email marketing

The Top 10 lightbulb moments from Hubspot’s 2021 INBOUND Marketing Conference

For the second straight year, Hubspot’s annual conference was virtual and…

Of course. We couldn’t miss it.

INBOUND is a three day, in-person conference that brings together inbound marketing professionals from across the world. The conference includes informative sessions, activities, debates and HubSpot product updates.

This year, sessions covered the full range of industry touchpoints, from content marketing, social media and email marketing to sales enablement and customer service topics designed to provide marketers with the latest, best-practices to bring back into the office and translate into even greater client success.

And, as always, there were inspiration, provocative luminaries owning the stage and captivating our imaginations – like Afiya Addison, Spike Lee and Oprah Winfrey (Do we stan them all? Oh yeah we do!)

As we all get set for the deep dive into 2022 planning, we want to share 10 of our most WOW takeaways from INBOUND 2021, along with some suggestions for how to turn that knowledge into action.

Presenter: Tony Verre, VP eCommerce, The Integer Group

Session: Killer SEO Strategies Through Product Design Methodology

In his presentation, Killer SEO Strategies Through Product Design Methodology, Tony Verre, VP eCommerce, The Integer Group, highlighted the importance of focusing our content on the needs and pain points of our users – first and foremost – and not a particular word or phrase we think we need to ‘rank for’.

Today, more than ever, it’s important to provide a fast and intuitive experience to help users to accomplish their goals. Google’s latest round of algorithmic updates has further evolved the focus of SEO work from packing our content with keywords (and key-phrases) to a more holistic view of search intent, emphasizing context to provide more relevant answers to more complex queries. Therefore, the content we share must answer real questions and solve the needs and pain points of our audiences with clarity, providing expert and trustworthy information.

Google’s SEO practices and algorithms are constantly evolving. Therefore, it is extremely important to stay up-to-date with these changes and assume them strategically. Learn more about SEO practices here.

TIP: Consider your searcher’s needs. What kinds of information are your target personas searching on Google? Reveal their needs for inspiration, problem-solving information, and their ultimate goals – and you’ll have better insights to inform your SEO language.

Video is the present of content marketing

Presenter: Tyler Lessard, Chief Video Strategist, Vidyard

Session: How to Maximize Video in Sales

As the world goes all in on digital experiences, video content marketing is becoming increasingly popular for B2C and B2B companies.

By 2022, an estimated 82% of all online traffic will be video content.

However, there are still some barriers that limit a company’s ability to produce video content. One of the most pervasive speed bumps is the assumption that video production is expensive. Tyler Lessard, Chief Video Strategist at Vidyard, pushed back against this limiting assumption (and demystified several other, limiting ideas) in his presentation, How to Maximize Video In Sales. Filled with practical, applicable tips and resources for budding video content creators, he also made us more aware of the importance of being intentional when it comes to creating videos.

This session encouraged marketers to experiment with videos as a new way to continue evolving and connecting with customers. Here are few tactics he shared with the HubSpot audience:

Write a storyboard that helps you organize your ideas.
Draw attention to the most important takeaway within the first 3 seconds.
Address the problem and the need in the first 5 seconds.
Design under the assumption that your video will be viewed on a mobile device.
Use text to highlight key messages.

TIP: Start where you are. Use what you have & never forget to close with a clear call to action.

Presenter: Chris Savage, Founder, CEO, Wistia & Colin Dinnie, Customer Happiness, Wistia

Session: Content Marketing Clash – Video v. Podcasting for Engagement

I am pretty sure we’ve all heard this, but like all great things, it bears repeating…

THINK ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE AND HOW YOU WANT TO CONNECT WITH THEM BEFORE YOU BEGIN WRITING/DESIGNING YOUR CONTENT.

With so many communication channels and the growing number of tools that each one offers, the process of choosing which platform and/or tool is the best choice for communicating your message has become more complex. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours creating content to “stay active” on our different platforms we use, without clear insight into whether our audience is even getting the message.

The most important goal of our online, social media experiences is creating an authentic, helpful and welcoming connection with our audiences, and to do that, we MUST be intentional about what we’re communicating and how on which channels

TIP: Include your customer voice into your channels. You could begin creating videos that share customer experiences, and offering Frequently Asked Questions, with answers by existing clients.

Presenter: Courtney Sembler, Sr. Manager, HubSpot Academy & Steve Cornwell, Founder, CEO, Northpass

Session: Customer Education: A Must Have For Growth

Yes, you could keep writing and producing more content, but let’s be honest … it’s hard work.

Don’t get me wrong … we need to create new content. It is the way to keep our audience informed of what is happening in the moment and create new ways of communicating your message. It’s also necessary that search engines continue to recognize your brand as authoritative and trustworthy, essential to the algorithms to serve up your content at the top of search.

