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Advice abounds concerning the importance of spelling. Starting at about six years of age, most of us begin learning how to spell and endure weekly tests to prove the lessons filtered into our general knowledge. Unfortunately, many of those lessons are ignored when it comes to modern content creation. While much has been written about the importance of spelling – Copyblogger tackled it here and Problogger here – I haven’t seen much about the impact poor spelling can have on your business. Hint: It’s big.

Brand Damage
I encountered this sign during a recent holiday to Indonesia. The first time I saw it was on a poster-sized board propped on an easel, prominently displayed in front of a Ralph Lauren retail shop. Kicking myself for not having a camera with me, I was extremely surprised (and pleased) it was still in use three days later. The Ralph Lauren brand is strong enough to withstand an embarrassing advertisement for “Strippers”. Is your brand that resilient?

Over the past week, I’ve collected spelling errors found in my normal business dealings. I’m detailing them here with the residual impression they create.

Disregard for Clients and Partners
This disaster of a sentence was found on a networking group’s website, listed as a benefit for paid membership:

Thanks to the lovely folk at Xxxxxxx Restauarnt you will rceieve 10% off your next meal.

The actual name of the restaurant was spelled wrong, too. I counted four errors in only 16 words. Why, on earth, would I pay to join a group with so little regard for accuracy? Getting the name of their sponsor wrong indicates a lack of respect for them, too.

Overpriced
A reply from a professional organisation had this doozy in it:

In regards to your enquiry, you are elidigble to gain XXXX membership.

I was wondering if this very expensive membership would provide enough value to justify their fees. When their communication to me showed an obvious spelling error, it made me feel like they probably weren’t worth the money they were charging.

Careless
A receipt for a paid invoice contained this heading:

Date Service Amount ($) Discription

Since the company sending out the invoice has hundreds of thousands of customers, I wonder what sort of quality controls they have or if their business processes are in order.

The Takeaway
Spelling is an important aspect in your business dealings. My concentration is interrupted when I come across a spelling error. I’m not the only one. What you may perceive as an unimportant detail, is likely being addressed in a broader context by the audience reading it. Whether you like it or not, you and your business are being judged on the quality of spelling and grammar in your business communications.

What spelling errors have you noticed? What did it tell you about the company?

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• 3 Things Anyone Can Do to Improve Their Writing[*]BRIEF: How One Wrong Word Can Ruin Your Message[*]Excuse Me, That’s Not a Word

Do you ever get to the bottom of your “to do” list? Like most people, I know what I should be doing. I have a long list of things I want to do, as well. While it’s much easier to “say” than to “do”, I’ve been making inroads into some important areas of content marketing. I’ve had a few “light bulb moments” along the way.

Facebook Fan Page
I’m one of those people that hasn’t quite understood all the fuss about Facebook. While I appreciate the social aspects it provides, I’ve always considered LinkedIn and Twitter much more valuable to my B2B business. Report after report, including the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report sponsored by the Social Media Examiner, points to an explosion on Facebook making it an undeniable tool for business. As a result, I’ve launched the Global Copywriting Fan Page. Like Twitter, it took me a while to hit my rhythm. Once I decided it was the perfect place to curate content and share all the good articles I’m reading, it came together. Sue Hickton, owner of The Strategic Learning Curve, left this post on the wall:

I need to spend more time on your FB page Sarah – although we already had a conversation about this, ie traffic and I am an established “Convert” I still habitually stalk your blog. I just had a trawl in here and found some of the most fantastic information. I really like how the page is coming along now – it’s really fleshing out beautifully! Well done, you are rocking it!

eMail Marketing
I was confused why eMail Marketing was important. With healthy networks on LinkedIn and Twitter and increasing blog traffic, I didn’t see the point. Even when readers asked for “posts by email,” I was reluctant to add one more thing to my own marketing list. Then it dawned on me. Social media is still being debated. “Surfing the `net” is an inconsistent activity fluctuating wildly with time and location constraints. Everyone, but everyone, regularly checks email even when on holiday. If you want to receive future posts from Global Copywriting by email, subscribe here. I have no idea what took me so long.

