by guest writer Sheila Wilensky
Nor would they want to, but Steve Jobs knew that words matter in life, and in marketing. You want to help humanity, bring beauty to the world, or provide an invaluable service. You’ve got a splendiferous logo designed by Julie Ray Creative but your copy consists of a wordy bunch of superlatives that don’t mean anything.
What to do? Pay attention to content in your marketing, whether it’s on a flyer or a website.
Steve Jobs said that people don’t know what they want until they see it. Nobody knew what his next product would be until he presented it, explaining onstage what it could do.
Imagine yourself onstage. Your widget or organization may be the coolest ever, but what may be missing in presenting content?
Surprise: How can clients offer a service and combine their social activism in a satisfying way that they never considered before? Maybe shopping local is their thing. How about a new promotion suggestion? Be direct, not: ”One of the things we may be able to do for you…”blah blah blah. Let your passion show.
Contextualize. Are your clients visionaries? That’s fine, but details such as Apple’s elegant packaging, set your widget or organization apart. Help them succinctly describe their goals, and focus on a few tried and true ways to make them happen. Give specific examples.
Play with words. Choose carefully. Don’t use the same adjective twice. Cut down on adverbs by using more powerful verbs. In my writing I like flummoxed more than confused, splendiferous more than great. What words do you love? Vary and use.
“Think different.” Steve Jobs and his colleagues decided to use different, not differently. Don’t be pretentious. Big words are fine occasionally but more important is saying what you really mean. Do let your self shine through.
Walktalk. When you walk, especially with a friend, your ideas flow more easily. When Julie and I walk two mornings a week we toss enough goals back and forth to remind ourselves how capable we are. Add a trip to Starbucks and we’re ready to accomplish anything. Take a small notebook to record your idea gems.
Collaborate. Steve Jobs conducted a lot of meeting with colleagues while walking. I knew we had something in common.
Julie Ray Creative collaborator Sheila Wilensky is a freelance writer/editor/consultant living in Tucson. She’s assistant editor at the Arizona Jewish Post, chairs the History/Memoir/Bio author committee for the Tucson Festival of Books, owned the oldest children’s bookstore in Maine, taught high school and college social science, was a research assistant at the Harvard Business School, and has been a political junkie her entire life. Sheila’s latest nationally published article is in Publishers Weekly.