However, revisiting old content and updating it with new images, pull quotes from key partners and influencers, and updated stats, is a good way to take advantage of the value of your content. Refreshing, or evergreening, current content with updates with links to newer resources, improves the accuracy of your content, and therefore increases your SEO. You can also ask newly quoted or linked sources to share your content with their audiences – increasing your online authority and reach.

TIP: Make sure you have share buttons on the page. It’s a fact that posts with share buttons make content 7 times more shareable than content without them.

Presenter: Jay Schwedelson, Founder & CEO, SubjectLine.com, Worldata

Session: Email Myths Busted. What’s Really Working.

The global email marketing market share (say that 10x fast!) was valued at $7.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to increase to $17.9 billion by 2027.

A survey done by Statista in 2020 showed that for every U.S. dollar spent on email marketing, there was a return of $36 U.S. dollars. In industries like retail, ecommerce, and consumer goods sector, ROI was higher, with a $45 U.S. dollars return per dollar spent.

While it might be considered old fashioned, email marketing is not dead. In fact, with so much changing about the social media landscape, email is enjoying a resurgence in popularity as a top tactic for digital marketers trying to make sure they’re reaching and engaging audiences.

However, the email marketing landscape is evolving and Jay Schwedelson, Founder & CEO, SubjectLine.com, Worldata, explained it very clearly in his presentation Email Myths Busted. What’s really working.

For instance, Jay Schwedelson believes that people are less impressed (and moved to take action) based on the word-smithing creativity in writing subject lines, and in many cases, this is not the reason why your emails are opened. Instead, the use of characters () {} *, emojis, fake mistakes (oops, look what I did …), comparisons (podcast vs. video) and dots (I need …, I have a big question for you …) are the subject line tactics that can really increase your open rate.

Of course getting someone to open the email is the first, most important step in success with email marketing, but Schwedelson reminded the audience that the content of your email, the address from where it is sent, and the time it is sent, also matters.

TIP: Add a theme and graphic design to your email subject line and test the change in open rates.

Customer education is a must have for growth

Presenter: Courtney Sembler, Sr. Manager, HubSpot Academy & Steve Cornwell, Founder, CEO, Northpass

Session: Customer Education: A Must Have For Growth

While inbound marketing attracts potential customers, customer education helps to engage those who find you and are looking for good reasons to become customers.

In today’s hyper-competitive market, information is an extremely important asset. Sharing practical knowledge with current and future customers is one way to encourage better engagement with your brand and convert the curious into users of your product or service.

TIP: Think big about opportunities to educate your community – newbies and advocates alike. These can include: certifications as a way to increase product adoption, virtual webinars, live product launch training, brochures, and FAQs. Make the focus of your customer education strategy finding the best ways to make life easier and more productive.

Presenter: Marcus Sheridan, Author, Professional Speaker, IMPACT

Session: Trusted Content: 7 Steps to Becoming the Most Trusted Voice in Your Space

Building trust. It doesn’t sound like an easy thing to do – and it shouldn’t be.

Building trust with potential customers – and proving that trust was well earned with current customers – is a daily task, measured in both small actions and big decisions. When we ask customers or potential customers to invest with us, we should have earned their trust and they should be excited to engage with us and our products or services.

When it comes to customer trust, both the quantity and quality of our actions and interactions are important. Every action counts. Each action should feel personal and reassure the prospect or customer that they can expect consistency and responsiveness from us at every touchpoint.

To make your audience feel comfortable is it important to:

– Show yourself as you are

– Show them that you are not biased in your content

– Be unafraid to address any negatives, if necessary

At the end of the day, there is a human looking for real connection behind every buying decision.

Success depends on trust in the marketplace

TIP: Show your audience you care about them.

Presenter: Adriano Brito, Sr. Business System Analyst, Rock Content & João Dobbin, Sr. Manager, Business Operations, Rock

Session: How Using a Full CRM Enables Teams and Drives Revenue Growth

Many of us think ‘software program’ when we hear this acronym, which stands for Customer Relationship Management. And it’s true. CRMs are indeed software tools, but they’re so much more.

An effective CRM depends on not just fancy coding, it’s tied to a set of strategies and processes that manage your company’s interactions with customers and prospects.

When we have a good customer relationship management strategy, we have access to information about customers, potential customers and suppliers. Therefore, we can identify weak points to improve processes, sell more and build customer loyalty with a long-lasting lifecycle.

TIP: Review your CRM strategy from time to time. Review your goals and define which methods best suit them.

