Write safely with good punctuation

Punctuation – love it or hate it, you can’t afford to ignore it.

But ignoring it is exactly what I find many people doing. Whether it’s too hard, too boring, or the result of our text-message-culture, accurate punctuation is dying.

Writing without punctuation creates chaos. I’m not saying that because I’m a stickler for the rules, but rather that I prefer the order good punctuation creates.

Punctuation is the traffic-cop on the street of comprehension – without it our writing ends up in a collision.

I’ll give you an example of the importance of punctuation to meaning.

She said I saved a fortune.

What does this mean? Who saved a fortune? Me? Or her? Try again with punctuation.

She said, “I saved a fortune.” OK, from that statement we can gather the sale was a good one and worth her while. But there could still be another meaning to this sentence.

“She,” said I, “saved a fortune.” Well now it becomes my opinion about how much was saved. She may refute my comment with fact, as I was not actually at the sale.

Commas and full-stops are the most frequently used punctuation marks. They control the speed of the traffic – the comma slows your writing down; the full-stop brings it to a halt.

Add in the humble apostrophe and quotation marks and you’re well on your way to meaningful writing.

When you’re hammering out your next email, take a moment to re-read it and make sure it conveys the message as you intended.

Punctuate or perish!

Top airline uses social media

With a history going back to 1919, KLM - now in joint partnership with Air France - is the world's largest airline. Maybe a bit big for social media, you may think.

Well, apparently not.

KLM has been wrestling with the issue that before their passengers fly, they sit in airports. And they are very bored.

The airline came up with the idea of randomly giving people small gifts while they wait. They use social media to identify when people are waiting. And judging by the positive word of mouth that is now spinning around the world, the experiment seems to be working. KLM passengers love it.

You can check out this 5-minute clip HERE to see how this initiative works for KLM, and while you do, maybe you could spend a minute thinking about how you could do something similar for your organisation.

Target precisely. But with care.

Regular readers of The Scoop will know that precise targeting is a theme of mine.

You need to do whatever you can to get to know your audience and to customise offers that connect with the people you want to win over.

Smart marketers want to know as much as possible about prospects in order to tailor their brand image. The more you know about the people you are trying to reach, the greater your chance of executing exactly the right message to the right audience at the right time.

However, you need to do all this with care.

Let's say I acquire information that tells me that certain households have two dogs. I could go to these households saying "because you have two dogs, xyx dog food will suit you". However, such an approach is likely to generate a negative reaction. "How do they know we have two dogs? Where did they get my name?"

Use the information by all means, but don't push it into people's faces.

Today, marketers and their data collection practices are under the spotlight like never before. For companies with brands to protect, the scrutiny can be uncomfortable.

There is a real balancing act going on. On the one hand, you don't want to be the next negative headline in the popular press. But equally, you don't want to be so reluctant to embrace new marketing intelligence that your competitors gain an advantage.

As you are trying to get the balance right, one of the questions to look at is, would they be shocked? If there was full disclosure of all the facts, would your prospects be upset?

Calculate how shocked your average consumer would be to learn what information is being collected about his/her behavior and how you plan to use it in a campaign.

To help yourself here, use only a reputable data provider. And be sure that you understand what the provider does to create a profile or segment to which you advertise.

Pay special attention to highly sensitive areas of information, including medical, financial and details about children.

Follow this issue in the news, and watch for practices that are widely criticised. These are the ones that will raise your shock rating if you are using them.

If your promotion is online, providing an easy opt out is also an obvious way to give people an added level of confidence.

If you are doing direct mail, you can cut costs

So you'd very much like to cut your mailing costs, if possible?

But you don't want to drop revenue. You don't want to lose market share. And you certainly don't want to negatively impact your customer relationships.

Well, there are a few things worth considering.

1. Think again about email

OK, it's true, email is not always ideal for initial prospecting. But that does not mean it should not be used at all.

For follow-up communications, email can be the best choice.

In conjunction with an initial direct mail piece, email can work well - say, for a reminder contact.

For renewals, maybe try email first and only invest in mail for the people on your database who are very slow to renew.

2. Provide a PURL for response

Personal URLs are likely to increase your response rate and therefore cut the cost of your follow-up mailing. And PURLs also make it easier for people to refer a friend.

3. Let them choose the channel

Can you introduce a 'preference centre' on your website? If so, customers and members will then find it easy to let you know how they want to be communicated with. Every time anyone chooses email or SMS, you save heaps.

