Rid your Business Documents of Abstractions

Is your organization a world-class provider of cutting-edge solutions? Do your people offer turn-key robust service? I’m sure you do. Unfortunately, your customers and donors have no idea what all those abstractions really mean or should mean to them.

We might criticize teenagers for talking in a language that defies comprehension (whose BFF R U?), but if you are writing business documents, be careful that your messages can be easily understood. Business language, no matter what the business, is too often laden with meaningless jargon. In fact, it’s so common that we stop recognizing the words as meaningless hype.

If you want to build your brand (who doesn’t) stop using mumbo-jumbo and start talking so that your messages are crystal clear.

Want to know how? Log on to our website and read this month's enews for our top tips.

Write like every word matters

How impactful are your organizations fund development letters? Case for Giving? Annual Report? Do these documents beat around the bush and contain a lot of flowery jargon rather than cutting to the quick? Time to get out your red pen. Slash the jargon. Stop beating around the bush and instead say what you mean.

"We need your money and time to help us save lives."

Before you start editing, take a minute to read Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog Is your s*@t detector on?

In Marketing and Life, Think Strategy Before You Jump!

Several weeks ago we posed the question, when is it OK for small business marketers or nonprofit organization NOT to blog? I was delighted to see Elizabeth Holmes' article in today's Enterprise section of the Wall Street Journal tackling this issue too.

Remember when your mother asked you "would you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if all the other kids were doing it?" Well no. And you shouldn't jump into blogging or on line marketing just because everyone else is doing it either. Bottom line, it's only appropriate to blog, or have a website, or advertise or engage in any one particular kind of communication strategy when it fits your STRATEGY!

We see so many entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations working hard on all fronts, including their marketing. But often what gets overlooked is strategic marketing planning. Taking the time to think about what communications strategies will best connect YOUR products and services with YOUR target audiences will undoubtedly give you better results than investing precious dollars on promotional strategies that don't make any sense.

So, do you need a website? Maybe. Do you need a blog? Maybe. Do you need to advertise? Maybe. Do you need a strategic marketing plan? YES -- ALWAYS!

If you need help with your strategic marketing planning, log on to our website for lots of free tools or contact us!

Crisis Communication – You Better Be Ready Before it Happens

Like everyone watching the images and information play out in Virginia over the last couple of days, we are saddened by the sudden loss of so many lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Virginia Tech community.

It also gives us at FixYourMarketing.com an opportunity to remind all of you nonprofit marketers and small business marketers of the critical need for crisis planning – BEFORE there is a crisis.

Virginia Tech clearly had a plan in place. They had spokespeople, e-mails, press conferences, news releases, and their website allowing them to distribute critical information to families, students and the community. But it’s also clear that they hadn’t thought through all the variables.

Crisis communication takes time and out of the box thinking. To get you started, here are our top tips:

1. Have a plan in place and practiced before you need it!

2. Take care of people – Do everything you need to do to take care of the people in the situation. (That means everything from medical care in the case of an accident to taking care of people stuck in a plane on a runway for hours.) This may seem basic, but think about how many times companies have overlooked this basic fact in the midst of a crisis – most notable from recent times, the JetBlue debacle.

3. Consider communication logistics – Have plans and back up plans to contact staff members, employees, customers/clients and vendors. And, don’t forget about the lessons of Hurricane Katrina when the phone grid went down! Use new technology to your benefit (i.e. web pages, text messaging, myspace.com, etc.)

4. Who will talk? – Who answers the phone? Who is outside the building – where they might be in contact with reporters or bystanders? Decide who will talk, when, from what place. Then make sure all your employees know it.

5. Get the facts right -- During a crisis it’s more important than ever to get out facts clearly, as parents, family members and the media are reporting on the fly and need accurate information they can quickly get to readers and listeners.

6. What to say – Regardless of what the crisis is you need to communicate concern and communicate a dogged determination to discover the cause of the situation.

7. Say as much as you can – but be candid and be careful. Share the latest information you have, but don’t give out information that isn’t confirmed.

8. Talk only when you are ready -- Take care of your people first and then get your facts. If you have haven't done these two things, let the media know when you will have a statement or more information.

9. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” – There is nothing wrong with not having information. Never say "no comment." Instead use, "I'll find out, it’s not available yet, we have to clarify facts."

This is such an important subject and there is so much to say that we will feature crisis communication in an upcoming eNewsletter. So stay tuned!

