In George Orwell’s “1984,” the Party had several ways of ensuring conformity. The Party limited independent thinking and banished forbidden thoughts and actions. Deleted images and stories landed in the “memory hole.” And of course, Big Brother was watching you. But “Newspeak” was the central initiative through which these original
What’s a business-to-business (B2B) content marketing road map look like these days? Overall, it’s not much different than it was 10 or even five years ago. But if you look closer, you’ll see subtle changes. The focus is on quality more than ever before. Churn and burn doesn’t win customers.
Songwriters scribble bits of lyrics or notes on paper and file the scraps away in the hopes they’ll be able to craft a complete song some day. Novelists complete the first chapter of their newest books and run dry. Journalists experience writer’s block and can’t get past their first paragraphs.
Who doesn’t relish a challenge, especially when it comes to dependent clauses, parallelism and collective nouns? OK, so that’s a stretch, but go with it. Find the errors in the sentences below and I’ll send you a fabulous prize. Not really, but what have you got to lose? Neither an
What blog post length is best for content-first marketing? Ever wonder if your blog post is too short or your article too long? A handful of our clients have wrestled with this issue recently, so I sought answers. As it turns out, the answers aren’t black and white. Even Google
To set the standard in content marketing at your business, it’s important to make sure writers are aligned. Their copy should follow agreed-upon rules. For example: Is it “don’t” or “do not”; “can’t” or “cannot”? Can a subhead be a question? Is the hyphen necessary in “non-essential”? What’s the plural
Why are customer case studies so important? Customer case studies prove your company delivers results. You can tell prospects that your company “meets and exceeds expectations. Doing that, however, isn’t as credible as real customers sharing real successes. Unfortunately, case studies often promote what businesses do. Instead, they should focus
Solving Off-Duty Grammar Riddles One of my marketing friends called me the other night with another grammar conundrum. It wouldn’t be the first time. I think he’s got me on speed dial. Other friends call to share entertaining news and highlights from their lives, but this one relies on me
Does writing web copy sometimes remind you of those “choose your own adventure” books from your childhood? In these books, you could turn to page “x” if you wanted the protagonist to go down the staircase into the dark and foreboding basement. Alternatively, you could turn to page “y” if
April Fools’ Day is this Friday. This is perhaps the only date on the calendar when benign cruelty is celebrated, apart from Black Friday. One of the most effective April Fools’ jokes my daughters played on me preyed on my pre-first-cup-of-coffee state. I stumbled into the kitchen, making a beeline
“B2B Content Hubs: The Complete Guide to Driving Revenue” is packed with smart strategies – and it comes with three bonus tools to power your next steps.