So you want to be a writer? OK. Then first things first… Avoid these common mistakes in order to produce quality content that delivers the right message to the right audience. 1. Don’t do your homework. Believe it or not, most of the people you’ll interview as a journalist aren’t sitting around waiting for your
Category: Writing
Know Your Audience
Direct marketing company Harte-Hanks recently published the results of a survey on how corporate buyers make decisions (“Mapping the Technology Buyer’s Journey: Survey Questions & Responses”). The company surveyed 500 buyers and “decision-influencers” mainly from the U.S. but also from Canada. Of interest to corporate writers was a question on how those surveyed became aware
Create a Meaningful Mission Statement
The website dilbert.com (the Internet home of Scott Adams’ business-parodying Dilbert cartoon) once featured an automatic mission statement generator. In the true spirit of Dilbert, the generator would return such gems as “leverage our internal synergies to create a win-win” and other such nonsense that all too often sounded like the actual mission statements businesses
Be Specific!
In a recent post on her business writing blog, Lynn Gaertner-Johnston talks about the value of giving examples: I was on a United Airlines flight from Seattle to San Francisco this week, when a flight attendant said something I had never heard before. Usually at the end of a flight, passengers hear an announcement about
Have a point: Five tips for improving your writing
“You know when you’re telling these little stories? Here’s a good idea: have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!” —Steve Martin Planes, Trains and Automobiles Storytellers and writers have a lot in common. They both need to get a point across. The best writers not only have a point,
Using humor in business communications
Why use humor in business communications? Done correctly, humor can add personality and life to an otherwise dull or routine project. Anecdotes, humorous quotations or clever observations can help to win over a reader and make them more receptive to your message. In fact, many business books contain cartoons scattered throughout them designed to reinforce
10 Rules for Nonfiction Writers
In 2001, author Elmore Leonard published a column in the New York Times in their “Writers on Writing” series that contained 10 rules for writing fiction. Now the subject of a book, the column was equal parts entertainment and sincere advice for those who write fiction and do it poorly. Reading Elmore’s column has motivated
What is good writing?
How do you know if you’re a good writer or if what you’re reading represents good writing? Most people believe that good writing is subjective. They think it is an art, not a science, which is to say that it’s imprecise, follows loose guidelines and is open to interpretation. This approach is in direct contrast
