Lost in translation: a good dictionary will improve your writing.

It can sometimes seem as though everyone speaks English, so there’s no point in learning anything else. But learning a foreign language is still worthwhile, even if your profession depends only on your grasp of English.

In the 1980s, teaching English grammar in schools started to go out of fashion. So it became the job of German, French, Latin, Spanish and even Russian teachers to explain the basics of grammar. Because without the experience of a native speaker, students need grammar to navigate a path through the maze of tenses, cases and pronouns.

It’s not difficult to get through life without knowing the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom’. But as a copywriter you need to be able to explain the difference to your client, and crucially, tell them whether or not it matters (and why).

There are other benefits too. Learning another language gives you a second viewpoint on the way you write and speak. You learn how native speakers use words we’ve adopted into English. You find out which words have links to similar words in other languages, and what they originally meant. And you come across words that mean something brilliant and very useful, but have no equivalent in English.* 

Speaking any other language, no matter badly you do it, gives you a greater appreciation of English. So I’d encourage anyone who writes for a living to give it a go. Vive la difference!

Around three minutes into this video, Bryson makes what I think is a really important point. He’s talking about how he wrote A Short History of Nearly Everything, winner of both the Aventis Prize for science books 2004 and the Descartes Science Communication Prize 2005. He says:

“Just because something’s important doesn’t mean people are going to read it. And that means you have to use all sorts of devices. One thing I looked for was human interest stories.”

Whether you’re writing about science, business, charity or anything else, it’s worth remembering that amazing things are done by amazing people. It’s these stories that will really engage people with your writing. And that’s crucial because, as Bryson says, you’ve got to entertain people as well as inform them.

That’s the key to great writing, whatever the topic.

Pepper Digital’s site encouraged people to explore responsive web design by playing

Designed with adaptable layouts for different screen sizes, responsive websites change to suit your browsing device – from desktops and netbooks to tablets and smartphones. They’re ideal for today’s browsing habits, where someone might access the web on a number of different devices each day. And they’re less expensive than designing lots of different versions of a website.

Pepper knew the best way for people to discover what responsive web design is all about would be to let them play with the site. So the copy needed to be concise, giving people an overview of the theory and benefits of responsive web design before encouraging them to stretch, squeeze, rotate and flip the site for themselves.

The key to writing for responsive websites is the same as for all digital copywriting: considering context. Writing for the web means thinking about how and where people will read your words, which sites they’ve come from and which they’re going to. For responsive websites, it’s important to remember the layout will change. So copywriters need to work with the design team so the words do their job well in all the possible layouts.

It looks like we got it right here, at least according to the judges. This is what they said about the site: “We really liked the tone of the writing and it was one that always stood out to us.”

London Midland brings humour to its Twitter page

It’s an approach that’s won them lots of followers and a customer service award. I’m not surprised. London Midland is my local train company and I’ve been impressed with the way they write for Twitter – mixing updates, interaction and a sense of humour.

The London Midland Twitter profile @LondonMidland is corporate but a named person signs on for each shift, giving them the chance to make things personal with some gentle humour. The example above shows David’s inventive sign-in last week.

Good evening - David here to protect you from the icy wind of disruption like a penguin protecting its newborn chick. Looking calm out there

You might worry that this would grate with angry followers whose trains have been delayed. But the responses to David’s tweet show it was welcomed as a nice distraction before he gets on with the serious business of issuing service updates and responding to queries (which he does a lot of). One user even gives David a hashtag:

@SkyBlueStacey says: Awwww David. That’s your best sign in ever!:) #YouWillStruggleToTopThatOne

It’s clear that users welcome this approach and even look forward to it. London Midland tweets certainly brighten my day. And that‘s something I never thought I’d say about a train company.

These days, every brand wants you to be their friend. They seem to think you’d like nothing better than to spend time hanging out with them or helping them flog their stuff to your friends. Am I the only one who’s sick of this? 

It seems not. You may have read the excellent An Open Letter To All Of Advertising And Marketing From A Fairly Normal Bloke on the equally excellent Sell Sell blog. The fictional author of the letter, Brian, captures my feelings exactly when he says:

“I don’t want to make a film, or draw a picture, or nominate a friend. Or compose a soundtrack or re-edit your advert. Really, I don’t.”

If brands aren’t asking you to interact with them on social media, they’re trying to talk their way into your affections in ever-more-desperate sounding copy (there are some great examples on Rebecca Nicholson’s Wackaging blog).

I’d agree that it’s good to be friendly (a little quirky or funny, even). But do you make friends with people because they write you gushing notes on the side of food packaging?

Probably not. You probably make friends with people whose values you share and with whom you build trust over the years. Shouldn’t it be the same with brands?

