Data Protection – Are You Breaking the Law?

Posted on January 11, 2012 by David

 
After his visit to Tesco this week Antony Worrall Thompson’s recipes took on a whole new meaning:

“Take three onions and one wedge of cheese…” 

It was only a little but sadly it didn’t help.

Of course it’s easy to scoff at a fallen celebrity and feel cosy whilst swaddled in law-abiding rectitude.  You’ve stolen no food, snorted no cocaine and you definitely haven’t put any cats in a bin.

You’re pretty sure you haven’t anyway – it’s a while since you’ve seen Smudge and that black bin bag did seem oddly furry the other day…

No no, you can firmly say you’ve stuck by the law.

Or at least to the best of your knowledge you have.  In reality, though, many small businesses in the UK are breaking the law right now because they haven’t realised they are obliged by the authorities to register themselves with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if they keep certain data.  The Data Protection Act 1998 sets out rules and rights relating to any personal information stored and used by business, so if you keep any information at all, no matter how small your business, you need to read on.

But I Only Keep Basic Information

It’s so easy not to realise you are keeping important data.  You’re not collecting any sensitive information and clients know all about the basic data you hold.  You don’t share it with anyone and it’s just for the purposes of your business: contact information for the companies you work with – that sort of thing.  You didn’t even keep that compromising email meant for ‘Snugglebunny’ but sent to you by mistake.  Tempting as it was…

Nevertheless, it’s surprising how little information you need to keep in order to require registration as a ‘data controller’.  In which case you also have to abide by clear regulations about how that data is both stored and used.

Failure to do so is illegal and whilst you won’t face prison (though custodial sentences are being considered as part of changes to the Act) you could be landed with a substantial fine.

Do I Need to Register?

The Act applies to the processing of personal data held by companies.  Generally this applies to information held in computers and related electronic storage equipment, but if you have physical files which are structured in an organised way then these may also fall under the Act.

Most companies hold data relating to employees, customers and business contacts.  If an individual could be identified from this information then you need to register unless your business is classed as exempt.  The following circumstances would generally mean a business does not need to register:

  • Data controllers who only process personal information for:
    ○ Staff administration (including payroll)
    ○ Marketing and public relations for their own business
    ○ Accounts and records
  • Some not-for-profit organisations
  • Processing personal information for personal, family or household affairs
  • Maintenance of a public register
  • Processing personal information without an automated system such as a computer

Businesses falling under any of these categories should not simply assume that’s it – you may find there are other aspects of your business which mean you do qualify after all.  Furthermore, you are still obliged to handle the data in accordance with the guidelines – the exemption is only from formal notification.

However, it remains true that for most businesses notification will be necessary.  Take my own copywriting business, for instance.  I hold information about people I work with.  This ranges from the contact information I keep in Outlook to the details I’ve taken to create About Us pages on websites.  It’s personal information at a very simple level and when it comes to About Us pages, this information is going to be plastered over the web anyway!  Nevertheless, I hold that information and I have used it for marketing that person’s business, not my own, so I need to register.

Indeed, there is a range of uses to which I put this information and you can get a good idea of how quickly and easily your day-to-day business falls into the relevant categories for registration by taking a look at my own entry on the list of data controllers.  Sadly the system doesn’t provide a specific page I can link to, but search for ‘Nexus Copywriting’ on the Data Protection Register.

The ICO actually makes it very simple to see if you need to register or not.  Complete the ICO Online Assessment questionnaire and all will become clear.

How Do I Register?

Unfortunately the ICO has yet to catch up with the 21st century and you cannot register online.  This is a paper form and black pen job and although the notification page of the ICO site makes it look like there are lots of helpful alternatives such as ‘On the Internet’, email and phone, you quickly realise these are only different ways to be sent the form!  The only concession to helpfulness is that ordering the form online or over the phone means you are sent a partially completed form based on the information you provide.

There is a registration fee which is used to cover the costs of the ICO service.  This falls into two tiers: if you employ fewer than 250 people and your company earned less than £25.9 million pounds in the last financial year you are in tier 1 and pay £35.  Otherwise you fall into tier 2 and pay £500.  But I think you can afford it.

This is an annual fee and you will be sent a reminder to renew your notification, updating any information which has changed.

Once registered you will be added to the public list of data controllers and receive an ICO registration number, such as I have at the bottom of my business web pages.

And let’s face it, whilst this can seem like a bit of a chore, what it actually does is help instil trust in your clients.  By making clear you’ve kept the regulations it shows you take the question of protecting clients’ data seriously.  That can only boost your credibility as a professional service provider.

Which of course begs the question:

What Are the Regulations I’m Signing Up For?

Naturally you aren’t just going through the motions.  By signing up for the data controllers register you are stating your compliance with the principles of responsible data handling:

  1. The data should be processed fairly and lawfully and may not be processed unless the data controller can satisfy one of the conditions for processing set out in the Act.
  2. Data should be obtained only for specified and lawful purposes.
  3. Data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive.
  4. Data should be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
  5. Data should not be kept longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed.
  6. Data should be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject under the Act.
  7. Appropriate technical and organisational measures should be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
  8. Data should not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

So, in short, keep the data safe (are your computers password protected?), don’t keep old data you don’t need and only use the data for the intended purpose.

The ICO does search actively for businesses which should have registered, often focusing on particular sectors.  Don’t be caught out – it won’t cost an arm and a leg, it doesn’t take that long and it will ensure you aren’t breaking the law.

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Advertising – It’s Enough to Make you Cry

Posted on January 4, 2012 by David

 

Say hello to Barney.

Barney’s a sad dog.  His family couldn’t afford to keep him but instead of taking him to a shelter they kicked him out on the streets.  He was cold and scared.  He didn’t know how to look after himself and all the love he once knew had gone.

Just £5 a month can help us rescue dogs like Barney.

…Or maybe dogs don’t cut it with you. 

I’ve got a really cute cat in a rubbish sack by a river if you prefer.  Or a donkey with a wonky hoof?  C’mon – his name’s Desmond and his hoof really is very wonky, but our donkey surgeons are ready to put it right with just a small donation.

