Blog
Tips, observations and reflections on better writing, editing and communications planning…
The cost of grammar gaffes
Think the odd misplaced apostrophe or spelling error doesn’t matter? Actually, even the smallest mistakes can cost you money (one study found spelling mistakes can slash revenue by up to 50 per cent), affect your SEO results, and damage your professional reputation.
Lose the lazy verbs
Are your verbs pulling their weight? Or are they letting your writing down? It’s easy to fall into the lazy verb habit. How many times have you ‘addressed’ an issue, ‘actioned’ an item or ‘improved’ something? Yawning yet? Rather than sending your readers to sleep with dreary verbs, grab their attention with get-up-and-go verbs.
Internal communications: getting your staff on board
Have you heard the story about the cleaner at NASA? When visiting the space centre, President Kennedy met a cleaner and asked what he was doing. The man replied ‘Well, Mr President, I’m helping put a man on the moon’. How’s that for understanding that everyone has a role to play in achieving an organisation’s goal? Whether it’s true or an urban myth, it is a terrific example of an organisation with a strong shared vision and effective communication.
How to design and print an award-winning annual report
Getting your annual over the finish line can feel like a marathon effort. But rather than limping over the line exhausted, it is possible to ease the way with early planning and a strategic approach to graphic design and printing. Friend and graphic designer Bill Laing from Spectrum Graphics has been designing annual reports for 20 years. Here, Bill answers my questions about how to make sure you cross that finish line stress-free and in style.
How to write an award-winning annual report
Breaking out in a cold sweat about writing the annual report? Don’t panic. It is possible to write an accurate and professional account of your organisation’s performance that is also an engaging story about who you are, what you do and what you have achieved.
How to project manage an award-winning annual report
Just found out you’re responsible for this year’s annual report? Before you burst into tears … be reassured that it is possible to successfully plan and manage an annual report without a meltdown. Follow these tips and you might even enjoy it.
Working with difficult people—tuning up tricky relationships
Not all our working relationships are in perfect harmony all the time. Some people (co-workers, stakeholders, clients) insist on playing a different tune or drowning out everyone else. Others just don’t want to play at all. Some resistance is subtle, some is overt....
Content marketing: finding your organisation’s stories
It seems everywhere you turn these days, someone is advocating ‘content marketing’ as the most effective way to communicate with stakeholders, both for government and the private sector. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is about creating...
15 ingredients for successful communications
Blow out the candles and open the bubbly—I’m celebrating my 15th business birthday. Back in January 2000, I took a deep breath and leapt off the government career ladder to start my own consultancy. The aim was to spend less time managing and more time writing,...