Sound Different: Differentiate with better writing to build your value

SSF_Pres • Writing

The November/December issue of American Marketing Association’s Marketing News includes a directory of higher education marketing providers. The 14-page gallery of “about us” blurbs is a window on the state of writing in corporate America.

The editor in me immediately started to judge the quality of each. The blurbs that follow provide a few highlights and lowlights that I hope will show you how to separate yourself from the crowd.

160over90

The first listing in the directory is a great model of clearly communicating what this agency does. It kicks right off with “a full-service branding and creative services firm.” No unnecessary and superfluous adjectives here, just a little 50-word teaser that gives you a taste of what they stand for.

Adobe

Wouldn’t you think this source of so many great products would feature great writing too? On the contrary, it slops a bland coat of beige over the great brand, including the hackneyed “global leader in digital marketing and digital media solutions.” More words like tools, groundbreaking, and optimize continue to turn this into a generic description, rather than one that differentiates. Adobe should be better than that.

Converge

A typical laundry-list blurb, including listing all office locations in the first sentence. It would seem Converge must lead with the locations to tell potential customers they serve companies in only those cities, right? Or maybe they don’t have a website where readers can find that out on their own. In reality, I doubt the first statement is true and I see a website address right there in print. So why make the reader wade through all that before even beginning to say what you can do for them?

Emma

Emma is an email service provider that has built a great brand. Their blurb almost gets it, leading with the concrete statement that 50,000 organizations use it to “get more from their email marketing.” Clear, credible – that’s good. But the next sentence begins the “almost” part. How about this change to shine the light back on the customer:
Marketing teams of all sizes can do their best work through our tailored university, business, franchise, and agency editions for an intuitive, enjoyable experience.

Fewer words, less hammering us with the brand name, and sifting out the clunky words, like “capabilities” and “platform.”

Oh…and “Visit myemma.com to learn more” are wasted words when the web URL immediately follows.

G/O Digital

Of 82 blurbs in this directory, 68 of them start right off repeating the name of the company, even though the company name/logo appears at the top of every listing. Why do that? Especially when you have limited words.
This company is one of the few to get it right in a few ways:

Never uses the company name, instead using the conversational and friendly “we” and “our” when referring to the company.
Quickly focuses on you and “your institution.”
A great description of things they do and how those things will help you.

Congrats G/O Digital!

Salesforce

It still surprises me that large enterprises can’t find better writers and, I guess even more surprising, they don’t know what good writing is. Yet here’s another example. For one, “Salesforce” is the first word in all three main sentences in this description. The first sentence includes the brand name twice in only 17 words, to be sure you don’t miss it. Overusing the name sets a barrier between you and the reader. You become the impersonal “company” and they become the dutifully-listening customer as you tell them what they need. Where’s the one-to-one dialog in that? It’s the me-me-me school of writing. Kind of like going on and on about yourself on a first date. Not a good strategy.

And again, the wasted reference to the website in the last sentence.

Don’t follow the crowd: Sound Different

Apple gave us “Think Different.” I am the champion of “Sound Different.” Differentiation is what you want in all communication to your target audiences. Otherwise those audiences will not be able to gain any foothold in their quest to decide if you are different from your competitors.

You can see from these examples that there are wide open spaces for you to stand out from the same old writing style that everyone else uses. Most companies seem determined to stick to the old way. Use that to your advantage.

When you have a unique voice, you make your potential customer’s job easier. You can move more quickly to showing them the value you alone can provide. And you can compete on that value, rather than being seen as a commodity that need only be judged on price.

This is right up my alley. This kind of nonsense (I’ll use the polite word) in a statement is so transparently fake. Ms. Mayer should know that, especially when writing to engineers who are notoriously skeptical. They call it “crafting” the message these days. Happy to see others who agree with me, and call it what it really is.

The information below appears on the site called Without Bullsh*t.

Cotton candy from Marissa Mayer at Yahoo

Cargill Meat Solutions

SSF_Pres • Writing

Yum. I want some of that, grilled up and on my plate.

Yet, the title of this post is a real name for a real meat supplier – one of the largest in the world. It’s also a great example of how the word “solution” has become something that marketers routinely – and mindlessly in my opinion – sprinkle into their promotional copy and content.

As if the name wasn’t absurd enough, Cargill has stuck with it despite getting caught up in a 2012 public relations nightmare following ABC News reports about a gross-sounding beef product known as pink slime. Meat suppliers like Cargill, Beef Products Inc., and Tyson Foods (at least the latter two are more sensibly named) call it “finely textured meat.” If I were Cargill, I would not want to invite more scrutiny or ill will by billing myself as a maker of “meat solutions.” Yet still they persist. As many marketers do.

Our “solutionary” world

Mortgage solutions. Shipping solutions. Flooring, software, internet, consulting, and furniture solutions. There is no end.

PR Newswire is a major press release distribution service provider (press release distribution solutions?). Searching its database for the keyword “unique solution” turns up 25 results in the past month. From this small sample size, it seems that many, many companies are offering unique solutions. (Think about that for a minute…)

Abuse of the word solution is just one example of how marketers fall into the habit of adding jargon to their written content without really thinking about it. It’s a sure sign of lack of marketing savvy and sophistication. It says, “I looked around and saw everyone else doing it, so it must be good.”

How is that good marketing? Isn’t differentiation one of your primary goals? So if everyone else is using it, how does that help you establish a distinct voice and let people know they can get a product or service from you that they can’t get anywhere else?

Words like solution become so overused they become meaningless. It doesn’t create any motivation or interest in readers because they probably don’t even see the word anymore. Rather, it’s just part of the noise they have to wade through to get to the real information they want.

Not just my pet peeve

I think we’d all agree that TED talks are now a model of great communication and storytelling. I would go further to bet that you have been moved and inspired by at least one TED presentation. Why do these concise stories communicate ideas so effectively?

Carmine Gallo wanted to know, so he analyzed more than 500 TED talks to find out, then wrote a book titled “Talk Like TED: The 9 public-speaking secrets of the world’s top minds.” If I haven’t convinced you to cut worthless words like solution, see what Mr. Gallo says in a specifically highlighted callout called, The Power of Words, on page 68 of his book:

“Avoid overused buzzwords and clichés. Marketers love to use words such as leading, solutions, and ecosystem. These words are empty, meaningless, and used so often they’ve lost whatever punch they may once have had…Your audience will tune out phrases they’ve heard a million times.”

Amen.

Need another authority to convince you? How about Michael Bosworth, the man who wrote “Solution Selling.”

I once attended a University of California, San Diego extension class where he spoke. Already years into preaching against its use, I can still remember the warm sense of affirmation washing over me as he explained that marketers should never use the word solution in their marketing pitches. He said it is presumptuous to assume that you know the customer’s problem and have developed a “unique solution” before you even talk to them about what they need.

I always get the argument that in lieu of solution, then system or another word becomes just as overused. At least a system or product or network is a real thing, and not a word we’re left guessing as to what it really means. Also, that’s where professional writers can often rewrite sentences to eliminate the need to use any of those words.

Readers want to keep it real

Readers always value authentic and honest writing. That fact has always been true, but may be more important than ever, with so many more internet and social media channels they can use to find out about you and your ideas.

Don’t fall into the trap of amateurs who grab onto meaningless words because their knowledge of writing and marketing is so limited, they think they need to follow the crowd. Truly differentiate yourself with concrete written communication that sets you apart.