IN THIS ISSUE:
March 10, 2005, 10am-11 am PT/1-2 pm ET
Raindance Communications Inc. Web Seminar: "Five
Strategies for Creating Profitable Growth"
March 24, 2005 - AFSMI Atlanta Workshop:
"Five Strategies for Creating Profitable Growth"
For details, contact dphillips@northhighland.com
May 9, 2005 - Women's Business Center - "Success by Design"
To register, click
here and go to "2005 Events Calendar":
The Hidden Barriers
to Persuasive Writing
If you think writing compelling online
copy and communication is someone else's responsibility
in your organization, think again.
The fastest way to alienate your clients, employees and
business partners is to misalign your written message with
your intentions. Here are some "communication dead ends"
that could make or break your business relationships and
sales goals.
It all started when I received a most disturbing ezine from
a highly respected marketing strategist and author...
As I read his monthly newsletter and finished reading the
first paragraph, I was ready to delete the message...
Then, suddenly, a lesson for my readers flashed in front
of me.
This was a perfect example of online messaging gone south!
If I could learn from this, so could you. Here are four
surefire signs you are losing your audience...
The message is just too wordy.
The strategy e-newsletter contained over 3,000 words and
occupied 7 pages! Name one senior executive in your client
base who has the interest- let alone the time-- to read
a 7-page document.
If you have that much to say, consider you have a multi-part
article or a book in the making. World-renown copyrighter
Ted
Nicholas suggests that good sales copy starts with 10
words, then narrows to five, and to one - all within the
first paragraph. His insight translates into dollars - his
word mastery has helped his clients generate over $1B in
sales
Let's face itÖyour newsletter, employee communication, phone
messages, and memos are usually intended to educate or persuade.
Ted's rules can apply in these scenarios as well.
Do your readers a favor. Find a way to divide your newsletter
into a multi-part series of 500-700 word articles.
The writing style models a history book more than a business
communiquÈ.
In this ezine, each paragraph contained at least 250 words.
Most sentences contained at least 35 words and many parenthetical
phrases. Who has the time and interest to read this level
of insight in a business newsletter? Even though this strategy
expert has many great insights to share, he lost me after
the first paragraph.
The article lacked any real life stories.
I just returned from an information-packed National
Speakers Association conference in Cancun, and learned
this straight from master movie producers and story consultants.
When I met Chris Vogler, the author of "The
Writer's Journey" and story consultant to movies
such as "The Lion King" and "Superman," he explained that
"Noted mythologist Joseph
Campbell taught us that writers win the hearts and minds
of their audience when they share a story. We look for the
heroes and success stories to suspend our disbelief."
The deep knowledge and original intent of the author
is undermined by frequent use of very negative words.
I experienced a sense of doom and gloom as the ezine author
described the poor execution strategies within today's software
companies. I counted dozens of repeated uses of words such
as "survival," "desperate," and "fail."
We can gain great insights from the deep impact of language
from Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of "The
Hidden Messages in Water", Dr. Emoto photographed various
water crystals in a body of water after exposing them to
various words he wrote on a piece of paper, such as "love,"
"gratitude," and "you fool." Over the last decade, Emoto
photographed stark contrasts between the beauty of the water
crystals exposed to positive words and those exposed to
negative words. If words have that impact on water, what
impact do they have on people
(who are 70% water?)!
Bob Scheinfeld, President of The
Ultimate Lifestyle Academy, says it best. "Leaders and
marketers actually communicate at two levels simultaneously
when they interact with others: the surface level (the face
value words) and the energetic level (what they're truly
thinking and feeling about the words they're speaking).
When the two levels of communication don't match, 'speed
bumps' are created."
Bob continues, "Others respond to
these -- and generally NOT in the way we'd prefer for them
to respond. As communicators, what we really want to do
is 'carve energy,' which means making sure our surface and
energetic messages match and align perfectly."
For an example of well-carved energy, visit Bob's free online
tour.
How do you avoid these persuasive writing traps and energetic
word vampires? Consider these guidelines:
- Get clear on your intent before you
begin writing. Do you want to share an insight, provide
resources, or announce a major issue or trend?
- Picture your email, your newsletter,
or your memos as water crystals. How can you make these
messages symmetrical, attractive, and clean? How can you
remove your ego and unmet need to be the expert -- and
invite the readers to think for themselves? (hint: if
you are using words and phrases such as "It doesn't take
a brain surgeon," "obviously," or "any 5 year-old could
do this," then your intention may need re-visiting.)
- Examine how your company uses stories.
How effectively do those stories suspend disbelief, touch
and inspire people, invite them to think differently,
and encourage them to take action?
- Assess your personal reaction to your
clients' and business partners' online message or copy
that's designed to "sell something. " Scan your feelings
as you're reading it. Energy mismatches tend to shout
off the page. Write down the mismatches. Then tell yourself
how you will avoid committing those mismatches in your
own copy.
Clean, non-manipulative persuasive
communication happen at levels we, as leaders, are just
beginning to understand. Each of us is responsible for defining
our role in carving powerful messages that invite collaboration
and conversation.
--Lisa Nirell
http://www.energizegrowth.com/
