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Copywriting Services London

Archive for the 'Business writing' category

‘My name is Sarah and I’m an email junkie’. The true story of email overload

24th
Feb
by Sarah Turner

I had a bit of a light bulb moment last week.

It was when I turned on my computer last Monday and saw I had 338 emails in my inbox.

Eeeek. How come so many? Well I don’t use RSS. So every blog update comes via email. And to be honest, I’ve been slack with my reading and filing. There were quite a few from clients of course. And the usual milions of updates from Amazon, Play, Sports Direct etc.

Immediately I felt under pressure. How long was it going to take me to get through this lot? A couple of hours? An afternoon? Whatever. It was time that could be better spent elsewhere.

And then it occurred to me: why the heck was I filing all these emails? I needed a new way of managing my inbox. And fast.

Help was immediately at hand.

One of the unopened emails was a blog post from Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits. When it comes to emails he suggests talking one of four actions:

1. Read and delete
2. Archive the stuff you want to look at later
3. Do a quick reply if you can do it in less than four sentences
4. Put it on a to-do list

He may have something there.

On Wednesday I met Rob Williams at a 4N networking event. He actually goes into companies and sets up their email systems. The trouble is that people still file emails like they’re using filing cabinets, he told me. So every piece of correspondence is saved, in folders, in alphabetical order.

He recommends dealing with emails like this:

1. Read and delete
2. Put in a folder to delegate
3. Put in a to-do folder
4. Put in an archive folder once dealt with

As Rob pointed out, there’s no need to create separate customer files, employee files, or project files. Just put all your emails in one archive file and use your search facility to find them. He told me some of his clients now have an extra hour a day which had been previously spent filing emails.

Wow.

My conversation with Rob was closely followed by two great posts I read at the end of last week: Merlin’s 5-step method for Managing your Inbox by Dean Rieck at Pro Copy Tips. And Email is Killing your Business by Michael Leis.

The guys above had given me some great tips on inbox management. Now I needed to go cold turkey.  

Checking all the folders on my PC I discovered the embarrassing truth: I have filed EVERY single email I have ever received from the likes of Ittybiz, Copyblogger, Search Engine Land, Chris Brogan and Daily Blog Tips. And I’ve filed them all in folders helpfully named, Ittybiz, Copyblogger, Search Engine Land, Chris Brogan and Daily Blog Tips. There were hundreds and hundreds of emails. I’d just got into the habit of reading and filing. Reading and filing. Reading and filing. And sometimes I hadn’t even read or filed. Hence the 338 emails now sitting in my inbox.

And here’s the joke. Have I ever gone back to the Copyblogger folder and looked for a particular email? Nope. I’ve just gone to the Copyblogger site and searched for it. Same with Ittybiz. On the rare occasion I couldn’t find a particular post I emailed Naomi directly and she emailed me back with the link.

And that was just emails from the bloggers I follow. How about client folders? There were hundreds of them as well. Every email carefully filed away with important stuff like ‘See you on Thursday at 12.30pm.’ Or ‘I’m away on Monday June 11th 2007 so can you email the copy to my marketing assistant?’

Crazy.

So what am I doing about it?

Since last Friday, every email that gets filed needs to meet the following criteria: it needs to contain information which helps me be a better copywriter. Or it needs to contain information which might be useful for a future blog post. If it doesn’t, it gets deleted. So that means all the emails from Mashable about the Apple iPad are going in the trash.

And I’ve started getting rid of all those client folders and their contents. I’m keeping a couple of important emails: the ones that say ‘we love what you’ve written’ and ‘please invoice us now’. Actually, they can probably go as well.

I’ve unsubscribed from Amazon et al.

And I’m going to use Skype text wherever possible, so I’m not clogging up someone else’s inbox. 

I’m aiming for minimal filing and a zero inbox.

Oh and if this blog post ends up in your inbox, read it – then delete it.

 

Got any tips for managing your inbox? Please share in the comments.

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Tags: emails, inbox
Posted in Business writing | comments icon 4 Comments »

This year’s Golden Bull Award goes to…

10th
Dec
by Sarah Turner

This week saw the 30th Plain English Campaign award ceremony, held at The Brewery, London, honouring the best and worst in written communications.