The effectiveness of a strategy will depend on your creativity and creative

Presenter: Carly Potock, Co-Founder, CEO, Canvas+Co & Charlene Tassinari, Co-Founder, CEO, Canvas+Co

Session: Creativity Thrives in Constraint: How Successful Brands Create Video Content

Just as you read it. No tricks or magic acts. The effectiveness of any strategy depends on how we leverage creative components, including visual and audio assets.

It is a fact that nearly 50% of any campaign’s effectiveness is driven by creative. However, spectacular creative that attracts attention in a big way won’t deliver success all by itself. Rather, leveraging this ‘wow-factor’ creative while presenting a solution to a real pain point – as part of a deeply satisfying user experience – that’s what drives real campaign success.

TIP: Look for an experience that can be improved in your product/service. Solve it creatively, and don’t forget to address your audience’s pain points.

Presenter: Shana Sumers, Head of DI&B, Community Programs, HubSpot

Session: Community Building With Customers

Modern customers want you to build a relationship. They want to feel that you are investing in their personal success and that your goals are aligned with their goals.

The task of establishing traction and growing a brand community can seem exhausting – especially on today’s crowded social media stage. However, customers are better informed than ever -and have higher expectations. Chief among these higher expectations is the idea that companies should care about more than just generating profits.

The reality that customers see themselves reflected in a brand, and are invited into a brand-hosted space to learn and grow together – is no longer something considered as ‘added value’ in a brand’s offer, but a must.

Chief community office will be important

TIP: Provide valuable experiences.

The bottom line: the future of digital marketing success belongs to those who strive to improve their relationship with their audiences and adapt to changes.

Companies that see change as an opportunity for innovation are the ones that will chart the way for the future of marketing. INBOUND 2021 left us with a lot of valuable information and takeaways that we are already putting into action.

Meanwhile, the ultraviolet team is here to provide you the most up-to-date marketing techniques to maximize your investment. Contact us and let’s start working on your 2022 marketing plan for growth.

Apple’s Privacy Update and What it Means For Email Marketing

With a $36 return for every $1 spent (Source: Litmus), email marketing should absolutely be incorporated into your digital marketing strategy. If you are staying on top of trends and following best practices, your ROI could potentially be even better.

But as the great Greek Philosopher Heraclitus stated “The only constant in life is change”. There’s constant change in the weather, our feelings and of course, the digital marketing world – and email marketing is no exception.

Enter Apple’s recent privacy update.

Apple recently rolled out iOS 15, and their new privacy update rolled out with it. This update provides Apple users with increased email privacy options aimed at protecting users, giving them more choices regarding what information is shared with third parties.

Who doesn’t love more privacy? As individuals, it’s a big win. But as email marketers? Is it a win for us?

CLIENT FIRST STRATEGY

The answer is YES. These privacy updates provide additional protections for our clients and communities and anything that’s good for the people we serve is good – period.

Consider this as well. This update doesn’t impact other email service providers such as Outlook or Gmail. Just Apple mail users. Apple mail users will have the option to implement updated privacy features, and yes, that will impact reporting on open rates and access to personalized information.

But – this is NOT the end of email marketing as we know it.

The Mail Privacy Protection allows users to opt in to two features. The first prevents senders from seeing if and when a contact has opened an email on Apple mail. It actually will automatically open emails and report emails have been opened even if the recipient doesn’t, in fact, open the email. This feature also will mask IP addresses so you, as a sender, can not identify their location.

The new privacy feature also allows Apple mail users to hide their own email address and create fake or “burner” email addresses that will send any messages to their personal inbox. This gives you, as the sender, less information about the contact and no access to their real email address.

So what’s the actual impact on our work?

For those who utilize special send features that automatically coordinate email send times to be most effective according to an individual’s time zone, IP address specific emails will be less effective due to the ability of users being able to mask their IP addresses. Therefore the accuracy of time zone specific emails will decrease.

Secondly, your open rates for iOS users will almost certainly be skewed as a result of these updates.

For many of us who use open rates as a primary metric of email marketing success – YIKES.

STAY CALM and KEEP HITTING SEND

So what can we marketers do to adjust and stay successful?

Set your baseline now. Review the emails you’ve sent recently and analyze the open rate data from those emails to set a current average. Then, you can refer back to that when evaluating future open rates.

Segment Apple/iOS email users from all other email users, and consider tracking your future open-rate results against your non-iOS averages to get the best comparison over time.

Use the “What’s my open rate” tool on subjectline.com. While every tool has its advantages and limitations, this tool can help you accurately determine your open rate – even accounting for the impact of these recent privacy updates.

