Writing Without Waffle
Lessons from last night’s Apprentice
Last night, the teams were tasked with producing a ‘freemium’ (free premium) magazine, and selling advertising in it. Top tip from the experts at Shortlist Media at the beginning of the show: “Understand your readers and their needs.” So, did they? The focus group for the lads’ mag team asked Read more…
Wordy humour
Arty Bollocks Generator
http://10k.aneventapart.com/Uploads/262/# For example: “My work explores the relationship between the tyranny of ageing and recycling culture. With influences as diverse as Blake and John Lennon, new combinations are crafted from both explicit and implicit meanings. Ever since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by the traditional understanding of Read more…
Wordy humour
Some Jobs Are Just No Pun
My first job was working in an Orange Juice factory, but I got canned. I couldn’t concentrate. Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe. After that, I tried to be a Tailor, but I wasn’t suited Read more…
Good, bad and ugly ads
Credit where credit’s due
I recently leased a new car. I shopped around various websites online and different local garages offline. There was one place where the salesman didn’t give me a hard sell. I bought the car. He talked me through how everything worked, and phoned me after a couple of weeks to Read more…
Good, bad and ugly ads
Missing a trick?
I keep seeing this ad on the back of buses, and wondering if there is another version, with the text and image in blue, with a female face and the word ‘Upset’ instead of ‘Angry’. It seems not. At least, not yet. The ‘angry’ website When my first car* was Read more…
Writing Without Waffle
Accelerate: where’s it going?
Review of Accelerate, ‘the magazine for ambitious business owners’ produced by NABO.
I picked up this magazine at a NABO Networking launch meeting last week. Their meetings have an interesting format: low entry point, no ‘lock-outs’, one2ones within the meeting, education slots etc. I approve! At a time when many traditional networking groups seem increasingly ‘tired’ (even those that now include peer-to-peer development), it will be interesting to see how NABO’s approach works out.
The whole publication is well-written and designed (although my copy has already fallen apart, possibly through over-use). Anyway, I picked out the key learning points that seem particularly useful:
Article about the growth of Stefan Boyle’s print company, Print Republic
“We were making the mistakes that other companies were making: we were talking about ourselves. We didn’t talk from a customer’s or prospect’s perspective.”
Article about training consultant, Frances Tolton
Jonathan Jay advised her to find out what customers actually want. She asked them: “If you had money to spend on training, what type of training would you spend it on?” She also went to her current clients and asked the simple question: “What else can we do for you?” He also advises: “Find the type of marketing you are best at and invest first in that.”
Writing Without Waffle
Scary!
Actual recording from a training session attributed to the Ground Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM): The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn’t. By subtracting where it is from where it isn’t, or where it isn’t from where it is (whichever Read more…