How to write emails employees will read
With the data from 350 million internal emails in PoliteMail’s 2018 Benchmark Report, Michael DesRochers has a good idea of what encourages employees to read them. Michael is Managing Director of PoliteMail, which helps companies measure and improve email broadcasts...
Storytelling sells prospects on the cruise life
My husband and I have never taken a cruise, but somehow we’re on a mailing list that leads to regular promotions for ocean and river adventures. We also get frequent invitations to events where we can get more details. Finally, we accepted one, and set off to learn...
Words as Legos and more expressive language (Wordnerdery)
Do you want to explain something, clear up confusion, make a point or reflect or spark emotion? Reach for what I call expressive language (AKA figurative writing), which is a memorable way of showing rather than telling. For example, Oxford Dictionaries describes...
How to know when it’s time for a refresh
Google made me do it. My website refresh has been in the back of my mind for months. I had a few changes I wanted to make, but nothing seemed urgent and the project fell off my radar. I finally set things in motion after a few reminders about Google’s view of sites...
Volunteering: More valuable than you might think
Hands up if you volunteer! Hey, good for you – and good for the organization you’re helping. Much of the work in associations, schools and other groups only gets done if volunteers tackle it. In fact, if you find yourself grumbling, “Why doesn’t this group [do...
Wordnerdery: Eight ways to make numbers meaningful
Love them or hate them, numbers are all around us. Whether numbers mean anything to your reader or not often comes down to how well they are explained. I recently ran across Making Data Meaningful (pdf), a guide designed to be “a practical tool to help managers,...
Happy birthday to the World Wide Web
Can you remember life before the web? Probably barely, even if you are old enough. The World Wide Web turned 30 this week, starting “a technological revolution that has transformed the way people buy goods, share ideas, get information and much more,” reports...
‘Ecosystem’ may be a ‘thing’ – but it’s a buzzword
A PR colleague is having a hard time convincing me that using “ecosystem” outside the realm of biology and science isn’t jargon. It is. Here’s the usual definition: “A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment” (The Canadian Oxford...