Friday, July 25, 2008

Linguistication

Linguistication. You wont find this one in the Oxford, or any other English dictionary. It's a made up word that means to make up a word by combining parts of existing words..... Ha! And yes, I made it up. Its a hybrid created by combining the words lingua - Latin (now the Spanish 'lengua') word for language and the word mastication which means to chew up.

I find that there are times when things combine to create something new and there is no word, or no word that I know of, to describe it. An old favorite is
hydroquesting. This means to attempt to gain the attention of the bus boy carrying the water jug while keeping your eyes on the person you are having a conversation with and avoiding the appearance of being completely distracted. We have all been there and it seemed like something that should have a name. Now, in my small world, it does.

Linguistication is pretty common among writers of all descriptions from literature to sitcom. The Andy Griffith had some great ones. Barney was a master linguisticator. Executizing and therapized stand out for me.

My hope is that you will have some
lingistications of your own to share and I look forward to receiving them.

Tag - You're It

Tag lines are one of my favorite things to work on. Discovering and capturing the essence of a company and condensing it into 2 or 3 worlds is a fascinating process. If you get it right, you start to receive these amazing phone calls from clients who want to tell you about how their tag line gave them a fresh perspective on some challenge in their business or just helped them get through a tough day. I live for that sh..! A great example is a project that I did for a super gal here in San Francisco. She has a moving company that handles relocation's of large estates and unique homes, aka, folks with lots of money. Her name is Breeze

Moving sucks! Everybody knows that and for most of us it's really just a matter of shunting our Pottery Barn and
Ikea collections from one place to another. Art installations and master closet remodels have never featured in my own moving experiences but they show up on a daily basis for Breeze. I get stressed out just thinking about it.

I spent some time working with her to understand how she felt about her business and the experience that she wanted to give to her clients. We came up with a new tag line... "Moving Gracefully". It spoke to the aspirations of her clients as well as how she navigates her way through all the crazy logistics that she has to deal with. She loves it and called me one day to tell me how about how she repeats it to herself when stuff goes wrong and stress starts to ramps up. I love that her tag line is a tool that she uses to improve her own experience of running her business.
Thats what a really good message should do.

My tag line is "Find Your Voice"
Thats what I help my clients do and it's what I try to do every day in my own life. Its my mantra - whats yours?

Monday, July 21, 2008

Tell the Truth

Consumers are looking behind the face of your brand and checking out the quality of your corporate character using information now available to them on the internet. So will that happy meal make them happy or give them diabetes and should they "Just do it" in tennies put together by small children with bleeding fingers?

There are a lot of moving parts here but lets keep the focus on the consumers. Thats me and you. We are getting to be a pretty sophisticated bunch and we're pissed. Smoke is literally coming out of our ears after being lied to for years by big tobacco but what did we expect from those guys. More recently and far worse are the grand deceptions perpetrated on us little guys by big business and the government. They have left many of us minus a secure retirement, likely minus a home and certainly getting nasty looks from the locals on most of our overseas vacations. As a result, we are suspicious and unwilling to be lead into more strife just because we believed what we were told.

We are using the internet to research consumption options and peer to peer forums such as social network sites to gather feedback on our choices. We want to hear what you have to say but we're not taking your word for it any more. Companies need to project clear, compelling and most importantly, authentic messages to engage us as customers.

These messages should be the basis of your positioning and the foundation of your brand. Remember that consumers are looking for an emotional connection as part of the buying experience. If your not the cheapest option (and if your not Walmart then your probably not) then you better be the one providing the greatest feeling of connection and shared values to your customers.

You are going to need more than a great writer to help you get to the heart of the matter and articulate these messages. You need a good listener and a strong conceptual thinker who can translate the essence of what you are into a voice that will connect you to your customers. This is beyond branding and positioning. Your real product here is a set of respectable values and a straight talking approach to your customers. It's what we're all in the market for and we'll deal with the mark up to get it.

WHO DOES THAT?

I left a career in strategy consulting to become a freelance writer..... who does that? On first glance it might appear that I gave myself a demotion or developed the type of delicate constitution that abhors the rough and tumble world of business. Not so! I believe that the ability to craft authentic, compelling and articulate copy that allows companies to respond to the shifting interpretation of value within today's marketplace is going to be one of the most sought after skills in business. Actually, I think it's going to be the next generation of change management to sweep through the corridors of corporate America. "Times they are a changin" notes Bob with his unfailing ability to clearly point out the obvious. So while consumers, you and me, remain the same and basically respond to a set of cultural codes that drive our behavior across multiple areas of our lives...... those codes have shifted and what is emerging is a new set of values that we want to be associated with through the way we consume. Check out my article on "The Conscious Consumer" to get a closer look at whats changing and what companies need to do to engage these folks.