By Jason Fried | Inc.com

What’s bad, boring, and barely read all over? Business writing. If you could taste words, most corporate websites, brochures, and sales materials would remind you of stale, soggy rice cakes: nearly calorie free, devoid of nutrition, and completely unsatisfying.

One of my favorite phrases in the business world is full-service solutions provider. A quick search on Google finds at least 47,000 companies using that one. That’s full-service generic. There’s more. Cost effective end-to-end solutions brings you about 95,000 results. Provider of value-added services nets you more than 600,000 matches. Exactly which services are sold as not adding value?

Who writes this stuff? Worse, who reads it and approves it? What does it say when tens of thousands of companies are saying the same things about themselves?

When you write like everyone else and sound like everyone else and act like everyone else, you’re saying, “Our products are like everyone else’s, too.” Or think of it this way: Would you go to a dinner party and just repeat what the person to the right of you is saying all night long? Would that be interesting to anybody? So why are so many businesses saying the same things at the biggest party on the planet — the marketplace?

If you care about your product, you should care just as much about how you describe it. In nearly all cases, a company makes its first impression on would-be customers or partners with words — whether they’re on a website, in sales materials, or in e-mails or letters. A snappy design might catch their attention, but it’s the words that make the real connection. Your company’s story, product descriptions, history, personality — these are the things that go to battle for you every day. Your words are your frontline. Are they strong enough?

Unfortunately, years of language dilution by lawyers, marketers, executives, and HR departments have turned the powerful, descriptive sentence into an empty vessel optimized for buzzwords, jargon, and vapid expressions. Words are treated as filler — “stuff” that takes up space on a page. Words expand to occupy blank space in a business much as spray foam insulation fills up cracks in your house. Harsh? Maybe. True? Read around a bit, and I think you’ll agree.

Luckily, there are exceptions. Wonderful exceptions. These are companies with a personality and a point of view. They care enough to have their own voice. They want to communicate, not just say something. They have a story to tell, and they want to tell it well. They write to be read.

Woot is one of those companies. Woot is a Dallas-based business that sells one item a day at a deep discount. Here is how the company describes itself on its website:

Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. It started as an employee-store slash market-testing type of place for an electronics distributor, but it’s taken on a life of its own. We anticipate profitability by 2043 — by then we should be retired; someone smarter might take over and jack up the prices. Until then, we’re still the lovable scamps we’ve always been.

Don’t you just love these people? Or maybe you hate them. Either way, I’m pretty sure you have an opinion about Woot based on this paragraph. With just a few sentences, Woot instantly set itself apart from the liquidation crowd.

Indeed, how the company communicates is a big part of how Woot built such a successful business. Woot’s deal of the day sells out just about every day. I especially love the company’s response to the “Will I receive customer support like I’m used to?” on its FAQ page:

No. Well, not really. If you buy something you don’t end up liking or you have what marketing people call “buyer’s remorse,” sell it on eBay. It’s likely you’ll make money doing this and save everyone a hassle.

It’s kind of kidding and kind of not. Some people may be offended, but big deal. Woot isn’t trying to sell to every customer. It’s trying to sell to the customers that can laugh along. Those are the people who understand what Woot is about. The company uses language as a filter.

Another favorite of mine is Saddleback Leather in San Antonio. Dave Munson, the company’s founder, clearly loves his products and his words. Here’s how he sets the scene when describing the quality of the company’s bags:

You know how when a magician exposes to the world how other magicians trick people, all of the other magicians get mad at him for spilling the beans? Well, I’m about to spill the beans and ruin it for all of those companies trying to trick you into buying their not so high quality leather…You’re about to learn what to look for and what to look out for as you shop for your next leather piece. By the way, if I soon die by a chopstick to the neck, you’ll know why. I’m a marked man.

He then dives into great detail about what makes a great leather bag great. From the type of leather and where it comes from to how it’s tanned to breakable versus nonbreakable parts (“How much is a billion dollar submarine with a plastic hatch worth?”) to the number of seams, and so on. It’s compelling and interesting. It holds your attention.

And check out how he explains his guarantee:

All of our products are fully warranted against all defects in materials and workmanship for 100 years. If you or one of your descendants should have a problem, send it back to me or one of my descendants and we’ll repair or replace it for free or we’ll give you a credit on the website (be sure to mention the warranty in your will).

Consider his choice of words. A 100-year warranty that his descendants will honor if one of your descendants needs a repair. And then he reminds you to include the warranty in your will. Who wouldn’t want to do business with this guy? And it’s all backed up with the Saddleback tag line: “They’ll Fight Over It When You’re Dead.” Beauty.

When you’re done reading this article, hit Google and search for leather bags. Then read through some of the sites you find. I bet you’ll be bored to death pretty quickly. Then visit Saddleback’s site. I bet you’ll be smiling just as fast.