And, while the impact to the reliability of iOS open rates may be a short term headache, this challenge creates a unique opportunity in the email marketing space. Pivoting and focusing on key performance indicators (KPI’s) that are more centered around engagement can vastly improve your ROI on email marketing efforts.

Focusing on KPI’s such as click rate, website traffic and time spent viewing email, are excellent KPIs to help evaluate the success of your email marketing efforts. These KPIs will help you assess what content is working best and can help inspire you to create even more relevant content for your readers – content that will entice them to engage with your links and in turn spend more time on your website. Content that will be more successful keeping your brand the top-of-mind.

Being top-of-mind with our audiences – now that’s an outcome we can all agree is valuable for every business and organization.

And as content creators by passion, we can’t miss an opportunity to double-down on the fact that content – what you’re sharing – is the heart and soul of every marketing asset we create and share with our audiences.

Creating a subject line that is relevant and sways a contact to open an email is truly an art form, but that is only part of the recipe for success that we’re all trying to perfect. Once a user opens our email, it is crucial that our content is truly engaging – and that means we need to create content that’s truly honest and helpful. No one wants to open an email because of an amazing subject line to find out that the content is a dud, or that the subject line was no more than click-bait. That contact may unsubscribe or even worse, report you for spam!

THE BOTTOM LINE

Like many things in life, accepting change and successfully adapting – and even innovating to something better – is a norm in the digital marketing world. So keep writing what your readers want and need to read, keep hitting SEND, and keep analyzing and updating your message and your work to better serve your community.

Marketing Stats Got Us Fired Up. Jumping Into 2020 Like…

The world of content marketing, much like your average pop star, is always evolving. It’s critical for your business that you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the industry. It can be an exhausting task if you don’t know where to look. One of our favorite ways to stay on top of marketing trends is to keep an eye on yearly statistics.

We’ve rounded up some of the most surprising content marketing statistics from around the web to help make 2020 your most focused and successful year yet. Using these statistics to guide and inform your content decisions for the year, you can leverage data to bring results in terms of the attention, awareness and leads you have set as your goals.

Let’s start with the obvious statement of 2020: Mobile isn’t the new kid anymore. It’s the most common way people access the web. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t some surprising numbers:

There might be a lot of talk about social media, but that doesn’t mean that email is becoming any less valuable: it can do much more than just getting messages into inboxes. When it comes to customers’ acquisition & retention especially if you’re looking for direct impact and reach, there’s no competition with email marketing. Email marketing has stood the test of time—it remains as one of the most effective ways to generate new leads and get users back to your site time and again.

Speaking of email, the success of any email campaign depends on the open rate. But the fact is that while when you send your email is important, the what and the why are just as integral to your success. Finding the perfect day for your email doesn’t mean much if the email isn’t an intriguing value add to your subscribers lives. And while Tuesday’s have the highest open rates, they have the highest unsubscribe rates, too.

These stats show something we’ve always known and focused on—people really are looking for content. There’s a lot of data out there showing why blog posts are an important part of any marketing strategy. Frequent posts can help bring clicks to your website, thanks to organic search and SEO. A wide range of content, and making sure to focus on building your voice, will help build your brand’s online voice. And as is the case with all of our digital content, authenticity is key: consistently sharing fresh, engaging and quality content is just as important as the content quantity.

This stat shows that the app is clearly the leader when it comes to mobile social media use. No other social media network comes close to the mobile referral traffic that Pinterest has. Pinterest reported having 322 million monthly active users worldwide at the end of last year and 71% of global Pinterest users are female. In the United States alone, Pinterest reaches 83% of women ages 25-54, the same group who make 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households.

Audience relationship is one of the most important factors to consider when running an influencer campaign, which is one of the many reasons we frequently pair our brands with micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are passionate content creators: 77% publish content daily, with nearly half (48%) publishing at least twice a day. Nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels. And a recent survey found that 42% of daily U.S. Instagram users bought something because a blogger or influencer they trusted recommended it.

Audiences are hungry for locally inspired content from a business they recognize: For one of our clients we generated local brand awareness through a campaign of co-branded assets, supported by local social ads. This campaign was a powerful lead generator for the companies, and outperformed all of their other content for the year.

Out of all the 2020 marketing stats out there, this one surprised us the most: only 30% of marketers say their content strategy is effective. We can’t imagine not being part of that 30%.

If you’re looking for guidance on putting together a solid and smart content marketing strategy in 2020, let ultraviolet help.

These Subject Lines Dared Me To Open

It’s hard to stand out in my email inbox. I stop to make tea and there are 17 new messages demanding my attention. (It’s probably happening to you right now.) A little caffeine break, or maybe even just navigating away for actual work work and I’m forced to mentally triage the damage when I return – look at it later, ignore forever, unsubscribe, oooh wait, what is THAT?

