Tags: writing, expression

ReadWriteWeb’s Sean Ammirati reports on his blog from the SXSW Interactive festival happening right now in Austin, Texas:

Lesson 6: Read your Product

Given the firm’s background, this was a lesson I found particularly interesting. Jason claimed that the “Biggest sin on the internet right now is bad copywriting … paying too much attention to pixels and not enough attention to words.” Beyond this he pointed out that words are actually less expensive to correct and improved copy will make doing the design second result in a stronger design.

I couldn’t agree more.

See the other 15 lessons learned at this successful internet startup here.

(thanks to Fanboy30 for the creative photo!)

Last time

User-generated-content is revolutionising business models as companies wake up to the inherent possibilities of crowdsourcing.

This doesn’t mean, however, that anything goes, any more than “anything” has ever “gone”. The only thing that’s changed is who judges.

In the old days (until about 5 years ago), creative product was intermediated through managers, agents and publishers. Now, with platforms like blogging and online video, the voice of the people can be more clearly heard.

To be sure, there’s some amazing talent out there (like this, this and this) but what’s missing is the crucial skill of storytelling, specifically the element of sustained suspense.

Sure, you wonder what song the guy could be singing backwards, but once he’s started playing his backwards song backwards (making it go forwards) the punch line is over. And with a “normal day” there’s no sense of danger, of the risk that these two guys could ever fail. Once you’ve seen the first trick, you’ve seen them all.

These videos gather a whole lot of views, but do they gather relationships? Relationships are all that matter today. And relationships start with stories. To oversimplify, stories have suspense. Suspense means you’re willing to come back. Coming back means you become a part of someone’s life, and they become part of yours.

(It’s that same principle of “coming back” that explains the friendships I’ve made on Twitter)

Does this only apply to the entertainment industry? Heck no.

In the last two weeks I’ve seen references to storytelling in product design, web design and also these killer quotes from Tom Peters on storytelling in marketing and sales:

“Work incessantly on your story – most economic value springs from a good story (think Perrier!)”

“Risk assessment and risk management is more about stories than advanced math – ie brilliant scenario construction.”

“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective communication of a story” – Howard Gardner, Leading Minds

(Thanks to artolog for the fantastic, suspenseful photo!)

Related links:  Stories bring the future to life, Journalistic Storytelling

Peter Day’s broadcast on craft in business caught my attention during the break. In an age of automation, efficiency and scalability, writing is a bespoke, hand crafted thing. We can design our processes to produce customised, high quality writing as efficiently as possible, but it is ultimately the quality that counts most.

In some industries, such as publishing and entertainment, this is an established truth (although the recent Hollywood Writers’ strike shows the constant danger of undervalued writing).

In other industries, such as web development, it’s either taken for granted, or an afterthought.

That’s why the strategy we’re pursuing this year is relationships. Writing is often not valued until you see what things look like without it. (Here’s an extreme example.)

On the other side of the coin, good writing can make the difference between good and great communication.
Next week, we’ll talk about the magic of storytelling, and how it makes the difference in anything from a casual conversation to an instruction manual.

(Photo courtesy of cimonoregal)

I love the rush along the runway, the sudden awareness there’s no ground beneath, the sense that you’re going somewhere…

I don’t enjoy the safety briefing. It’s not only boring, it’s, well, non-human.

For some reason, when organisations have to speak to everyone, they adopt a particularly pernicious form of officialese. Maybe they think they’re being accessible and inoffensive. But really they’re being obtuse.

Not Virgin America, though. Their safety video is entertaining and well-thought-through. It’s a fantastic example of taking an everyday message one step further, and creating a genuine brand experience.

The design and animation is outstanding, and so is the writing. They’ve checked all the appropriate message delivery boxes, but shown that it can be done in a thoroughly human way.

Enjoy your trip!

But actually, that is a good thing! I’ve been doing precious little writing lately, and for a writer, that’s no good.

I did consider changing the company name to “Simon Young Talkers”, “Simon Young Schmoozers” or, as I negotiated the awful Auckland traffic today, “Simon Young Wait-at-Traffic-Lighters”.

But no, writing it is. And, much to my surprise, this year the plural “Writers” actually means something. I’m currently experiencing just enough abundance to be able to reactivate the subcontractor arrangement set up oh so many years ago now. Long may this abundance continue!

And the talking and schmoozing is likely to continue, too. I’ve got the Hitwise Online Performance Awards to go to tomorrow night, and the Marketing Awards on Friday night. I pick up the tux tomorrow!

(cross-posted from Mad Young Thing)

Normally I find it helpful to read my stories out loud. It helps you not only discover goofy grammatical errors, but also find bits that don’t “flow” properly.

But at 1am, I didn’t feel like reading out my 3000-word story, and besides, I might wake up my wife in the next room.

So, I used my Mac’s built-in speech engine to read me the story. Not bad at all!

In fact, it was better than if I had read it myself, because that computer doesn’t miss anything. And because it’s emotionless, you’re focussed on the words, which is all your reader will have (okay, and the pictures).

It’s not a Mac-only solution, there’s also software like Ultra-Hal (not sure if it’s anything to do with 2001:A Space Odyssey) which works just as well.