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You’ve misspelled a client’s name in your newest project proposal. The presentation you spent hours perfecting still contains multiple typos your brain skipped over. Your website is full of outdated or incorrect information.
Anyone who has been in business for a while knows even the smallest errors can be extremely costly. I’m always surprised, then, how many companies take a laid-back approach to ensuring the quality of their online content and business documents. They publish material that no one but the author checks, or rely on colleagues who may understand the subject matter but lack the skills to effectively proofread the writing.
One trillion dollars.
That’s how much buying power 15 million Hispanics living in the U.S. have, according to a new Hispanic marketing trends survey commissioned by Orci (via this article at Entrepreneur.com). Latinos currently make up more than 15 percent of the population and are predicted to number 50 million after the 2010 census, an increase of 42 percent since 2000.
So, how is your business connecting with this market?
An article I read today on Ragan.com asked corporate communicators, “What words inspire you?” The author invited readers to share which classic writers they liked to read when they needed inspiration for their own writing.
I thought about the works of great authors that inspired me, and a passage from Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum stuck out most in my mind:
“Why is business writing so awful?” Jason Fried, I ask this same question all the time.
At Scribe, we’re doing all we can to make the business world a better place to read, one document at a time. Jason Fried, founder of 37signals and co-author of Rework, is doing his part with this article at Inc.com:
What’s bad, boring, and barely read all over? Business writing. If you could taste words, most corporate websites, brochures, and sales materials would remind you of stale, soggy rice cakes: nearly calorie free, devoid of nutrition, and completely unsatisfying.
One of my favorite phrases in the business world is full-service solutions provider. A quick search on Google finds at least 47,000 companies using that one. That’s full-service generic. There’s more. Cost effective end-to-end solutions brings you about 95,000 results. Provider of value-added services nets you more than 600,000 matches. Exactly which services are sold as not adding value?
Who writes this stuff? Worse, who reads it and approves it? What does it say when tens of thousands of companies are saying the same things about themselves?
This article gets a loud hallelujah and amen from me. Read the whole thing, folks.
Generic business writing tells people you have generic ideas. Add some flavor and creativity to your writing, and your ideas will be noticed for how creative they really are.
So, check your business writing for any full-service, end-to-end, cost-effective blather. Then think about how to communicate your ideas in a way that taps into the unique attributes that distinguish you from the rest of the crowd. Add some of your personality to your writing and reinforce the message behind your brand.
And drop us a line if you need some of our special Scribe spice.
How can you get writer’s block if you aren’t even a writer?
In the information age, anybody’s job description can include some kind of writing. That means anybody can suffer from writer’s block or any other kind of creative block.
Deadline is approaching. You have to be cunning, creative, even brilliant. But after a half hour of staring at the screen, the ideas just aren’t coming. What can you do?
Much of today’s business communication is overloaded with jargon and corporate buzzwords. Dilbert author Scott Adams has made millions by poking fun at the language used in the business world, and shows like The Office have become favorites for parodying workplace dialogue.
But when poor business communication starts costing you sales, it is no laughing matter.
Does Your Business Writing Stink?
Jargon spoils business writing as much as it does verbal communication. Products like BullFighter Software were developed to help people identify excessive jargon and “eliminate the bull” from their writing. But just as with spell-checkers, software only catches so much. It’s important to take a closer look at your writing and check for any jargon “droppings” left by the bull.
Here’s some of the B.S. (business-speak) that you should watch out for in your writing:
Welcome to our website! We hope you’ll take a look around, learn more about us, and hopefully find some helpful tips for improving your business communication.
What is it that we do? Put simply, we write for you. Chances are you’re brilliant at what you do, but you might lack the time, desire, or maybe even the skill to handle all of the writing that your business requires. That’s where we can help.
We’re here to make sure your ideas look great online and on paper, because there are few things more important for your business than to make sure you’re effectively communicating the ideas that make you distinct from everyone else.
So, take a look at our Services, or any other parts of our site that interest you, and find out how we can help you take your business communication to the next level. We look forward to hearing from you soon.