Marketing Communications. Write Right Tip #3: Who's Whose Who?

by Cathey Tarleton

I remember years ago, when my boss would get those well-crafted direct mail pieces inviting him to join "Who's Who of the American Hotel Industry" for the low low price of only $599. It looked like nonsense, but their hook was good.  Doesn't everyone want to be in the "Who's Who" of their industry? Especially a man who's known by a lot of people whose respect is important to his business.

Respect is important in marketing communications because it builds trust. Blogging, engaging leads with social media, email marketing, even writing letters, are all about building trust as an individual or a brand. When you write right, your content--and thus your brand--looks intelligent, well-designed and otherwise trustworthy.

Today's tip is about the "Who's Who" of writing right. Remember, whenever that gnarly, annoying apostrophe hooks your reader's eye, it had better be in the right place, doing what it's supposed to be doing.

WHO+Apostrophe = Who is. It can be a question or a statement, i.e. "Who's the one who is going to the tweet up with me?" or "She is the one who's bringing coffee to the tweet up."

WHOSE = Belonging to Who. Here we have another crazy-making possessive pronoun that somebody obviously made up after his older brother stuck the apostrophe on "who's" and he had no other choice. "This is the man whose older brother stole our apostrophe." Or "This is the man who's responsible for losing our apostrophe to his older brother."  

Both of them are probably in the Who's Who of ancient grammar.

Regardless of whose fault it is, or whose brother did what to whom (don't get me started on that one), using "who's" and "whose" correctly makes you look like a more intelligent, respected and ultimately trustworthy marketer. So, write right.

Marketing Communications that "POP" with a riff-off

by Cathey Tarleton

I met Sam Horn 12 years ago at the Maui Writers Conference, where she served as Mistress of Ceremonies, chief inspirer and BFF to the eclectic gathering of writers every session.  Her spirit-boosting intros and butt-kicking presentations did a lot for all of us and likely generated millions of words across the genres.

Sam's still doing it, across the world wide web, with her Blog, today's edition of which asks me to do just what I'm doing now: "riff off" her content like a jazz musician, repurpose it into equally-dynamite marketing communications and share it from a different platform.

Here's what she has to say: 

A client told me, “Sam, I am so busy. I just don’t have time to ‘think-up’ creative content every time I’m supposed to blog.”

I told him, “Want good news? You don’t have to ‘think up’ original ideas every time you blog.”

He said, “That sounds promising. What do I write about then?”

I said, “You riff off the news. You know how jazz musicians riff off standard chords to create new music? From now on, you’re going to riff off current events to create new content.”

He looked at me, a bit puzzled, and asked, “How do I do that?”

See the rest of the article here.

Marketing Communications: "Busting the Social Media Marketing Myth"

by Cathey Tarleton

I just "met" Jonathan Fields through social media,Twitter I think. From his bio I'm afraid he's someone I'd love to hate. Not only is he a master fitness guru runing upscale yoga studios, he's a dynamite copywriter, author and a happy dad to boot. 

That, plus I'm really excited about the ever-expanding social media universe, and I love Twitter. I don't want anybody to bust its myth or my bubble. But, be that as it may, what he says in "Busting the Social Media Marketing Myth" is something that rings true.  

Social media, used for sales and marketing, is still sales and marketing. Conversations, relationships, building trust, nurturing a community...why do we do that? To get leads, to drive traffic to websites, to convert visitors to leads and leads to sales.

Integrating social media into a good direct-response program and/or ad campaign is a great way to deploy the best of both worlds.

Check it out:

"More and more small businesses have moved chunks of their services and marketing online in the last few years. Some are blogging, facebooking or straight-up advertising, but a more recent phenomenon is tweeting. Of those businesses tweeting, a smallish handful are starting to realize the revenue-generating power of twitter. But, they are doing so largely by turning twitter into a 2.0 version of direct-response.

And, if you’ve never done list-driven direct response, and done it well, this may open your eyes a bit.

Here’s how really good direct response works. You set up a funnel...

Read the full article here. 

Marketing Communications. Write right Tip #2: Your vs. You're

by Cathey Tarleton

You're wasting your time.

No, really. If you are writing a blog post for your business, in hopes it will improve website performance, enhance inbound marketing and generate leads--and you flip flop the words "your" and "you're" the wrong way--You're wasting your time.  Because if you don't write right, you don't look like the influential expert you really truly are. 

It's like making the PowerPoint presentation with your fly down or your slip showing. You're not putting your best foot forward.

And, as we pointed out with "It's vs. Its," silly grammatical slip ups can catch a reader's eye and distract them from your brilliant blog, superb sales message or terrific tweet. Don't do that. Write right.

YOU'RE has the apostrophe. YOU'RE means YOU ARE. The apostrophe means something is missing, in this case the letter "A." 

YOUR does not have the apostrophe. YOUR means "belonging to YOU." It's another example of confusing pronouns (like your, yours, my, mine, our, ours and their, theirs) that have driven people nuts since the inception of the English language. Don't try to understand it, just be like Nike:  Just do it.