There was the imaginatively named Web Award for the ‘clearest website’, won this year by the Financial Ombudsman Service. Whilst The Daily Telegraph, BBC Radio 1, and Birmingham Mail were all winners in the media category for excellent journalism.

Golden Bull Awards 2009But for me, the best awards are the Golden Bull, Foot in Mouth, and Kick in the Pants awards, given to businesses and individuals who insist on suffocating simple ideas under layers of jargon and puffery.

The Golden Bull Award is given for the ‘worst examples of written tripe’. And there were some absolute crackers this year.

1. Department of Health website
Information on their site about preventing disease.

Primary secondary and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention includes health promotion and requires action on the determinants of health to prevent disease occurring. It has been described as refocusing upstream to stop people falling in the waters of disease.

So in other words, doctors can prevent disease before it occurs.

2. Equity Red Star Insurance

For a customer’s motor insurance schedule

ANY ENDORSEMENT NUMBER SHOWN IN THIS SCHEDULE BUT NOT INCLUDED IN THE ENDORSEMENT APPENDIX SHALL BE DEEMED TO APPLY AND FORM PART OF THE APPENDIX THE ENDORSEMENTS BEARING SUCH NUMBER(S) BEING ATTACHED OR PREVIOUSLY APPLIED.

So basically you’re screwed. If you have a car accident don’t bother calling us.

3. LSIS (Learning and Skills Improvement Service)

For a consultation booklet ‘Statement of strategic direction’ sent to schools.

The government calls insistently for more innovation. But doing things in a new way will not necessarily lead to better outcomes. So, what do we mean by innovation? We share the thinking of, for example, the Work Foundation, which sees innovation not “as a set of discrete and singular moments of change” but rather as “a culture or process in which drivers of change are embedded in and facilitated by the strategic outlook of the organisation.”

To draw an analogy from nature, innovation may be thought of as ‘the new season’ growth’ rather than a series of isolated ‘bright ideas’.

What the hell? Is this person on drugs? Haven’t teachers got enough to do without receiving this kind of nonsense?

4. Balaclava Public School

For a letter to parents about making iced cup cakes.

Dear parent/Guardians

The Grade 7 Science classes are nearing the completion for the unit Pure Substances and Mixtures. In this unit, students have been introduced to the Particle Theory of Matter, and to some of the terminology related to the field of chemistry. They have also been given the opportunity to explore, and conduct experiments related to the properties of solutions and mechanical mixtures.

At this time all students are encouraged to discuss with you the content and expectations of the culminating task along with how it will be assessed. This culminating task allows students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills that he/she has learned throughout the module.

Although students are responsible to independently complete this task, we would very much appreciate your assistance for the experimenting component, as students require access to a kitchen and some ingredients to develop their own mixture.

Thank you in advance for your interest and co-operation.

Sincerely,

In other words: your kids are making cup cakes. In your kitchen. You gotta buy the stuff. It will be fun.

The Foot in Mouth Award for ‘baffling quotes by public figures’ went to Lord Peter Mandelson for his comment on the investigations into MP’s expenses.

“Perhaps we need not more people looking round more corners but the same people looking round more corners more thoroughly to avoid the small things detracting from the big things the Prime Minister is getting right.”

Gawd love ‘im. What is Mandy talking about?

While the Kick in the Pants Award went to the Metropolitan Police ’for their continuing use of jargon and gobbledygook in public information.’

You’re nicked sunshine.

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Tags: golden bull awards, plain english campaign
Posted in Bloopers, Business writing, Word stuff | comments icon 1 Comment »

Shout it out: Why you should use an active voice

26th
May
by Sarah Turner

One of the easiest ways to make your writing zippity zip zip, is to use an active voice rather than a passive one.

So how does it work?

Ok, sentences have three basic elements: a subject, a verb and an object. With an active voice you have a person that performs an action, and something that is affected by that action:

David’s dad fixed his bike.

The subject is David’s dad. The verb is to fix. And the object is the bike.

Now with a passive voice, the bike has now become the subject of the sentence, to the point that David’s dad can be removed and it will still make sense:

The bike was fixed by David’s dad.
The bike was fixed.

