The Turner Ink blog contains rants, bloopers, observations and opinions. It also has handy tips on grammar and punctuation such as colons: semicolons; and full stops. As well as some very useful ‘how tos’. Feel free to leave comments. Be nice though.

Turner Ink

Copywriting Services London

Archive for April 2009

What’s the worst thing you can do during an economic downturn?

28th
Apr
by Sarah Turner

Here’s your answer: cut the marketing budget. That’s it in a nutshell. When times are tough do not – one more time – do not cut your marketing spend.

It’s tempting though, right? Marketing is often seen as a bit of a luxury. Something to do when times are good. But as soon as times are bad budgets are often slashed quicker than you can say nightmare on Wall Street.

The Bellwether Report, published by Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) in January 2009 for the 4th quarter of 2008, reported a massive decline in marketing spend; the biggest reduction in the survey’s nine-year history.

It prompted Moray MacLennan, IPA President to say “given that marketing and creativity are the solution and not the problem [my emphasis], it will be interesting to see when the investment community starts to look favourably on those who maintain budgets and increase share of voice, as they are more likely to succeed in the future.”

Cutting your marketing budget is short term strategy. And it’s short-sighted. In fact you should increase your marketing spend during tough times. Why? Because

If your competitors have stopped marketing, your brand will be louder and stronger and get you a bigger share of the market.

It sends out a clear message to your customers: you can trust us; we’re in this for the long-haul.

Of course, now’s a good time to negotiate some cracking deals in old school media (TV, radio and press). But also think about new ways of reaching your customers. And spend that budget on social media marketing, using sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.  

And remember, people do keep spending. Even during a recession. Sure, there may not be so many impulse buys. And people might think a bit more about a purchase. But when they do want to buy you’d better make sure it’s your product or service they think of first and not that of your competitors’.

So what was the marketing spend for the 1st quarter of 2009 like? According to April’s Bellwether Report the rate of the decline has slowed and business confidence has picked up.

Moray MacLennan, IPA President, “this data supports the view that the bottom of the market has been reached. It will be a long road to full recovery, but this maybe the turning point.  It’s good to see a graph going in the right direction for a change.”

Hooray.

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Tags: budgets, Marketing
Posted in Marketing | comments icon No comments yet »

Why Anglo Saxon rules (in business writing anyway)

24th
Apr
by Sarah Turner

When it comes to business writing or copywriting, it’s always better to use Anglo Saxon words rather than Latin words. But why are Anglo Saxon words better? And how can we tell the difference?

To find out, let’s take a brief look at the history of the English language.

What have the Romans ever done for us?
Latin words have been around in England since the days of the Roman Empire. But things started hotting up when the Anglo Saxons arrived in the 5th Century bringing their Germanic based language with them.

The French invasion. Mon Dieu  
A mixture of Latin and Anglo Saxon words, known as Old English, were used until the Norman Conquest in 1066, when a flood of French words came into the English language and were used by the aristocracy and well-educated. Of course, French itself is derived from Latin, and the English language became a mixture of French words like barber, tailor, butcher, mason, and carpenter, and down to earth Anglo Saxon words like beard, hair, cloth, meat, stone and wood.

Et cetera, et cetera
During the Middle Ages, many scientific, scholarly and legal terms were borrowed from Latin. And by the 17th and 18th centuries, scholars and intellectuals, wishing to improve the English language, created new English words from Latin words such as fraternity, from the Latin fraternitas, an improvement, they thought, on the Anglo Saxon brotherhood.

So why choose Anglo Saxon words over Latin? They seem a bit crude compared to the flowery elegance of Latin derived words. Well they are. But Anglo Saxon words also tend to be shorter, punchier and more direct; whereas Latin words tend to be longer and more abstract.   

I’m not saying strip your writing of Latin words altogether. But if you’re writing a business letter or sales copy, and you need to get to your point across as quickly and as easily as possible, Anglo Saxon is the way to go.

Some Latin derived words and their simpler alternatives

Adamant – firm
Adjacent – near
Ascertain – to find out
Capacious – large
Collaborate – work together
Contemplative – thoughtful
Equitable – just, fair
Incognito – disguised
Loquacious – talkative
Novel – new and unusual
Pallid – pale
Parsimonious - thrifty 
Penchant – like 
Pernicious – causing great harm

Some Anglo Saxon words that have been around a while   
Almost, All, And, As, At
By, But
For, From, Friendly
King
Middle, More, Most
Some, Such
Ten, This
Was, Were, Word
Year

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Tags: anglo saxon, latin
Posted in Business writing, Copywriting, Word stuff | comments icon 1 Comment »

Apple think different. Or should that be differently?

22nd
Apr
by Sarah Turner

Have you noticed that people on TV and radio have a real aversion to adverbs? Politicians, weather girls and football managers seem to be the biggest culprits.

So what is an adverb and why should I care about it, I hear you cry. Ok, here’s a quick recap.  An adverb is used to describe a verb, an adjective or another adverb. And, quite simply, it shows how, when, and where something was done.

Sue ran slowly. Ran is the verb and slowly describes how Sue ran.

He was rather attractive. Attractive is the adjective and rather describes how attractive he was.

She’ll be arriving quite soon. Soon is the adverb. And quite describes how soon she will arrive.

Many (but not all) adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of an adjective. And this is where our telly people fall down. Because they insist on keeping the word as an adjective.

He moves quick for a footballer. Should be quickly.

Remember to wrap up warm. Should be warmly.

They were acting crazy. Should be crazily.

Got any good examples? Let Turner Ink know.

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Tags: adverbs
Posted in Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

Punctuation: Make it a part of your daily workout

14th
Apr
by Sarah Turner

Used correctly, punctuation can often be the difference between a blah blah statement and a really powerful headline. Take this sign at my local gym.

Weight Loss sign

Our weight loss course lasts 12 weeks and the results could last a lifetime.

It’s not wrong. It’s just a bit dull. So what’s missing? How about a semicolon? A semicolon joins two complete sentences which are closely related.  

Our weight loss course lasts 12 weeks; the results could last a lifetime.

Yep, that’s getting better. This has got much more of a woo-hoo about it. It’s just 12 weeks! But you might stay thin, like, for-ever.

But I think what we really need here is a colon. Remember, a colon is used to show what comes after is an explanation or elaboration of what comes before. It’s a bit of a taa-daa! A drum roll if you like. Take a look.

Our weight loss course lasts 12 weeks: the results could last a lifetime.

Oooh now you’re talking. This has way more oomph. You could have the body of a model for the rest of your life just by turning up for 12 weeks. Awesome. Now, where do I sign-up?

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Tags: colons, semicolons
Posted in Punctuation tips | comments icon No comments yet »

Please stand back from the edge of the platform while we confuse our words

8th
Apr
by Sarah Turner

This exit is tempoarily…tempararily….tempary…tempoary. Ummmm…this exit is shut for a bit.

London Underground: This exit is temporary closed

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Tags: adjectives, adverbs
Posted in Bloopers, Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

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