All posts by Peter Kerr

Good Taste cook themselves a million dollar message

Brand name, messages that matter, Persuasive message, Tagline,

The billboard I walk past often first got me interested when The Good Taste Company’s dips, endorsed by chef Michael van de Elzen, used the term “My great tasting dips are good from scratch”.

Originally, it was the ‘good from scratch component that took my fancy

Good from scratch is very close to, though obviously different to made from scratch. It also ties in too with the company name Good Taste.

But it gives that strong impression they’re doing what I’d do at home myself, starting with vegetables and taking it from there.

The image too is wonderfully reinforcing. It is as if Michael’s chopped up all the ingredients himself and is handmaking these dips, just for me.

Whoever came up with the line and just as important the reinforcing image, deserves a truffle dip, specially made by Michael.

This is because a simple message is really hard to craft in the first instance. Throw in that message also needs to be simple and persuasive, then this mini-story has an even more difficult task.

This is a million dollar message. It is deceptively engaging and believable.

Somebody, literally started with scratch – realised that making a claim ‘made from scratch’ is a harder sell. There’s a danger in its ambiguity of meaning.

There’s an interesting blog here from Robin Shreeves in the Mother Nature Network that asks some interesting questions – around what does the term actually mean.

(Check out from scratch too at the English Language and Usage Exchange – a very interesting read).

The image and words of this advertisement allude to how we’d like to think we’d do it ourselves – we use self-persuasion – that reinforces and reminds ourselves of the superiority of these dips.

It is a million dollar message.

 

 

For message making process, a picture is worth a 1000 words

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But a process is a boring explain, and in the spirit of a picture being worth a thousand words, Punchline’s created a new explanatory diagram.

As seen above, it outlines the process of unearthing a message essence for proposals, presentations, campaigns, copy and taglines. The message arrow, seen below, was put together by Punchline’s collaborative designers, Schickeda.nz

Creating a million dollar message cannot be rushed

It illustrates why you can’t or shouldn’t rush to develop the two to 10 words that reflect the essence of who and what your company is.

A process of framed creativity means working within the constraints of the industry you operate in, the expectations of your clients and the value proposition of your own product or service.

Just as you are unlikely to find gold nuggets lying on top of the ground, so it takes a bit of digging and fossicking to reveal your own novel yet familiar term to describe your own heart and soul.

The process of unearthing a million dollar message invariably provides other story gems – to be used later in other contexts. This is not the purpose of the exercise, but is a valuable piece of collateral benefit.

There is also a large degree of tacit knowledge that Punchline brings to such messages that matter.

Business knowledge, life experience, understanding of the dynamics of persuasive messages, appreciating the power of metaphors, being a storyteller and realising why words work (or don’t work) are just as important as the process outlined in the diagram.

Ironically, the million dollar message process will invariably change. As Chris Jackson of Northwards Design said after a Brainstrust design facilitation programme he ran earlier this year, “we’re all in permanent beta”.

Which means the Punchline message making process will, and does modify.

Equally, even the million dollar messaging process isn’t as straight-lined as the arrow implies

There is one common factor in all messaging workshops, for all clients – they’re all different.

Why ad agencies are terrible at taglines

messages that matter, Persuasive message, Tagline,

Now advertising agencies are good at imagination and creation, at mocking-up and perfecting collateral associated with a brand. But, and at the risk of being hung out to dry, those skills don’t cross-credit for your first, most important story – (or tagline). These two to 10 words are a real challenge to uncover no matter how big or small a company.

And it’s precisely because a tagline has to do such a lot of heavy lifting from a communications point of view, that fact’s way way better than fantasy, that a writer’s far more likely to nail it than a ‘creative’.

Let me explain why the process of unearthing a tagline isn’t about creativity or imagination.

Creativity’s a birdseye view of the landscape. It’s an idealised interpretation which often has no relevance at ground level. This is why an ad agency-created tagline commonly fails to resonate…because it unsuccessfully represents the business’s value proposition.

It’s why an organisation’s tagline has to be unearthed in the business trenches, WITH its owners and managers.

Rather than floating out a glamorised but unrealistic set of advertising and brand words, tagline wrangling requires a storyteller, a writer with the ability to listen, intently, to take the lead in the task.

Tagline wrangling also requires a sound understanding of business. Therefore, before any crafting of words, everyone needs to understand what makes the product or service offering faster, cheaper and better for a customer (i.e. smarter).

Once you fathom what makes the company smarter (in the eyes of customers) then other questioning spotlights can be applied. By deeply asking the different, desirable and deliverable elements around a company’s product or service, you distill the One Central Truth of their message.

This One Central Truth may form a tagline in its own right, or could need two to 10 fresh words reflecting the value proposition being expressed.

Crafting these words is likely to be a tangled, fun and challenging process, but what you end up with is a draft tagline. It will very likely be the stage where a thesaurus comes in really handy!

