IMHO, “perfect” is the new “like” when it comes to over usage. It’s driving me nuts. I spell my name for someone, and he or she says, “Perfect!” Of course, it’s perfect; I know how to spell my own name! I give someone my phone number, which is, of course, “Perfect!” Where exactly is the perfection – in the sheer beauty of the assembled digits or my ability to remember 10 sequential numbers? Grrr.

Anyway, this rant was brought to you courtesy of my initial distrust of a recent Content Marketing article about creating “perfect” content product. It turns out, however, that while perfection may be hyperbole, the piece offered some good guidance, promoting copy that is:

Real-time: Taking advantage of current trends and relevant news stories to remain topical.

Fact-driven: Leveraging creditable statistics and solid information for credibility.

Visual: Remembering that visual content gets processed much (much, much) faster than the written word.

Efficient: Having the right people and right number of people in place to do the job well.

Curated: Using content from others to create useful information for your audiences.

What it boils down to is the thought that has to go into content creation and management, being constantly on alert for news you can announce or share and getting it out there in a form people want to access.

A perfectly good pursuit at all times.

Apple’s new operating system iOS7 comes out in Fall 2013. The redesigned operating system will be attractive to new users; however, it maybe unsettling for those familiar with Macs.

The “flat” design is based on simplicity, pushing aside heavy textures. “Flatness” also means a more streamlined interface that will, potentially, better stand the test of time. For instance, the yellow notepad found in the current iOS Notes app may not resonate well with younger users.

The interface changes include an all-new icon set for the Apple’s native apps, and

newly designed tool bars, tab bars, and other fundamental interface features across the system. Mac devices using the next-generation software reportedly have polarizing filters to decrease viewing angles of on-lookers.

Some say the new interface loses all signs of gloss, shine, and flashy design seen across the current and past versions of iOS. Others say the new iOS is very similar to Microsoft’s Windows Phone “Metro” UI.

http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/29/jony-ive-paints-a-fresh-yet-familiar-look-for-ios-7/

According to Apple.com as they were reconsidering iOS, their purpose was to create an experience that was simpler, more useful, and more enjoyable-while building on the things people love about iOS. Ultimately, redesigning the way it works led them to redesigning the way it looks.

The unnecessary bars and buttons have been removed. When taking away design elements that don’t add value, suddenly there’s greater focus on what matters most: your content. Apple adds features only when they’re truly useful, and they add them in a way that makes sense.

With iOS 7, Apple took something millions of people already love and refined the ,experience to make it even more effortless and useful.

Mark your calendars for Fall 2013 for the release of iOS7!

http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/design/

For more information about the flat design trend, see:

http://www.awwwards.com/flat-design-an-in-depth-look.html

http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/what-flat-design-3132112

Inspired by an uptick in the number of website development projects we’ve been working on here at Next-Mark, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how user experience – everything from a website’s usability to its error messages – relates to brands. So, I was intrigued when I came across Co.Design’s article that takes David Ogilvy’s rules for developing advertising campaigns and, by changing a word here and there, changes their context from campaigns to user experiences.

David Ogilvy, often called the original Mad Man, wrote Confessions of an Advertising Man in 1963 when big one-way, top-down campaigns and splashy print and TV ads were the dominant trends in advertising.  How do Ogilvy’s principles hold up fifty years later, in an era of digital products and services, customer engagement, and two-way conversations? As it turns out, very well.

I’ve summarized three of the new rules below; however, I encourage you to don your smoking jacket and your best English accent and read them all.

1. What you say provide is more important than how you say provide it.
For Ogilvy, advertising was about making sales. What helps people decide to buy isn’t the beautiful design or soaring copy, it’s telling them about product’s value. Similarly, digital services and products must provide real value, utility and content.

By now, many of you have seen the Internet images of one premium coffee vendor’s panel-van logo mishap. When the van’s sliding door was opened, the company’s logo was inadvertently shortened to, well, something else. This embarrassment-by-van syndrome has since spread to another vendor, the second involving a certain kind of mushrooms.

In the spirit of the fact that everything tells us something, this is a corporate life lesson in ensuring that your message gets through the way it was meant to be, no matter what.

That’s why, when all is seemingly said and done, we here at Next-Mark like to slide open the doors, take a step back and view the product from outside the box … just to be sure.

At Next-Mark, we use Associated Press style, unless we’re asked to do otherwise. This works well for me, as my roots are dug deep in journalism. It also works well for our clients when we’re talking to working journalists via press releases, news alerts or advisories. It’s a matter of not wasting their time and respecting what they do by speaking the same language.

The latest version of the AP Style Book (“The journalist’s bible wherever you are”) was released this past May, “optimized for the desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet.” The version sitting next to me has a copyright of 1977, handwritten changes and a stamped reminder to “return to” a newspaper that went belly up in the ‘80s.

Yeah, we’ve both been around a long time.

I was taught that AP style was created not only in the name of consistency, but also brevity – using the fewest punctuation marks and shortest accepted spellings to allow for more copy per space. That’s why its perhaps most recognizable trait is a long-held disdain for the use of a comma before “and” in a series. Today, that also extends to having only one space after a sentence.

Of course, you don’t have to know AP style or be a former journalist to write a press release, but it does go a long way in making it easier for editors to accept, as rewriting corporate announcements are not exactly the dream they hoped to live.

In later blogs, we’ll talk about other roads to journalists’ hearts. For now, though, remember there’s a method to the madness of getting press attention – and sometimes it’s a matter of style.

