#08
/ 2010 ** London, ON delighting in all things communication, with a nod to micro business, an
e-zine courtesy of wordsmith (and homepreneur advocate), Sandy Ross
|
#08
/ 2010 ** London, ON delighting in all things communication, with a nod to micro business, an e-zine courtesy of wordsmith (and homepreneur advocate), Sandy Ross |
| "Dry
August and warm, doth harvest no harm" (Thomas Tusser) ... while
dry wit, in a dose, brings zing to your prose (sjr).
Harvest: time to cull biz content August: when farmers in fields start to cut crops for the harvest. Maybe it's good to do that for our corporate communiques, too. Cut and thresh to get to the best. So easily, business can feel overgrown in its own print pieces: this little piggy goes to marketing. A website can fatten on gigabytes long forgotten in all its archived linking, branding, and pdf-ing PR. But what if you're sickled to death at the idea of sifting and shifting content? A marketing collateral management tool like the 6-column form at DocStoc.com helps cull your print and online materials, considering each by name, status (outdated, needs review, current), date of last edit, usage (high, medium, low), and distribution (audience). This wordsmith adds two slots: goal, and visual impact. The latter will please graphic designers like one at GraphicPush.com who wrote about the plight of B2B marketing collateral. After collecting print from 73 businesses at a conference, the author's critique weeds out what not to do -- mainly on the visuals but also what's amiss in the writing -- "Content is as bad as ever. Brevity, lightness, and even humour are nonexistent". Luckily, whether yours needs brevity or levity, pruning or re-purposing, a seasoned wordsmith will gladly cultivate your best communiques -- so baby, don't fear the reaper. |
Glean
wild ideas, too
The Gleaners is a famous painting and scripture, also showing harvest time. It may inspire that, as we refine content to appreciate what remains as select, let's glean the most from a select product, too. Seth Godin's edgecraft thought process first noted in Free Prize Inside, for instance, can help brainstorm a product at its edges for wild ways to take it beyond, into remarkable. Nana Grammar's word on style  Consistency
in writing is key, but if a word has more than one correct way, I can never
remember which I use. A brief style guide
helps recall preferred spelling and more.
Canadian Press is the one for many wordsmiths and it, in turn, cites Canadian Oxford Dictionary for things like current lingo or which hyphenated words are now single. (Did I say? I'm single.) Of those relaxed into one worders are techno terms like email, website, and (ready for my close-up) webcam -- all ones I put in my mini style guide. Do your own similar cheat sheet as a quick click on the computer -- in keeping with a harvest cull, short and simple (like my next beau). |
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