Advertisements – Head or Heart?

We’re all used to pitches for helping animals in distress.  Advertisers might dish out statistics or tell us what our money will achieve, but fundamentally they tug at the heartstrings.  We become emotionally engaged and are therefore more likely to part with our cash.

But what about products or services where emotion is not the obvious path to take?  The core copywriting mantra is “sell benefits, not features”.  Rather than unengaging facts about a product you provide explanations about why someone will benefit from using it.  However, that’s still about conveying specific information to the audience about how their needs will be met – appealing to the intellect rather than the emotions.  The Shake ‘n’ Vac woman has a cheerful song, but she’s still rooted in benefits – “When your carpet smells fresh, your room does too.”

But raw emotion does indeed play a role in quite surprising ways.

John Lewis has just reported a 6.2% rise in its sales over the Christmas period compared with the previous year.  This was in the thick of incredibly tough trading conditions when other retailers have been experiencing slumps in sales.

Now of course there are likely to be a number of factors in this, but one key reason is surely the John Lewis Christmas ad.

 

 

Awwww!  Let’s Buy a Toaster

The success of this ad campaign demonstrates very clearly the power of emotions in advertising.  More than simply appealing to your heart, it leads to your heart swelling to such gargantuan proportions that your head is suffocated, preventing your brain from registering the fact it’s nonsense.

It’s rather like a sequel to The Stepford Wives, only here it’s the children who have been replaced by perfect versions which do exactly what their parents would dream of.  The young boy is seen impatiently counting down the days to Christmas and when the grand day arrives he promptly hares past his presents at the end of the bed to give his own to Mum and Dad.

Because, of course, in the old adage, giving is better than receiving. 

Except this isn’t normal behaviour for children.  Far more usual are the whining brats venting their expletive-laden spleen on Facebook because their parents didn’t get them an iPhone.

On the other hand, of course, Christmas is about make-believe.  There’s no fat jolly Santa, family get-togethers are often more about tension than merrymaking and once a decade we might get a few flakes of snow.  The John Lewis ad takes the fantasy and injects it into an every-family situation so deftly that we identify with it, even though it depicts something utterly fanciful.  It’s Christmas spirit made accessible and suddenly grown men are sobbing into their lagers.

There’s no hint of a John Lewis store.  Nothing about service, quality or never knowingly being undersold.  No products on special offer, no smiling assistants helping old ladies and not even a celebrity shopping in the store.  After our journey to the emotional  twist at the end of the ad our eyes dwell on the young boy’s face as he holds his gift and we’re finally given the message: “For gifts you can’t wait to give.”

By the second or third viewing, when we’re finally able to read the message without watery distortions clouding our vision, the emotional punch translates into a connection with John Lewis and hey presto! We’re off for a shop to share in this Christmas idyll through the power of our spending.

The Warm and Fuzzy Facts

The IPA analysed 1,600 advertising campaigns and compared the improved profits brought by advertisements which focused on emotional appeal with those relying on information and rational persuasion.  The emotive ads performed about twice as well, which seems to provide similar proof to the boosted sales figures released by John Lewis.

In many ways this shouldn’t be surprising.  In terms of brain function emotion is far more deeply rooted in the primitive regions of the brain than the more recently evolved intellectual capabilities.  This gives it an extraordinary power to bypass those rational functions and provide an overriding impulse affecting our behaviour.

Small wonder there has been considerable growth in emotional advertising in recent years.  But there are notes of caution to be sounded.

The majority of advertising is focused on the young and increasingly the demand amongst this market is for the quick and easily accessible.  Ads which take time to build an emotional response risk being ignored.  The DVR firm TiVo conducted research on the fast-forwarding habits of their users.  Rational and persuasive ads performed much better on this front as people stopped to watch something which had clear and obvious relevance to their lives.  Ads which tried to be creative and build up a mood were ignored.  In other words, we’re back to benefits again.

It’s also true that emotions are much trickier to stage-manage.  You could very easily get it wrong and what works emotionally in advertisers’ heads may not connect with the viewing audience.  Furthermore, purely emotional ads are less likely to be successful for smaller companies.  People often need to feel comfortable with a brand’s identity before they can fully open up their emotional centres to its message.

Once More With Feeling…

So where does that leave your advertising?  Perhaps with an awareness that even if it might not be wise to go for the all-out emotional assault of the John Lewis Stepford child, having an eye on the emotional register of your advertising could prove profitable.

Many companies are still convinced the only thing to do is sell the product in simple, straightforward terms that everyone understands.  This overlooks the fact, however, that emotions are the simplest and most universal terms we have.  “Value” to one person can mean an excellent deal but to another it can mean “cheap”.  Feeling happy, though, is simply feeling happy and if you can associate that with your product or service you have done something very constructive in marketing terms.

Rational persuasion is an enormously powerful advertising strategy, but in employing the emotions as well you can start to break down barriers within the consumer and create a relationship.  This in turn builds trust which helps lead to purchases.

The lesson from emotional advertisements is to remind those in advertising that their promotional material can work in many ways.  Selling benefits is crucial, but on some occasions it’s worth considering if they could be better sold with a little heart.

* No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog and Desmond is doing well after hoof realignment surgery.

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Copywriting and Cliché – Avoid it like the Plague…?

Posted on July 31, 2011 by David

Call Office-Kwik today – your one-stop shop for all office equipment!  Whatever your office supplies needs, we have the solutions.  Our passion for office supplies means we’re at the cutting edge – always proactive in giving you a tailor-made service.  Don’t settle for second best, call Office-Kwik now – you’ll wonder how you ever managed without us!

Do you actually need some office supplies?  Odds on if you do you’d not be rushing to call Office-Kwik today.  The above copy is pretty poor because it tells you nothing.  Mostly this is down to its reliance on expressions that feel like marketing language but which are actually clichéd bundles of linguistic fluff.  They’re either meaningless in this context (proactive, cutting-edge) or condense genuine marketing benefits into a phrase that’s so hackneyed it actually sucks the impact out (one-stop shop).

