For several years now I’ve been raising my hand and saying…
“Hey, the future of marketing online is conversational!”
And then… this last weekend…
Wow.
TOTAL confirmation of that vision of a conversational future.
When developing a conversational voice for a brand, build it around a character… not just a persona or avatar.
If your brand or business is going to be conversational, it needs a voice.
But what kind of voice? What should it sound like? What kind of vocabulary should you use?
Companies find their voices in all kinds of different ways.
Sometimes it’s the voice of the founder.
For a long time, the voice of Apple was the voice of Steve Jobs. And the voice of the Virgin group of companies is Richard Branson, more or less.
Other times companies can borrow the voices of brand ambassadors or through celebrity endorsements. Those borrowed voices are intended to match the character of the company or brand.
Write better copy by applying the 4 maxims of the Cooperative Principle.
The concept of the Cooperative Principle was introduced by philosopher H. Paul Grice way back in 1975.
Grice had noticed that when two people are holding a conversation, they tend to cooperate in some important ways.
He framed the Cooperative Principle with four conversational ‘maxims’ people should follow to move a conversation forward.
Here’s a simplified version of what he drafted…
Exploring powerful connections between happiness, positivity and sales… with JoAnna Brandi.
In this post I get to talk with JoAnna Brandi – a consultant, speaker and trainer who believes in the power of happiness in the workplace.
I met JoAnna at an event held by our mutual friends at American Writers & Artists Inc.
After talking for a few minutes, it became clear to me that she was a fellow traveller in the pursuit of positivity and transparency in the world of marketing and sales.
While there are plenty of authors and speakers on the “happiness bandwagon” these days, JoAnna stands out because she’s been speaking about Customer and Employee Happiness for over 25 years.
It’s that depth of experience I want to tap into with this interview.
So… let’s get started…
Marketing professionals use too many empty words.
If you’ve ever listened to advice on losing weight, you’re probably familiar with the term “empty calories”.
It simply means the food you’re eating – like a candy bar – is full of calories, but has negligible nutritional value.
The same can happen in writing.
Lots of words, negligible meaning.
And perhaps surprisingly, some of the biggest offenders are digital ad agencies.
You’d think marketing professionals would know better. But apparently not.
Here’s an example of what I mean…
In search of a more honest, transparent and evolved approach to marketing and business… with Yanik Silver.
In this post I get to talk with Yanik Silver – serial entrepreneur, adventurer, doodler and advocate for ethical and evolved business.
I’ve been following Yanik Silver’s career for close to 20 years now, watching from afar as he journeyed from online copywriter and trainer to becoming a powerful advocate for a more evolved approach to business.
But… we never met until a few weeks ago, when we were both speaking at the same event.
I’d imagined his presentation might focus on sharing tried and tested techniques for online copywriters.
But I was dead wrong.
Instead, Yanik treated us to a vision of a world where business moves from being merely transactional to becoming transformational… where marketing is as much about making a positive impact on the world as it is about growing the bottom line.
Those of you who are familiar with my own vision for Conversational Copywriting will immediately grasp why I was so taken with Yanik’s presentation.
And you’ll understand why I asked him to take part in this interview.
So… let’s get started…