Writing

Lake Superior’s Banished Words

February 9, 2017 by Kay Paumier

Each year, Lake Superior State University posts a list of words it believes should be banished from use because of “mis-use, over-use and general uselessness.”

Here are my favorites from this year’s crop.

Post-Truth — To paraphrase the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, we are entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts.

Guesstimate — When guess and estimate are never enough.

Historic — Thrown around far too much.

Echo Chamber — Lather, rinse, and repeat. After a while, everything sounds the same.

“Get your dandruff up” — The Committee is not sure why this malapropism got nominators’ dander up in 2016.

Disruption — Nominators are exhausted from 2016’s disruption.

You can see the entire list here. Have a word you’d like to see banished? Submit it here.

Six Tips from a Newsletter Marketer

January 24, 2017 by Kay Paumier

Did you know that:

We encounter more than 5,000 media messages a day.
We’re aware of only about 150 of them.
And only four to 12 of them make any impact on us.

That’s bad news if you’re trying to break through the clutter and get your message to your prospects and clients.

Fortunately, consistent, informative email newsletters can help you get heard above the noise. According to the Annuitis Group, “businesses that send lead-nurture emails generate 451% more qualified prospects than their competitors who don’t.”

But how do you keep your newsletter from ending up in the delete file with nary a glance? I asked Kathie Sherman of TenFour Marketing that question. Kathie is a newsletter guru, known for producing newsletters that get results.

These are some of her tips:

Keep your goal in mind.

This may seem too obvious to mention, but everything comes down to your objective. Are you trying to generate leads? Nurture prospects? Increase brand awareness? Your goal will guide all your activities.

Develop a good list.

Collect contact information from people at networking events, on your website, through email and through social media.

One way to expand your list is by offering a good “lead magnet.” This is valuable information you offer people in exchange for their email addresses. You can offer it on your website, through social media, and in your email newsletter itself.

Good lead magnets are laser focused on your prospects and customers. They address a single issue, and appeal to our natural desire for information. Samples include reports, quizzes, software and training tools.

Get permission to send your prospects material.

It’s essential you comply with the Can-Spam Act. This requires, among other things, that your subject line be accurate, your header information correct, and your unsubscribe information clear.

Deliver short, valuable content.

We’re talking here about non-sales content targeted for the top of the sales funnel. That’s where your prospects are just learning about the subject; it‘s the “awareness” part of the “awareness,” “interest,” “desire” and “action” buying sequence.

The goal of your content is to attract people to your site, whether you’re using original content or curating content developed by others. One approach, suggested by Margaret Magnarelli at Monster, is to concentrate on:

How – Straightforward, utility content
Now – Thought-leadership content that is focused on news–driven stories
Wow – Fun content

Stumped for ideas? Brainstorm with a “content buddy.”Or check out resources such as What To Write, HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator or Content Forest.

Be “regular.”

Send your newsletter out regularly. Monthly is fine, more often if you can keep it up.

Prepare a content calendar to help you organize your ideas and stick with your schedule.

Develop strong subject lines.

People spend only fractions of a second evaluating email subject lines. So your best shot at connecting with them is a short, one-line description of your content. Emphasize the fact that the content is useful, ultra-specific, unique or urgent. Possible formats for subject lines include a testimonial, a benefit statement, a question, some news or a how-to.

Get Started

Here’s the important part. It’s essential to get started.

A great way to get started is by attending the Newsletter Ninja Workshop, which will be taught by Kathie Sherman (the source of most of the information in this blog post) and yours truly. This is a hands-on event where you will practice these skills. You won’t leave with a “to-do” list; you’ll leave with a “have-done” list. Specifically, you’ll leave with a content calendar and the draft of one to three articles.

There are two workshops, one in the East Bay (Wednesday, February 15, 10:30 a.m. -2 p.m., 1815 Harbor Place, Alameda) and one in the South Bay (Thursday, February 23, 10:30 a.m. -2 p.m, Intersection Space. 3165 Olin Avenue, San Jose).

For more information and to register, go to http://tenfourmarketing.com/ninja. We hope to see you there.

2016 Words of the Year

January 4, 2017 by Kay Paumier

It’s that time when English dictionary companies name their Words of the Year, terms that encapsulate the previous year for them. Based on the choices, it appears that 2016 was not the best of times.

Oxford Dictionaries named the term “post-truth,” an adjective defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” The organization cited a spike in frequency “in the context of the EU referendum in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States.”

Cambridge Dictionary named “paranoid” as the most important word of the year. Searches for the word quadrupled in 2016 (compared to 2015). The editors thought the statistics suggest “a feeling that the institutions that have kept us safe can no longer be trusted, that the world feels more uncertain than it did a year ago.”

Collins named “Brexit” the most significant word of the year, saying it is “politics’ most important contribution to the language for 40 years.” The use of the word went up an astonishing 3,400 percent in 2016. Runners-up included “trumpism,” “snowflake generation” and “uberization.”

Dictionary.com, which aims to pick a word “that embodies a major theme resonating deeply in the cultural consciousness over the prior 12 months,” named “xenophobia” the 2016 Word of the Year. The noun is defined as “fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers” and “fear or dislike of the customs, dress, etc., of people who are culturally different from oneself.” The editors said that some of the most prominent news stories have centered around fear of the “other,” and that 2016 “saw fear rise to the surface of cultural discourse.”

Merriam-Webster says the most-used word of 2016 was (and I’m quoting here) “fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” The editors attribute at least part of the word’s “popularity” to the “seemingly unending nightmare that was the U.S. election.”

