a dated digital and printed copy of everything you do. Copy people in to emails you send – in the spirit of teamwork you understand… Copy yourself in. And if you think your manager is blocking you…don’t be afraid of a little honest deviousness. Nope, not the oxymoron it sounds. Subtly lace your work with your identity; solicit opinion on your ideas from respected colleagues outside the department. Make sure the right people know who’s making the suggestions and indeed the headway.

I’d consider creating, and possibly in your own time so that no accusations of time-wasting can be levelled at you, what could be called a personal newsletter. At first it’s a diary of your activities, your thoughts and ideas, your research and observations and of course your recommendations. Tie a month’s activity together and you have a newsletter. Incorporate the activities of the wider department and it’ll look less like bragging, and if distributed effectively can enhance the understanding and appreciation of your value to the company, its staff and of course its Board.

You’re in a tricky position, but it’s a fight worth having the stomach for.

Direct marketing – long copy v short copy

From time to time, as a freelance copywriter, you take a look at the websites and portfolios of other freelance writers. It’s part research, part curiosity, and ends up either ego-boosting or ego-bashing. You’re never quite sure which until you get there.

Sometimes you’re prompted by an article. I was notified of a Q&A session on LinkedIn concerning direct marketing. The question solicited opinion on how effective long copy is against short copy. Opinion, by and large, rejected long copy on a personal level but acknowledged that the received wisdom is that it ‘works’. All the statistics I’ve seen imply that this is true.

I personally, while more than capable of writing at length, don’t like reams of sales or marketing material. Just the sight of a page where I can see I’ll have to scroll indefinitely is enough to hit the tiny X at the top right of the page.

What’s more, most of the proponents of long copy in direct marketing appear that I’ve come across seem to be American. Perhaps in my eyes even the British practitioners’ websites take on that US image.

So, long copy is a turn-off for me, but I’m intrigued to know what others think. Forget the received wisdom – I’m looking at personal responses here – does long copy direct marketing get you buying, or do you break out in hives and move on?

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