Copywriting is all about making things sound appealing.  To do that your writing needs to be fresh and original because if your expression is all too familiar then it stands less chance of cutting through a consumer’s indifference.  It’s surprising, therefore, that you can still find so much of it in marketing copy, though if you read on you’ll see there’s one context in which using cliché could be to your advantage…

Why is Cliché so Common?

Forget copywriting for a moment.  Cliché runs throughout language because it serves as convenient and familiar shorthand.  Human expression is so often about economy and clichéd expressions save us the effort of thinking about how to convey something. 

A difficult situation where there’s been setback and misfortune but it’s not over yet and there’s still time to make a difference?  It’s a game of two halves.

Taking time and effort in an attempt to bring about a positive resolution in an ultimately futile situation?  You’re flogging a dead horse.

Indeed, we’re so keen to economise we even shorten the clichés themselves to the point where we’ve forgotten the original meaning.  How often do you hear “the proof’s in the pudding”?  What sort of proof do you find in a pudding?  Do Poirot and Columbo head straight for the dessert trolley when they’re on a case?

…Well, Poirot might, but he wouldn’t expect to find any clues there.

The actual saying is “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” i.e. you don’t know for sure if something is successful until you actually try it.  Over the years, though, the linguistic economy drive has pared the saying down to an expression that’s literally nonsense but which still conveys the intended meaning.

So this is why cliché is so common generally, but what about copywriting, where professionals are being paid to use language creatively and compellingly?

Pudding-Proof Copy

You’ll find clichéd expression in copy for two main reasons.

Firstly, because the copywriter isn’t very good.  Let’s face it, anyone can call themselves a copywriter and many do so without any real understanding or experience.  Tragically, many companies are not sure about what makes good copy – that’s why they’re hiring a copywriter in the first place.  Consequently, ropey copy makes it through.  Alternatively, companies try to produce copy for themselves and end up with something alarmingly like the spoof at the beginning.

Secondly, because good copy should be economical.  Conveying ideas in as few words as possible is a primary goal for copywriters because people aren’t willing to plough through thick slabs of writing.  Cliché can feel like an effective way to do this because people instantly know the idea encapsulated in that handy phrase.

In reality, though, whilst the meaning may be fairly clear it has lost its potency through over-use.  Like well-chewed gum, the jaws are moving mechanically but the flavour’s long gone.

So the copywriter’s art is to create punchy copy that gets the message across economically without surrounding their marketing message in the airy, cloying candy floss of cliché.

Except…

The Power of Search Engines

When writing online copy the rules aren’t quite the same.  In this very different environment it’s not just your words communicating with potential customers, it’s the customers’ words ‘communicating’ with you!

Before anyone reads your online copy they have to find it.  In most cases this will be through an online search, which is why search engine optimisation (SEO) is such a key part of successful online copy.  Incorporating the right keywords for the business is crucial in making sure it comes high on search engine results pages.

And here’s where it gets interesting, because we’ve already established how common cliché is in day-to-day expression, so it’s no surprise that you can find some of these clichés in popular search terms.

Take another example from the opening spoof: ‘solutions’.  This has become one of the most over-used terms in modern copy and it’s easy to see why.  Customers are generally searching for services because they have a problem or requirement which needs solving, so in the mantra of good copywriting you offer what the customer wants: solutions.  Except of course that’s so generalised it’s really saying nothing, but as an all-encompassing shorthand it’s become part of a vast swathe of copy – and language in general.

Let’s take, for example, website copy you’re writing for an IT support company in London.  One of the keyword phrases you might choose to incorporate into your copy is “London IT support services”.  Last month there were 1,900 local searches for that term – real people putting in those exact words to find a company to provide services for them.

What if you’d use the keyword phrase “London IT solutions”?  Well, you’d have done a lot better since 9,900 people searched locally using those keywords.

So, you could focus on keywords which lack any clichés and just present clear information about the business, or you could add more clichéd terms and get five times the hits.

This is where the copywriter has to balance professional pride with actually getting the job done effectively.  We don’t like using cliché but at the end of the day (*hem*) successful copywriting is about understanding the customer.  If enough customers are using clichéd terms to find businesses then it would be unwise to lose them because you don’t want to sound clichéd.

You don’t have to pollute the entire site with such clichés, just a landing page which can take people to the meat of the site.  Expunging useful clichés just for the sake of it is like… well, like tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

Mmmmmm.  Feeling peckish after all this work.  I need a pudding solution.  One that does exactly what it says on the tin.

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Literature and Copywriting – Chalk and Cheese?

Posted on April 13, 2011 by David

To strive, to seek, to find…great deals on home insurance

The world of literature is no stranger to copywriters.  Elmore Leonard, Joseph Heller, Peter Mayle and Salman Rushdie were all copywriters before finding literary fame.  Remember the slogan “naughty but nice” advertising cream cakes?  That was Rushdie’s brainchild.

Clearly being good with words in a marketing context can bode well for writing literature, but can we reverse-engineer this process?  Is it constructive to look at great literature for inspiration when writing great copy?

Come, Watson, the game is afoot!  …At Martin’s Sports Shoe Locker

Since both literature and copywriting involve effective communication through words it seems logical enough to expect a strong connection.  Both types of writing need to hold the reader’s attention and convey information clearly.  However, in reality the writing style of most novelists would be disastrous if applied to the needs of marketing copy.

Good copy cannot afford to be wasteful with words.  Neither can it luxuriate in flourishes of language that are not directly working to generate action from the reader.  Charles Dickens once referred to “a hot infusion of oriental leaves”.  That’s “a cup of tea” to you and me.

Literature is more expansive and about escaping into other worlds, not connecting readers to the real world and encouraging them to act.  Great literature is about generating pleasure through sophisticated writing, allusive imagery and frequently challenging vocabulary.   Great copywriting is about communicating with the masses, which needs concise clarity.  So perhaps we should leave novels on the shelf and just focus on reading other people’s successful copy in order to write better copy ourselves.  Maybe the only place for classic writers is in classic adverts.

But…

I can resist everything except…Temptation’s range of sinfully delicious ice creams.

