Write On! - Key Components of Successful Business CommunicationWritten by Sally Bacchetta
Written communication is often first impression you make on potential customers, business partners, or employers. Because of its significance to your marketing message, it is one of most important aspects of your business. Good writing sets a positive tone and encourages people to enter into a relationship with you. It tells people that you have something worthwhile to offer them. Although writing style is a subjective preference, writing quality can be objectively defined. Three characteristics of good writing are that it is purposeful, compelling and clear. Purposeful – Every written communication has a specific purpose. It may be to inform, like a corporate newsletter, mission statement, or press release. It may be to explain, as a training manual, white paper, or business letter. Writing can also be used to motivate a sales team, instruct a student, or inspire social change. Identifying specific purpose of your writing before you begin will make it easier to choose most appropriate format and content. Compelling – Effective writing compels reader first, to continue reading and second, to feel, think or act in a certain way. Marketing brochures, sales literature, proposals, resumes, even business cards, rely on power of written word to compel decisions and actions. Read your writing from your customer’s perspective. Does it motivate you to act? Clear – The ever-increasing pace of business requires many of us to do more in less time. The clearer your writing, easier it is for your readers to quickly understand and respond to your message. Whether you are writing for internal corporate communications or external promotion, clarity makes your writing more vibrant and memorable.
| | The Lean, Mean Profit MachineWritten by Susan Freidmann
That’s what every company wants to be, especially now when stock markets worldwide are falling and threats of recession loom large on every horizon. Management is being urged to ‘cut fat’. Many times powers that be interpret this to mean eliminating staff training programs and drastically cutting marketing. But they’re making a mistake. Instead of trimming fat, they’re amputating very muscles a company needs to stay competitive in today’s global marketplace. Now is time to make sure that you’re exercising your marketing muscles efficiently and enough. Regular workouts are important when times are flush and sales brisk, but they become vital during economic downturns. Let’s take a look at five strategies to exercise your marketing muscle, how they relate to your trade show participation, and how all are vital to your company’s physical fitness. 1. Go to Gym: You can do your workout anywhere, but it’s better in gym with proper workout equipment. In same way, you can be a contender in global marketplace without attending trade shows – but how effective will you be if no one sees you in global marketplace? Companies can not buy your goods or services if they don’t know you exist! Trade shows signify an essential marketing strategy when it comes to visibility. Exhibiting demonstrates that you are a serious player in industry. Staying in public eye is imperative if you want that public to remember who you are! Make commitment to keep trade shows one of your major promotional tools. If financial circumstances make this difficult, consider down-sizing your booth – but don’t abandon show completely! Doing so creates public impression that your firm is in financial trouble – kind of bad ‘buzz’ no one wants – and that your competitors will happily spread! 2. Set long-term goals: It takes more than one spin class to shed twenty pounds, and you wouldn’t expect bulging biceps after an hour of free weights. But that’s exactly what many companies expect from their marketing and training routines. Neither will provide a miracle quick fix, but as part of a regular, planned, organized campaign, training and marketing will, in time, produce impressive results. If on other hand, you only concentrate your energies on training and marketing when things are good, and discontinue those exercises during down times, your results are likely to mirror your actions. Developing a consistent marketing and training strategy that you can stick to, no matter what economic circumstances, will help you keep an optimal operational equilibrium. 3. Critique your workout routine: We all get into ruts, in gym and in business. How often do you stop to take time to examine what your companies is doing – and more importantly, why? Upon examination, many of your corporate actions may be done out of habit rather than because they are productive and profitable. This applies to trade shows in two ways. First, take a close look at shows you attend. How do they really fit into your marketing strategy? Ideally, attending a show should attract large amounts of consumers from your target audience. If you’re at a show that doesn’t do this, ask yourself why. Are you there just because “We’ve always gone to ABC show”? Are you attending just because your competitors do? If your target audience is not attending, you and your competitor are both wasting money at that show – let them throw their money away alone! Cut non-producing shows out of your exhibiting schedule. Instead, put all your energy and resources into exhibiting at more profitable events that attract your target audience.
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