Marketing Communications

AHA - Typewriter imageI spent a great deal of time with some of the best journalists in the world when I worked at Maclean’s and I am thankful everyday as a communicator that I had that opportunity. Creating engaging, interesting and informative content isn’t easy – and writing clearly and concisely adds additional challenge to the craft.

We have heard for many years that content is king. Your stakeholders visit your website, your blog, Facebook page, Twitter page or other social networking sites to learn, to connect, to join a conversation and to either learn something or to tell you something. What you provide is important and it either leads to the person to return to your site because you provided value, created an opportunity to participate in a dialogue or offered something they want or need – or they don’t return.

While your organization may have valuable information that you want to share, it is important to approach content creation understanding what your stakeholders expect from you. It’s not always the same thing. This doesn’t mean you can’t provide the information that you feel is important. It does mean you need to find a different way to package it or put if forward and that you need to also focus on what stakeholders are interested in, relevant to what your organization does or provides to them. It’s all about them – not all about you. If you remember that, you will be ahead of the pack.

Mitch Joel of Twist Image has a great blog post about what type of content you should produce. We’re big fans of Mitch. If you are a communicator, his blog is a regular must read!

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AHA Blog Post ImageThere has been a great deal of discussion regarding a Pew Internet Study that says that young people are moving away from blogging and are more focused on using Facebook and Twitter.



The New York Times has an interesting piece on it as well.



We have had an interesting discussion on this study and the response it has received here in our Vancouver PR agency. While the report itself does show that young people prefer the fast, short updates provided by Facebook and Twitter – it appears to me that we are missing some context here. While Facebook and Twitter provide an opportunity for quick updates and fast outreach, often the updates link to an article, photos or a blog that goes deeper into the topic or idea.

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It’s that time again – the “Best of…” lists are starting to come out. Amy Vernon reviews the best social media marketing campaigns of the year at Imediaconnection.com.

Wondering why I am showing you marketing campaigns and not PR campaigns? The fact is, marketing and PR are both parts of a campaign these days. Social media has changed the days where the ad team would do one thing, the marketing group another and PR would just try to use what they did to generate some editorial and word of mouth.

At our Vancouver PR agency, we look at potential from a range of perspectives. We work with several smart ad and marketing agencies as a part of the team to develop cohesive campaigns. It’s the way things are done now.

I think Amy hit the nail on the head with her choice of campaigns. I would love to hear what you think.

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AHA Can Write

Shel Holtz has a very interesting piece on whether writing is a core skill for a professional communicator. He did a round up, asking several strategic communications professionals for their take and their responses are thoughtful and relevant. It’s an interesting topic and this piece is definitely worth reading.

AHA TAKE

There are some communicators who focus more on the actual craft of writing in their day-to-day work than others, but I can’t imagine that a professional communicator doesn’t need solid writing skills to do their job. Communication is at the very foundation of what we do (we are called communicators, after all) and words are the building blocks for communication. No matter how we communicate – through speeches, newsletters, meetings, video, webinars or any other form – at some point, there is writing involved. To be able to write clearly means that you can think clearly and that’s where it all begins – developing a strategy, defining the message and identifying the tools.

I think that there are different levels of writing well. There are some people that are gifted storytellers; these people can bring the information being shared to life. Their words engage. Others write in a more “corporate” manner, providing just the facts in an informative and straightforward way. Different things apply to different projects or initiatives. However, I strongly believe that if a person doesn’t have, at the very least, the basic skills – including spelling, punctuation and grammar – they will have a real challenge as a communicator.

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