There is another way of looking at it.  If all we do is read other people’s copy then what we risk is repeating other people’s copy.  The tricks, techniques and trends in circulation just spin a little wider and faster, not going anywhere new.  Whereas what we can appreciate so much from literature is the power of creativity and innovation.

To take an old maxim, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  That would be the argument for sticking solely to copy for inspiration.  Tried and tested techniques have worked for years, so look no further.  But you can call up another maxim in response: familiarity breeds contempt.  People know the old approaches of “Last few days – hurry before our Big Sale ends!”

These techniques turn into cliché.  Rather like using maxims.  Great literature avoids cliché like the plague, unless employed with post-modern irony, of course.  That’s why there can be benefits in reading widely.

Simply translating the approaches of fiction writers to copy is never going to work.  Looking to literature is not about copying techniques, it’s about being alive to the possibilities of language.  Clarity is vital in copy, but it’s equally important to engage readers, to make them remember your message and inspire them to act.  Generating a spark in your words, something that makes them different, distinctive and alive is vital to this process.  And it’s what creative writers have been doing for millennia.

Out, damned spot!  Stubborn stains vanish with Scott’s stain remover

Part of the reason for Shakespeare’s astonishing success is his skill with language, using his poetic sensibility to embody ideas with striking originality, through fresh and powerful expression.  With a few words he conveys ideas with total clarity, reaching within the listener’s mind to make startling contact.  Here are just a few examples:

  • Method in the madness
  • A sorry sight
  • Pomp and circumstance
  • Seen better days
  • Full circle

These have become clichés now, but only because they so perfectly encapsulate ideas with which people connect.  Shakespeare’s coinages fill the English language – there are hundreds more – and we can learn a lot about how to take words and make them strike a powerful chord in the reader. It doesn’t have to be complicated; it doesn’t have to be ‘literary’; it simply needs to speak with conviction and originality in words that resonate.

The same thing can happen with advertising copy.  A common expression nowadays is to say something “Does exactly what it says on the tin”, originating from a series of adverts for Ronseal varnish and wood stain.  This slogan cleverly tapped into people’s desire to trust a product to deliver what it promises.  That’s why it has now evolved beyond that original advertising context.

Even one of Shakespeare’s coinages has been re-coined for the marketing world with “There’s method in the Magners”, used to advertise cider.  This is perhaps less likely to become a classic.

The point, however, is that sometimes copywriters post online with advice about forgetting literature and even actively avoiding it, lest you start to pick up bad writing habits that lack economy and clarity.

I think that’s a mistake.  Literature isn’t a guide for copywriting, it’s a source of inspiration and creativity in relation to words.  Language is incredibly rich and the more you read talented wordsmiths in fiction, the sharper your own sensibilities become. Of course as a copywriter you continue reading all the copy you can to keep up with the game, but just as an Italian chef isn’t just going to eat Italian, it’s important to broaden your experiences of imaginative writing. It just might add a spicy new twist to your own dish.

Call me Ishmael… on 0845 619 4411 for striking copy that generates results.

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Perfect Pitch – Writing Sales Letters that Work

Posted on April 6, 2011 by David

Wherever businesses turn these days the dazzling wunderkind of new media demands their attention.  Not marketing through Facebook?  Your company’s doomed.  Not on Twitter getting down with your tweeps in the cyberhood?  You’re a knuckle-dragging troglodyte.

So you’d be pretty daft to consider putting your sales message in a letter.  I mean paper?  That’s soooo last century, dude.

Except research shows direct mail remains a cornerstone of many successful companies’ marketing strategies.

Why?

Because it works.

A recent survey by Direct Marketing News found that

  • Nearly 40% of consumers surveyed tried a new business because of direct mailing.
  • Nearly 94% took action on promotional offers received in the mail.
  • Nearly 70% gave a company repeat business because of mail received.

In another survey by ICOM a majority of 18-34 year-olds preferred printed marketing materials over online versions, possibly because they did not appreciate social media being invaded by promotional efforts.

So companies looking to drum up new business should always consider direct mail as a productive marketing tool.  In effect, you can have thousands of sales people in homes and offices to market your company, but the letter has to work hard.  On the whole, consumers don’t scrunch up sales people and toss them in the recycling, but that’s what can happen to your letter if it doesn’t have the right impact.

If your sales copy doesn’t grab attention and convert prospects your money and effort have been wasted, so let’s consider what makes a great sales letter.

Direct Mail Isn’t Junk Mail

No one welcomes the piles of postal dreck that build up on the doormat.  However, direct mail is not part of this.  A successful sales letter is targeted at the right people and written to them personally, by name.

The person opening your letter should already be open to your message.  The contents should be addressing and answering their needs, so that you’re providing a friendly communication offering them exactly the sort of thing they are likely to want.

Of course even then it remains true that most readers still won’t take action, but it only takes a small proportion to justify the cost of direct mail.  Even more so if they go on to become repeat customers.  That’s why the first rule is crucial…

The Address is More Important than the Letter!

No, I haven’t taken leave of my marketing senses – I’m a professional copywriter paid to write sales letters, but I’m telling you what’s more important than that.

If you don’t target your letter effectively the letter will fail, so your first step must be to create a mailing list.

Start with existing customers – always the best source of future business.  Send a friendly letter-nudge to inform them of special offers and new products or services.

You can also buy mailing lists.  Companies such as Selectabase can tailor lists for your target market.  This ensures your message is sent to the right people who are receptive to what you have to offer.  Do make sure, however, that any lists you buy are up to date and legally sourced.

Make Every Word Count

There are potentially many pages of advice for writing sales letters that work, but here are some of the most important strategies:

    • Be Realistic.  People are unlikely to buy simply on the strength of a letter, so focus your calls to action on realistic goals.  Create interest that can be channelled into constructive action such as visiting websites, completing reply cards, emailing or phoning.  Increasing the number of contacts between you and the customer increases the likelihood of conversion.

 

    • Length.  If you’re selling to business keep the letter to 2 sides.  In busy offices multiple-page letters are liable to be binned.  If you’re selling to consumers longer is usually better for properly targeted letters, but make every sentence work hard – don’t waffle!

