Would you rather be a reporter, or a columnist? Reporters have a great combination of investigative skills, communication skills, moxy, and pluck. Columnists are made from the same raw material, but they get paid far more. Why? Readers care more about what a particular person is saying than what a generic person [More]
Do you wish that you could be more effective with the written word? Have you always hated writing, from the first time your grade three teacher insisted you write two paragraphs on what you did during the summer? Or maybe you enjoy the idea of writing, but you don't enjoy the reality [More]
As a speaker or writer, one of the most powerful techniques is to look for common cause with your audience. This may mean using words or imagery that conjure up something from a shared past, or play to a shared cultural experience. Unfortunately, this very same technique is unwittingly used to the exact opposite [More]
What is the one lesson that appears in every newspaper article, every magazine article, and for that matter, every bestselling book? Journalists and editors realize that they have to work exceptionally hard to get people to actually read what they write. And unless you actually do so, their work has [More]
Have you ever listened to a presentation, and felt the signal-to-noise ratio could have been improved? Or have you ever delivered a critical presentation, and felt that you could have done better... but you were not precisely sure how? Too often we add debris into our presentations. These are those filler words, unrelated [More]
Do your readers read beyond the first sentence or two? And do they care enough about your ideas to actually act on them? Writing is a critical engagement skill, so a small investment in time can make your words make a bigger impact. Here are 14 great reads that can increase your effectiveness - and [More]
In his 2003 Australian best-seller Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, author Don Watson rails against lifeless, plastic corporate-speak. He complains that too often, organizations hide behind their words, instead of connecting with their audiences with an authentic voice. While he was writing about traditional communications, his point is [More]
Have you ever been gulled into reading an article, blog post, or viewing a video because of the headline? Not the descriptive type of headline (such as Clickbait Headlines Lose Trust), but the kind that reels you in, like a helpless fish on a line. If you're not sure you've [More]
Have you ever considered why some emails resonate, and others seem just a bit off? While the general topic of copywriting has been handled here quite well, too often emails - especially ones that form part of a marketing automation sequence - fail because of one thing: voice. Consider these [More]
When you write, does everything that you put down on paper - or come out of your mouth - deliver exceptional value? Or is there a certain amount of low-value filler that invades your communications? There are three strategies that can significantly upgrade your value in the eyes of your [More]
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