Now, I love these ads. And I like the fact that Nationwide has been brave enough to use controversial TV characters in their advertising. So when I picked up this leaflet I was hoping to read some quirky, fun, off the wall copy. Wrong.

First of all, this leaflet isn’t aimed at Joe Public: it’s actually aimed at Nationwide staff because it talks about the ‘intranet’ and ‘customer questions’, which makes the style of this leaflet even more inappropriate. (And why was it in the banking hall for me to pick up?)

Take the opening line: “Our TV ads have been designed to cut through the noise of the media.” What? Yawnsville. With all due respect to the staff at Nationwide, how many of them will know what “cut through the noise of the media” even means? I’m not sure I know.

The best bit is under customer questions. In other words, the questions customers may come in and ask.

Question: The ads talk about “Proud to be different”. How can you justify that?
Answer: Our mutual model, combined with great service, and a commitment to long-tern value for our members all make us very different to other financial service.

Ewwww. “Our mutual model”? Can you imagine any building society cashier actually saying this. Nope.

Or how about:
Question: How much has the advertising cost?
Answer: We’ve benchmarked our production costs and we’re in line with the market.

So if I went into a branch this afternoon and asked how much the ad campaign cost do you think I would get the answer above?

Was this written by the ad agency and then butchered in-house by some corporate bod who had been on a marketing course? Or was it knocked together by an intern in the marketing department? ’After all, it’s only for the staff.’ It’s a shame. Because this was an opportunity for Nationwide to get their teams a-buzzin’ about the new campaign. This misses the mark by miles. 

What. Ever.

Yeah, but, no, but, yeah…How Nationwide Building Society’s copy is more ‘whatever’ than ‘wow’ is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

So, I had a few of my own postcards printed up and I’ve been sending them to people I’ve met out and about at networking events and conferences. I’ve even used them as thank you cards.

They were pretty cheap too. About £60, I think, for two hundred and something. Four colour one side and black on reverse.

I even fished out my old Waterman fountain pen to use and bought some new green ink. The downside, of course, is that my handwriting is a bit of a scrawl. And I’ve now got an inky middle finger. Sigh. Just like the old days.

So far they’ve been really well received. And they’re a nice alternative to email.

What do you think? Do you send handwritten notes at all?

And this time…it’s personal. Why handwritten notes are making a comeback is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

But as of today, the inbox is EMPTY. Yay. And, no, I haven’t just shoved all my emails into folders. I’ve really deleted them. Gone. Gone. Gone. And it feels good.

Probably the most boring image ever used in a blog post

Next stop is to cull the contents of the folders that are left. And get rid of the sent items.

I’m not cured yet. But I’m definitely on the road to recovery. Just don’t email me your congratulations.

The inbox is empty. Real life story of one copywriter’s fight to break the email habit is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

Social Media Lens was launched at the Marketing Week Live Show this week. Download your free copy here.

We all know about the benefits of using social media.

Take Twitter for instance. Get it right and you can build your brand, improve your reputation, drive traffic, get new customers and grow your business.

But get it wrong and you can easily make yourself look like a…twit.

So what does it take to be successful on Twitter?

Have high standards
Make sure that every tweet is useful, interesting or at least mildly amusing. In fact, you should see everything you write as an opportunity to inform, engage and influence.

So prepare a list of topics that relate to your business or industry and only tweet or retweet about these core subjects. And be strict about this. Don’t wander off and start tweeting about the weather. People are busy. They haven’t got time for drivel. So don’t tweet about what you had for breakfast; the contestants on America’s Got Talent; or how cute and funny your cat is. Never, ever tweet about your cat.

Be nice
Seriously. Be nice. And open, honest, and friendly. Let’s throw generous into the mix as well.

When you retweet other people’s stuff, include a few of your own words at the beginning of the tweet: A must read, Good stuff, Funny, Disagree, Well written, Great post. You’ll find that people will retweet your stuff in return. Remember to thank them.

Answer questions. Be helpful. Do this and people will follow you, trust you and recommend you.