 

    • Clarity.  Make sure your letter is easy to read.  Sensible fonts in a reasonable size; short sentences and paragraphs; bullet points; sub-headings; simple vocabulary; no jargon; bold text (not too much, though!) and clear calls to action.

 

    • Personal.  It should already be clear you must write to a named individual, but there are other strategies to help connect with the reader.  The tone should be a combination of businesslike and informal.  Be friendly but not patronising; engaging but relevant.  Make sure you use ‘you’ more than ‘we’.

 

    • Benefits, not features.  Customers couldn’t care less that your vacuum cleaner has a 2000W motor, 2.6L capacity and weighs 6.3 kg.  They want to know it’s powerful enough to tackle all household cleaning, including pet hair, as well as being light and easy to use.  Give people what they want, not what you think they should know.

 

    • Keep Them Reading.  Your letter should flow like a river so it’s hard to get off!  Achieve this with connectives that push the reader forward such as, “What’s more…” “Even more importantly…” and “Surprisingly…”.  Don’t be afraid to break some grammatical rules in this effort, such as starting sentences with ‘and’ or ‘but’.  Accuracy is important in copywriting but rules can be bent if the effect is worth it.  Test your letter by reading it out loud and by leaving it for a few days before a fresh read.

 

    • Skimmers.  The majority of readers will skim your letter so be sure to catch their attention.  Put your key message in a headline and ensure sub-headings sum up your main points.  The first line of every paragraph should convey its content.  Employ bullet points.  Using a P.S. ensures a skimmer flicking to the end sees something relevant, not just a meaningless signature.  You should save one of your best shots for the P.S.

 

  • Did I mention calls to action…?  I make no apologies for doing so again!  Don’t assume people will feel sufficiently motivated to work out what to do next.  They won’t.  You have to steer them and put the next step right under their noses – throughout the letter!

One of the biggest pitfalls in sales letters is complacency.  Business owners are rightly proud of their products or services, but it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of the customer, who knows nothing about you or how great your product is.  Consumers are only interested in themselves, so your letter must set out to convince them of the benefits on offer.

If you get it right you have new customers and possibly some recommendations too.  New media is an area of rich potential for marketing but trust me, paper still cuts it.

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How to Use Hyphens & Dashes

Posted on March 21, 2011 by David

Looking through the marketing copy of countless companies — including household-name brands — I see one error more than any other: ignorance over the use of hyphens.

It’s a tiny and much-neglected mark but for fully rounded and accurate writing you need to understand its usage.

…Oh, and if you thought I dropped a clanger there by not hyphenating ‘fully rounded’ you definitely need to read on.

Em&En – Nothing to do with Rapping

First of all we need to sort out some differences.  A hyphen is not a dash and you can see examples of both in that opening sentence.

Dashes are longer than hyphens and generally used to separate out part of a sentence.  In fact there are two types of dash, the em dash and the en dash.

Em Dashes

These are the longest of the punctuation marks.  They signal a break in the sentence, dividing off a part of it.  In the example of the opening sentence they work like parentheses, hiving off an ‘inserted’ thought that breaks the flow of the main sentence.  Using em dashes instead of parentheses can give a greater sense of emphasis.

You can also break the sentence with just one dash providing the sense of an afterthought — like I’ve done here.  Note that a true em dash isn’t properly catered for on your keyboard.  Programs such as Word will automatically lengthen a hyphen if they see it used in a certain context, but this will actually be a shorter en dash – like here.  To create a proper em dash press Alt and type 0151 into the numeric keypad.  However, in modern practice it is entirely acceptable to use the shorter en dash instead.

En Dashes

Shorter than em dashes but longer than hyphens, these generally indicate a range, such as working Tuesday – Friday, or the store opens from 9.30 – 6.00pm, or suitable for ages 4 – 8.  You can create this using Alt 0150 on the numeric keypad.

Hyphens

Hyphens are the shortest of these punctuation marks and are used for the following:

  • To signal the splitting of a word that falls at the end of the line — a practice best avoided if possible.
  • To join together two or more words that work together in creating meaning.

This is an important signal because without hyphens meanings will change.   A fat-free chicken is a healthy meal, whilst a fat free chicken is a large bird for which you don’t have to pay.

Now, here’s the bad news: knowing which words need hyphenation is not an exact science.  There are many exceptions and so the firmest advice is to look in the dictionary if you want to be completely sure.  However, there are key principles that will help you get it right in most cases.

One of the most common areas for mistakes is compound adjectives, where you use a multiple-word expression to describe a noun, as was the case just now.  ‘Expression’ is the noun being described by a phrase meaning ‘more than one word’.  Neither ‘multiple’ nor ‘word’ convey the complete meaning by themselves so are hyphenated to demonstrate the link.

Importantly, you should only use this hyphenation when the compound modifier comes before the noun.  If it comes afterwards no hyphen is used:

  • He was a well-respected speaker.  The speaker was well respected.
  • Come to Luigi’s, the pasta-lovers’ paradise!  Luigi’s is a paradise for pasta lovers.
  • The up-to-date accounts are ready to be sent.  The accounts are up to date.

The exception here is when the adjective compounds end in –ing or –ed.  Here they will often take a hyphen even when they follow the noun:

  • The student was hard-working.
  • George and Maria were middle-aged.

In all examples of hyphens the single most important rule of grammar is generally the one to fall back on: do whatever helps clarify meaning.  So for instance you should always use hyphens to join compound adjectives describing ages or lengths of time.  10 year old boys could be 10 boys of a year old, or an unspecified number of boys who are all 10. 

10 year-old boys is the first.

10-year-old boys the second.

Not With –ly Adverbs

Remember I pointed out earlier that ‘fully rounded’ should not be hyphenated, even though it is a compound modifier coming before the noun in that sentence?  That’s because the exception to this rule is adverbs.  Any compound modifier that uses an adverb ending in –ly should not use a hyphen.  So we can have

  • The highly talented conductor
  • The happily married couple
  • The recently departed managing director

The reason for this is that the –ly adverb is considered to be giving a clear enough signal that it is modifying the following word, so the hyphen is unnecessary for clarity.

