In Defense of the Plain Style

Itinerant writer Robert Louis Stevenson, battling TB, wandered into a merchant’s stall in San Francisco one day in 1879. 

He bought a used copy of Some Fruits of Solitude, a collection of maxims published 176 years earlier by the American Quaker William Penn.

Stevenson later told a friend that he had “carried the book in my pocket all about the San Francisco streets, read it in streetcars and ferryboats when I was sick unto death, and found in all times and places a peaceful and sweet companion.”

Among the things Stevenson admired was Penn's defense of the “plain style” of writing.

The plain style was characterized by clarity and simplicity.

Plain-stylists like Penn believed affected writing was the product of vanity and served only to confuse people.

He hated especially the “laboring of slight matter with flourished turns of expression,” calling it “worse than the modern imitation of tapestry.”

Imagine how Penn would respond today to this crazy-quilt (quoted in full from the Home page of an IT firm):

_______ is an industry leader in the development of both Hosted and On Premise based call center solutions and predictive dialers for industry-specific applications ranging from financial services to home remodeling and other related companies that utilize the services of Predictive Dialing and Contact Center Management & Customer Interaction. We offer both premise based and hosted solutions to small to medium-sized inside sales organizations to larger call centers. Our goal is to provide a seamless cost- effective call center solution which involves the cohesive blend of computer telephony integration (CTI) applications, Web-centric applications, customer relationship management (CRM), agent interaction and other channels of communications such as Web call back, Web chat, email, fax and Web collaboration.

Huh?

More Matter. Less Art.

In Act 2 of Hamlet, Gertrude insists the windbag Polonius make his point. "More matter, with less art."

Geoffrey James, writing for Inc., sides with the queen. 

"If you've got something to say, say it in as few words as possible," James writes.

"All companies today are trying to do more with fewer people, which means that everybody is short on time. That's why it's crazy to load up your documents (e-mails, brochures, Websites, etc.) with fancy-sounding business cliches, and unsubstantiated opinions. Nobody has time to wade through biz-blab." 

Get to the point, James insists. "Especially if you don't have all that much to say."

B2B Marketers Spending More on Content

B2B marketers plan to spend a full third of their budgets on content marketing in 2013, according to research firm eMarketer.

The firm defines content marketing as attracting customers with “content that is not, at its core, promotional material, but which is interesting or valuable for its own sake” and that's “geared to help businesspeople do their jobs better.”

With the larger investment comes greater eagerness for “sticky” content, says eMarketer.

Personalization is a sure way to assure content is sticky. “The more personalized the content is, the more helpful and necessary the content—and therefore the brand—becomes to the customer,” eMarketer says.

Consistency is another. “Content marketers must also keep the content flowing,” the firm says. “A customer community is like a pump that one must prime.”

Hole, Baby, Hole

Renowned marketing guru and Harvard professor Ted Levitt liked to tell students, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”

Pardon the pun, but it's surprising this decades-old saw has reentered everyday discussions of social media marketing.

It's not as if Levitt's insight doesn't deserve resurrection. It does.

That's because most marketers still believe they're selling drills.

How about you?

Is your head screwed on right?

Your motto should be, Hole, Baby, Hole.

The 3 Keys to Public Speaking

At an after-dinner speech in 1887, General Sherman introduced Mark Twain by noting that "he could not make an impromptu speech unless he had four days for preparation."

You may never speak at TED, but performing in front of crowds is a skill every marketer needs.

Most acquire it by hiring a coach or joining a local Toastmasters Club.

Whichever path you take, you'll soon discover these are the keys to public speaking:

Preparation. As Sherman observed, a good speaker prepares, not just for hours, but for days.

Clarity. Listeners expect you to deliver a clear business case and a definite call to action.

Study. Good public speakers study the performances of great public speakers, such as Bill Clinton.

PS: Attire. Dress does matter. A tee-shirt and jeans may be some industries' uniform, but wearing that uniform while speaking in public harms your credibility. The rule-of-thumb? Look better than your audience.