On Words and Business

When you write or speak, do you ever channel someone else? A celebrity, an accomplished speaker, another writer? Someone that helps you focus or approach a topic in new way?

Sometimes I channel Aaron Sorkin, writer of A Few Good Men, The American President, Sports Night, The West Wing and a few other movies and t.v. shows.  He is an amazing writer, especially when it comes to dialog. When I get stuck, I think to myself: How would Aaron Sorkin write this?

In a public speaking class at work several years ago, my first presentation was lackluster, about as uninspiring and corporate as it gets. Taking the feedback that my speech was boring, I decided to write my second speech like it was from an Aaron Sorkin movie and deliver it the way Michael Douglas delivered his final, inspirational speech in The American President. Since I was not pretending to be a sitting president running for reelection the words were not the same, but the delivery and sentiment were (so that’s thanks to Mr. Douglas, as well as Mr. Sorkin).

It felt good. Inside it felt a little over the top, but in reality to those listening, it wasn’t.  After my speech, a colleague said that during my first speech she hardly recognized me, but in this second speech she finally saw her friend Manya up there. Funny that to be myself in front of a room of people, I had to channel someone else.

Who do you look to for inspiration and guidance (even if they don’t know it)?

We’ve all done it–on our own or at the bidding of others–written in some dialect of business speak or, as Erika Napoletano calls it in her article in the September issue of Entrepreneur magazine, buzzspeak.

Anyone up for a paradigm shift? How about engaging in some mission critical change management? Or finding synergies?

It’s easy to get caught up in business jargon. But most of us don’t naturally speak that way–unless we are presenting to someone who only speaks business speak. Right? So why do we write that way?

I try to write simply. Except, of course, when I don’t. Or can’t. Or would get fired if I did. You know what I mean.

Let’s keep fighting the good fight!

There are good arguments to be made on both sides–in-house copywriter or freelance copywriter, or combination of both.

Sometimes it comes down to money. Sometimes it comes down to time. Sometimes to not knowing about available resources. Sometimes to what you are used to.

What is important is to have a solid reason for your choice, to understand the benefits and drawbacks, and know why you chose to work one way or the other.

Bland. Boring. Uninspiring.

That is what happens to your writing when you don’t take a point of view.  You can never satisfy every person in your audience, so don’t try. It makes the final product wishy-washy.

Write with verve. With passion. With confidence. Take a stand.

People will appreciate that. Your enthusiasm will shine through. And that makes your writing eminently readable. No matter the topic. Even the seemingly mundane topics of business.

Ha, I say that but sometimes I tell and forget to show. Like the post earlier this week in which I talked about how to write a script for a video, but didn’t give any good examples or even write it as a video script (or produce it as a video).

Show, don’t tell. If you came to marketing from journalism, you no doubt have had this drilled into your head. If you came from pretty much any other background, especially a business one (like I did), you probably have been figuring this out as you go.

Show, don’t tell. The marketing equivalent: talk about the benefits do not just list features.

Is it harder to show? Personally, sometimes I do struggle with finding good examples to give, especially when speaking. (As evidenced by the occasional confused looks that accompany many of my extemporized attempts at illustration. Which are, thus, often followed by an awkward explanation by me that I simply conjured up something to illustrate the point. Deflating all excitement about the topic and usually leaving all participants with a desperate and sudden need to attend to something on the far side of the room.)

What other examples are there of how easy it is to tell versus show when creating content?

Here are a few tips.

Find someone who:

• Can write (and with luck, speak) in plain English. This is most important if you have a fairly complex product or service. Some of your materials may require technical details, but very many things, such as marketing materials, do not.
• Has experience or can get up to speed quickly on a topic if they don’t already know about it.
• Is both firm and flexible. He or she will fight for what they know is right, but bend on the things that don’t matter so much. The best writing is rarely done by committee, but good writing requires good editing by somone and a writer who understands that his or her words are not sacred.
• Can explain their process and/or billing model. Seriously. If you don’t understand how you will work together or what you will be paying for, expect other issues along the way.
• You like to talk to and work with. This person doesn’t have to become your best friend, but life is so much easier on both sides of a contractor relationship if you can at least stand each other and communicate effectively.

What do you think is the most important quality to look for when hiring a writer?