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November 29, 2005
Tough love about your publication
Dear Employee Publication Editor:
I just received the latest issue of your publication, and I’m sorry to say that I’m a little disappointed.
I know how hard you work—and how challenging it is to get an issue written, edited, designed, approved, printed and distributed. So I don’t want to be critical. But you’re making some mistakes that are seriously undermining your ability to get employees’ attention. And I feel like it’s my obligation to tell you, the way a friend would tell you if you had a piece of spinach stuck in your teeth or your hem was coming undone.
The fact is, your publication’s slip is showing. Here are a few examples of what I mean:
- There are too many photographs of middle-aged white guys in suits. These guys are completely representative of senior management, but they’re not a reflection of the broader employee population. Why don’t you show some real employees?
- Nobody talks like this: “Thanks to the outstanding vision of John Smith, the company remains well-positioned in the industry with a balanced portfolio of advanced products and services for a wide range of applications,” the lead story quotes the CEO as saying. It’s not even good writing, much less a credible and compelling quote.
- Who would read a 1500-word executive Q&A? Come to think of it, when’s the last time most people have read 1500 words on any subject? Remember that the average USA Today article is 350 words. Unless the (middle-aged white guy) VP of Blah-Blah-Blah is sharing secrets on how to beat cancer, there is no way he deserves that much ink.
- There’s no such thing as “news” in a monthly newsletter. By the time the publication gets in people’s hands, either they’ve heard the news already—or it’s just not important. Unless you’re publishing a daily, your publication should be providing perspective, context and meaning—not trying to “report” on “news.”
- I’ll bet every person quoted or pictured in your 12-page issue is doing something fascinating, or has a completely unique perspective on some issue. But you’ve sanitized them—made them bland, safe, corporate, boring. They’re interchangeable—nothing quirky or special about them. For example, the VP of Blah-Blah-Blah (see note on Q&A above) is a guy who’s accomplished a lot. Instead of asking him, “What fields are today’s cutting-edge technologies originating from?”, why don’t you try a question like: “What’s the most difficult challenge this group faces? Who’s our toughest competitor and why? What keeps you up at night?” And then print the candid answer.
Speaking of candid, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I just had to tell you the truth. For all your hard work, your publication deserves to be more effective. Hope this tough love helps.
Posted by Alison Davis at 01:34 PM | Comments (2)
November 21, 2005
The need for speed
I know you probably didn’t have time to read the newspaper on Saturday—I sure didn’t—but that means we both missed a great piece, “The need for speed,” by staff writer Don Aucoin in The Boston Globe, about the trend toward extreme brevity, even when it comes to complex subjects.
Since you’re so busy, I’ll help you out by summing up the article (which I skimmed): People have so little time to absorb information that almost every kind of communication—from books to broadcasts to sound bites—is getting shorter. (Stay tuned for a few examples).
And I’ll cut to the chase about what the trend means: If you’re still creating long content, you have to stop. No one (except maybe the senior managers who review your content) has an appetite for three-screen e-mails, detailed web pages, 1500-word print articles, etc. You’ve simply got to condense and chop—or risk losing your audience altogether.
Mr. Aucoin cites a number of examples of how communication is slimming down. Here are three highlights:
- A British publisher recently issued “The 100-Minute Bible” which summarizes the Good Book into a 64-page paperback.
- In 2004, the average sound bite that network news shows allotted presidential candidates had shrunk to eight seconds.
- Time-pressured Boston Red Sox fans can see a two-hour compliation of each game, thanks to the regional cable network NESN, which broadcasts the condensed version at midnight on game days.
Even the Oxford University Press has acknowledged that shorter might be better, by publishing a line of books on important events such as D-Day, each of which has fewer than 100 pages.
The end of literacy and leisure as we know it? Maybe shorter is actually better. “You don’t have to go on forever to be able to communicate important, fascinating and complex ideas,” says Leonard Steinhorn, a communications professor at American University in Washington, D.C. After all, maintains Mr. Steinhorn, one of the greatest speeches in history was The Gettysburg Address, which had only 272 words.
Agree? Disagree? Share your (brief) comments.
Posted by Alison Davis at 05:01 PM
November 11, 2005
Post-it® Persuasion
Sometimes, the most effective communication is as simple as a Post-it® note.
Researcher Randy Garner decided to find out whether Post-it® notes (the 3M product known generically as sticky notes) might have the power to make a written request more compelling.
So, being a researcher, Mr. Garner decided to conduct an experiment: He mailed a group of people a request to complete a survey. Every package contained a cover letter and printed survey, but the mailings had three variations: one-third included a handwritten Post-it® note requesting that the survey be completed, one-third a similar message hand-written on the cover letter, and the rest only the typed cover letter and survey.
What Mr. Garner learned is that the Post-it® note worked best: 78% of people receiving the first package responded, as opposed to 48% to the handwritten note on the cover letter and 36% to just the cover letter.
Why? Mr. Garner believes that “a handwritten sticky note conveys a more personal request, one that urges the recipient of the request to reciprocate this personal touch by agreeing to the request,” according to an article in Inside Influence Report. http://www.insideinfluence.com/year05/11/persuasion/index.htm)
In fact, not only were people more likely to respond to the request because of the Post-it® note; the quality of their response was better as well: people “returned their surveys more promptly and gave more effortful and attentive answers to the questions.”
If you work in a large organization, it’s obviously unrealistic to think you could attach a handwritten sticky note to, say, 40,000 newsletters. But have you thought about how you can make communication more personal? Is the answer to some of your communication challenges simple and low-tech, rather than complex and expensive?
Gotta go now—I have to write a whole bunch of sticky notes.
Posted by Alison Davis at 04:23 PM
November 07, 2005
Keep an eye on Google
The front page of yesterday’s New York Times carried a must-read article, “Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies,” which explores the far-reaching potential of Google not only to affect Internet usage, but commerce as well. (You can read it for yourself, at least for the next several days, at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/technology/06google.html)
Writes Times reporter Steve Lohr, “Google, the reigning giant of Web search, could extend its economic reach in the next few years as more people get high-speed Internet service and cellphones become full-fledged search tools, according to analysts. And ever-smarter software, they say, will cull and organize larger and larger digital storehouses of news, images, real estate listings and traffic reports, delivering results that are more like the advice of a trusted human expert.”
Mr. Lohr quotes David B. Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School, “Google is the realization of everything that we thought the Internet was going to be about but really wasn’t until Google.”
Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” The company already offers a broad range of services, including, of course, search functions for news, video, shopping and local information. Because of Google’s very deep pockets and seemingly limitless ambitions, the company could also become a major force in such fields as telecommunications, retailing and the media.
Unless you’re lucky enough to be a stockholder, why should you care about what Google does? Because the company is not only making a lot of potential competitors nervous, it’s increasing Internet users’ expectations about speed, access and control. And every time people’s expectations change about external communication (including the Web), they apply those heightened expectations to internal communication as well.
Already, when we talk to employees, we hear the following feedback:
- “Why can’t I tailor company communication to my needs?”
- “I want to be able to search for information quickly, easily, intuitively.”
- “Communication from the company should be as timely, candid and comprehensive as what I find in external media.”
As Google expands its reach, expectations will rise even higher. Will you be ready?
Posted by Alison Davis at 09:05 AM