Say It Right

Why how you say something is just as important as what you say.

Ah, the power of words. Some people love them, some people hate them. And we’ve all been in those situations where we’ve said or written exactly what we’re thinking or feeling, and it just comes out all wrong. Yeah, you know those times. Well, we can’t promise to help you right your personal word wrongs, but we can make sure your business and marketing communications are clear, concise, and compelling.

Say It Ain’t So.

You may or may not consciously know this, but you love reading good writing. Writing comes in many forms: taglines, emails, advertisements, marketing, short and long form journalism, novels, magazines - even a naming structure or title requires the right words. Words are everywhere! A phrase can be grammatically correct and void of typos, but that doesn’t always mean that it’s accurately or effectively conveying a message.  

Consider these examples:

1. ”Find Your New Home” vs. “Helping You Make The Right Move”

2. ”Amazing New Home For Sale” vs. “Contemporary Concordia Bungalow For Sale”

Both of these phrases are essentially saying the same thing, but which ones are more descriptive and interesting?

The right words have the power to make or break your message. Compelling statements capture your client, are memorable and can even help generate new business.

Show, Don’t Tell (sometimes).

The goal of most writing is to give the reader an experience. Let the reader decide for him or herself what kind of journey they wish to go on by setting a scene or a tone. Instead of telling your audience what to see, hear, and feel, use words to convey actions, thoughts, a setting. This isn’t to say there isn’t a time or a place for telling - sometimes it’s necessary to move a story along, or to convey factual, brief information in an efficient way; being able to strike a balance is the key to great writing.

Here are two examples of showing vs. telling (excerpted from JerichoWriters.com)

1. Telling: The night was cold and moonlit. The sleigh moved fast through the forest.

Showing: Ekaterina was shocked by the cold. She’d known winters before, but never this far north and never this deep. Burrowed under furs as she was, she still felt her eyelashes freeze. There were crystals of ice on her face where her own breath had frozen solid. It was a clear night, and they raced through the whispering pines, like a feather drawn over a sheet of silver. It seemed magical. Impossible. Temporary. Forbidden.

2. Telling: The parties were dazzling and opulent. They spilled out of the house, into the  garden and even the beach.

Showing: In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing up-stairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive… floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside… the lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.

10 Tips For Worthy Writing.

As you’re working on your next piece of writing, be it a marketing piece, bio for your website, your latest blog post, or any other text, keep the following tips in mind to help guide you:

1. Have a plan

2. Know your audience

3. Use the right style (ie., conversational versus informational)

4. Be wary of lists

5. Use adjectives sparingly

6. Be specific

7. Vary sentence structure

8. Less is (usually) more; don’t ramble

9. Avoid redundancy

10. Edit, edit, edit! (or ask someone else to)

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Ready to write that novel? We thought so! Or, if you’re like many people and want to avoid crafting written material like the plague, you can always rely on the wordsmiths at GDisain for a little assistance. Write on!

How Things Get Done in The Greenhouse

MEGAN FLYNN

I’ve always been inspired by the creative process. Growing up, I was constantly finding new ways to express myself, whether it was designing magazine cut-out collages, putting together mixed CDs for friends, or writing an autobiography in high school, I enjoyed defining myself through creativity.

Devil’s Bridge, Sedona, AZ

As an adult, my mediums and technologies within which to be creative have changed, but that has allowed me to be even more innovative with expression. I have had many unique and varied endeavors, including publishing a craft beer lifestyle magazine, writing product copy for Nike, designing and producing jewelry and leather handbags, and dabbling in real estate--all of which have given me the opportunity to explore my passions with freedom and vision.

Being a freelance writer and editor lets me use my skills and talents to help others express themselves, their passions, their businesses through words. I love that I get to work in inspired spaces, whether at home, in my favorite coffee shop, outdoors or across the globe while traveling. One of the best aspects, though, is getting to collaborate with clients to bring their vision and goals to life. Oh, and not waking up to an alarm in the morning is pretty great, too.

P.S. Read Megan’s blog post “72 Hours in Sedona & Hike to Devil’s Bridge”

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Bipartisan Cafe in Portland, OR

KATE ANDREWS

One of my favorite things about freelance work is the ability to work from wherever feels the most inspiring. I’m currently in a temporary living space and therefore don’t have a real dedicated “office” right now. I like to get out of the house and find a quiet corner of a coffee shop when I need to do some real writing. Even though the surroundings might be a bit more distracting than my dining room table (where I often work from when at home) I like the background buzz of activity to give me a sense of liveliness and energy. When I get stuck or feeling uninspired, I will often scroll Pinterest, Instagram, or even utilize Google search (one of my favorite key-word searches right now is “minimal design”), to get my creativity flowing again. I also am a big fan of the Later.com blog, which keeps me up to date on all things Instagram; as well as DesignWeek.co.uk for more general design inventiveness.

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RACHAE PISANO

Inspiration is the foundation for design. My inspiration for design comes from various creative avenues from magazine ads, to color and patterns found in the pages of interior design catalogs. My favorite places for inspiration are the color palettes found during my travels.

The beauty of working remotely is the freedom to create in any space which has allowed me to pull inspiration from new and foreign places. Something as little as the bright color of a door or shape of a metal railing can spur new ideas for a project.

While finding inspiration can come from anywhere, I find motivation must come from within when working as a freelancer. To stay organized and efficient, I utilize planners with reminders as well as programs to track my work. The freedom and flexibility of a freelancer has been incredibly rewarding and motivates me to stay organized and meet deadlines our clients.