Small Business Marketing and Non Profit Marketing: "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends"

We're in the business of telling our clients how give their small businesses and nonprofit organizations a marketing a "fix." But, this week, I've been the one learning a lot about getting connected. By this point in life I think I have mastered the art in the real world, but it has been amazing to learn how different virtual networking is!

Blogging offers so many forms of education to small businesses and nonprofit marketers. Here are our favorite sources. Duct Tape Marketing Blog -- John's article about the snack culture only reiterates what it is that blogs are all about -- bite size treats (yum, my favorite). Likewise, props to Made To Stick. While you are reading what Chip and Dan Heath have to say, also download their Talking Strategy Manifesto. It's worth the read. Nonprofit Communications Blog is a great site for very specialized tips for a non-profit organizations. This week's piece about re-designing a non-profit website struck a chord. Most people see non-profits only as different in their lack of funding. What they don't realize is that the differences involve top line strategy. A website for a non-profit should look very different than a site intended to sell a product. Read Kivi's tips and make sure your nonprofit site is making the grade.

I wrote about "When not to Blog" earlier in the week. Would love to hear from more of you why companies should pass on blogging. It seems our friends at Diva Marketing Blog had this on the brain too. They offer a great expansion on the subject.

So, happy Friday and happy MARKETING! Talk to ya'll next week!

Getting In the Blog "Scene"

After reading a post recently on the Diva Marketing Blog I started to consider what a great social networking tool this blog has been!

Blogging allows us to almost effortlessly talk to you and by doing so strategically market what we have to offer. While we think we are creative, blogging doesn't require much time. All it really takes is for us to put out for the world to see and read -- who you really are and what we have to say. That essence of a blog is what opens so many doors for social network marketing.

As big as the world is, blogging has allowed all of us to have a discussion. We have found an endlessly expanding round table around which we can present our beliefs, talents and interests. It gives us the chance to find common ground and discuss our differences. It also gives many opportunities to learn from each other. And it's changed the way we think about the Internet too. I began to realize, after a little trial run, that when we search the web now with any search engine. Almost half of the results we find are in the form of a blog post.

Web 2.0 -- means we're vulnerable to potentially incorrect information, but more importantly, it means we have the potential to learn from the experiences of so many others that we might never have meet.

Call me an eternal optimist, but I think the trade-off is worth it. I would rather the chance to dig through stories and tips than to never hear them at all.

Your Neighbor does it. How about you?

Forbes.com "Web Celeb 25. The ranks of the world's celebrities used to be dominated by millionaire actors, athletes and musicians, but the Internet has leveled the playing field. A kid with a video camera has access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star. A mom with a blog can attract more readers than a best-selling author. And an opinionated entrepreneur can become a guru to millions."

This quote, from Forbes.com is interesting to think about. Watch as the web trends away from professionals to expertise of the 'guy next door.' What this means for professionals, you ask? Our content has to be enriching. It has to be something that people need. We need to be everywhere online so that you will will find is in the enormous sea. We also need to tap into our society's need to talk, respond and be provoked by continually fresh and refreshed content.

On a side note: As I sit here writing this blog I laugh at the red marks all over my screen. The dialog of our country is changing, but where is Microsoft? Why is the word “blog” or “podcast” still unrecognizable in the widely sold Office Suite? It will be interesting to see how technology affects the English language. How long will the language resist what people are so openly embracing?

Writing like DaVinci

The last time you sat down to write for business, did you start with some kind of outline? While following that tried and true “I, A, B, C, II, A, B, C…” format is useful, it also limits your creativity. I was privileged to spend a couple of hours last Friday with Michael Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci.

Gelb urges that if we want to find real genius within ourselves, be truly creative out of the box thinkers, we need to ditch the outline and write unencumbered. Gelb prefers mind mapping, stream of consciousness works too, as does keeping a Dictophone in the car or pad and paper next to your bed or in the bathroom. The idea is to be ready to record those big ideas whenever or wherever they may strike.

Whatever your method, when it’s time to write, don’t let the blank page intimidate, instead write what comes naturally. If you are blocked, take a walk, take a shower, get some exercise, cook dinner, make brownies – whatever you can to let your mind relax – and then start again. But don’t try to organize your thoughts until your thoughts are actually on the page.

Try it, you never know, your clients might call you genius.