Here’s one more example of writing done right: Polyface farm in Swoope, Virginia. Polyface is run by Joel Salatin, a pioneering farmer, author, and prophet of clarity. The Polyface Guiding Principles page is a study in straightforward language with a healthy hint of attitude:

Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health….We do not ship food. We should all seek food closer to home…This means enjoying seasonality and reacquainting ourselves with our home kitchens.

I especially love his take on what it means to be a farmer:

We’re really in the earthworm enhancement business. Stimulating soil biota is our first priority. Soil health creates healthy food.

Joel knows where he stands. When you read his site, you do, too. Even though Joel is a “full-service end-to-end” farmer, he’d never say it like that. He’d consider that description disrespectful to his customers, employees, plants, and animals.

The quality of the writing on sites like Woot’s, Saddleback Leather’s, and Polyface’s gives me the chills. It’s not how they look; it’s how they read. These are businesses that care about what they say and how they say it. They don’t write to fill up space on a page. They write to fill up your head. There is nothing inherently interesting about liquidators, leather, or farmers. They can make themselves boring, or they can make themselves interesting. Words do that job. Woot, Saddleback, and Polyface have all chosen to be interesting and engaging. They don’t hide behind jargon. They aren’t insecure. They aren’t afraid to tell you who they are.

I can already hear some of you saying, “Sounds great. But I can’t write.” So hire a writer. But make sure that writer truly understands your business. Remember: It’s not about telling a story. It’s about telling a true story well.

Of course, words alone won’t do it. Words are two dimensional. Your products and services provide the third dimension — depth. But when it all comes together, you’ve got a package that’s hard to ignore.

Jason Fried is co-founder of 37signals, a Chicago-based software firm, and co-author of the book Rework, which was published in March.

WHAT DOES YOUR WRITING SAY ABOUT WHO YOU ARE? TELL US WHERE YOU ARE IN CREATING COPY THAT REFLECTS YOUR BRAND.

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If there’s one subject that seems to divide copywriters more than any other, it is the argument about whether good grammar is important or not.

Some copywriters are obviously careful to check their work for grammar and spelling mistakes. Others clearly don’t bother. It always amazes me when I read something by a successful copywriter and find it contains several fifth-grade errors.

If you query one of these writers, you are likely to get a response like:

· “My clients don’t mind as long as I make them money, so why should I mind?”
· “It’s the message that’s important, not the grammar.”
· “Successful direct response copywriting is not about correct grammar and spelling.”

So what IS copywriting about? Well, surely it’s about COMMUNICATING. About getting your message across. If you aren’t getting your message across, you may as well quit.

And what do you use to communicate? Your one TOOL of communication – LANGUAGE. Grammar is the just the “instruction book” that tells you how to use the tool properly.

So any wrong use of language means another barrier to communication – i.e. it stops you getting your point across clearly.

It means the reader has to do a double-take, and go back and re-read to see what that last bit was about. The reader may not even realize it was bad grammar, just be unsure what you meant.

Note – by “wrong use of language”, I mean not just grammar in the narrow sense, but also the wrong use of one word instead of another.

BEWARE – YOU CANNOT RELY ON YOUR SPELL-CHECKER FOR THIS. The spell-checker will only pick on a word if it doesn’t exist. It cannot tell you what word you really meant to use.

Here are ten of the most common mistakes. Do you make them?

· Its = belonging to it (possessive) “This is an old car, its tyres are unsafe”, versus It’s = it is (abbreviation): “It’s an old car, isn’t it?”

· Your = belonging to you (possessive): “Your house is very nice”, versus You’re = you are (abbreviation): “You’re a very clever person”.

· Their = belonging to them (possessive) “The neighbors have put their house up for sale”, versus There = in that place (adverb): “Put it there in the corner” or “There are a lot of thieves about.”

· Where? = in what place? (question adverb) “Where did I put my pen?” or “I told you where to find it”, versus Were = part of the verb “to be”: “You were very good in that play.” “Things were better in the old days.”

· Whose = belonging to whom (possessive form of “who”): “Whose is this pen?” or “The person whose pen this is should claim it”, versus Who’s = who is, or who has (abbreviation): “Who’s the best at tennis? (who is)” or “Who’s taken my pen? (who has)”

· Lose = misplace, be deprived of: “If you invest in that you’ll lose your money” “I want to lose weight”, versus Loose = not tight: “The shelf fell down because the screw was loose.”

· Affect (verb) = have an effect (noun) on. “The new rules don’t affect me at all.” but “My anger had no effect on him.” This is especially confusing because “effect” CAN also be a verb, but in that case it means “bring about”: “The new manager intends to effect a major restructuring.” DON’T use it when you mean “affect”.