This post is part 2 of a 2-part series on email marketing best practices. This week, we present ten tips for creating effective marketing emails. In Part 1 of our mini-series, we focused on the current landscape of email marketing.

1. You Don’t Need the Kitchen Sink

With marketing emails, less is, emphatically, more. Take care to limit the amount of copy in your emails; only provide the most pertinent information; and, feature your call to action prominently.

2. Be True to Your Brand Promise

As with other aspect of your marketing plan and your business, your marketing emails should be true to your brand. Your emails should reinforce your brand’s unique promise and reflect your brand identity.

3. Know Your Audience

Select the optimal email list to appropriately target your audience. If time and resources allow, test your campaign on a random sample of recipients from your list then use your findings to tweak your email before sending it out to the whole list.

4. Monitor Your Results

Most email partners (e.g., Constant Contact , SilverPop) collect metrics such as open and click through rates and provide you with tools to monitor results. Be sure to share these results with colleagues and stakeholders.

5. Integrate Social Media

Give your recipients the tools to share your email on their social networks and follow your company on your social networks.

6. Don’t be an Email Nuisance

First up, know your company’s rules and policies on spam. Many companies require that marketing emails or newsletters make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe or opt-out. Getting lots of un-subscribes? It’s probably a sign that it’s time to move to a different list.

7. Select an Optimal Email Partner

There are a lot of email marketing software providers to choose from. Some solutions for small businesses include: Vertical Response, MailChimp, Constant Contact and iContact. Large businesses can turn to enterprise systems like Silverpop, Eloqua, Marketo, and Pardot or opt for CRM integration.

8. Keep Mobile Applications Top of Mind

A large portion of people opening your email will be doing so from a mobile device. Keep screen size in mind when writing and designing your emails – use simple subject lines, streamline your design and prioritize content.

9. Create Sustainable Templates

Using your brand’s look-and-feel, create a simple template that you can re-use for different campaigns. No need to re-invent them each time – a template will make it easy for you to create your emails and make them recognizable.

10. Emails are only One Solution

Emails are only solution in an arsenal of many marketing communications tools.  Be sure to integrate your email marketing efforts with other strategic marketing initiatives for powerful results.

Years ago, I was writing the script for a meeting that included the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, or “DepSec,” as we said. The first time I used the abbreviation in the computer document, however, a box popped up that said, “Do you mean ‘dipstick’?”

No, I most certainly did not. And, besides, I’ll have you know that I’ve always been quite capable of making mistakes on my own, thank you, without electronic assistance.

I was reminded of this by a recent online article about common errors made by even the most professional writers – all by themselves.

One of my own pet peeves targeted in the post was the repetition of words, as in,  “The recently announced program is one of the first programs ever addressing this problem, and the program format is designed for maximum participant participation in the program.” While such sentences get the point across, they can raise doubts about your attention to detail.

A second was misplaced modifiers, as in:  “Created in the 17^th century, visitors will be amazed by the architecture of the mosque.” Hopefully, the mosque, not the people, debuted in the 1600s. Otherwise, there’s a bigger story there.

One noted “error” that cut a little too close to home involved phrases one tends to use over and over. While this makes readers feel they know you, it also can dampen the copy’s effect. (That said, I had to consider that I use “that said” and “consider” way too much.)

You’ve seen legions of other writing errors, I’m sure, from incorrect choices among homonyms to the eternal confusion between “which” and “that.” On the downside, they can make you wonder about the writer; on the upside, they can make you feel superior.

Still, the fact that someone cared enough to write an article gave me both hope and inspiration: hope that respect for language lives on and inspiration to do better by it.

On May 9, pollster and columnist Michael Barone used the example of higher education’s bubble bursting to show the market’s natural tendency to right the ship.

However, he also pointed out that unnatural influences on that tendency can delay natural correction. This is a reminder that, while the road to market share is always paved with good intentions, it’s a good idea to make sure we’re using the right touch before taking the wheel.

There’s a lesson here for marketing, as well, where a lack of finesse can be seen in messaging that is layered on too thickly in an attempt to hit the right note.

That’s why, at Next-Mark, we keep in mind that message overkill isn’t the answer; rather, it’s the right message and timing of it that matters.

Back to Barone’s point: Helping the market toward course correction isn’t a bad thing as long as the hand on the tiller doesn’t overdo it.

Otherwise, you wind up turning in circles – and losing sight of your charted course.

This post is part 1 of a 2-part series on email marketing best practices. This week, we’re focusing on the current landscape of email marketing. Next up, best practices for creating effective emails.

Email marketing has become rather humdrum in the marketing world, with many questioning whether email campaigns yield results and if email is overused as a marketing vehicle.  Despite marketers’ misgivings, email marketing is alive and well. Read below to get a sense of the current landscape in email marketing – information we hope you can use to make your email campaigns more effective.

Email by the numbers:  According to Forrester Research, spending on email marketing in the US will balloon to $2 billion by 2014 — a nearly 11 percent compound annual growth rate. As a result of this spending, consumers will be deluged with more than 9,000 email marketing messages annually.

Common email mistakes: Weak subject lines, too much or poorly selected content, poorly selected email lists, lack of integration with social media, and poor timing of emails rank among the top email mistakes. Learning from others’ mistakes will help make your email campaigns more effective. (Stay tuned for part 2 in our series for our list of email marketing best practices.)

Some email insights: The majority of email actions (i.e., opens, forwards, deletes) occur within the first 12 hours of deployment. 50 percent of opens occur within 12 hours of deployment. 86 percent of opens occur within three days of deployment. Initial emails are opened more quickly than the second in the stream.