Public Speaking
Hands down, the best way for me to generate leads is through public speaking. As a writer, it pains me a little bit to say this, but it’s true. Getting up in front of an audience is the absolute best way to establish your authority and expertise on a topic. Thankfully, I enjoy doing it. I’ve been speaking a lot on Content Marketing and Social Media for Business. If you have an event and need a speaker, contact me and I’ll be happy to come along. I’m working on a new marketing theory and will be happy to speak, in public, about my idea.

What marketing activities have you been planning on doing but haven’t gotten around to?

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*Image courtesy of Thomas Brightbill at www.flickr.net

As some of you may know, I’ve just returned from a week-long vacation at a beachside resort in Bali. The goal of the trip was to escape the Perth winter and entertain my little boy in the process. I didn’t expect to do much except sit poolside with a book in hand, soaking up the sun and rejuvenating in the process. Surprisingly, the week turned out to be a case study in how good content can improve the customer experience.

Resort hotels pretty much have a captive audience. The trip is planned before you get there. Most people don’t bother to move hotels unless something terrible happens. Essentially, the holiday spirit dictates you relax and ignore minor annoyances in service and delivery. While your expectations are high when you arrive, a poor experience simply means you won’t return the next time. The place I selected was intent on making sure they would get repeat visitors. Their content reflected that.

1. Cater to Your Influencers
My six-year-old cares about one thing when he’s on holiday. If he can swim, he’s happy. When I booked my break, I made sure the hotel had a big pool. It helped when the website showed photos of three swimming pools complete with waterfalls, slides and fountains. In our case, they didn’t need to do much more, but they did. At check-in, he was presented with the following:

• Schedule of activities
• Special menu
• Branded, “unfinished” postcards ready for a colouring-in activity
• A brochure describing the Kids Club

Before we unpacked, he knew far more about what was going on in the hotel than I did. The content he was given was presented in an easy-to-read style with graphic design attractive to little kids. Nothing he was given would have influenced my decision to stay there. Everything he was given convinced him it was the only place to be.

2. Segment Your Market
While he was studying the children’s menu, I rummaged for the spa brochure. Before we hit the pool for the first time, I’d booked my services. Later in the week, I picked up another spa brochure in the lobby and leafed through it. I was surprised to discover that while the content was largely the same, this brochure was positioned differently to appeal to couples and honeymooners. All the treatments were offered in tandem. If desired, each one could be performed outside the spa in a romantic outdoor location or in the privacy of your room. It wasn’t something that appealed to me on this mother/son trip, but I bet a lot of brides insisted on a dual massage.

3. Translate Your Content
It’s common to see hospitality documents translated into Japanese. What surprised me in this resort was everything was also presented in Mandarin, Korean and Russian. Additionally, the television had channels dedicated to French, German, Russian, Indian, Japanese, Arabic, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Portugese. (And much to my chagrin, five dedicated children’s stations.) Having lived and travelled in countries where English is not the first language, I can attest to how attractive it is to know you have at least one outlet for your native tongue.

4. Little Touches Can Make A Big Difference
It’s easy to think of content as being either print or digital. One brilliant piece of content I discovered at the hotel was the employee nametag. Under each name was a single sentence starting with, “My passion is”. There were many tags with “sport” or “travel” listed as the passion, as you would expect in a seaside destination. But there were gems like the young man serving coffee who had designated “classical music”.

How could a nametag be considered a content marketing strategy? Think about it. The resort wanted their employees to engage with their customers. By providing personal detail, it encouraged conversation. What it said was the resort was interested in me and was providing a data point for me, pulling me into their sphere. The employees were wonderfully adept at making you feel like whatever you had to say was the single most important thing they had to hear. Even the gardeners would drop tools, bend down and ask my little boy a question when he said hello to them.

The heat of the sun and the sound of the ocean are distant memories a week after my return. My feet are back to their normal ice cube status from the Australian winter. The content marketing strategies, however, have stayed in my mind. Midway through our trip, my son and I were walking along the path running in front of the beachside resorts. I mentioned on our next visit we should try a different place. He gave me a puzzled look and said, “Why would we do that?”

