Wasted Writing: When the Offer isn't Worth the Ink

Personally, I have never been asked by a client to create a "worthless" e-mail campaign, Facebook offer, or other ad copy that isn't worth the ink. If I ever am, I think - and I hope - I'll be tough enough to reply, "is that the best you've got?"

Some campaigns (sorry, Starbucks) really aren't worth bothering customers about. The ads amount to worse than wasted time and money for the company. They also add to the general clutter of our collective consciousness and increase the likelihood that "subscribers" (and some firms use that term very loosely - are you listening, Viacom?) will just hit delete.

Case in point: Starbucks rewards card e-mail campaign, July 18-22
The "big news" was that the retail stores are reinstating the "Treat Receipt" offer. How big is it? You decide:

Bring your morning receipt in after 2 p.m. at participating stores and we'll serve you up a cold grande beverage for just $2.

Yep, that was the lead offer. The only offer, in fact - followed by seven (7!) advertisements, none of which included money-savings offers.

I'm not sure how these things get through multiple marketing department decision makers. I like to think I would have spoken up in the corporate boardroom and said, hey, now that there's a Starbucks on almost every corner and penny-pinching is everybody's new favorite hobby, offers need to be a lot more attractive than "spend disposable income here twice in one day and save a buck."

Maybe they wouldn't have listened to me. I hope my clients will.

- - - - - - - - next: Make sure your communications have operational back-up - - - - - - - - 

Need a writer who speaks her mind - even if it upsets the apple cart? I never lose sight of my customer service and marketing background, and believe it's my job as a writer to make sure your message is the best it can be. I don't waste your ink or your time, and I do everything I can to give your customers and prospects something worth reading. Contact me for a free consultation.

Who Should Bail Out Newspapers?

No one disputes that a strong media is important for democracy, but the core issue is what that media should look like.

-- from Sonia Arrison's thoughtful and thought-provoking article at TechNewsWorld. Read it all here .

What Are Words For?

Missing Persons asked the question, What Are Words For? in the early 80s, and it seems we're still asking. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The answer is, words are for human communication.

I hope you'll forgive me when the question "is content still king??" makes me roll my eyes and spew sarcastic sound bites. Such as, well, you only need content...if you want to communicate.

Full disclosure: I'm a writer who just laid off from a company (Viacom) that recently hired a half-dozen (more) SEO/Social Media Marketing gurus.

Sour grapes? No!

We need SEO that works. We don't live to search, we live to find. And what we're looking for - in a gazillion different forms - is content. Ergo, good SEO is pointless without good content.

Content, of course, can be a picture, a game, a form, a joke, King Lear or step-by-step instructions on hotwiring a car.

I think we've heard the "reading is dead" argument enough over the centuries (Plato?) to realize it's not. I think content is still king as long as SEO marketing firm Best Rank (and others) say it is. True, content has taken a hit in accounting. But even as stately old newspapers are disappearing others are starting to ask the right questions, like: what about distribution? and how can the print product add value to the web product? Aha! Now we're getting somewhere!

(But where? It's hard to say. Just keep reading.)