To figure out which one to use, remember this sentence: "You're wasting your time." (You are wasting time belonging to you.)

YOU'RE=YOU are. YOUR=belonging YOU.

Another tip is to reverse it. "Your wasting you're time." What does THAT mean?  "Wasting belongs to you and you are time." it sounds like those bad translations for imported products.

Write right.

Marketing Communications. Write Right Tip #1: It's vs. Its

by Cathey Tarleton 

It's distracting. And it is happening more and more. There you are, happily reading an interesting blog and its content is great, its style entertaining. Then, all of a sudden, ouch. It's like your eye gets stuck on that ornery little apostrophe with its hook between two letters and you have to stop for half a second. It's one of the most common errors in marketing communications, and it's not that hard to write right.

Who cares? What's the difference?

You care. And the difference is between saying what you want to say and saying something else. Between looking like an expert and--well--not.

To remember how to write right, remember this:

IT'S worth ITS weight in gold.

IT'S has the apostrophe. IT'S means "it is." The apostrophe indicates something is missing. In this case, the space and the letter "i" are both MIA. Maybe they ran off together, with the "n" and "o" from "can't." Let them go.

ITS doesn't or does not have an apostrophe. ITS means "belonging to IT." "ITS" indicates possession, which can be demonic or not.

I know, I know. "But, hey, apostrophe+s means possession. We learned that in 5th grade English." You're right, of course. That's usually true. Cathy's Clown, Hawaii's Big Island, the horse's mouth, my brother's keeper. But there are exceptions.

Some of the most confusing exceptions have to do with possessive pronouns: yours, ours, theirs, his, hers, my, mine and its. These don't or do not need the silly apostrophe. We know His & Hers from our bath towels. And we know what's mine is mine and not "mine's." Mine's" would mean "mine is." Like, for example, when the kids are fighting:

"That's not yours!"
"Yes it is! It's mine!"
"No, it's not. I can tell by its red color."
"Mine's red!"
"Hers is red!"
"No, his is red and yours is blue."
"It's mine!"
"It is mine!! Mine mine mine!"

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. For now, when you're trying to figure out whether to use IT'S or ITS, remember this sentence, "It's worth its weight in gold." IT's=IT IS.  ITS=belonging to IT.

Write right.

 

Check out the first post in this series: Inbound marketing with a Blog. How to write right.

 

Why your small business needs integrated marketing communications.

by Cristine Hafner  

The purpose of integrated marketing communications is to ensure that your message is consistent in the variety of media you use to reach your customers. This includes both online and offline promotions and advertising with the intent to create maximum impact at a lower cost.

Why is integrating your marketing media and tools important today?

• There are so many more choices in the delivery of your message and the form it takes that it makes it more imperative to be consistent.
• Customers have 24/7 access to services and products so you need to include 24/7 marketing tools in your mix.
• Today’s ability to target audiences allows you to maximize your marketing dollars by being selective.
• Global competition has leveled the playing field meaning you are competing with many more vendors with bigger budgets.

How will integrating your marketing communication pieces make a difference in your business? Often small businesses use the newspaper, magazine or radio station they are advertising with to create their ads. Then they have the quick print company put together a brochure or sales sheet for them. Each one develops a different look and message and does something different with the logo, the colors and fonts. The result may cost you fewer dollars but nothing looks related. There is no synergy. So is money really being saved or is an opportunity for branding your company being squandered?

Suppose every day you went to do business in the community wearing your nametag, but you disguised yourself as someone different. One day you had neat black hair, and looked sharp in a brand new outfit. The next day you had curly gray hair down to your shoulders, heavy rimmed outdated glasses and had a very casual outfit. And then the next day, gelled hair looking like a rock star. Would anyone recognize you? Would they associate you with your business if they didn’t read your nametag? I doubt it. If you are consistent with how you present yourself people will recognize you even without reading your nametag. They will automatically know you by how you dress and act.

It’s no different with your advertising and communications pieces. Take a look at all of your marketing materials and do an assessment. Are the quality, message, coloring, imagery, and overall tone consistent? Remember with consistency comes recognition. And with recognition comes trust. And with trust comes sales.

Next look at the media you are using to deliver your message both online and offline. Do you go with the least expensive or do you really look at what media would have the most impact to reach YOUR customer. Do you make decisions based on who knocks on your door instead of following your plan? Do you use print advertising because it’s the only thing you are familiar with? Maybe it’s time to mix it up and try new ways of communicating with your target audience. Integrate your media by trying alternatives to your previous marketing methods. For example a direct mail campaign that is supported by an online landing page with calls-to-action and follow-up emails might produce more results than an on-going print ad in the local newspaper. Or consider a special promotion to encourage your store customers to sign up for online offers using your print ad that directs people to your web site. It’s time to think of ways to use social media to nurture client relationships.

Keeping your marketing communications consistent and the mediums varied becomes easier over time because you are clear about your message and how you present yourself and how to effectively reach your audience. This will save you money and attract many more customers.

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