Changeworksblog.com

Josh Myatt on work experience at Changeworks

During the first week of December, Changeworks had the pleasure of giving Josh Myatt, a student at Walton High School, a week’s work experience to show him the ropes of being part of a busy PR and Marketing team. Here, Josh journals his time spent at Changeworks.

5/12/11

Monday
Today it was my first day and it was just me and Sue (employer) and me in today, I got into work for 9:00am and I started on completing the account spreadsheet for income, invoices and expenditure. That took me most of the day really, after I completed that I watched the employer edit a video and how to put that accomplished video on to an actual CD.
What I liked about today was how not to be in a routine and listening out for bells, its a change from school with giving you more freedom. There was nothing I really disliked about today and it’s a huge difference from school. Read more…

Ever wondered why the excellent story you had to tell didn’t get published while magazines seemed to fall over themselves to use something that you considered to be nowhere near as interesting?

The answer is all in the presentation. And we don’t mean fancy logos or italicised intros. In short, whether a journalist is happy to top and tail a press release or wants to do his/her own research, getting the essence of the story over to them as quickly as possible is the key.

Journalists are not lazy but they are busy. Often they simply don’t have the time to wade through a press release to find the story hidden half way down page two (or even three if it’s that long).

The formula is very simple. If the headline and the first paragraph don’t tell the story, your release stands a very slim chance of being used. You cannot expect a journalist to read through a paragraph describing what a company does and when it was formed before learning in the second paragraph – later in many cases – what the purpose of the release is.

If you have a point to make, a product to promote, a message to get across, make sure the information is in the headline and first paragraph. The reality is that this tends to be how journalists assess the value of a story.

Of course, another factor is how the release is written. While nobody would suggest sending ‘dumbed down’ information to trade and technical magazine editors, you should not be attempting to impress them with unnecessarily big words either.

Don’t fall into the trap of a police officer who famously used the phrase “I was proceeding along the highway when I observed an individual imbibing from a drinking vessel”. What he meant was he was going along the street when he saw someone drinking from a bottle. But he wanted to impress so he headed for the thesaurus.

Anyone writing a press release should not make the same mistake. As a simple example, they should ask themselves, how would I speak to a friend?

1. “Very recently I travelled by public transport to the hub of the city to purchase some footwear” or

2. “I went to town earlier and bought some shoes”?

You’re more likely to keep your friends if you choose option 2 – unless, of course, your friends are very odd. Likewise, if you keep the language in a press release easy to understand you stand a much better chance of getting your news published.

Master the Art of Writing

We can all get bogged down by the pressures of work – having to meet sales targets, needing to generate new leads and having to retain existing customers, but mastering the art of writing can help you achieve all of the above for a more easier and stress-free life.

This is because you can communicate with your audience effectively and efficiently to ultimately generate new sales.

To write well; whether for a press release, newsletter, feature, brochure etc, you need to be able to ‘speak’ to your reader and attract them quickly. Always focus on:

‘What’s in it for them?’

Look at how your product or service is going to really benefit your audience. If you are writing for business to business companies, focus on ‘speaking’ to them as individuals rather than to their ‘roles’ within the company. This also applies for business to consumer companies.

A great example that I came across that taps into audience’s needs regards the selling of ice cream. Other than being absolutely delicious with lots of variety to choose from, what else is ‘in it for them’?

10 minutes of peace and quiet when you have screaming children.

Rather than focusing on the benefits of the product itself, look deeper into the needs of the consumer. People purchase for the outcomes of products/services not the items themselves.

Other tips for writing well include:

• Focus on one single-minded message
• To get people to remember your message, repeat it three times in your piece in slightly different ways
• Give your reader a personality not just a job title or part of a socio-economic group

If you would like to speak to one of us here at Changeworks, please call us on 01785 247588 or email info@changeworkscom.co.uk

There are lots of different variations of Enewsletter templates but how do you know which one will be the most effective for your target audience?

eNewsletter templates for digital marketing

Enewsletters can be long, short, visually led or a simple plain text file that are predominantly viewed on computers and laptops. However, with the increase in smart phone sales, more people are now accessing their emails via their mobiles and not all newsletter templates are ‘small screen’ friendly.

Quick tips for designing Enewsletter templates:

• Single column newsletters work best for mobile phones
• 20% of emails will not automatically load images, therefore, ensure your headings and main benefits are text so that they appear straight away in the email.
• Only 0.2% of people read introductory text. You’re best getting straight to the point with your main product/service benefits
• People receive lots of spam everyday and are eager to clear their inboxes. You have just 1.5 seconds to grab their attention.
• Viewers tend to look at the top right area of an enewsletter first – use this space well particularly for your sales messages.
• Enewsletter templates should be no longer than a page and a half. Stick to a maximum of 3-4 paragraphs of copy.

These are just a few tips to help you create the most effective enewsletter templates. In Part 5, I will focus on the technical aspects of e-newsletters by exploring the most effective ways of sending your enewsletter out.

If you can’t wait for Part 5 and you would like to speak to one of us here at Changeworks, please call us on 01785 247588 or email info@changeworkscom.co.uk

Building relationships with email newsletters

Building a relationship takes time. It cannot be achieved by sending the occasional newsletter or advert. Whether you’re focusing on new or existing customers, there needs to be a regular flow of communication that attracts attention and gets them engaged in your brand.

If you think about the relationships you have with your family and friends, they are not built by only one person talking and the other listening. Relationships require interaction. You need to find out things about each other and understand the type of person they are.

E-newsletters help to do just that with customers. They can increase brand awareness as well as the value proposition you provide to them. The following tips explain how you can create effective e-newsletters to help kick-start or develop customer relationships.

1) Adopt a personable approach: When you send an e-newsletter out, use a person’s email address as the sender not an info@ or sales@. Let the writer’s personality come through in the copy – although you want to remain professional, don’t always limit your newsletters to ‘business speak’. Keep it personable, simple and easy to read.

2) Provide information of value: Fill your e-newsletters with details about what your customers are going to enjoy from your product, services etc rather than how great your company is. As I mention in my previous post, you need to keep asking “what’s in it for them?” To help kick-start a relationship ‘special offers’ i.e. 10% off, save £100 etc are good incentives, especially if the customers are unknown.

3) Keep the communication flowing: Relationships cannot not be built by the odd newsletter sent out here and there, keep your communication regular. It usually takes six communications before generating a new lead. One newsletter a month is the least you should send, any fewer and people may forget that they signed up to receive it and will see it as “spam”. On the other hand, sending too many newsletters will risk you losing customers because they can’t keep up with the amount of information.

4) Get your customers to interact with your brand: As much as a customer may want to find out about your goods/services, you need to find out what they need. In order to offer the best product or service, your customers have certain requirements. The way you can find this out is to include links to polls, surveys or discussion forums so that they interact with you and they can tell you what they need.

These are just a few tips to help you build relationships with your customers. In Part 3, I will focus on how you can put a newsletter together and the most effective ways of sending them out.

If you can’t wait for Part 3 and you would like to speak to one of us here at Changeworks, please call us on 01785 247588 or email info@changeworkscom.co.uk

?