Are you looking for the most innovative, ground-breaking tips that will be key to revolutionizing your writing in today’s fast paced environment right now?

At first glance, a line like that seems ridiculous and unbelievable. So why do we, as PR professionals, continue to try to sell both journalists and audiences with the same clichés over and over?

I recently attended a writing workshop for PR and marketing professionals moderated by industry expert Janet Reed, who offered fundamental tips to avoid the repetitive, overinflated writing traps that, as much as we try to avoid, we tend to fall into. According to Reed, writers get in trouble by adding too many details when selling a reporter on a pitch or a consumer on a product and lose the message in the process. Most times, short, sweet and to the point does much better than an abundance of detail.

In honor of the holiday season, here are a few basic practices to ensure your next press release or byline is sharp, concise and captivating. In other words, make sure your write plate is not “stuffed.”

Cut Your Calories
When sitting with your loved ones at the Thanksgiving table, would you ever say, “Can you please circulate the tryptophan-laced, bi-colored poultry that is adhered to its porcelain mechanism?” when “Pass the turkey” will get the message across with less effort?

We’re all guilty of adding inflated, convoluted terms to sentences, convinced that some fancy words will give our writing more conviction and pop. In reality, this expansion gets confusing and buries the message rather than highlighting it.

Reed mentioned that sentences grow dangerous when longer than 14-16 words. Using this practice can help us reach the message faster. Try to write your release or pitch as if you are selling a 10-year old, or your grandmother. Avoiding highly technical speak can get your message across faster, too.

Also, keep the smartphone culture in mind when writing. A reporter or reader is not going to scroll through lengthy, seemingly endless paragraphs when checking email on a mobile phone. Get your most important details across early and use bullets and subheads as support rather than additional lines.

Try a New Recipe…
Every Thanksgiving dinner has its staples – turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce and “whatever’s in that bowl over there.” While we all love the traditional items, how many times has the most memorable dish on the table been something new that your family has never had before? Maybe a fresh marinade for the turkey? Or spice for the potatoes?

Along those same lines, we should challenge ourselves to add some seasoning to our writing. According to Reed, there’s a fine line between “killer words” and “words that kill” – while “killer words” can make your audiences want to read more, “words that kill” (like the ones in the opening line of this blog) will do just that to any possible interest.

Maintaining an active voice and relying on strong, exciting verbs add refreshing flavor to your writing. Choose your words wisely, but don’t be afraid to add in a phrase or term you have never used before. Every so often, I’ll hear a term or phrase on a television show and think, “I like that. I’m going to use that in my next case study.” If it was memorable once, it may be equally memorable to your readers.

…But Don’t Forget the Basics
The growth in social media and text messages made “the casual” acceptable in most PR circles. And, with surmounting deadlines across several clients, we don’t have as much time as we would like to check the AP style guide for every single word in our writing. As a result, we tend to stray from the basic principles.

Being lazy can weaken any attempt at strong writing. For starters, make sure your subjects, verbs and pronouns all agree (hint: someone, each and everybody are all singular!) If you would use it in a text message, even though your audience will understand it, it should not go in your press release. And while we are all scrapped for time, even 15 minutes of proofreading can make the difference between an effective piece and a mistake that could harm the reputations of both your client and yourself.

Enjoy the Leftovers
While the amount of effort that goes into preparing the perfect Thanksgiving meal can be troublesome, we do it because we want to provide something memorable for our guests. Much in that way, PR professionals put a great deal of effort into writing in hopes of not only generating “delicious” results for their clients, but also to challenge themselves to make every authored piece better than the one before.

Returning to basics can add that memorable zing to your writing. Removing a few of the “excess ingredients” will better highlight what’s really at the core of your message in a clear, concise and complete fashion – and make your audience want to go back for seconds!

After several years of zero, and even negative, growth, it appears as though some companies, including a couple of our clients, are taking advantage of the down economy to add revenue — through acquisition.