Oh and don’t hide behind a company logo or an abstract image. People want to see who they’re talking to. Use a real picture of yourself. Preferably one that doesn’t make you look like a second hand car salesman or a bunny boiler.

Don’t be a smartarse
Or a clever-clogs or a show-off. No-one likes a show-off. People don’t care about what clients you have or what projects you’re working on or how busy you are. Really, they don’t. Waffle on about great you are and it’s the quickest to get unfollowed.

And don’t cuss. In fact, don’t say anything you’d be embarrassed to say in front of your mother. Unless, of course, your mother is a 15 stone trucker with a fondness for Hell’s Angels tattoos.

Remember anyone, anywhere can read your public tweets at anytime. Once they’re out there, they’re out there for ever. So criticising a client is not smart. Neither is moaning about your boss or complaining about a co-worker. Only tweet something you’d be happy to say to someone’s face.

Social media isn’t rocket surgery. But it is social. Which means you’re going to have to interact with real people. So think about what you want to share, be nice about it and don’t be a smarty-pants.

How to avoid screwing up in 140 characters is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

But yesterday, this arrived from my Lib Dem MP Edward Davey: a personal letter. Well, not quite. It’s one of those handwritten-but-printed letters but it still felt more personal than all the other stuff I’d received.

And do you know what? I read the whole thing from beginning to end.

A few weeks ago, at a networking event, I met Jerry Marshall from Tozer Marshall Design in Kingston. We chatted. We swapped business cards. The usual. And then a few days later I received a handwritten postcard from him saying thanks for the chat and hopefully we can work together at some point in the future. How cool? I actually called him up to say thank you, and the postcard is now pinned to my wall.

Is this old style personal correspondence making a bit of a comeback in these days of impersonal emails, tweets and texts?

James over at Freelance Switch thinks so. In a blog post this week James has some great old school ideas:

Write a handwritten thank-you note to your clients, then tuck in an extra business card – and a request that the client pass on that card to a colleague who could use your services.

So I’m digging out my fountain pen and I’m getting writing. Which only leaves the question: Should I vote for Ed Davy or Monkey the Drummer from the Monster Raving Loony Party? (And yes, he really is standing in Kingston.)

Why old school communication gets my vote is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

But if you’re a freelancer or you run your own company, it’s easy to put your own blog on the back burner while you get your real work done. Especially if you’ve run out of ideas about what to write.   

But stick with it. Because your blog is one of the easiest, quickest and cheapest ways of getting freshly baked content on to your site – and Google loves fresh content; it’s a great way of getting traffic to your site; and it’s the perfect way to build relationships with your customers and attract new clients.

But what to write about? Try some of these ideas for inspiration.

• Interview someone in your industry or someone you’re inspired by
• Ask a question
• Review a product and show how you use it in your business
• Tell a personal story and let people know the real you
• Review a book
• Write about something that affects your industry
• Read the Sunday papers for inspiration (I especially like the Sunday Times magazine)
• Write a response to something someone else has posted, giving your point of view (and link to the original post)
• Review a piece of software and show how it’s helped your business
• Take photos on your camera phone, whilst you’re out and about, and use in a post
• Write a post on something that’s in the news today (look at the BBC website first thing or see what’s trending on Twitter)
• Use a band or a movie as inspiration. The Sex and the City post over at Copyblogger was one of my favourites, like, ev-ah.
• Do a survey – and then publish the results
• Write about how you screwed up or how you learned a lesson
• Write a How to blog post…

And if you have a flash of inspiration for a post, leave yourself a voice memo on your iPhone or write a note in Evernote.

Any more ideas? Share in the comments.

How to write a blog post…when you’ve run out of ideas is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

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.

‘My name is Sarah and I’m an email junkie’. The true story of email overload is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

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.

But 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.

This year’s Golden Bull Award goes to… is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

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

Shout it out: Why you should use an active voice is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog

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.

How to proofread. 12 steps to perfect copy is a post from the Turner Ink Copywriting Blog