She’s Behind You! Oh No She Isn’t
Welcome to the Words Are Everywhere newsletter. With panto season about to start, don't miss out and book your favourite now: *************** HUMPTY DUMPTY It’s Christttttmaaaaas. And I know of at least one annual report that has as much chance of being printed in 2010 as humpty dumpty has of avoiding a big fall. Good girls and boys plan ahead. I’m writing articles for the Spring issue of a magazine. Yes Spring. It’s business as usual. Need a freelancer to get work done while you take time...
Are you the phantom? Jekyll & Hyde? Or Big Brother housemate?
Are you giving customers the wrong impression? Your writing style reflects your attitude towards them. And the voice you use for your website and brochures could be the content equivalent of bad breath. Here are some of the biggest mistakes business owners make and ways to avoid them: Phantom of the Opera. Hiding behind a corporate mask. Meaningless phrases, clichés and unnecessary words abound. Sole practitioners are particularly well suited to writing their own content – the voice of quirky...
Be a nice guy this bonfire night
Welcome to the Words Are Everywhere newsletter. *************** Quiet Halloween as Words Are Everywhere prepares for busy Bonfire Night Ah, the crackle of sparklers in the cold night breeze...don’t you just love fireworks? But not the kind generated by missed deadlines for important clients. Firefighting? If you need spare capacity give me a call. I’m guaranteed not to behave in any way that will cause harm or distress – to you, your clients or the office dog. Be a nice guy this bonfire night,...
Attack of the feature creep
Feature creep is the tendency for anything complicated to become even more complicated because people keep saying ‘wouldn’t it be nice, wouldn’t it be even better if it had this feature too…’. Also known as is a tendency for a project’s requirements to increase during development, leading to features that weren’t originally planned and resulting in a risk to product quality or schedule. Feature creep may be driven by a client’s growing ‘wish list’ or, and I know because I’ve been guilty of...
Do businesses need brochures as well as websites?
This article first appeared on Enterprise Nation: a free resource to help you start and grow your business at home. Doing business today means customers never have to see a piece of paper. Companies make their products available on the website rather than a catalogue. We Google rather than search the Yellow Pages. Kindle ebooks are outselling print books on Amazon. With digital on the rise you could be tempted into believing print is dead. Here are 4 reasons to think twice: Portability. Email...
Starting the new year in September
Welcome to the Words Are Everywhere newsletter. *************** STARTING THE NEW YEAR IN SEPTEMBER I was the kind of child who was pleased to see the ‘back to school’ adverts. I like September because of the promise of a new start. Beginning a new project and looking to commission a writer? Call me - I bring the excitement of stocking up on new stationery. *************** SHARPEN YOUR PENCILS AND OPEN A CRISP NEW EXERCISE BOOK Nothing beats the tactile pleasures of new stationery. There seems...
Missing something? Let me get that for you
Do you remember Burger King’s Whopper Freakout campaign in which the Whopper disappeared from the menu for one day to prove the people’s love for the burger by showing their reactions? I fantasise about a similar campaign for writing and editing but sadly I suspect few would notice (‘Oh look, the apostrophe has been removed from that jolly sign that usually invites us for ‘pannini’s and coffee’s’). In the absence of a national campaign let me draw your attention to a couple of areas where you...
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated
This week I didn’t get a dog called Zoe. It turned out she was mad - constantly scanning the environment, looking for threats. She paid not a jot of attention to people. I knew we wouldn’t see her again if she was let off the lead. She would bolt and keep on going, not least because she didn’t recognise us as owners she should return to. She reminded me of the attitude I met when I went freelance. The doom merchants, like mad Zoe, would scan the horizon for perceived threats. They delighted in...
VM800 So cute, so clever. So yuk, Virgin Mobile
I bought a new mobile handset. Shopping around online my search was momentarily halted as I stood, slack jawed with distress, staring at this entry on the Virgin Mobile website. “This is every social butterfly's dream phone. Whatever you're into, it's already stuffed with apps for things like Facebook and Bebo, to help keep your world in check. There's also a full QWERTY keyboard, expandable memory for your photos and music, and a 2 megapixel camera to stock up your snaps.” First of all I have...
Sun, sea and spare capacity
Welcome to the Words Are Everywhere newsletter. *************** SUN, SEA AND SPARE CAPACITY Summers can be tough. With so many clients, colleagues and suppliers on holiday, projects still have to go ahead. Schedules slip and clients return demanding to know why the summer issue is being produced in September. I’m writing articles for a bank’s quarterly magazine for business customers – it still needs to go out on time despite the usual writer being on holiday. If you need spare capacity give...