My incredibly talented clients

Part of the pleasure of being freelance is that I get to work with lots of different incredibly talented people.

I’m often around The Message Trust in Manchester. Not only is The Message home to some of Britain’s finest youth evangelists, but they’re supported by a truly first class team of creative professionals.

I work closely with the Message:Creative guys on Flow magazine which goes out three times a year and in my estimations is one of the most exciting supporter magazines out there. No two issues are the same – we’re always working on the most impactful ways of communicating stories, using the best writers and photographers we can find.

We do thorough debriefs each time and there’s a real feeling every issue that this was the best yet – but that the next one will be better. That’s priceless: a focus on continuous improvement that I think comes from the dynamic of an in-house team working with committed external people. Issue 6 is coming up and it’s good – but it’s not as good as Issue 7 will be.

We’ve also recently worked together on a refresh of their website. I’ve done a few of these in the non-profit sector and I know that normally a website relaunch is a long and painful process. In the capable hands of the Message team however, the job took weeks rather than months. Shortly after the new site went live, we did a review and made a few tweaks. The web guys didn’t blink – they just got straight on with the business of making things better.

There’s a lovely camaraderie stemming from a shared commitment to excellence and a healthy humility before the job that makes working with the Message:Creative guys nothing but a joy. And you always get a good cup of tea too.

Filed under: Newsletters and magazines, Website content , continuous improvement, design company, designers, flow, manchester, message:creative, the message, web, website

Precision and feeling: what charities can learn from CS Lewis

Legendary children’s novelist CS Lewis has some insights on writing which all charities need to hear.

We all know CS Lewis as the author of the Narnia books, but what many people don’t know is that he wrote many other books and essays, much of it inspired by his Christian faith. For many, he is the ‘writer’s writer’.

Following the completion of the Narnia series in 1956, Lewis received a letter from an American girl named Joan asking for his advice on writing. This is how he replied:

1. Always try to use language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the plain, direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘More people died’ don’t say ‘Mortality rose.’

4. In writing, don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is ‘terrible’, describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, ‘Please, will you do my job for me?’

5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

(Source: CS Lewis ‘Letters to Children’)

These are by no means the only bits of advice on writing Lewis gave during his life but they do give us a guide to what makes his writing so popular. They are about communicating with precision and feeling.

Too often charity communications lack these qualities. But they are two powerful weapons in increasing supporter engagement with your work.

What I see in a lot of charity newsletters, brochures and fundraising bids is a desire to look and sound professional. Even brand new start-ups feel the need to appear like they are established and ‘know what they are doing’. So the tendency is to revert into vague, jargon-laden, bureaucratic, even legal-sounding, language on paper.

That’s not what supporters and potential supporters are looking for. They demand competence, yes, but not professionalism. They long for concrete, factual and accurate descriptions of what you are doing and why.

Which people exactly are you helping? How many? What specific interventions are you involved with? How does your work relate to other agencies and charities? What tangible impact is your work making on the world? That’s precision.

And they want feeling. Your words and stories need to communicate the real human impact of the work you do. It’s not enough to say you’re changing people’s lives; you need to demonstrate how that change is being experienced and felt, viscerally: How bad was it? How good is it now? How bad will it get if you don’t step in and help?

Perhaps charities pull too many punches these days. Perhaps we stay remote and aloof for fear of offending the comfortable. Actually, supporters need to feel a little of what you feel.

Better communications may be the key to unlocking the support your charity is searching for. I specialise in advising charities from local to global on how to make words work harder for them. For more information about what I can do for you, please get in touch.

Filed under: Writing and copywriting , charities, Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis, fundraisers, getting donations, newsletters, non-profit, supporter communications, writing tips, writing well

Three lessons charities should learn from guardian.co.uk

Recently, I made a case that charities who want to succeed in the online space need to make conversation with supporters a bigger part of their communication mix.

Just to prove that you don’t need to be a bleeding-edge tech start-up to succeed at this, I’ve got three lessons from an organisation that’s been a trusted content provider since 1821 – The Guardian.

Their website and mobile platforms stand out as superb examples of how an organisation can put conversation at the heart of a content strategy. Here are a few things charities can learn:

1. They use social media chatter as content

Many Guardian correspondents use Twitter and their tweets become part of guardian.co.uk’s content. It makes for really interesting, real-time news and comment.

This would be such a quick win for charities. Key charity staff are doing things that members of the public find fascinating every day. Why not make it part of the job to get them to tweet once or twice a day to say what they’re up to, what they’re seeing and what’s inspiring them?