Be careful, though.  A word such as ‘friendly’ is primarily an adjective, so you would write ‘friendly-looking man’.  You need to think about the function of the words.

Other Uses

There are a number of compound words where no matter what the context the component words are clearly working together in meaning and therefore hyphenated:

  • Mother-in-law
  • Merry-go-round
  • Jack-of-all-trades

Also any words where a capital letter works with another word need a hyphen, such as T-shirt, X-ray and V-neck. Numbers between 21 and 99 should take hyphens when written as words, such as seventy-six or sixty-fourth.  Fractions should also use hyphens when written out as words, such as two-thirds or three-fifths.

Most people seem familiar with the use of hyphens to link prefixes, such as anti-terrorist, post-apocalyptic or non-religious.

Times, They Are a-Changin’

I said early on that this is one of the most fluid and often disputed areas of English punctuation and the guide here is only brief.  Certainly with the electronic age people have increasingly dispensed with the hyphen, such that in 2007 the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary removed the hyphens from 16,000 words to reflect altered usage¹.  Pot-belly became pot belly and pigeon-hole became pigeonhole.  This is why the advice still stands to check an up-to-date dictionary, just to be sure it hasn’t become an uptodate dictionary!

However, for all the ambiguity and flexibility, your business writing will still look sloppy if you don’t follow the basic rules for hyphenation.  It also helps with the central purpose of all punctuation: clarity.

  • The light blue box was too much for him to carry.  (Less shameful if it’s light-blue)
  • I’ll have to repress those trousers.  (Were they getting bolshie?  Maybe re-press…)
  • After taking over the rental business Alan was amazed to see the dirty video shelves.  (I’m hoping this sentence is perfectly correct and needs no hyphen)

1. BBC News – Hyphens

Posted in Copywriting, Language Matters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Guest Post: Live and Learn

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Guest Blogger - Victoria Wood

Take one recession, one 21-year-old, numerous bills and no job – what do you get?

Me, actually.

Well, you get the ‘me’ back in September 2009. I was jobless, penniless and verging on homeless – right in the middle of the biggest recession of my lifetime. It wasn’t a nice place to be. In fact; I wouldn’t wish that period of my life on my worst enemy.

Anyway, put your violins away, I’m ok now.

In the two weeks after the end my previous job contract, I must have applied for over 100 jobs. Many replied saying that the position had been dropped due to lack of funds, many asked if I was willing to take the role part-time and a couple of the companies went under before I could even get an interview.

So there I was; sat in the office of my best friend, whining, moaning, bitching and complaining that I had no money. Over what must have been our tenth coffee, he suggested I try being self-employed.

I laughed it off; “arf arf, I hate me, I couldn’t employ me…” etc.

However, by midnight that evening, I was on the phone to my Mum asking if she thought it was a good idea. She agreed that I could move back home and that it was my only option. After all, the world doesn’t owe me a living: if there were no jobs around, I would have to make my own.

I won’t lie. The first few months were absolutely awful. The number of times I got so close to clicking “apply now”, on the most horrendous job-listings at £3 p/h, were impossible to count.

In fact, it’s not exactly champagne and flash cars now, but I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far. Especially as I live in Sheffield – with its 10-PR-companies-per-square-mile policy. Regardless, here I am, I’m 22 and I run a business. I don’t have a Range Rover yet but I do have pride, a fantastic network of people and I have business cards with my name on and EVERYTHING.

So, what have I learnt as a business owner?

Many things, actually.

In the words of Baz Lurhman: I will dispense this advice now.

  1. You won’t earn £30,000 a year straight away. You’ll be lucky to earn £3000.
  2. Get out there and meet people. Being self-employed is rid…hold on.
  3. Being self-employed is ridiculously lonely.
  4. Networking works. Oh, ironic that’s number 4? Out of all the groups I have been to – 4Networking is the one that really truly works. You should join – it changed everything.
  5. Working in your pyjamas does not encourage you to work hard – get up, have a shower and get dressed. Hell, put some lippy on – you’ll get in ‘the zone’ then and be able to work.
  6. Get a roller banner. Even if you only use it in your office – it will inspire you and is a constant reminder of what you’ve achieved.
  7. Invest in a good accountant. My accountant is amazing. I owe her so much, she’s a true gem.
  8. Get some good friends around you – they’ll act as your field sales reps.
  9. Do an excellent job for clients – they’re even better sales reps.
  10. Don’t be afraid of working with your friends. 2 or 3 of my clients are my friends – I wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus, if they don’t pay you – you know where they live.

I’d also suggest getting to know the business people who are in similar fields to you. I am a partner of marketing companies, virtual assistants and even other PR agencies. Don’t tread on each other’s toes – work together to provide the best service possible! 

Anyway, get on with your work now. That’s your skiving over.

xxx

Posted in Copywriting, Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Online Marketing – Careful Now…

Posted on February 24, 2011 by David

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Dodgy advertising claims are nothing new.  At least there’s protection if you see misleading or dishonest claims in the print or broadcast media – you can complain to the Advertising Standards Authority, the independent regulator with the power to stop false advertising in its tracks.

Problem was, if you read any untruthful claims on a website you didn’t have a cyber-leg to stand on – until now.

Advertising Standards Catch Up With the Web

From the 1st March 2011 the ASA will begin regulating all marketing communication by UK companies on the web.  This will protect the consumer but also, of course, means businesses will have to exercise much greater vigilance over web content.  These new regulatory powers are not just targeted at the wildly outrageous claims; simple carelessness could get you into hot water.  So what should businesses focus on to make sure their online marketing is fully compliant?

Websites

This is the most obvious area for any business.  Make sure your claims are watertight and your offers aren’t misleading.  Making observations about competitors could now be a minefield, so if you do, for instance, compare your product with another, make sure every aspect of the comparison is fair and accurate.  If you carry testimonials, make sure you can prove their authenticity; if you claim your product can save the customer money make sure you have the specific evidence and if you promote a limited-time offer, make sure it doesn’t continue throughout the year!