Like any piece of art though, the draft may need refinement and modification. Sometimes a word won’t feel right, and a subtle change makes a tagline much more fit for purpose.

At this stage the draft tagline can be tested outside the firm – and just as importantly inside it.

The tagline and its informal variations needs to be a comfortable expression which rings true across many locales; including a BBQ for example when someone asks “what do you do?”

As your first, most important story – the one popping up in Google search’s brief two line explanation of your company, a tagline is much much more than fanciful words.

A tagline forms the tip of your communications arrow across all formats.

A tagline reinforces and is reinforced by all company messages.

As a story, it is a promise grounded in truth, not a statement floating in the ether.

As a story, your shortest story, along with business managers, your tagline is best discovered and uncovered by a writer.

Why blog ghostwriting is an honourable gig

Content marketing, Marketing, messages that matter, Persuasive message, , ,

You might think there would be a degree of angst in blog ghostwriting – creating original social media content in helping business people tell their stories.

After all, the egos of many writers are attached to seeing their own names in print.

But, in my case anyway, it is the opposite.

Blog ghostwriting is the art of translating disparate ideas into a thoughtful story

Blog ghostwriting, on behalf of someone else allows everyone to win – the client, the reader (and potential customer) and me.

The ‘art’ of translation

Now, putting another person’s idea, in their own words and language is both tricky and rewarding.

Particularly if someone is trying to tell a story that has a technical bent, then simplifying without losing meaning can be a challenge.

However, ultimately I’m articulating someone else’s thinking.

The story is their’s – I am merely its translator.

(In that regard, ask yourself the question, do you ever see a translator’s name mentioned in the credits?)

Why I enjoy being an organisation’s unnamed storyteller (a ghostwriter) is:

  • It helps solve a problem (many companies start off a blog, but find it difficult to maintain)
  • The challenge of simply telling what are often technical stories, is a fantastic one to have
  • It helps me improve my own writing – which benefits both my clients and my own novel writing

At the same time, I’ve seen my name in print enough times that, while the thrill hasn’t gone, it isn’t the same as it was over 25 years ago.

Equally, having interviewed thousands of people over that time, many of them experts in their field – the opportunity for me to learn by tapping into their wisdom is tremendously valuable. The number of times I (mentally) go, ‘that’s a very good point’ while ghostwriting occurs quite often.

Sometimes I almost feel as if I should be paying for picking up such new knowledge.

In those cases in particular, if it is a new point to me, there’s a good chance it will be to a reader as well.

Without original content, a website looks like no one is at home

Content marketing, messages that matter, Persuasive message,

Not maintaining a business website’s blog and news makes it appear as if no one is at home.

Put another way, there’s nothing worse than checking out the news or blog part of a site and seeing that the last entry was July 2013.

As colleague, Fraser Carson of Flightdec says, people can spend a lot of money designing a fantastic looking website. However, looks don’t reflect thinking, or the deep thinking that people within an organisation always have, and that can and should be expressed.

So, if content isn’t regularly updated, preferably with original news or views, then a website is regarded as being static. What does it mean?

  • Google’s search algorithm is dependent on new content
  • Original content shows clients that you’re in their game too
  • Original content shows someone is peddling the bike

 

Given that the above points are negative reasons to regularly update content, why else should businesses regularly blog?

  • Establish and maintain thought leadership
  • Maintain contact with shareholders
  • Provide a means for staff to express their own original thinking around the business’s products and services

 

This is why content is king.

At the same time, creating such content can be problematic for many organisations.

While there is no shortage of ideas to write about, getting them into a written form is often the challenge.

People are often too busy doing their own job within an organisation, and, as even experienced writers sometimes find, a blank canvas is a tricky beast at the best of times.

What’s the solution in this case?

Hire a writer; get him or her to interview and draft up a story, and publish under the interviewee’s name.

Simple…content…creation.

P.S.

A confession. I’ve been guilty of not maintaining content on my own website. Call it the plumber with leaky taps syndrome, or the mechanic with a smokey car.

Seeing as I’ve been suggesting to clients and potential clients that static content is a no no, and to partly avoid being labeled as a hypocrite…note to self; maintain my own original content!

Petrol saving ad, too clever by half

Marketing, messages that matter, Metaphor, Persuasive message, Secret Sauce, , , ,

Have a look at the pix of a billboard on Wellington’s Adelaide Road.

Now, I walk past this most mornings, and have the comparative luxury of enough time to figure out what it is trying to say.

It took me a couple of goes, and a bit of time to do so.

But pity the poor motorist trying to make sense of it.

And pity the Automobile Association, its Smartfuel promotion, and their partners BP and Caltex – they’ve paid for a pup.

I’m not disputing the advertisement’s cleverness.