As a PR agency, we’ve been part of numerous market events over the years where we’ve played a variety of roles — from strategizing market messaging and positioning to getting the word out to the press. If you are a marketer who has found yourself going through such an activity for the first time, you should be prepared for a fast pace and long days because once the ink on the deal is dry, you must be ready to pull the trigger on your go-to-market strategy.

Whether you are the company doing the acquiring or the company being acquired, here are a few tips to keep in mind as your company starts down the acquisition path.

• Time is of the essence. Completing an acquisition is like riding a roller coaster. You should expect some ups and downs, as well as a few curves. Sometimes you’ll be moving really, really fast, and other times you’ll be waiting, and waiting and waiting. Then there are those times you feel like you are going to fall right out of your seat. Despite all this, one thing is certain: the ride will eventually come to an end. Once this happens, you need to be prepared for how you are going to communicate to anyone who will be affected by this acquisition news. This includes your customers, prospects, partners, the press, industry analysts and employees.

• Stand up and take the lead. The process of acquiring a company usually involves a lot of people, especially if each company has a PR firm. For this reason, the senior marketer at the acquiring company should be at the center of all activities, directing all marketing strategy and tactics for the acquisition. By having one point person at the center of all activities, it will ensure things continue to move and balls are not dropped.

• Develop a plan. There are a lot of moving parts to an acquisition, and the tiniest details must be planned — everything from updating the company websites and contacting current and prospective customers to developing spokesperson talking points and preparing to onboard new employees. Therefore, it is critical you immediately map out (1) how you want to communicate with each key audience and (2) what tools will need to be developed and/or updated. From there, you can develop a more detailed production schedule that assigns a deadline to every activity you need completed before the deal is official.

• Understand your new strategy and story. There’s a reason why this acquisition is taking place, and now’s the time to sketch out the value proposition so that all audiences understand why they should care about your news. As part of the process, make sure you develop customized messaging for each audience, if necessary, and weave it into your communications.

• Stay in the loop. As the company doing the acquiring, you need to make sure you know where each team stands with their assignments. At a minimum, setup weekly calls where everyone comes together to provide status updates on their activities. Be sure to include key players from the company you are acquiring too. That way, everyone knows what’s going on and can be held accountable to the same expectations.

• Conduct a post mortem. Feedback is key to ensuring you grow as a marketer. Once the buzz surrounding the acquisition has died down, hold a team post mortem to understand areas of success and improvement for the future. Whether you go through another acquisition or not, you can always apply any lessons learned to future marketing activities.

Keep in mind that these tips just scratch the surface in everything you need to do to prepare for a market event. If you need more assistance in preparing for a market event, we are always happy to help.

Last night, Arketi Principal Sami Jajeh was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 TAG Tech Marketing Awards.

This award recognizes well-known individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Georgia marketing community. Sami has been at the forefront of using technology to achieve marketing results and deserve recognition for their outstanding achievements.

Sami on the big screen

Sami’s career began in computer science, giving him a technology understanding to help clients “cut through the clutter” and create a compelling customer-centric value proposition. His career spans almost every aspect of creating great companies, but the greatest portion of his career has been spent in marketing, business development, and entrepreneurship – ranging from IBM to co-founding two start-ups.

Sami is very involved within the technology community serving on the boards of the Technology Association of Georgia, the Technology Executives Roundtable, the TAG Marketing society, and the GRA/TAG Business Launch and Excalibur events. Sami is also very active in High Tech Ministries. Sami has an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a BS in Computer Science from University of California, Berkeley.

Sami's acceptance speech

The 2011 TAG Tech Marketing Awards was held November 17, 2011 at the Defoor Centre where Atlanta’s tech marketing community gathers to celebrate the past year, and to recognize certain individuals and their accomplishments.