Pay-per-Click

There has been huge growth in this sector of online advertising but the danger is that to catch a reader’s attention sometimes companies opt for edgy copy.  You have the briefest of spaces through which to capture a prospect and it can be tempting to lure people into clicking with statements that might not bear much scrutiny.  It doesn’t matter if you clarify on the site itself – the brief ad must stand in its own right.

Social Media

Here’s the biggest area of concern for companies.  Third party sites which you control, even if unpaid for, are still your legal responsibility.  It would seem obvious that messages posted by you or your employees on your own social media site would be subject to official scrutiny from the ASA.  Indeed, some companies have already encountered trouble from unwise postings by their employees.  However, comments made by the public on your social media sites must also be considered.  The ASA notes about user-generated content (UGC):

“The ASA is likely to take a very different view of a consumer’s positive comment that has been posted, by the website owner, in a prominent way on the front page of its website, than if that same comment appeared within the context of a consumer message board moderated for harmful and offensive language or images only.”

Nevertheless, ‘likely’ is an interesting term that also follows on from their main statement:

“Assessing whether UGC amounts to a marketing communication falling within the new remit must be considered on a case-by-case basis.”

So, if a member of the public posts something that you imagine would be acted upon by the ASA if you had made the comment yourself it would perhaps be wisest to remove it.  Your decision to leave such a comment on your site could be viewed negatively.  Even if you didn’t claim that, “Eating Maxwell’s sausage rolls gave my gran a stroke!” it might be deemed that leaving such a claim on your own bakery’s Facebook page amounts to an endorsement and as such falls foul of the rules.

We are still in the thick of the social media marketing revolution but this is the moment to take stock of your campaigns, strategies and controls.  “It wasn’t me, guv!” isn’t going to cut it in this new regulatory era.

A Good Thing

This sounds like hassle but overall the new remit can only be for the benefit of business.  Companies can themselves be misled by online marketing and of course the honest business will always be tearing its hair out seeing customers lured into the clutches of competitors making misleading statements.  The ASA will now be able to act on these things.

The ASA claims it is not aiming to bash businesses, just to ensure good practice.  To that end they are not about dishing out fines (though extreme cases from the offline world have made it to court).  Instead they set out the following as likely plans of action should businesses at fault fail to comply:

  • An enhanced name and shame policy – providing details of an advertiser and the non-compliant marketing communication on a special part of the ASA website.
  • Removal of paid-for search advertising – ads that link to the page hosting the non-compliant marketing communication may be removed with the agreement of the search engines.
  • ASA paid-for search advertisements – the ASA could place advertisements online highlighting an advertiser’s continued non-compliance.

    •  

    Also, they are keen to help.  Find out more at ASA online, where you can sign up for their website audit service to advise you on any necessary changes to meet the regulations.  You can also read the regulations in full at the CAP Code page.

    Policing the net is, of course, a huge task but Google has already thrown its weight behind the initiative and it is a significant step in the right direction.

    I should clarify that my opening claims were for illustrative purposes only and should not be read in the capacity of genuine marketing claims.

    I should also offer my apologies to President Obama and my Aunt Nerys. 

    In fact, one of these two people is fictional.  If you think you know who call our not-very-premium phone line now for a chance to win a fantastic holiday in…

    Hmmm.  Careful now.

    Posted in Advertising, Writing for the Web | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

    One-Page Websites – Wise Choice?

    Posted on February 13, 2011 by David

    Fashion.  One of the most powerful drives on the planet and also one of the most useless.  You don’t buy a fashionable product because it’s technically superior, the best value or earns the most impressive reviews.  You buy it because the ‘right’ people say you should.  Because it was featured in the trendiest magazine or spotted in the home of the hottest star.

    One of fashion’s greatest weaknesses is that it has to keep changing – by definition fashions are transient and consequently new trends often evolve from little more than the desire to be different from what went before, whether that makes sense or not.

    For that reason hapless fools would totter atop platform shoes, looking like low-rent circus acts and inviting hospitalisation at every step.  There’s no sense to it, but clearly such shoes are different.  Which brings us to one of the latest web trends.

    One-Page Wonders

    Small is beautiful; less is more.  Such is the philosophy behind the fashion for one-page websites.  Touted as artistic statements as much as anything else, the wunpage (as I shall call it, since I too am a fan of economy) is now held up as a thing of beauty.  Sites such as One Page Love and D-Lists showcase the best examples of the art and many businesses have chosen to jump on the bandwagon.

    Now of course many of these sites are not all they seem.  Some feature links that jump you to different parts of the long page or indeed to other pages elsewhere.  In essence these are still multi-page sites, just dressed in the latest fashions.

    There are even more that take the philosophy but don’t get the idea, stuffing their one page to the gills with a bewildering mass of detail that frustrates the entire purpose.

    Others, though, are indeed just the one page with limited detail, often employing videos or scrolling visuals.  So, I stopped to wonder about the wunpage and how useful it is for business.

    The Advantages

    We’ve already established the wunpage is trendy and people like trendy, so fair enough.

    It should also be a lot cheaper to create than multi-page sites and naturally that’s an important concern for any business.  Though of course successful businesses understand the best investment for generating returns is not necessarily the cheapest.

    Perhaps the greatest appeal is aesthetics.  The wunpage, if properly designed, should look clean, simple and efficient.  Your site isn’t cluttered with nav bars and buttons to take you hither and thither; it’s pure, like a cooled bottle of Evian.  This should appeal to the typical surfer whose attention span is short and who wants to access information quickly and easily without lots of clicking.

    And of course when you put it like that it does indeed sound appealing.  We all know what a tiresome business navigating the net can be; we’d all like simplicity and so we can buy into the promise of the wunpage.

    Except that this doesn’t stop to consider the needs of the business site and the psychology of action.

    The Problem

    Business websites are there for one reason: to get more business.  That involves the visitor to the website taking action.  This may be buying a product online, signing up for a newsletter or e-mailing/phoning with an enquiry.  No matter what the action, though, if the visitor leaves without taking it the website has failed.