Hotel Wiechmann in Amsterdam, Netherlands

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GERDA KAUKS

What causes creativity to spark, peak or fade? I find my inspiration many ways: browsing through well-designed marketing materials, reading colorful Pinterest boards, paying attention to nature. New ideas can even come from something as simple as a restaurant floor tile. I’m never sure when and where creativity will be sparked, but if I stay open and aware, it’s amazing what the mind captures.

Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ

When I sit at my desk, staring at a blank screen, knowing all the elements I need to incorporate, I sometimes find myself asking, Where do I even begin, or the exact opposite happens and I can’t stop the ideas and design from flowing. What I’m saying is that creativity is a process, and no two days are the same. Personally, I’m a big planner and I love checklists. I organize my week into specific days. For instance, I have a business development day, accounting day, design day, etc. But, as much as I try to plan, the key is to stay flexible and allow my mind to determine what I am best at today. And at the end of the week my ultimate goal is to make sure that everything I’ve promised to clients has been delivered.

So, as with most things in life, timing is important, a space in which I can focus is vital, and being able to continually put a project down and reevaluate is a crucial step in my creative process. Design is not about how much you can get done, for me it’s about how well I can utilize my talent and design skills to interpret what a client needs to help meet their goals. I also love and value the freedom that freelance design allows me. Being able to work from home or while traveling, and collaborating with my awesome team, feeds my spirit and fuels my creativity. I cherish my work, I appreciate it, and I encourage everyone to find their journey to balance.

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ROI Series: The Social Media Game of Quality vs Quantity

Introducing ROI Series. In these series, we will discuss Reflections. Opinions. Insights of all things marketing and business. We hope you find these reads helpful in your daily work-life balance.

How often do you scroll through your social media followers, comparing this number to the number of people who follow you? Or worse, comparing your number to the followers of your peers / colleagues / friends / family? It’s so easy to get caught up in these numbers, but we are here to tell you (and at the same time hopefully relieve some social media angst) that those are not the numbers to be watching.

Do you get sucked into following any and everyone who follows you, as a thank-you gesture or an act of social media goodwill? It’s not necessary. To get results via social media, it is not always about quantity, but quality and consistency of your message that will help propel your message / goal / business forward.

Yes, there are many Instagram accounts that have tremendous followings (3,000+ followers), “Master Accounts” which have more than 100,000 followers, and a ton of other accounts that have anywhere from 5 to 500 followers. While exposure is great, it’s the quality of your followers that really matters. Are most of your followers friends, family, colleagues, clients, friends, and acquaintances? If your answer is mostly yes, then you are already ahead of the game. These people already know, like and trust you, and want to see and engage with your posts. Sure, it’d be great to have 10,000 followers, but how many of these people really engage with your posts and generate leads?

Many clients who beef up their social media strategy or hire a company to take over their social media have high expectations of growing their followers immediately. While this is a worthy goal, a great social media manager will help you develop your message, style, and frequency of posts that will obtain the highest quality followers versus the highest quantity — and this does not happen overnight.

With the following suggestions, you can release the pressure valve on your frantic social media strategy to rapidly grow your follower base and instead focus your energy on creating strong, relevant posts. And then have fun watching your fans grow, organically.

STICK TO YOUR MESSAGE

These days, as you well know, everyone is bombarded with content 24/7, including, photos, vidoes, text, advertising, and more. Our suggestion: develop your message and stay on track. The more clear you are about what you’re trying to convey to your audience, the better your message will be received. Variety is important so that your posts don’t get boring, however, you can create variations in your content but still stay on track with your main message. Having a well-recognized message helps cement your mission into your followers’ brains — they don’t have to work overtime to understand your posts. They will appreciate this without even knowing they do — and they’ll want more!

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

We can’t stress enough that gaining traction and exposure through social media is not about posting 20 times a day. Rather, focus on posting relevant, compelling and on-brand content, on a consistent basis. This may mean posting once a day, or once a week. Your posts should all look relatively the same, meaning have the same filter, or use the same photo template that is in accordance with your brand. Again, your followers may not understand why they like seeing your posts, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they see them and engage. So remember, don’t get overwhelmed thinking you must post 10 perfectly witty posts a day. Contrary to popular social media belief, less can be more. Pick a posting schedule and stick to it; you can always adjust later. To be a successful social media marketer, and to create strong social content, focus on creating quality messages that align with your brand and voice.

KNOW YOUR FOLLOWERS

To optimize engagement on your social platforms, understand your followers. By using simple analytics tools like the free Instagram Business account, you will receive data and stats on your weekly impressions, posts with the most engagement and statistics about your followers. So, instead of playing the comparing game and hoping for any and all followers, focus on growing your core audience. Learning what your followers like and dislike and when they are viewing your content allows you to tailor your message (while staying on-brand), and you will be able to post more efficiently and effectively.

Quick Tips For Boosting Your Social Media Strategy

• Develop your unique identity and stay true to yourself/your message

• Get to know your audience

• Focus on gaining a quality audience and avoid noise (quality vs. quantity)

• Figure out what time most people are checking social media so that your posts have the greatest chance of getting the most eyes

• Be consistent, both with how often you’re posting and with your message/brand

• Engage with others: Who’s day can you make by engaging with a positive comment on their post?

• Consult with social media strategists (interview 3-4 individuals) and see what they offer and suggest

• Think outside the box: If social media didn’t exist, how would you engage your target audience?

• Rethink. Reset. Reinvent your relationship with social media