The American Dialect Society, which is credited with naming the first Word of the Year in 1991, will announce its choice in 2017. Last year the society recognized the word “they” used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. The society cited the word’s “emerging use as a pronoun to refer to a known person, often as a conscious choice by a person rejecting the traditional gender binary of he and she.”

Other 2015 Words of the year include “binge-watch” (Colliers), the suffix “ism” (Merriam-Webster), the emoji called the “Face with Tears of Joy” (Oxford Dictionaries) and the word “identity” (Dictionary.com).

The Writer’s Process

December 6, 2016 by Kay Paumier

It is said we all have a book inside of us. Yet many people struggle with getting words onto paper (or onto the computer screen).

The new book, The Writer’s Process, provides some insights into this situation.

The book discusses what hinders our writing (hint: it’s called human nature) and what we can do about it.

The Writer’s Process “combines the field-tested practices of successful and productive writers with insights from cognitive science” (such as neuroscientific and psychological research), so that we might “master the inner game of the craft” in our own way.

I’ve written professionally for more than two decades, and the book confirmed many techniques I have discovered over the years. (I feel validated, but I digress.) Here are some of the techniques the author suggests to help us get in touch with our “inner book” or other missive.

Alternate periods of writing with breaks. Most people get more done in three blocks of one hour each than in one three-hour block.
“Freewrite.” Write without stopping for a given period of time or a given number of words.
When you get stuck, make a note of the problem before you stop writing. Then take a break, sleep on it or change your environment. Chances are good your “muse” will figure it out before you start again.
Get a good night’s sleep. (This isn’t spelled out in the book, but I recommend having a pad and pen near your bed to capture those inspirations that come first thing in the morning.)
Write before going online. (Need I elaborate?)
When researching, dig one level deeper than you plan to use.
Begin with a deadline and work your schedule backwards to determine when you need to start and how much you need to do each day.
Get feedback from people whose writing you respect. Be open to criticism and suggestions.

The book has many more helpful techniques that can help all of us liberate our inner books. I encourage you to read The Writer’s Process.

Proofreading 101

October 14, 2016 by Kay Paumier

I am continually amazed at the number of typos and other written errors I find.

How could such mistakes happen? It’s easy because we read:

The outside shapes of words, not the individual letters
Words in phrases, not just individual words
Words in context, not isolated from the sentence’s meaning.

Specifically, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Scary, isn’t it?

However, here are some tips for proofreading success.

Take advantage of spell checker.

Let Microsoft Word do the heavy lifting. Spell check early and often.

Focus.

At the same time Word does not read for content. That’s your job.

So first read for the big picture. Does the document make sense? Does it present its information logically and clearly? Does the title or headline “fit” what is in the copy?

Next, read for details. Pay particular attention to common errors, such as:

Subject-verb agreement (e.g., “He swims. They swim.”)
Capitalization
Punctuation
Spelling
Sentence fragments
Pronoun references
Missing words, and
Duplicated words.

Prepare the document.

Most people find it easier to proofread from the printed page, rather than from the computer screen. Use a large font and wide margins.

Or change the look of the document. Making the text a different size, color or style can trick your brain into thinking it’s seeing something new.

Time your proofreading.

If you’re proofreading your own writing, take a break between finishing the draft and proofreading. This can give you a fresh perspective. Ideally, proofread more than once, in short blocks of time, and take breaks between sessions.

Read aloud.

Read the document aloud. I have been amazed at what I discover this way. Or have someone read the document to you. (A luxury I know.) However, we often “hear” more errors than we see.

Focus on the words.

Run your finger along the text. Point at each word as you go along. I feel silly doing this, but it helps.

Use two pieces of blank white paper to cover all but one sentence at a time. Or slide a blank sheet of paper down the page as you read. Either technique can help keep you focused.

Read backwards.

Read the copy backwards paragraph by paragraph. I find this effective the second or third time I go through a document. “Starting at the end” helps me catch mistakes I might otherwise miss.

Use today’s tools.

In addition to spell checker, other tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway App can help assure your content is mistake-free.

Keep your skills sharp.

Look for mistakes when you read magazines, newspapers and the like. Chances are you’ll find plenty.

Some information in this article came from LEO (Literary Education Online).

One Word? Two Words?

September 15, 2016 by Kay Paumier

I often see a single word being used when it should be two words. Here are some examples.

Logon and log on

“Logon” is a noun, describing the procedure used to get access to an operating system. “Logon” can also be used as an adjective, as in the “logon procedure.”

“Log on” is a verb. “I need to log on to my computer.”

The same distinctions apply to “login” and “log in.”

Alot and a lot

“Alot” is not a word. Fortunately, Word’s spell checker flags this common error.

“A lot” means many. “A lot of people think that way.”

Everyday and every day

“Everyday” is an adjective meaning ordinary or typical. “The store offers everyday values.”

“Every day” is an adverb referring to something that occurs each day. “The store offers values every day.”

Backup and back up

“Backup” is a noun, often referring to computer files that have been saved elsewhere. “My backup was corrupted.” “Backup” can also be an adjective. “It’s important to have a backup plan.”

“Back up” is a verb, referring to the action of moving backwards (e.g., a car) or of saving an electronic file to another location. “I am going to back up my computer now.”

Follow-up and follow up

“Follow-up” can be used as a noun, meaning something that follows. For example, “the follow-up was effective.” “Follow-up” can also be used as an adjective. “Follow-up actions are essential.”

“Follow up” is a verb, indicating action. “I will follow up with you tomorrow.”

“Followup” is not a word.

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