Getting recognized at the 2011 Tag Tech Marketing Awards

Having trouble keeping your Facebook “fans?” Forbes.com Blogger Susan Breslin has some insight into why. According to Breslin, end-users see right through you. In her article, she discusses five main reasons why you are losing fans, and because I would hate to keep you in suspense, I’ve included those reasons below:

1. You don’t own your page.
2. You’re trying too hard.
3. You don’t get it.
4. You’re boring.
5. You’re a control freak.

I have to admit, reason number four kind of stings. Ouch. Don’t take these personally, though. Instead, remember what social media is all about. Engage your fans and get to know them. Don’t be overbearing. Social media allows you to be more flexible with your content and responses. Although you cannot control the conversation, you can definitely monitor and contribute to it. By contributing, you can alter the direction of the conversation.

People are going to talk about your brand online. Wouldn’t you rather they include you in the conversation by tweeting your company directly or posting on your Facebook wall?

In a June 2011 post, I outlined a few additional reasons why your social media friends and followers aren’t following you back. Take a look for yourself and feel free to add to the list.

Follow Meredith on Twitter at @MeredithMobley. Follow Arketi on Twitter @Arketi.

According to a 2011 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report by Eccolo Media, nearly four in 10—or 37 percent—of US corporate technology decision-makers say they have recently consumed collateral via a mobile device. Of those respondents, 33 percent reported viewing content on a smartphone and 16 percent reported using a tablet.

When asked about frequency of viewing collateral materials, 30 percent of respondents said they consume mobile content on a weekly basis, while 34 percent estimated several times a week and 23 percent said several times a month.

Although business executives have joined the mobile revolution, the traditional desktop remains the popular choice. In fact, respondents stated that they are reading the following at their desktops:

• 56 percent of white papers
• 58 percent of case studies
• 53 percent of product brochures/data sheets

Another factor of note, downloading and printing was also more widely reported than mobile viewing. So, even though mobile technology has transformed the world, business leaders still need and want to see hard data on a desktop versus a screen that’s the size of a deck of cards.

Make no mistake about it. Mobile technology has definitely made certain tasks easier and more convenient for business owners and consumers alike; however, in the business world, people can’t afford to make an error because the screen posed a viewing challenge, or their fingers moved too quickly while dashing off a quick approval and juggling a phone call.

But as B2B technology companies, how do we marry the practicality of the desktop with society’s increasing love of mobile technology?  Please share your comments and real-life experiences of the perfect B2B tech marriage with us.

Learn more about the survey findings here.

Sometimes I wonder whether marketers truly get pricing, its strategic importance and the impact it can have on the demand for their product.

Recently in Atlanta, new toll-based lanes were introduced on a stretch of highway that had been free since the road was created decades ago. Now, drivers would have the option to use the toll lane (at a fee) to whiz by all of the other drivers. It was marketed as a convenient time saver.  The new toll lane was launched with great fanfare and marketing communications – we heard about it through direct mail, e-mail, radio and television.

The big day came, and a 9-10 mile stretch of highway was priced at more than $5 to use the toll lane. Can you guess what happened? If you said, “No one used it and the entire traffic pattern changed to a deathly crawl.“ you would be correct. Drivers were in an uproar. The governor had to get involved and cut the price in half.  Next week, same result. So, they decreased the price again by 40%. Right now, it sits at about $1.50 for that same stretch – still too expensive for most people, but some are using it.

Is the Peach Pass priced right?

This type of pricing debacle is not limited to our government. Netflix has recently gone through its own PR nightmare dealing with its packaging and pricing changes.

Marketers need to understand the true pricing dynamics of their marketplace and what they are trying to achieve. Is the goal market share? Is it customer adoption? For Microsoft, price has often been used quite strategically to gain tremendous share in a number of markets. For Apple, market share has never been a consideration, as they are happy to have the elite, differentiated position, and that means their products are more expensive.

