Adding value should never be an afterthought for communicators. Making the case for the value we add should also be foremost in our minds. But making this case is far from easy. Business can be messy. We find lots of adversity there—muddle, conformity, office politics, cheapness, indirection. Our communication projects run into committees, smash into dogma, get […]
Audience Personas Make Your Copy Personal
Audience personas make your copy, well, personal. To put it another way, they make it clear that you, as a writer, care about the reader. That’s an important quality. It enhances the persuasive power of your writing. One of the things that used to bother me about technical writing was its impersonal quality. Technical content […]
Why I Love Copywriting
Copywriting is persuasive writing. At least, that’s the simple definition. Of course, there’s more to it than that. First, we should debunk the notion that copywriting is only about persuasion. Or that copywriters are soulless hucksters. Copywriters work to inform their readers, using sound arguments and verifiable facts to provide them with the knowledge they […]
Creating a Strategic Communication Plan
Creating a strategic communication plan won’t ensure success all by itself. But the lack of one all but ensures failure. Some communication projects fail before they get underway. It’s usually not for lack of creative power. The writing might be great. The art, too. But these projects fail for the same reason you would fail […]
Business Communication vs. Tech Writing
Business communication considers information sharing from the perspective of value. Technical writing considers it from the perspective of technology. Switching to business communication from technical writing reminds me how I felt about crossing the street when I was very young. It puts me outside my comfort zone, but I feel pretty excited about it. Technical writing used to seem like […]
