Tone of Voice Strategy - In my opinion this is the next big marketing ‘must have’ to come through. Now that most communications about your brand or products are carried on outside your control, on social media sites and forums, you have to speak the language of your customers. Not the token nod towards using friendly language and informal phrasing. It is not easy but I think the time has come to show that you empathise with your customers by thinking carefully about the words you use, when you use them and how they might be interpreted. Empathy is key.
So I would like to see companies seriously considering investing properly in tone of voice and how they can build their own personal ‘lexicon’ of ‘on-brand’ words alongside the brand guidelines. How long before brand and design agencies are saying to their client ‘would you like words with that Sir?’
Staff Training - Teaching people to write is a tough challenge - but teaching them why you have to structure and write specific communications in a particular way makes it more relevant to the student.
Language is hard for most of us to understand in a formal sense because we all use it everyday and take it for granted. Finding out how it works (ie grammar) bores us to death. But finding out how and why it works when you do it right in specific areas such as websites, case studies, corporate brochures, press releases and tone of voice programmes, is exciting. Once staff begin to feel more confident with expressing the brand, they can make a massive difference to how coherent the brand actually is – even if it just means briefing external writers and creatives in a more focused way.
Writing, Writing & Writing - Planning and structuring corporate literature and web sites following thorough investigation of the ‘true’ creative brief. Developing ideas and concepts and writing crisp, clear and persuasive copy for all kinds of communications. Especially like interviewing and writing ‘real life’ case studies and feature articles.
Bold, emotionally engaging writing that has both gravitas and a sense of fun. Clarity is all and plain English one of my mantras. When the reader is not going to give your communication long, you really do have to get to the point quickly and really make your point count.
I recently re-wrote the stratton craig copywriters web site with the aim of making an impact with corporate clients who are seeking exceptional value and guaranteed quality. Neither is a given in the UK copywriting market and it was my job to distinguish stratton craig from other providers on the basis of quality of service AND creativity.
UDC – Celebrating 70 years of serving New Zealanders
Learning about the history of a great New Zealand company enabled me to learn about the great history of New Zealand. I devised the structure plan and did all the research and writing for this important milestone for one of the Country’s leading financial institutions. The picture painted is of a venerable New Zealand institution that is part of the fabric of NZ life.
Volvo Titan Construction equipment
An example of hard-working functional PR / Advertising copy for an industrial client. Tightly crafted benefit-led copy and a strong headline combine to make a persuasive case for a premium product.