PR Daily recently published a story on 21 words commonly overused in business and pleaded a case for why we may want to use some other term.  However, it seems that we avoid these as much as possible, but there are some cases in meetings and emails in which substituting one word or phrase for an entire sentence is more efficient.

Here are a few that fall into that category and some of their thoughts on how we “utilize” these words:

1. Outside the box. Although this phrase originally meant creative thinking, its overuse has twisted its definition to mean the exact opposite. As one PR Daily reader put it, those who use it should be put in a box—and kept there.

2. Tee-off/tee-up. The person who insists upon deploying golf references should be forced to wear plaid knickers and a jaunty cap in the boardroom. And keep your mashie niblick to yourself, pal.

3. Utilize. It means “use.” There is not a single case in which “utilize” is preferred.

4. Noodle. You hear it in this manner: “Let’s noodle some solutions.” Next time someone says it, offer this suggestion: “How about we kimchi them instead.”

5. Paradigm shift. The word paradigm means almost nothing. According to Dictionary.com, it refers to “a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, especially the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme,” or “an example serving as a model; pattern.” You lost me at set of forms.

6. Bandwidth. This is what happens when IT speak spreads to other departments: “Are you sure you have the bandwidth to take on that assignment?” As one PR Daily urged: “Just say capacity, or ability, or time.”

7. Leverage. A perennial favorite. Save it for Happy Hour, when you can leverage a beverage.

8. That being said. Translation: Everything I just said is meaningless. It’s also grammatically wrong, but just don’t use it.

9. Learnings. Don’t add an “s” to this collective gerund to try to make it plural. Just don’t. If you mean “lessons,” learn to say “lessons.”

10. Solutioneering. A study from last year found that “solution” is among the most commonly used words in press releases. Adding “eer” and then “ing” only exacerbates a dire problem.

11. Dial up/dial down. Next time someone says this phrase, take out your phone and ask for the number.

12. Leading. This word earns the Ubiquitous Award in corporate writing.

13. Socialize. To get an idea of the inanity of this word, go home tonight and tell your spouse: “Sweetheart, as you’ve probably noticed, there are a few issues with our relationship that we need to socialize.” Better yet, just take our word for it.

14. Wheelhouse. There are two instances in which it’s perfectly acceptable to use this word: When you’re piloting a riverboat, or when you’re broadcasting a baseball game and the batter has just pummeled a hanging curveball. It is unacceptable when you’re pitching a reporter (unless he or she is a sports reporter, in which case toss that story right into their wheelhouse).

15. Deliverables. When the U.S. Postal Service gets into the snack business, this will be its first product. “Try cheddar-flavor Deliverables, now with even more of that cheesy flavor you love.” Yeah, it’s cheesy all right.

16. Prezo. When you hear this abbreviation for presentation— “Hey, sweet prezo today, bro”—run as fast as you can. The same goes for the word “convo.”

17. Value-add. Which do you prefer: “We hope this article added some value to your day,” or, “We hope this article is a value-add.” If you opted for the latter, you might just be a PR toolbag.

Any others you’d care to add?

Next-Mark client, San Diego-based, Indyme Solutions, wanted us to create a video that demonstrates how their “Smart Response” call buttons are useful within any supermarket. With Indyme Smart Response, supermarket in-store teams instantly know when and where a shopper desires assistance, a cashier needs support, a perimeter door unexpectedly opens, a camera detects a suspicious event, and much more. It delivers real-time awareness resulting in prompt actions that build sales for their clients.

The Next-Mark team was responsible for all aspects of this production including writing, content development, location selection and management, video production and editing in full collaboration with our client, Steve Deal, CEO of Indyme Solutions. Special thanks to our team including Rob Welling, Bonnie Limbach, Shannon Welling, Brad Heiny, Jamie Robinson, Shasten Snellgroves and Chris Depken.

Corporate videos provide a critical marketing channel for our clients including social media postings, website content videos, email marketing campaigns and a multitude of other communications opportunities. When your reading the text on a website, it gives you a general idea of what a product is about. A video provides rich visual content, which creates a whole level of new insight into a product or service.

You can view this video on YouTube or at www.Indyme.com.

“To be buzzed about is every brand’s desire in the digital age,” Said Pr Daily.com. Today, the new measure of marketing success is calculated by the amount of “likes” you have on Facebook or how recognized you are within the social media world. Social media has created a whole new concept of marketing, but it isn’t necessarily easy to accomplish.

Here are three ways to bump up your “likes” on Facebook.

1. Post regularly

When you are handling a social media page you want to post daily, but DON’T over post. This keeps you in the loop of people checking their news feed regularly. Don’t post just anything. Post things that your target market will find attractive or interesting; For example, a link to your blog, event or give-away.

Also, try and keep your postings fresh. People like seeing new information. This will create attention on the subject and potentially cause more people to “like” you.