Take a look at some more examples.  

With the active voice the subject does the action and the object receives the action.  

The teachers (subject) taught (verb) the children (object) in 3B hockey and football.
The shop assistant (subject) was helping (verb) the old man (object).
You (subject) should tell (verb) him (object).

With a passive voice the subject does nothing; it is now acted upon. 

The children (subject) in 3B were taught (verb) hockey and football (by the teachers – the original subject and now the object).
The old man was helped (by the shop assistant).
He should be told (by you).

Be careful of starting a sentence with an active voice and then shifting to a passive voice. 

We found the error in the accounts and the customer was notified immediately.

Should be:

We found the error in the accounts and notified the customer immediately.

So when it comes to websites; sales letters; reports; emails; presentations; and any type of business writing – always use the active voice.

It makes your writing shorter, more direct, and whizzes your reader through the sentence

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Tags: active voice, passive voice
Posted in Business writing, Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

How to proofread. 12 steps to perfect copy

7th
May
by Sarah Turner

You’ve planned, done an outline, written a first draft and edited. Are you done? Not quite. The last thing you need to do is proofread. And here’s the easiest way to do it.  

1. Take a break
Preferably not a three hour one down the pub. But even a 15 minute break will refresh your eyeballs and help you spot errors more easily.

2. Print out your work 
Yeah, I know it doesn’t do much for your carbon footprint. But it’s essential you print out a hard copy. It’s just so much easier to find errors reading from paper than a screen. It just is. Dunno why.  

3. Read out loud
Read your work out loud. And slow-ly. This will make you read each word individually, and make it easier to find mistakes and poor sentence structure. Remember, if you’re stumbling over the words, chances are your reader will too. Warning: you may have to stand in the corridor or board room for this one. 

4. Read backwards  
Your brain is really clever. No, really it is. So it will always try and make sense of what you’re reading. So take the word out of context by reading your document from the bottom backwards. This will confuse your poor ol’ grey matter and make it easier to spot errors.

5. Work with a ruler
Keeping the ruler just below the line you’re reading will force you to slow down and focus on each word individually. Good news: you’ll find mistakes. Bad news: you’ll look like a six year old. But who cares if you produce perfect copy.

6. Touch each word
By touching each word with a tip of a pencil you’ll have to read really really slowly. Again, this will make it easier to find those pesky typos.

7. Check dates
PCs have an annoying habit of autocorrecting dates when you’re not looking. So make sure you check your dates carefully for consistency.

                        28th July 1972
                        28 July 1972  
                        28.7.72  
                        7.28.72 (US)

8. Check names and titles
Check the spelling of people’s names. And check titles. Is a person doing the same job throughout your document? And remember, titles shouldn’t have capitals unless they’re before the person’s name.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke today about the economic crisis
Gordon Brown is the prime minister of the UK
Jeff Turner, vice president of sales, spoke at the conference

Titles should be lower case if there’s no name attached.

The president of the company is an Oxford graduate
The managing director is on holiday

9. Check for abbreviated company names
At the beginning of a document, a company name should be spelt out in its entirety followed by its abbreviated form in brackets.

Structural Analysis Service Solutions (SASS) had a £100,000 turnover in August

The company can then be referred to in its abbreviated form throughout the rest of the document. 

Unless it’s something well known like the UN or the BBC. 

Watch out for odd brand names like Harrods, Currys and Boots (which are now all ‘apostropheless’)

10. Check for the second brackets or quotes 
If you’ve “quoted” somebody or put something in (brackets) make sure the final speech mark or bracket is there.

11. Check formatting
Check your spacing between paragraphs, between lines (single or 1.5?) and between sentences. Old school typists leave a space between sentences.  Like this. You shouldn’t.

Check headers and sub heads. Are they all in bold, same colour, same font?

Check fonts. Size, type and colour. Are they all the same?

12. Get someone else to read it
And finally, if you can, right before your document ‘goes to press’, get someone else to read through your work. Annoyingly, they’ll probably spot an error straight away. But it does mean you’ll get perfect copy.

Got any tips on proofreading? Let Turner Ink know.

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Tags: proofreading
Posted in Business writing, How to | comments icon 2 Comments »

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 »

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