We have encountered numerous examples where price could have been used as a strategic tool to gain adoption, and then price could be raised later (albeit slowly) for profitability. Oftentimes, organizations start out too high and are forced to lower it only after upsetting customers or having an unfavorable win-loss ratio. Clearly, these scenarios are losing pricing strategies.

Unfortunately for those of us in Atlanta, many of us still have to drive home on the same stretch of highway. Unfortunately for Netflix, there are many alternatives, and it is easy for customers to switch.

Don’t be like these organizations. Get it right the first time – take your pricing seriously!

Congratulations to Team Arketi!

2011 PRSA Georgia Phoenix Awards winners

• PRSA|GA Phoenix Marketing Business to Business Program – Seeing Green at Black Hat (Arketi Group with Stonesoft)

Heather Pritchett from Stonesoft with Meredith Mobley from Arketi Group

 

• PRSA|GA Phoenix Direct Mail/Direct Response Project – RelayHealth Rides Wave to Lead Awareness (Arketi Group with RelayHealth)

Tamyra Hyatt from RelayHeath

 

• PRSA|GA Phoenix Writing – Trade/Business News Release –The Network Announces Quarterly Corporate Fraud Index (Arketi Group with The Network)

Mary Rose Macaranas and Jamie Cwalinski from Arketi Group

 

• PRSA|GA Certificate of Excellence Technical Writing Trade/Business Media –Brand Velocity the “Go To” IT Transformation Expert for CIO Magazine (Arketi Group with Brand Velocity)

We moved recently, and suddenly I don’t have to clean as often. Oddly enough, I have digital publishing to thank for that.

In my new house, there are no fingerprints on the banister or door jams. It’s not a scientific cleaning breakthrough. It’s that my husband got a color Nook, so his New York Times obsession no longer has wall-based residue.  Having him join me in the world of online delivery of key content reflects where much of the population is headed.

More Digital/More Content

Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard recently published a study noting that digital reading continues on the upswing. That’s not because of newsprint fingerprints – apparently moving from print to digital subscription of the New York Times, for example, can save readers $330 per year. If it’s saving me a car payment, what does it do for the publisher? And what does that mean for PR and marketing?

Most in the US agree that a free press is critical to democracy. It is critical for business as well. Those of us in PR are anxious for the next wave of digital content developments, as we search for what will save publications. In the age of pay walls and open doors, aggregation and curation may be the key. It’s much cheaper to repurpose great content than to originate 10x what you can afford today. The trick is finding the best content to repurpose.

More/Better/Cheaper Content

Repurposing – republishing – curating… somehow, they all raise questions of discovery. With so much content on this enormous Web, I’m not sure what articles I want to see – so, who gets to be ‘my’ editor? I’ve already made some decisions about who I trust – Americans decide every day whether they rely more on MSNBC, FOX or NPR, for example. You know where you go for information you believe, whether it’s on the debt ceiling or the latest Silicon Valley escapades.

As we face increased consolidation in newsroom operations, we’ll see consolidation on the digital pages of these publications, too.  Great journalism can now appear where the reader is – not necessarily where it originated. It’s obviously great for the consumer, but it’s also a good thing for publishers — and even journalists. Although the change may require some new thinking.

• For publishing: The cost of acquiring content is a major consideration, both in hard dollars and in the time to negotiate agreements. People have always recommended articles, with social networks increasing this trend. Because really – who has time or patience to deal with the Google factor (search, sort of find, search again for something better, repeat)?

• For Journalism: If publishers find a way to get profitable again, good journalists will have a steady flow of opportunity. Expensive journalism – such as covering international affairs or investigative reporting – will become more affordable when additional income is produced from other websites paying to run that story

It’s a hot topic, with much to watch. The key is to expand engagement, and continue to engender reader loyalty. Certainly, the ‘wall’ that separates publications from one another is getting thinner. That’s being driven by the economy, where operational cutting is likely to continue as news organizations deal with continuing unprofitability.

Keep your eyes open – big changes in news and information discovery and consumption are coming your way. Quickly.