Supporters could follow individuals or an aggregated feed with everything that’s going on. As a charity you can re-tweet nice things other people say about you. And occasionally, just occasionally, you can use the feeds to ask something of your base (but be careful not to abuse the privilege).

2. They run news in real-time

The limitation of print media is that once an article is published, it’s too late to change it. This was how online news used to be too. But The Guardian frequently runs as its top story an auto-updating ‘as-it-happens’ live blog. You don’t need to wait for a whole story to be compiled before you hear the latest news. And because everything that’s already happened is just a scroll away, it’s much more compelling than watching rolling news.

Forward-thinking charities are putting short, sharp pieces of news online and out via e-shots which keep interested supporters updated with news as it happens. There is still a strong case for quality newsletters and annual reports – but don’t make your supporters wait to hear the stories you could be telling them today.

3. They encourage – and use – reader comment

As well as all the now familiar ‘follow’ and ‘sharing’ devices, The Guardian invites and prints comments from readers (the only barrier to entry is a free log-in).

Look at any of their news stories and you’ll find a lengthy discussion of the issue at hand from all kinds of people. Some of the hottest pages go on for screens and screens. The original journalist and other Guardian staffers often post again to defend their points of view. It can be brilliantly entertaining and illuminating. Most of all, it engages you with the issue and forces you to think, ‘Where do I stand?’ That’s the job of every piece of charity communication.

Charities are often afraid of forums and conversation for two reasons: people will post the wrong things or (worse maybe) people won’t post at all. But if you know you’re getting the traffic, the time might be right to hire a moderator and actively encourage conversation on the issues that are important to you.

I’m currently working with charities from the global to the local, helping them grow income and involvement through better communications. For more advice on how to make your charity’s communications work harder for you, please get in touch.

Filed under: Website content , 24-hour news cycle, Charitable organization, charities, charity, charity website, communication, donors, fundraisers, getting donations, Guardian, Guardian.co.uk, internet, magazines, Middle East, newsletters, non-profit, Online Communities, online fundraising, Social Networking, supporter communications, Twitter, website, Website content

How the Middle East protests are showing we were wrong about the internet

The protest movements sweeping through the Middle East right now are a vivid reminder of how powerful the internet is – and how most of us have been wrong about exactly why.

Most of us have spent the last 15 years admiring the internet for its power at content delivery. YouTube, Kindle, iPlayer… there’s no doubt that it’s brilliant at that.

But we’ve mistaken the balloons for the birthday party. Because the real gift of the internet is more profound. What the internet makes possible – in fact, what it makes inevitable – is faster and more open conversation.

The Middle East protest movements may be taking place on granite streets, but they’re being organised on Facebook and Twitter.

The internet connects people like never before, whether that’s protesters in Tahrir Square or customers in a Groupon deal. It moves people previously separated by distance (geographic or temporal, real or imagined) together. Previously long-distance relationships are moving closer and closer to real-time. And as we’re seeing, that can have surprising, world-changing consequences.

Charities need to cotton on, and quick. We’ve been talking about fundraising as ‘relationship building’ for a long time. But in truth, these relationships have been largely arms-length: occasional newsletters, annual reports and, of course, appeals. Our websites are almost all about content: video, images and text… lots and lots of groaning pages filled with text.

This has to change. I’m a writer, so I believe in content. But our content has to get smarter and more targeted. And we need to start putting conversation at the heart of it.

I believe there are some lessons to be learned from an unexpected place… And if you can’t wait for my next post, you should ask me out for lunch.

I’m currently working with charities from the global to the local, helping them grow income and involvement through better communications. For more advice on how to make your charity’s communications work harder for you, please get in touch.

Filed under: Website content , Charitable organization, charities, charity, charity website, communication, donors, fundraisers, getting donations, internet, magazines, Middle East, newsletters, non-profit, Online Communities, online fundraising, supporter communications, Twitter, website

Why don’t charities talk about results?

A recent report from the New Philanthropy Capital think tank puts in black and white what many of us working in and for the third sector know to be true: charities talk much more about what they are doing than what results they’re getting.

The ‘Talking About Results’ report finds that only 41% of charities surveyed (all top 100 fundraising charities in the UK) communicated effectively what they have achieved, showing how their input created impact.

This is crazy in the face of overwhelming evidence that the top two reasons people claim to give to charities are how well money is spent and what they’ve achieved.

The report also points out that charities seem to find it hard to admit mistakes or show willingness to learn from them. In a day where transparency and openness rule, charities should be much less afraid to talk about failure or admit weakness.