How do you use content to improve your customer experience?

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Image courtesy of Tanti Ruwani at www.flickr.net

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger challenged his readers to a 7 Link Challenge. I was in the middle of writing another post but that can wait. This is a fun exercise and I don’t often take time to participate in the many blogging activities crossing my desk.

Darren asked bloggers to write a post containing links to our own posts in seven pre-defined categories. Here’s mine:

1. Your first post
I wasn’t sure I would ever have anything relevant to say and worried about it in my first blog post published on 4 May 2009, Entering the Land of Blog. Regular readers will know it didn’t take me long to get over it.

2. A post you enjoyed writing the most
After I attended the Media140 conference in Perth, I knew I wanted to write about it. I guessed (correctly) there would be a lot of blogging chatter about the social media event, which is on a worldwide road show. My post Media140: The Troggs, Westpac and Kanye West was a lot of fun for me because I had to really stretch my noodle to add an original thought. I also used lines from the song “Wild Thing” as headlines to carry the thread. Fun.

3. A post which had a great discussion
Hands down, 6 Reasons for Refusing LinkedIn Invitations garnered the most comments, positive and negative. The result was a lively discussion both on the blog and in one of the LinkedIn discussion groups where it was also posted. It hit a nerve, for sure. I’d never been called a “purveyor of negative ideas” before!

4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
I smiled at this category because it was a line I used in BRIEF: FAQs Fact. I read a post by Michele Linn at the Savvy B2B Marketing blog titled, 5 Reasons to Include FAQs in Your Content Marketing Strategy and wanted to cry. FAQs are a topic I discuss often with my clients but it never occurred to me to write a post about it. Michele said it all – and probably better than I could have – so my post was in the Global Copywriting BRIEF format.

5. Your most helpful post
Judging from the comments, 9 Tips That Improved My Blog was a useful post for a lot of people. I felt like I achieved the goal of my blog with this post, sharing practical advice often learned through my own experiences.

6. A post with a title that you are proud of
Titles are often a mystery to me. It’s one of the parts of blogging I struggle with. I liked Customer Lip Service: Scripted Responses, Broken Promises and Other Bad Ideas along with Please Change My Sheets: Dirty Laundry in Marketing Communications. They’re both probably too long but they manage to escape the ubiquitous “list” format.

7. A post that you wish more people had read
7 Surefire Way to Increase Your Copywriting Fees fizzled because it was loaded with a lot of beneficial insider information on pricing. Shortly after, I read How to Avoid Being a Difficult Client (and Get More Bang for Your Buck) at the WebCopyPlus! website. It had a better title, better images and way better writing than my effort. Go read it and see what I was trying to accomplish.
What are some of your favourite blog posts? Have you taken the ProBlogger challenge?

Where does your blog live? I’ve been speaking a lot lately about content marketing and the importance of blogging. A company blog is one of the most effective tools in your content marketing strategy. It classifies as both content and social media. It has more direct impact on your organic SEO than almost anything else.

Location, Location, Location

I’m frequently asked, “Where should I put my blog”? Initially I was surprised by the question. As blogging becomes a strategic tool, more and more people are entering the blogosphere. With many popular blogging solutions available, people want to know what software to use. I always answer the question the same way, On your website.

It’s about SEO
Blogging helps you establish your authority and expertise. Every blog post should contain valuable information relating to your products and services resulting in keyword-rich content. If you host your blog on an independent URL, you’re missing a huge opportunity to improve the traffic to your website. The more people visiting your blog, the higher the search engines will rank your site.

The Takeaway
Location trumps software when it comes to blogging. Make sure your blog resides on your website. Think of your blog as a table and your content as the food. You want people eating in your company dining room and not at the food court down the road. Why? Because once they’re done, they may want to graze some more and you want your content to be the next stop. If your blog is hosted somewhere else, chances are most readers won’t take the time to go find you.

Where does your blog live?

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