Shannon, people are looking at your LinkedIn profile.

Is this not everyone’s favorite subject line? It translates to: You are amazing. Everyone wants to know you.

What it actually means might be less spectacular, maybe a profile view from some social media guy in Bangledesh. Or it might mean that the marketing manager from a major interior design brand has been looking at me. Either way the effect is the same – I’m clicking through. And I know when you get that subject line, you are too.

There are some subject lines we just can’t resist.

If you’re marketing for your company you should be thinking everyday about your subject lines. For cold emails, warm opportunities, workflow nurturing and especially, your blog headlines.

I have Rival’s RSS email set to deliver our blog headline as our subject line. So when I’m writing a headline I’m thinking not just about organic search, but how it will look in your inbox.

Sometimes that means a header less than 50 characters so it’s not truncated.

Sometimes though, I’m going for gutsy so you can’t resist the click. In that case I might take a cue from marketing giant HubSpot.

Here’s one that popped up in my inbox the other day:

How The HubSpot Marketing Blog Actually Generates Leads (Hint: It’s Not How You Think)

That’s 87 characters. (LinkedIn is scolding them from afar for breaking their 70 character guideline. I love rule breakers)

But you know it got my attention. My eyes zeroed in on “actually generates leads it’s not what you think”. Tantalizing.

Changing your subject line can have a direct (and instant) impact on your email opens).

Gregory Shiff of Resource Hero App, which helps businesses manage multiple people and projects right in Salesforce, told me that after attending our Write Like A Badass seminar he reworked his cold emails from the subject line down to the sign off and his click thru rates shot up 20 percent to over 55 percent. (Smart guy, he tracks his Bitly links, so he’s not guessing if his emails are better, Greg knows.)

Take a look at how he changed up his subject line.

Before: How Resource Hero helps balance workload and profitability in Salesforce.

After: Gaining insights with Resource Hero in Salesforce.

Greg told me he took three points from the Badass session:

Remove “How”
Keep it under 50 characters
Provoke action

I agree. There were just too many words before and not enough strong ones to jump out at the reader. I’d like him to go even a step further and make the language even bolder:

Max out your Salesforce insights with this app
This app takes Salesforce insights DEEP
Is Salesforce giving you this intel?

I love a question subject line.

Greg wasn’t the only one to change up his email after our event.

Beth Herbruck, an event producer, designer and all around badass herself, took inspiration from Marketing Rival’s unsubscribe email campaign. For her Good Folk Supper Club event she used an opt-in email to reengage her contacts and topped it with a snappy subject line: I don’t want to miss you!

It had me clicking.

Hi!
Hope you’re making it through these soggy soon-to-be-spring days. I noticed recently that some of my emails bounce back when I’ve tried to contact you. I hope I have the best way to reach you! Tomorrow morning I’m sending out information about the next Good Folk Supper Club in April and I would hate for that email to get lost or stuck in your spam. I am working on 6 incredible dinners over the next few months – lots of yum to come!
If you want to make sure you’ll definitely get future emails, please click the link below and let Mailchimp know you really want to be on this list. And if not, if your inbox in just too crazy and supper clubs are not at all your thing, I completely understand. Please feel free to unsubscribe!!!
Here is the link to sign up with your most current email.
Looking forward to serving you soon!
Cheers,
Beth

Did it work?

“I had a number of people respond personally to the email and six joined the mailing list,” Beth said. She also sold out her April event in 20 min so…

Isn’t it comforting to know you can make a small change to the way you say things and get instant feedback on your experiment?

Today I’ll leave you with 10 subject lines that dared me to open this week. I hope they’ll inspire you to stand out in your customer’s inboxes:

Contains Graphic Material – Swimsuits For All
Shannon, we just added a documentary you might like – Netflix
Why wear real clothes? – Anthropologie
[New Products] Band Wallet | Origami Shelves | Tea Egg and more – IPPINKA
What Being a Food Writer Is Actually Like – Freelancer blog from Contently.com
If There Was One Post That Summed Up Marketing. This Would Be It. – LinkedIn group
“‘Facebook turned me down’ — the job rejection letter that turned into a $4 billion check” – Medium
Data Usage Alert – Verizon (Though it’s like flashing lights in the rearview, I open it every time.)
Shannon, Exclusive 20% Coupon! – CVS
tell me I’m not the only one… – Nikki Ellege Brown, the communication stylist (If you were at the Badass seminar she’s one of the ones I recommended you read.)

Are you dying to click through? Now tell me, what subject line were you unable to resist?

You’re a Writer. Start Acting Like One.

You do it at your desk. You do it on the train. You do it in line at the DMV. Heck you probably did it while you were in bed this morning.