2. Advertise

Advertising on Facebook is an easy way to boost your “likes” and it’s cheap (sometimes). Create a budget you would like to spend each day and set your advertising limit to that amount. The advertising will generate exposure all across Facebook itself. The more name recognition, the better.

3. Incentives

Everyone loves free stuff. “Like our page and receive a free weekly pass to our gym,” is a perfect example of how to approach this. You can give away anything you like, but the key is to give away things people want.

You also want your incentive to be fit for your budget. Don’t go spending all your money on incentives and not have any left for advertising.

4. Newsletter

When you send out your newsletter every month/week, put a link on it so your receivers can “like” your page directly from there. This makes it very simple for direct marketing and you don’t have to deal with the traffic of Facebook.

TOP 10

According to Pr Daily.com, the list below is the top 10 brands in social media.

1. Subway

2. Cheerios

3. Amazon.com

4. History Channel

5. Ford

6. Discovery Channel

7. Lowe’s

8. Olive Garden

9. YouTube

10. Google

Perhaps one of the most influential business books I have ever read was “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Dr. Steven Covey.  His passing this week marked an emotional milestone for me when I think back at how many times I have thought about this book and shared it with others over the past 20+ years.

Somehow this book fell out of vogue, but the content is timeless.  The sad part of it all is that the next generation of business leaders does not have the familiarity of his teaching as we did in the 1990s.

Thought this might be a good time for a refresher:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (source: Wikipedia)

▪                Habit 1: Be Proactive

Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the consequences that follow.

▪                Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. Create a mission statement.

▪                Habit 3: Put First Things First

Prioritize, plan, and execute your weekly tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.

▪                Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

▪                Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Use empathic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving.

▪                Habit 6: Synergize

Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork. This helps achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.

▪                Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. It primarily emphasizes on exercise for physical renewal, prayer, (mediation, yoga, etc.) and good reading for mental renewal. It also mentions service to the society for spiritual renewal.

After he published this book, Dr. Covey went on to build a powerful thought leader empire of additional books, seminars, etc. building a brand recognized worldwide.  Although this content is available for generations to come, his greatest gift will perhaps be the values he communicated.  Thanks Dr. Covey! 

In a recent speech, I urged caution – or at least contemplation – before launching something as demanding as a blog.

I’m a fine one to talk.

Not too long ago, in this very space, I offered some advice and discussed my personal blog (blgblog.relatingtome.com). Intended as a humorous take on my adventures in on-line genealogy, it was a subject that, given the breadth of a family tree – promised a veritable tsunami of material.

One of my warnings to would be-bloggers at that time was not to start such an endeavor without a stock of “evergreen” items that can go in any time, creating a backlog to take the pressure off.

Now I would add, don’t get cocky and start posting every day.

Like I did.

In said speech I also added another proviso:  Never unnecessarily limit your topic.

Like I did.

I mean, at first it was great fun, with a steady flow of ancestral mishaps from having a panther fall on one’s head to avoiding an Indian attack by hanging on to the tail of a stampeding cow. I also got to report items such as, “I’m related to President Obama,” something I never thought I’d ever say. (Seriously, it’s right up there with “I lost 10 pounds on a healthy diet” and “Nothing for me, thanks.”)

Then – nuthin. At least nothing useable. Suddenly, every single person on every twig of my family tree either lived an unexamined life or did things so despicable I wanted to wash my soul.

So there it was:  The dreaded proverbial white space unfilled and unflinching – something I’d never let happen to a client, but managed to inflict upon myself.

Since it’s always far better to learn from someone else’s mistakes, I now offer Blogging Advice Revisited: When starting a blog, have some copy or copy ideas on hand. Post regularly but not too often. Stick to your topic when you can, but establish the right to post ancillary items of interest.

Hopefully, that’s my last word on the subject

As marketing organizations struggle to better understand and justify their role and purpose, there are a limited amount of tools available to succinctly measure marketing’s and public relations’ effectiveness.  Many businesses are conducting Marketing and Public Relations Audits to gain new insight into their productivity and effectiveness.  Audits can be a very formal process (conducted by an outside firm) or a more informal process (facilitated by an organizational leader). Either way, audits need to be objective and comprehensive. Marketing and Public Relations Audits thoroughly examine and evaluate marketing and communications practices and results.  They offer a baseline for performance measurement and a framework for effective future planning.

Marketing and Public Relations Audits help organizations identify their most urgent marketing and communications needs.  It can be a time-consuming operation, but the information gained can provide invaluable insight and provide strategic direction.  The audit includes a comprehensive review of the company’s marketing and public relations environment, communications objectives, business strategies and tactical activities.  The audit identifies operational strengths and weaknesses and recommends changes to the company’s marketing and public relations programs.  Each Marketing and Public Relations Audit is unique to the individual organization.  The audit should serve as a basis of discussion and review and not necessarily be a definitive action plan.