4. Make sure you are 'spot on' with your list cleaning

Prior to mailing, you need to be full bottle with the latest tools for making your list 100% up-to-date. Your mail house should be able to advise. And watch the timing on this. If you clean your list two weeks before mailing, almost certainly changes will happen in the intervening time. You'll end up annoying people (and wasting money) by mailing to them when they have only just unsubscribed.

5. Work harder at identifying segments that won't respond

It's terribly obvious, but a great way to save is to avoid mailing people who are not going to respond! Ongoing testing is essential. Be diligent in continually testing segments and sub segments. If you are not testing, you are not really doing direct marketing. And if your management won't allow you to test, maybe it's better for them to drop direct and invest money in something else. Perhaps solariums.

Getting started in mobile

When, as presidential candidate, Barack Obama used text messaging to announce his selection of a running mate, Direct Marketers throughout the US, took note.

Many suggested that finally SMS had arrived.

What Obama or his minders were obviously aiming to do was build an opt-in mobile database. And they were successful. Reports at the time indicated that some 3 million Americans jumped on board.

The Obama campaign machine then had 3 million pairs of ears and eyes to speak with, via their mobile phones, for the rest of the presidential campaign.

It sounds simple enough. And it actually is a perfect example of using an interesting promotion to create an opt-in list. A list that can then be 'worked' via email very cost effectively.

With 3 billion SMS users globally, SMS text messaging is used by more than twice the number of people who use the internet. That's quite an opportunity!

So let's get into mobile marketing as quickly as possible, you might say. Fair enough. But there are pitfalls.

The proven Direct Marketing principles need to be followed here, just as in every other channel.
And the first principle to think about is opting in. The ongoing Obama use of SMS worked for it was opt in.

You can integrate mobile into your communications stream most effectively by getting consent.
If your database is up-to-date, you need to go to your existing people and encourage them to opt in. And this is where your creativity is needed. There are lots of offers out there, so you need to choose something enticing that shows your prospects/customers/supporters that there is something in it for them.

There is a great deal more to mobile than this. But if you start out right, you give yourself the best chance to succeed.

How to use 'forward' correctly - or is it 'foreword'?

Forward:

This word most commonly relates to movement with things or people moving to the front. But there is also:

• Forward orders - i.e. orders for next month,
• Some people are forward (i.e. brash or bold),
• And some people are forward thinking (i.e. modern and progressive).

Stepping forward to the podium, the forward CEO announced his forward opinions for delivering the forward orders.

Foreword:

This word is made of the prefix "fore-" (which means before) with "word," thus literally meaning "before the word."

Think of it as a "word"--actually a group of words--that comes before the main words of a book. Words, with the same prefix, which can help us remember the right spelling for this "foreword," include "forecast," "foreshadow," and "foresight."

Now let's look at "forward" and "foreword" in the same sentence (not recommended - it can become too confusing):

Before close of business today, Lucy will forward her foreword to the proofreader.

We all know English is not simple. In addition to "foreword," there are also:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Prologue
• Afterword
• Epilogue

Maybe for another day . . .

6 words that people confuse

Here are six examples of words you hear or see misused quite often.

Continual, Continuous

Continual means repeated many times. Continuous means
going on without a break. I am continually being interrupted
by phone calls. People waiting for the bus formed a
continuous queue for 50 metres.

Fewer, Less

Fewer refers to number, less to amount. There have been fewer crashes on the roads this year. Children are buying less fatty foods from school canteens.

Anticipate, Expect

Anticipate means to be aware of a future event
and to prepare for it. Expect means to regard
something as likely to happen. The team members
are anticipating their next match with
confidence because they expect to win.

Imply, Infer

The following sentences illustrate the correct
usage of these words: The Minister implied that the
policy would be changed, although she did not
say so outright. The audience inferred that the
policy would be changed.

Advise, Inform

You can advise a person to apply for a position, but you inform or tell a person that he/she is eligible to apply. To some extent, when you advise, you are giving an opinion. Informing someone about something relates to established facts.

Affect, Effect

Affect means 'make a difference to' (verb), whereas effect means 'a result' (noun or verb) or 'bring about (a result)'. The attitude of the staff was affected by the continual changes. The effect was low morale.

These sets of words are taken from the Action Words one-day workshop entitled:
"Writing Skills to Influence Decision Makers". For an outline of the workshop, please email us:vikki@actionwords.com.au