There are good lessons here for us all. Here’s a helpful five-question framework for all of us trying to bridge the gap between cause and supporter:

1. What is the problem we are trying to address?
2. What are we doing to address it?
3. What are we actually achieving?
4. (And how do we know what we are achieving)?
5. What are we learning, and how can we improve?

I’m currently involved with helping four UK charities communicate their stories and needs to their distinct audiences through appeals, supporter newsletters, websites and more. If you’d like some help, let’s talk!

Filed under: Newsletters and magazines, Writing and copywriting , annual report, appeals, Charitable organization, charities, charity, Donation, Fundraising, New Philanthropy Capital, newsletters, openness, Resources for Charities, results, supporter newsleters, talking about results, transparency, Voluntary sector, website

Publishing in the post-book world

Seth Godin, usually way ahead of the curve on these matters, wrote recently on what he calls ‘micro-magazines‘. He thinks there’s lots of space in the market for highly targeted mini-journals of interest.

That’s not just because people’s tastes have changed or become more diverse; it’s also because it’s getting increasingly easy to be a publisher. Once we’ve all got some form of tablet and a universal distribution mechanism, anyone with a good idea will be able to publish to the whole world.

Apple once again have the must-have device in the iPad and a distribution mechanism that’s already ubiquitous because it’s built into iTunes. For the more bookish, it looks like Amazon’s have really got it right with the new iteration of the Kindle (yes, I want one too). Google is also poised to launch a paid-for service for book downloads which will hopefully keep the market competitive.

I think books – particularly non-fiction titles – are about to get a kicking. I’m tired of wading through 300 pages when the best (or only!) idea is contained in the first 30. I think we’ll get a lot of new short-form books of 10 to 20 thousand words, particularly in the lifestyle and business genres. These will be easily readable on a flight or in one sitting, yet rich and rewarding enough to merit a purchase price.

Interestingly, it seems like some quarters of the established publishing business are getting wise to this. Random House have quietly launched a new series of e-books they’re calling Brain Shots. For just a few quid you can not get edited versions of ‘big idea’ non-fiction titles, shaving off about 80% of the book length – and most of the cost.

So how about magazines – traditionally the poor, low-brow sibling of books? If Godin is right, these too look set for a renaissance as an equally powerful way of distributing ideas fast. The quicker you can get ideas out to interested audiences, the better. If you can do that and get paid for it – by an advertiser trying to reach that same group of people – well, that’s pay dirt.

What’s still up for grabs I think is the classic general interest magazine, like Time or Newsweek (recently bought for a song by an American philanthropist).

I’m not as gloomy about them as he is. I’m a Time subscriber and actually what I enjoy most about it is the perspective that you get from a non-subject-specific magazine. I like Wired for the same reason – I’m interested in the wide-angle view, not just the gadgets.

So while niche micro-magazines might well thrive as he says, I think there’ll continue to be a place for a where you trust the edit to bring you a breadth of coverage on the world.

If you’ve got a book in you – however short! – I can help get it out. Contact me to see how I can help develop or ghost-write your idea into reality.

Filed under: Publishing , books, devloping your book, e-books, e-publishing, future, ghost writing, google, iPad, kindle, magazines, micro-magazines, newsweek, niche publishing, Publishing, Seth Godin, time, Wired

Do you really need a new website? Really?

Sarah and I lived in our old home, a lovely three-bed semi outside of Bedford, for almost five years. In that time we cleaned the windows of our house precisely never.

About halfway through our time there we decided to replace all the windows with new double glazing. So we started joking with friends that instead of getting out and cleaning our windows we just got new ones instead.

But for most of that time we didn’t need new windows. We just needed clean windows. Something similar is true of many websites.

Maybe it’s still fresh in your memory: the amount you spent on the last website you commissioned. Even if the job stayed on budget you probably paid more than you wanted to for technology that no longer looks cutting-edge.

Sure, a new website would be nice. But in these straitened times, I’m betting you don’t actually need new windows – you just need someone to come clean them for you.

And that’s where I come in.

• You need words that point to the fact that you’re vibrant, busy and the first choice for what you do
• You need stories that communicate your values as well as your achievements
• You need ‘happy customer’ testimonies about how what you do is impacting people on a personal level

Your stories are windows into your business or charity. And if your most recent stories are months (or years) old, your customers will find it much harder to see what you’re really like.

I can help you write copy that shows you off to your best advantage – just once, or on a regular basis.