You write.

Whether you’re an architect or a banker, a developer or an interior designer, you my friend, are a writer.

It’s not what the man pays you for, but it’s what you do as part of your every day, in business and in life.

It’s a means to your end.

A necessary evil.

You write to make deals. You write to sell yourself. You write to get the insurance company to pay, to negotiate your kid’s college applications.

You get by with your writing. But you’re not happy about it. Writing reports, blogs, emails — it’s all onerous.

And you have a sneaking suspicion you’re just not that good at it.

And not being paid to do it is a poor excuse for doing it poorly.

I know, because I’ve tried this for years with math and the IRS couldn’t give a flying deduction if “I’m just not good with numbers.” It wants my quarterlies. And because I want my first quarter with a credit and not a penalty, I’ve learned the essentials of basic math.

If I can do that, then you can learn the basics of writing well, plus some tricks to elevate you above your competitor.

I’ve got eight actionable, ENCOURAGING, writing tips you can apply to everything your write today. That’s emails, blogs, social media posts, web pages, notes to the contractors, thank you’s to your mother-in-law. You can also download this slide deck. (I promise it’s light and bright and won’t make you feel sad like any recent Power Point you’ve had to endure.)

Download the free guide to writing better copy: Write Like a Badass

When you’re done reading you’ll have the tools to write copy that’s:

clear
punchy
direct

The result will be more opens, higher click through rates and world domination.

Or maybe just that people enjoy what you’re writing enough to read to the end and follow your directed action.

Let’s get crackin’.

First, a word about grammar.

Grammar is critical to communicating your intended message and your professionalism. Grammar is like roaches in a restaurant. No one notices when you don’t have them, but it’s all they notice when you do.

So if you need help with grammar (and we can all improve, me included) pick up a copy of Elements of Style by Strunk and White, and maybe check out an online tool like Grammarly, where for a fee you can drop in your doc and it will do a thorough check.

But here’s where I want to be clear:

A hyperfocus on good grammar can get in the way of your message. You have something to say that’s valuable to your audience. If you have an accurate gauge on the way they like to be spoken to, you may be able to step outside the lines of “good grammar” and spread out into stylized writing.

It’s not for everyone. Or for every situation (I’m talking to you compliance department). My brother-in-law for one. He’s whip smart, works in technology, has an international sensibility, and he is really intense about grammar. He once called BMW corporate to point out their error in grammar in a print ad. So when he said to me the other day, “You know if you ever want me to read anything, I’d love to.”

I said, “I don’t think I want you to read my stuff.”

That’s because I prefer stylized writing (obvs) and I want to attract clients who want to market themselves with adventurous, creative content. He likes rules and for rules to be followed. And that’s why he works at a bank.

(Will there be a grammatical error in this blog? Probably. I’ll be perfect when I get to heaven.)

Take away: Know yourself. Know your audience.

If YOU want to attract clients and customer who are adventurous and creative, read on.

Start with the headline/subject line

There is no more important phrase than your headline or subject. The obvious reason, of course, is that it tells your readers what they can expect. It’s how they decide if what you’ve written is worth their time. But the secret reason the headline is number one, is that it keeps YOU on track.

Start with a working headline. What is this piece about exactly? You can finesse the phrasing and punch up the language later. For the download in this piece I started with the working headline: How to Craft Your Message. Later I settled on a bolder headline that I felt better expressed how writers feel when they have tools and the confidence to use them to move their audiences: Write Like a Badass.

As you work through your piece keep this in the center of your thinking. Cut out anything that seems tangential or unrelated. The more ruthless you can be in sticking to your headline, the more your piece of writing will be powerful and direct. Make your email/social post/blog about one thing and your readers will be more likely to open your doc, stick with you to the end, and feel they’ve gleaned one important piece of information.

(If what you’re really after is how to write an email everyone wants to open, read How To Write a An Email Your Readers Will Devour.)

Bonus tip: If I find a complete, but unrelated thought nestled in there, I cut and paste into a new doc and save it as a working headline for a new blog. Now instead of feeling like I had to cut a great line or that what I’m writing is crap, I’ve set myself up with an idea for another day. Winner.

Cut the weak words

I read a piece on Medium recently about how to build your startup before you go to work. The writer had some compelling, practical points about how to reorganize your day to build your idea. But damn it if the guy didn’t say “quite” 50 times.

Quite hard

Quite well

Quite uncertain

Quite easy

The repetition was distracting, but it’s the wishy washy, redundant character of the word “quite” (or very or really) that stole the authority and power from the piece.

Quite hard – How about just, hard? Or better yet, painstaking, exhausting, grueling.