A recipe for success - fun microcopy on the Warburtons website

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: microcopy matters. It’s a little touch that shows you’ve really thought about your audience. And it can make even the simplest site far more effective.

But to be really great, microcopy doesn’t just help people to navigate around your site, it shows personality and captures your brand. Take Warburtons. Their website is a cut (or should that be slice) above the rest. They use microcopy to prove they’re ‘passionate about baking’. So when you click on a page, you see ‘loafing’ instead of ‘loading’ - it’s a small change that makes a big difference.

We want more sites to start thinking like Warburtons and pay closer attention to their microcopy. That’s why we’re working with organisations and agencies like Pepper Digital, showing people that really great web copy means thinking about everything - right down to the smallest detail.

Time to get rid of the waffle and make your business writing more compelling

In our work we come across some shocking jargon - from the nonsensical to the ridiculously over-used. The good news is that it’s easy to cut jargon from your business writing. Here’s how:

1. Think about your audience

To reach your audience effectively you need to write for them. Think about how much they know about the topic, and replace jargon with simple explanations. For example, instead of writing ‘our deliverables are’ simply say ‘we are going to’.

2. Cut out technical terms

Will your reader understand technical terms, industry references or abbreviations? If not, cut them out. Alternatively, you could include technical explanations in a separate fact box, rather than the main text.

3. Remove unnecessary words

Go through your writing and remove unnecessary words. Jargon usually equals waffle so get rid of it. Why say ‘think outside the box’ when you can use ‘be creative’? Four words are definitely not better than two.

4. Get feedback

Get someone else to look over your writing and give you feedback. This works best if it’s someone who knows nothing about the subject - they’ll be able to tell you whether it’s simple and easy to follow.

Ask them to highlight any jargon they find. Then re-write the piece to get rid of it. The end result will be effective, engaging copy.

Looking around for more ways to help save energy, I came across the Wattson website. With effective use of language, this site puts fun and humour into energy efficiency.

A neat little energy meter, Wattson measures and displays how much electricity you’re using at any moment, in W or in £. But while the product may be great looking, it’s the language of the website that really helps sell it.

I was designed by the nice people at DIY Kyoto to help you do more for the environment. And to do it in style.

With the site written in the first person, Wattson talks to you directly, telling you about the benefits it will bring, and making a personal connection.

The products names are cleverly chosen too — Wattson works together with specially-designed data software, known as Holmes.

While Wattson got the looks, I got the brains. Together, we tell you how much electricity you’ve used over the last 28 days, and how much you’ve saved and when.

The combination of a great product and effective, engaging language certainly persuaded me. 

Tom Salmon, Leeds University Union’s marketing manager

Impact reporting is a pretty involved process.  It’s not just about the this-is-what-we-did-last-year content of many corporate annual reports.  It’s about what we said we’d do, and showing the effect that it had on people.  It’s about accountability, transparency and setting up systems that keep organisations focused and disciplined about their work.

Imagine all the things that you do at work as if they were noises. Do they sound like a series of dull thuds (like a group of chimps hitting a drum) or are you orchestrating something more meaningful? Something with long-lasting resonance?

Impact is all about the combined, long-term, meaningful, measurable and purposeful effects of the work that you do. Leeds University Union is a charity that helps over 32,000 students through university. We help them with their employability. We help them to live as part of a local community. We help them when things go wrong personally, financially or academically. We also help them to enjoy themselves, network and make friends for life.

Thinking about impact means that we concentrate on outcomes rather than outputs. It means that we try to measure our success and failure in the right way and with a long-term view, regularly updating people on how we’re doing. Working with a view on impact, and reporting on it honestly and publicly, provides focus.

Like many organisations, charities are facing tough times at the moment. Impact helps focus resource and effort. More importantly, it provides a way of inspiring other people to support our cause.

Storytelling can inspire sustainable actions. Photo: homard.net

Here at Polon, we know just how effective engaging communication can be. And when you’re asking people to live more sustainably, there’s nothing as persuasive as stories with everyday heroes: ordinary people working together to be as sustainable as possible.

It’s what we look for when we write engaging sustainability communications for brands like Nokia, because stories about everyday heroes show that people like you and me can make big changes. They offer social proof that sustainable behaviour is possible, desirable and - above all - normal.

As part of its work helping communities in Scotland to become more sustainable, Transition Scotland encourages people to tell others why they got involved in making sustainable living a reality. It describes storytelling as an important way to ‘capture real life experiences’. While in New Zealand, interactive website OurFuture gives people a place to share their green stories.

We’re hoping more people will start to realise the power of storytelling, and use stories to make sustainable communications more inspiring.