Consider yourself in a time machine that has whisked you back to high school English. Remember your teacher hammering home the point that effective writing “shows” the reader as opposed to “tells” the reader. It’s the showing that underpins true storytelling. The same holds true in business communications. Nobody wants to read — or believe …more
I explored the concept of word visuals earlier this month as the perfect way for PR professionals to bridge into the visual world. For those not familiar with word visuals, one “packages” clever words in a way that brings a visual dimension to communications. What’s key is they emphasize the words with the design element …more
People often assume that I’m anti-Facebook just because I’m the only human being in Silicon Valley without a Facebook page. Not true. For consumer companies, Facebook offers one of the easiest platforms for brand storytelling. Take that photo of a customer smiling over the company’s product/service or that video of employees raising money for a …more
Cryptology, the science of coding and decoding messages, doesn’t appear in the mass communications syllabus at universities. And PR consultancies don’t invest in cryptology equipment like the handy “Lorenz SZ.42 Cipher Machine” pictured above (it’s a beauty). Yet, how PR professionals on the front lines interpret a certain client phrase can make or break an …more
Back in January, I offered 10 quasi-mad predictions on how the communications industry would unfold in 2014. With nine months in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to look at the scoreboard. Prediction 1: The Pope’s Selfie Goes Viral I figured the big event would happen at Easter Mass. It turned out to be with two …more
Everyone has the content religion. If you toil under the marketing umbrella, your updated job description likely includes the word “content.” And publications ranging from BuzzFeed to Fortune to BusinessInsider have created business units to address — that’s right — developing content for companies. Which explains why the mantra, “Content Is King,” has been chanted …more
I often refer to levity as the killer app in business communications. Why do so few organizations go this route? It takes guts as much as creativity to insert levity into an organization’s storytelling. As a great philosopher once put it, “One man’s levity is another man’s trash.” Zappos showed guts bringing levity to its …more
The Internet has commoditized the news release. Unfortunately, many companies missed the memo. As noted in a previous post, the three largest news release distribution services (PR Newswire, Business Wire and Marketwired) sent out roughly 642,000 news releases in 2013 or 1,759 news releases per day. Figuring 10 man hours per news release at $175 …more
I gave my Mom plenty of storytelling fodder as a youngster. It’s not like the trajectory of my youth marked me as a potential felon. But I did prefer to ignore rather than test parental boundaries which caused some heartburn from the Mom. With Mother’s Day around the corner, I thought it was the perfect …more