A specific word is a strong word.

Was that business move bad? Or was it suicidal, or malicious, or counterproductive? They’re all bad, but only one can be accurate.

I love this quote from William Strunk Jr. from The Elements of Style:

“Rather, very, little, pretty – these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.”

Can you never use a qualifier?

Sometimes it just feels right to, like when you’re REALLY ready for a beer or, “Kids, I’m very disappointed in the way you duck taped the neighbor kid to his big wheel.”

But quite often, you can cut it out by being direct and specific. Wink. Wink.

Search for the right word, but don’t break the flow

It bears repeating my earlier statement: The more specific the word choice the more powerful the message. But that doesn’t mean you immediately know the specific word you need.

When I write I often have a nugget of a thought before I have the details to populate it. So I write with a lot of Xs where words should go. I know if I stop to look up a stat or fact check somebody’s name or title I’ll lose the point of what I’m saying. Similarly, there are times when I can’t think of the exact word I want to use. Finding the specific word that accurately expresses what you’re talking about helps you avoid those weak qualifiers we talked about before. But your brain needs some time to process.

Rather than stopping to think hard about the juicy, just-right word, I write all the words that are related until my brain brings up the right file. Then I delete the ones I don’t need. Like in this sentence

And you can too if you have some ~~rules, shortcuts, tricks, guidelines, checklist, cheat sheet~~, tips to guide you.

You have great ideas. They just don’t look that great.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading a document at a government meeting, you know what a black and white wall of words does to a reader’s soul. It’s just as bad on the eyes. An eye needs a place rest. It needs cues for tone, emphasis, and important points.

You can give your readers’ eyes what they need with:

Contractions
Incomplete sentences – once in a while
Unorthodox CAPS
Parenthetical references (for little side notes)
Italics
Sentences that start with And. But. Because.
Copious amounts of white space
Bold

Example:

I cannot attend next week’s meeting for the Chili Cook-off and Coding Event. I hope that the committee will consider my previous activity ideas of baby wrangling, arm wrestling and methane recycling station. Perhaps the mayor will agree to judge chili pepper juicing submissions. Let’s circle back afterwards to decide which of the generously donated prizes to advertise. Thanks to all who contributed their time and goods.
Thank you all for your time and effort,
Shannon

What am I, a robot? Let’s try that again with feeling.

Example:

I can’t make our next Chili Cook-off and Coding Event meeting. Here are the ideas I submitted (I’m leaning toward number three):

Baby wrangling
Arm wrestling
Methane recycling station

Think the mayor would judge chili pepper juicing submissions?

Thanks everybody,

Shannon

P.S. FANTASTIC work to all who secured donated prizes. You are THE reason this event will be a success. Cheers!

Take away: Contracting words or adding emphasis doesn’t make you appear less professional or flippant. It makes you sound not like a robot. Write like you talk. (Do I need to say, you must use discretion and be appropriate to your situation? Of course not. You knew that.)

Calm. DOWN.

I don’t know when the trend of exclamation points started, but I feel like everyone on the internet is yelling like a freshman cheerleader at a home game. I emailed you the specs this morning! Have a great day!! Your support ticket has been received!

(And the double question mark?? I find it antagonistic. The ?? is a veiled WTF.)

Save exclamation points for times when you are TRULY excited. Unless you think your customers are excited that their order of lice shampoo and zit cream has shipped…then have at it!

Passive voice. Just don’t.

I will not attempt a full grammar lesson here lest I be called out by a professional grammerizer. Let’s do examples instead.

Once all parties agree the contract will be sent.

How is the contract going to get there? Who’s going to send it? To be delivered by fairies?

Try this:

Once we come to an agreement I’ll send the contract.

How do you know if you’re using passive voice?

One, it sounds stiff.

Two, it sounds like things are happening magically without a person causing the action.

Three, your subject will likely show up at the end of your sentence. See “people in sales” in the example below.

The deadline was missed by the people in sales.
Sales missed their deadline.

Here’s another:

The report will be generated by me every first Monday.
I’ll generate a report every first Monday.

Clichés, they’re a dime a dozen.

Listen, we can use clichés and sayings, popular slang and business speak occasionally. Like a keyboard shortcut, they help us convey a point with little effort. But too many in one piece and you sound like you don’t have an original thought (or worse, that you are saying nothing). It’s only in overuse that they ding the credibility of your writing. So be ~~religious~~ diligent about editing them out.

To get rid of them, it helps to know how they got in there.

Here’s what the Grammar Girl says about clichés:

Clichés often appear in early drafts when you’re trying to keep the writing going but you’ve run out of words to describe an action, event, or person. That’s fine, but it’s a good reason to do successive drafts — no one gets it right the first time. Read through your article or story with the meanest critic’s eye. Do not be afraid to hurt your own feelings. Delete anything that might resemble a cliché and replace it with words of your own.