However, it is a roundabout way of telling people purchasing petrol through the AA’s Smartfuel card that it is a cheaper way of doing things.

It’s cleverness gets in the way of simplicity.

If a message isn’t simple, how can you expect drivers to understand it (or people coming to your website where you have a couple of seconds to grab and hold their attention)?

Beyond its lack of simplicity, whether or not it appeals to people’s’ emotions is also debatable.

The ‘character’ playing the ‘I’ isn’t someone most of us would aspire to be – even if it is trying to portray someone from 1998 who is keen on a bargain (if that’s what/who it is meant to be?).

Whether it is meant to look like a Bill Gates type is another question?

So, all in all, this billboard advertisement doesn’t do what you’d want it to do – inspire me to either use or get an AA Smartfuel card.

It is essentially an own goal.

Why your company’s tagline has to do your message’s heavy lifting

Marketing, messages that matter, Tagline

Where does a company’s story start?

Often right from its brand name. But often that doesn’t really tell you what it does, what it promises, why a consumer should care.

That means a tagline has is in fact its headline. It is the beginning of a company’s story.

Indeed, it is what someone can and should say when asked, “what does your company do?”

So, the two to six word ‘headline’, which should be the first thing people read on the homepage of your website, needs to do most of the heavy lifting for your story. If someone reads nothing else, it still has to carry your message.

What can these taglines look like?

David Heitman, of The Creative Alliance, has a great blog article on ‘How NOT to write your next Company Tagline.

Quoting him, he gives five types of tagline categories – once the decision has been made to create one.

His categories and descriptions bear repeating.

Descriptive: the goal is simply to clarify what your organisation does. This can be helpful for a new entrant into its market, or perhaps a company whose name or initials are not self-explanatory. Often these descriptive taglines are incorporated into the company logo

Concept Ownership: a tagline – if well worded and frequently repeated – can enable your company to “own” a word in the customer’s mind. Go to Meeting’s tagline, Online Meetings Made Easy is a good example of owning the word “easy”. Every online conference provider can deliver a meeting; but “easy” is a great concept to own, especially with som many non-technical people embracing teleconferencing for the first time. What’s the one word (or short phrase) your company can own?

Differentiating: a tagline that differentiates is one that sets you apart from competitors, promising one core virtue that you can credibly claim above all others. Citibank’s Citi Never Sleeps is a creative differentiator as it suggests that while other banks are asleep, Citibank is wide awake looking out for you. The play on words gives Citibank a sophisticated, metropolitan feel – like New York City, the city that never sleeps.

Anticipatory: the approach here is to paint a picture of the future – of what the customer’s life will be like with you as their vendor/partner/provider. Lending Tree’s When Banks Compete, You Win is a great example of this.

Aspirational: these taglines connect your company to the dreams and goals of your audience. The U.S. Army’s iconic Be All You Can Be is an example of this. Regis University’s Learners Becoming Leaders is another good example. It’s short, it uses alliteration, and has a compelling aspirational element: prospective students immediately identify the university as a place to achieve their dreams of making a difference in the world.

Thanks David.

Why you’re mad not to use infographics…when they fit

Content marketing, Infographic, Marketing, messages that matter,

The infographic, also known as data visualisation, is one of those a picture is worth a thousand words examples, literally.

Their ability to convey information, and ideally knowledge, of the sort that allows you to go “ah ha” that’s interesting, is increasingly important.

That’s because images themselves have much more ability to be viral – to be shared through social media such as Pinterest, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter.

In making data understandable (beyond its Excel or spreadsheet prison), you’re free to ask, and answer questions.

Mohawk Media’s Helen Baxter gave an excellent presentation at a recent Netsquared Wellington Meetup, on ‘Beyond the graph – an introduction to data visualisation’.

Infographics is one of Mohawk’s many (they’re a talented bunch) storytelling skills. Helen is often a go-to media comment person as well – so the facts she comes up with are invariably the real McCoy.

Check out the Prezi of her presentation here.

This wasn’t part of Helen’s presentation, but here is an infographic on the value of infographics, by zabisco.

Infographic Credit to Zabisco

 

 

And here are Helen’s whats, whys and hows – a summary of the presentation.

 

What is an infographic – visual content with data

  1. Static – popular online/print
  2.  Animated – linear video standard
  3.  Dynamic – real time/interative

 

Why infographics

  • 87% of viewers read text on infographics
  • visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text
  • content with visuals get 90% more views
  • visual content is 40% more likely to be shared
  • infographics can increase traffic by 12%

 

How do you use them

  • visual executive summary
  • illustrating surveys and reports
  • communicating to the general public
  • increased transparency in reporting
  • creating shareable content

 

Benefits of infographics

  • show context and data
  • easy to understand
  • shareable – use creative commons

 

Getting ready

  • clean datasets
  • attribute sources
  • key messages
  • target audience
  • channels

 

Skills

  • data
  • storytelling
  • design
  • publishing (including metadata)
  • communications

 

DIY tools

Static design templates

piktochart.com

Blackboard/whiteboard animation tool

videoscribe.co

 

Free dataviz tool

tableau.com/public

 

Links

informationisbeautiful.com

videoinfographics.com

visual.ly

 

Punchline understands the the how and why of infographics. If you’re the who, looking for some help, give us a call.