· To (preposition) – indicates “in the direction of” or “towards”: “I didn’t go to work today” and introduces the infinitive form of the verb: “I intend to stop drinking”, versus Too (adverb) = excessively: “This sentence is much too long.” (Of course, there is also the number two, but this is isn’t confused quite so often.)

· Than (conjunction) indicates a comparison: “Alaska is colder than California”, versus Then (adverb) = “at that time”: “That was then, this is now.”

· Using apostrophe ‘s’ for plurals. DON’T! This is one of the most common mistakes and you see it everywhere – but it’s WRONG. You can say “This is my son’s jacket” i.e. the jacket belonging to my son (singular) but “These are my sons George and David.”

There are plenty more. But each time you get one of these wrong, it gives the wrong meaning. So your copywriting message isn’t clear any more.

Not to mention the fact that, for somebody who is supposed to be a master of words, you’re not giving a very good impression!

So which side of the argument are YOU on? Are you one of those who consider it really doesn’t matter as long as the money comes in? Or do you believe the copywriter should strive for the highest possible standards?

If the latter, it seems you are in the minority!

How about you? Tell us how you’ve struggled to get your grammar under control.

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By Bill Nussey |  Inc.com

In this new era of CAN-SPAM legislation and ever-increasing customer expectations, many of the practices that worked for e-mail marketing in the past simply won’t work anymore. The companies that can boast the most effective e-mail programs today have been successful because they’ve changed their way of thinking. Here, I outline some of the old rules and compare them to the new rules. Implement today’s e-mail marketing rules to make your e-mail marketing program a long-term success.

Interruption vs. Anticipation
Historically, the goal of advertising has been to interrupt you and capture your attention while you are doing something else, whether it is an ad while you are reading the newspaper or a billboard as you’re driving down the highway. All of this interruption marketing has become so pervasive that consumers have become oblivious to it. Although there is always a place for interruption, smart e-mail marketers realize that relationships are becoming the best use for e-mail. If you have a relationship with your recipient, your messages will be anticipated. If you have no relationship, then you are interrupting them and most recipients will simply hit “Delete.” Interruption marketing worked in the early days but the rules have changed. E-mail is ultimately about relationships… and anticipation

Try asking your customers about their wants and needs. Request their permission to fulfill those needs. Gain their trust and they will likely anticipate your messages, not delete them.

List Size vs. Active Recipients
The old way of looking at e-mail marketing was “how big can I build my list?” Because the incremental cost of sending every message was almost zero, companies wanted to grow their e-mail list as much as possible. Unfortunately, owning a huge list does you no good if no one on that list wants to hear from you. So, even if a giant list will get you more responses, you may well be frustrating an even larger number of people who think your messages are irrelevant.

In the new world it is less appropriate to think about how big your list is and much more appropriate to think about how much of your list is active. That is, how many people are acknowledging your messages by opening or clicking through? And, if they are not anticipating, opening and reading your messages, what good does a big list do?

Subject Line vs. “From” Field
Nearly every e-mail marketing book out there will tell you that your subject line is the cornerstone to a successful campaign. Adding a little “oomph” to your subject line, the thinking goes, is the best way to increase your response rates. I can’t deny that subject lines impact response rates — the old way still works, in a sense — but if you focus solely on your subject line, you’ll neglect an equally critical asset: your brand.

Consider keeping a consistent “from” address for all mailings. When your customers and potential customers look at the “from” field of your e-mails, they are focusing on one thing — your brand. Only if they trust your company name and what it represents will they continue to read over to your subject line. If your name in the “from” field has come to represent irrelevant and useless e-mails, even the most enticing subject line is unlikely to convince people to open your messages.

Maximum Frequency of Campaigns vs. Recipient Control
People often ask me, “How many messages can I send my customers?” This is the same thing as asking, “What is the maximum number of messages I can send my customers before they get irritated?” Assuming that the people on your list want to hear from you every time you have something to say is a mistake.

Letting the recipient control the frequency of your communications is a great idea, and it makes good business sense. Research has proven that consumers want control over the e-mails they receive. You don’t want to force customers into a “yes” or “no” proposition when they are considering how much or what e-mail they want to receive from you. Whenever possible, you should separate your e-mail into products or channels, with material that appeals to different audiences and allows them to choose the information they receive from your company.

For example, if you work in marketing for an airline, you might have one channel for sale fares to vacation destinations and another channel that provides insider tips to frequent business travelers. By allowing customers to pick and chose the specific content they want from your company, you increase not only the size of your potential audience, but also its overall interest level in your product.

Keep in mind that these new ways of thinking will not only improve your e-mail program, but also will enhance your brand image and help ensure long-term relationships with customers.

What role does email marketing play in your marketing mix?

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