Check out this list of clichés from the University of Richmond writing center (Go Spiders!).

all walks of life	give the devil his due	never a dull moment
behind the eight ball	hook, line, and sinker	nipped in the bud
bitter end	by hook or crook	patience of Job
calm before the storm	in the nick of time	paying the piper
checkered career	in the same boat	sands of time
chomping at the bit	leaps and bounds	selling like hot cakes
cool as a cucumber	leave no stone unturned	stick out like a sore thumb
cry over spilled milk	lock, stock, and barrel	whirlwind tour
fall on deaf ears	long arm of the law	winds of change
from time immemorial	march of history	writing on the wall

You can keep clichés at bay (see what I did there?) by asking yourself, Can I be more specific?

Again, example from U of Richmond:

People – Which ones? Be specific.
Society – Who is “society”? Too many alternates exist to list. Be specific about which group.
This day and age – Today, presently

Next time you think, what’s that saying?, stop and search for what exactly you want to convey and dig for specific words to express your point.

Last bit of advice: Before you hit publish or send, give yourself some time away from the doc, the longer the better. Because your next step to better writing is editing. Good writing is made in the edit phase. It doesn’t just flow out like a chocolate fountain.

How to Pitch Media And Actually Be Heard

If you’ve ever witnessed a little kid birthday party you know about being on the wrong end of a person to person ratio. It’s a lot of noise with you begging, “For the love of sprinkles, someone listen to me!” Not pretty, but it’s exactly what’s going on in PR these days and company reps (and owners) are feeling it.

Recent data says that media relations professionals now outnumber reporters by nearly 5 to 1. With numbers like that the only way your company message is heard is if you’ve cultivated relationships with reporters. That way when you have news, there will be someone who can pick you out of the crowd.

Key to your development of relationships with the media is providing reporters, producers and editors with quality, dependable content in a timely manner. Your company blog is your best PR tool. Instead of trying to manufacture relevant company news for a press release, your blog can give you industry related news and thought leadership pieces to share with the media. It’s like a gift for a reporter covering your industry – but only if you make sure it has the nuts and bolts the media are searching for:

Statistics and data related to your industry
Information on new products, services or ways of doing business
Tips and how to’s
Human-interest stories that get the adrenaline (or tears flowing)

If you need some help getting your company blog going, click here for a free resource.

If your marketing team (and maybe that’s you also) has got the blog down, you’re ready to start connecting with media. Here are a few ways you can pitch your blog to the media:

1. Don’t push a mass release. Send an engaging personal email.

Before you fire it off, ask yourself, Why is my news important to this person? It’s about them, not you. (Feel free to spend as much time composing your subject line as you do the email. It’s that important.)

In the body include a few sentences about your topic, why it’s relevant to the news source you are pitching (please do your research), a link to your blog and a file of related high-resolution images suitable for print and web. Lastly, include your contact information.

2. Find your reporter or editor on social media and act social like.

You sent the email, now follow them on Twitter and continue to communicate with them without straight up pushing your news. Don’t stalk them. They have a job to do and responding to your tweets is not their priority. It’s best to just let them know you appreciate their writing and share their content often. That will help you stay top-of-mind. If you read or watch one of their pieces related to your industry make a relevant, intelligent comment that furthers discussion on social media. Be authentic.

3. Throw the Hail Mary phone call.

If you’ve made a specific, personal pitch through email and tried to connect on social with no response, a call can be in order. Email can occasionally end up in spam and, like you, reporters, producers and editors get overwhelmed by their inbox. It’s ok to call, once. “I’m calling about XYZ and if you need any other information, my contact info is on my email…”

4. Be patient.

You’d think that our crazy fast paced news cycle would mean media people would get back to you instantly when they’re interested in your news. Not necessarily.

I just received a reply on an email pitch I sent on behalf of client in June. June. That was six months ago. The magazine is well known and influential in my client’s industry so it was worth the wait. Because the email contained a relevant pitch and helpful collateral, in this case, a spec sheet and an ebook about a product, the editors had the information they needed to include the client in an upcoming feature about new design and building materials. The response wasn’t on my timeline, but the result is pivotal for this client’s product launch, and certainly for our agency securing future work.

Being the voice of your company is a powerful position.

If you’ve developed those key media relationships and built a track record as a dependable industry news source and used your company blog to establish thought leadership, you have the power to change the way people think about your industry. And that will change how your company thinks about you. As Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks says, “Be an investment, not an expense.”

Photo by Minda Haas