The primary benefits of conducting an audit include: new learnings and measurement for past and future successes; a quantitative benchmark for future evaluative studies; and a fair and consistent appraisal of past and future performance.  Most importantly, audits can serve as an important basis for annual marketing and public relations plans.

When an organization cuts marketing and public relations spending, it cuts the one function whose sole purpose is to increase business!  By engaging in an audit process, organizations can better assess the functionality and effectiveness of their marketing and public relations departments.  The marketing and public relations audit becomes an essential tool for business success.  If you are trying to determine if a Marketing and Public Relations Audit is right for you, please give us a call.

In my last blog, I talked about content management and my personal theory – nay, heart’s desire – that the concept can get us back to basics and good writing.

As noted, many of the fundamentals of this “new” phenomenon are very familiar. Among them is the emphasis on “know thyself.” That is, understanding who YOU – as a business or organization – are before working to understand who THEY – your audiences – are. And not only who you are, but what makes you different and better than others trying to reach those audiences.

With our clients, this often starts with an inventory of existing messaging. You know, seeing what a company is saying about itself and what others are saying about it.  In the process, we usually find a lot of outdated and incorrect information that has to be addressed.

And, often, we find that the messaging is all over the board, with different people, departments and marketing collateral and other materials saying different things.

Most importantly, it is not uncommon to find that a business has outgrown its messaging – that they’re talking about who they were, not who they are, that is, who they’ve become since someone’s little brother built their first web site.

And that can be a rude awakening.

This corporate or organizational soul-searching is valuable in another way, forcing enterprises to take hard looks at their businesses and practices – and maybe even face up to hard facts.

And THAT can make you sorry you woke up at all.

More later.

Are your public relations skills not as accurate as you would like? Listed are seven common mistakes made in the PR world.

Reading these should help you limit your inaccuracy and start developing a more professional approach. These are also known as the “Seven deadly sins,” according to Dorothy Crenshaw of the PR Daily.

1. Overpromising.

Most of the time it’s easy to predict the return on an investment but sometimes it can be tough. These cannot be predicted with 100 percent accuracy. Discuss the expectations and this can be avoided.

2. Missing deadlines.

A deadline is one of the most important things in public relations. By not meeting one, you are setting yourself up for expulsion from the business. Next time your proposal is emailed too late, I would take it to heart.

3. Spamming.

This is an extreme case of being unprofessional. Giving a personal approach will always wok better. Most people who receive this don’t even look at it; moreover, your message will become irrelevant.

4. The on-and-off approach.

Public relations are most efficient when used as a long-term branding tool. Not to be confused with sales promotions and direct marketing. There are some corporations who see public relations like a television set they can turn on-and-off as business conditions dictate. This is a major error.

5. Using (or abusing) ad clout.

The majority of public relations pros have a story about a client who insists on trying to influence an ad buy to produce editorial coverage, or who threaten to pull a schedule if a story isn’t as positive as they would like. Sometimes this works, but it could potentially cost you your relationship with the media.

6. Thinking PR = press release.

A paid SEO enhanced news stream is not equivalent to a public relations program. Buyers are selling themselves short.

7. Confusing language

This topic isn’t limited to amateurs. Writing and speaking in simple, powerful words is much more efficient then using large confusing vocabulary. This will help make your communication crystal clear.

If you are challenged by management of your public relations plan, give us a call, we can help!

Today, I had an opportunity to speak before the Central West Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association, which, I admit, initially came as a shock.

To be honest, I’m always a little baffled when writers such as myself are asked to speak. I mean, there’s a reason we’ve chosen to spend our working lives sitting in little rooms making up quotes for other people or scuttling in the shadows, sneaking them words to say. Or, as I have been known to do, taping talking points to my chest so a Congressman could read them over my shoulder to the press.

The point is that people like me are quite content with being the man or woman behind the curtain, leaving the visual and vocal wizardry to others.

(And, seriously, if we had any presence, we’d be in broadcasting.)

All that said, I was truly honored to be with them today and have the opportunity to share a little of what I’ve learned during a lifetime in Oz, talk about something I hold most dear:  good writing – and even get a few pet peeves off my chest.

My presentation was dedicated to the writers out there, those people who care about words and the power of words and having power over words. The people who love finding the right words at the right time to say to the right people for the desired result.

I came bearing good tidings of great joy, as I truly believe that our time has come – again.

As a writer who has been writing for a loooooong time, I admit to some recent moments of despair – starting with the initial tsunami of digital communication when immediacy trumped message, and it was apparently critical to know every thought that passed through Ashton Kutcher’s head.

And when I found out that the Aflac duck, who can barely talk, much less write, has way more Facebook friends than I do.

But something more recently has given me hope for the future of writing.

And that something is the current emphasis on content marketing, which is being touted as THE road to developing brand trust, leadership and loyalty.

Is content management the answer to today’s marketing challenges or – more importantly – my prayers?

We’ll talk more later.