Or I can come and train your staff or volunteers how to think smartly about content and how to write stories for the web that you can also use in other ways, such as press releases or newsletters.

It’s one of a range of things I do to help charities and businesses communicate better. Contact me to find out more.

Filed under: In-house training, Website content , business, church, church websites, content, newsletters, press releases, school, stories, training, web, websites

Fact: simpler words make you sound more clever

One lesson I try to encourage writers to learn early is never to use long, complex words where short, clear ones will do.

So I was pleased to discover that this now has credible scientific research behind it!

Princeton University psychology professor Daniel Oppenheimer published a paper in 2005 which he wittily called ‘Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly’. It reported the findings of five studies examining the complexity of the vocabulary used in job applications, academic essays and translations of Descartes. The samples were then given to readers to judge the intelligence of the people who allegedly wrote them.

The study found that readers rated the writers who used simpler and clearer language as more intelligent and that unnecessarily complex language actually made a bad impression, proving again that communicating meaning is more important than style.

An additional finding related to the font or script that was used. Quite simply, the more legible the font, the more intelligent the writer was thought to be. So there’s a quick win to be gained from using a nice clear font or neat handwriting too.

(HT to Professor Richard Wiseman and his fascinating book 59 Seconds)

Filed under: Writing and copywriting , becoming a writer, c, clarity, communication, connecting with readers, font, how to write, meaning, Princeton, Professor Daniel Oppenheimer, Professor Richard Wiseman, target reader, typeface, vocabulary, writing, writing simply, writing tips

Flow Summer 2010 – ‘I immediately opened it and read it cover to cover’

Today is the official press day of the Summer edition of Flow, the Message’s magazine which I edit three times a year.

This issue leads with a look-back on Message 2000 and highlights some of the great things that have happened as a result of ten days of social action projects in the summer of 2000. There’s also a good piece looking at the work of Eden Bus, teaching from Andy Hawthorne and Simon Guillebaud, and a profile of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

I’m personally most pleased with the news pages, which give a really positive overview of all that’s been happening and of lives changed for the better.

It’s a small team that puts Flow together, using minimal resources and in a short space of time. So it requires focus, flexibility and a sense of humour. Thankfully the guys I work with at The Message have all three.

My copy arrived on Saturday and within a few hours I had two emails in my inbox congratulating us on the issue. Here’s one that put a big smile on my face.

You have done it again!  “Flow” is a great publication!

When “Flow” arrived in the post this morning, I immediately opened it and read it cover to cover – unlike any other Christian publication that I receive regularly (including one that is lying unopened alongside my computer now!).  Why did I open it so quickly? It was because I read the first two issues and I therefore knew that “Flow” was worth reading … its freshness and readability make “Flow” a great publication.

For an organisation that communicates so well by electronic means – especially through your weekly prayer letters, it must have been a big decision for “The Message” to produce a new hard copy magazine after so many years.  For me, it was a decision that has worked!

You can get hold of a copy of Flow by contacting The Message by email. It is also viewable online at www.message.org.uk/flow.

If you’d like your supporters (or customers) to feel the same way about your magazine or newsletter, let’s talk.

Filed under: Newsletters and magazines , accomplishments and opportunities, charity, communication, donors, fundraisers, getting donations, good news, magazines, newsletters, non-profit, supporter communications, supporter magazines, the message

Five reasons I love lists

Bloggers love lists. The ‘Top Five Tips for Bloggers Who Want To Get More Readers’ would almost certainly include a tip along the the lines of ‘Make sure you include a Top Five list in every blog post.’

And I understand why – because I like reading blog posts with lots of short, sharp tips!

But Seth Godin, blogger extraordinaire and general marketing genius has a different perspective in his excellent new book ‘Linchpin‘ which I would recommend to anyone in business with a creative role – writers and designers in particular.

‘There is no map. No map to be a leader, no map to an artist. I’ve read hundreds of books about art (in all its forms) and how to do it, and not one has a clue about the map, because there isn’t one.

Here’s the truth that you have to wrestle with: the reason that art (writing, engaging, leading, all of it) is valuable is precisely why I can’t tell you how to do it. If there were a map, there’d be no art, because art is the act of navigating without a map.’

There is a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from reading books and blogs about the mechanics of writing. I’ve learnt loads, particularly about blogging, from blogs. Much of it came in the form of ‘top five’ lists.

But there’s nothing like actually doing it: making your own mistakes, fighting your own fear, overcoming your own resistance to making something happen. Writers just need to write.

Filed under: Writing and copywriting , art, blogging, linchpin, lists, Seth Godin, writing