‘Solution’ is not the solution – even if it sounds like it should be

Brand name, Content marketing, messages that matter, Persuasive message, Secret Sauce, Tagline

Inspired, or rather uninspired by the use of the world ‘solution’ in a brand name or tagline, the thought came around what other words should be given the big miss.

Without too much trouble, superior, excellence, committed, unique.There’s two good reasons to steer well clear of such terms.

  1. They mean nothing – and, in actual fact draw attention to the fact it is probably what your company isn’t (i.e. superior, committed)
  2. It is wasting the opportunity to really describe your point of difference, the reason a potential customer might use you

 

So, while your company might actually come up with answers to their own clients’ problems, even in this particular can using the word solution or solutions is wrong, wrong, wrong.

In fact, thinking about it, the only time solutions could be used is if you’re a chemical company, but even then you’d need to make sure such answers are, literally, liquid-based.

Is is also obvious with many taglines and brand names that it has been an ‘everyone’s’ ideas thrown into the middle and let’s vote on what we think is best’.

The best in this case is invariably bland, boring, beige.

It results in a generic nothing, it doesn’t differentiate you.

It results in using a word like ‘Solution’.

David Heitman, of The Creative Alliance, has a great blog article on ‘How NOT to write your next Company Tagline. Check out some of his ideas

Taglines should not be overly long, in fact, they should be as short as possible.

A tagline is shorthand for your story – and everyone who reads it, should be able to get it.

That’s why I use Punchline – Messages that Matter

It is also some of the premise of Secret SAUCE – How to pack your messages with persuasive punch. You can download a free copy here.

A picture (in the mind) is worth much more than a thousand words

messages that matter, Metaphor, Persuasive message, Secret Sauce,

If we’re being persuasive with our messages, we must make it easy for our readers.

One of the keys to this is making your idea, or whatever it is that you’re selling, easy to picture.

No matter how abstract your concept, unless someone can see it concretely in their mind’s eye, you’ll never get them to ‘buy’.

A pictureable image, well described, is a shortcut to understanding. It subconsciously allows a person to think “I see what you mean”.

But how do you make ideas, especially abstract concepts easy to picture?

The answer is that it requires simplification. That is, reducing the product or service to its central truth. This in itself may be pictureable.

If not, you have the theme to be described – as a picture.

And don’t be afraid to use a metaphor as the describer. If it was good enough for Aristotle to describe the use of metaphor as a sign of genius. In his view a good metaphor implies an eye for resemblance.

The following extract, from Secret SAUCE, pages 14 and 15, gives a brilliant example of the power of a pictureable message.

“Social psychologists Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson were asked by a local power company to help sell the advantages of home insulation. The utility offered householders a free energy audit. A trained auditor would go through each consumer’s house identifying the requirements to make it more energy-efficient. The utility even provided an interest-free loan.

The benefits seemed obvious. Energy savings of 40 percent were common and power savings following the installation of insulation would quickly pay for the cost of the loan.

The puzzle was while large numbers of home owners requested a home audit, only 15 percent of them actually followed the advice of the auditor – even though clearly it made excellent financial sense.

Why? Researchers interviewed several home owners and discovered that most had a hard time believing that small cracks under a door or the lack of insulation in an attic could result in such a large energy loss.

To solve this problem, Pratkanis and Aronson trained the auditors to communicate their findings and recommendations with words that could be pictured. They advised the auditors to tell this to the homeowners.

“Look at all the cracks around that door! It may not seem much to you but if you were to add up all the cracks around each of these doors, you’d have the equivalent of a hole the circumference of a basketball. Suppose someone poked a hole the size of a basketball in your living room wall. Think for a moment about all the heat that you would be losing from a hole that size – you’d want to patch that hole in your wall wouldn’t you? That’s what weather-stripping does.

“And you attic totally lacks insulation. We professionals call that a ‘naked attic’. It’s as if your home is facing winter not just without an overcoat, but without any clothing at all! You wouldn’t let your young kids run outside in the winter time without clothes on, would you? It’s the same with your attic.”

When homeowners heard this speech they signed up in droves. Where previously only 15 percent of the householders signed up, now 61 percent signed up to have their houses insulated. Vivid, pictureable language had turned barely visible cracks into holes the size of basketballs. The idea of running around naked in winter also grabs attention and strongly encourages you to take action.”