    This is the eternal mistake made by so many businesses – the assumption that their product or service is so good that the consumer only has to hear about it to generate action.  The problem, however, is that people need more than information.  Facts don’t sell and people don’t make purchasing decisions on the spur of the moment; they need to feel confident about the action they take and this requires persuasion.  Sadly for the wunpage, persuasion also takes time.

    The Psychology of Selling

    Magazine Ads have a problem: they’re static and limited.  Advertisers face a huge challenge in making that space work for them and very often the goal is about little more than creating and reinforcing brand awareness.  A significant tactic nowadays, in fact, is to persuade readers to go online, where the company faces a far better chance of generating a response.

    Why?  Because the great boon of websites is that they provide the opportunity of creating a relationship with the customer.  This in turn establishes trust and step by step can lead the prospect towards taking the required action.  That’s why it seems odd that a business would want to limit the vast opportunities of the net by treating their space on it like a magazine ad.

    The great thing about the multi-page is that each click is a tiny action but actually makes the visitor feel involved and more in control.  They are doing things that your skilful web design should have mapped out for them, but in taking the action themselves they feel like they are calling the shots.

    With just one page there’s only one option: whatever you tell them to do.  If this is phoning they may well expect hard sell.  If it’s submitting an e-mail address the expectation may be a bombardment of sales mails.  In short, given the opportunities provided by the web for providing plenty of information, you look like you’re limiting it and forcing the visitor to do what you want.

    With multiple pages the visitor can see what they want to see.  This isn’t clutter, it’s openness and opportunity and it makes the viewer feel empowered.  In this state of mind they are more likely to trust you and may feel readier to take the action you want.

    Why Waste the Chance?

    Here’s the bottom line.  You can design a cracking home page that works as effectively as any one page site.  You may well have many people taking action on the strength of that alone.

    But consider those people who haven’t been convinced by that single page.  What options are left for them? If it’s a wunpage, just the one – click away and try another business.  But if you have other pages there’s still the opportunity to convince and keep them.

    For me, the logic of the wunpage is bizarre.  It’s like a marketer who finds an interested customer sitting down opposite to ask about the product.  He spends 60 seconds telling them about it and then gets up and walks away, leaving a business card on the table and shouting, “Call me if you’re interested!”

    Why would you do that?  Wouldn’t you want to work as hard as possible to convince that customer your product is the one to buy?

    Sabotaging SEO

    Another wunpage problem is search engine optimisation.  The great thing about multi-page sites is that you can optimise their separate pages for different search terms.  If people could potentially use a number of different keywords or phrases to reach your business then you can cast your net as widely as possible with multiple pages, whereas the single page is much more limited and may lack SEO power even for your chosen terms because you need to include other information that dilutes the effectiveness.

    Further still, if you choose to employ the typical wunpage strategies of videos or Flash presentations then there is no SEO benefit because those formats are hopeless for search engines.  For all the aesthetic beauty and cleanliness of your site, no one’s going to find it in a search.

    Fashion Senselessness

    Clearly the wunpage can generate business.  The real question, though, is whether a full website with the maximum opportunity to persuade potential customers would have earned even more.

    As proud as you rightly are of your product or service, people finding you on the net know nothing about you and have a search page stuffed with your competitors.  You can either dazzle them with your psychedelic platforms or get busy convincing them to stick with you.

    Posted in Advertising, Copywriting, Writing for the Web | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

    Awfully Smart Advertising – The Power of Annoying

    Posted on January 29, 2011 by David

    So, on a scale of 1-10, how irritated do you feel right now?  Whatever the figure a moment ago it’s probably a lot higher since clicking this page.

    Has the music started in your head yet?  “Go compaaare… Go compaaaare…”

    The scale only goes up to 10, I’m afraid.

    Go Compare has for the second year running been voted Britain’s most annoying advert in a survey by Marketing magazine.  You will all be painfully familiar with the tubby, twizzle-moustached opera singer, Gio Compario (yup, gio figuro…) who pops up in ever-more unlikely situations to extol the virtues of a price comparison website.  I can’t be the only one who’s fantasised about starving a troupe of Russian meerkats for a week and then dropping him in the cage.

    Compare the Marketing (.com)

    The marketing has been in full flow.  Gio has his own website and Facebook page, though an alternative Facebook campaign titled, ‘Go Compare, Go Compare, Give me a bat to kill the twat at Go Compare’ is around 10 times more popular.  So why on earth would marketers want to persist with this campaign?  Several more ads have been in the can for a while awaiting staggered release throughout the year, so why not just burn them and move on?

    The answer’s very clear.  Before the campaign Go Compare was third in the price comparison marketplace.  Now it’s first, even fending off Aleksandr Orlov, marketing meerkat extraordinaire whose autobiography outsold Paul O’Grady’s but who failed to take Compare the Market to the top spot.

    Both adverts actually employ the same principle: no one’s interested in hearing about how effective these sites are in comparing prices so the best strategy is to drum the name of the website into people’s minds.  Compare the Market puns on its name and attaches a cute and entertaining animal to the concept, Go Compare sings the name at us repeatedly with a man so annoying you can’t help but remember.

    When you’re at your computer thinking about buying something are you so filled with moral outrage at being regularly accosted by Gio Compario that on principle you block all access to Go Compare?  No.  It’s the first name you think of and you type it in. 

    Simples.

    The History of Awful

    The power of awful is nothing new.  Back in the seventies and eighties the British public was subjected to the brain-numbing tedium of z-list celebs talking about Nescafé.  The leading light amongst these was the late Gareth Hunt, former New Avenger turned coffee ambassador.

    Gareth chatted with his pals in suburbia about the ‘richer, smoother flavour’ of their favourite coffee before inexplicably discovering he had a handful of coffee beans.  These would then be shaken up and down within a clenched fist, miming the exact idea we were formulating about Gareth.

    It too was derided as the most buttock-clenchingly bad advert on the telly, but in supermarket aisles up and down the land people would consider which jar of coffee to buy and settled for the brand that came to the front of their minds: Nescafé.  And here I am, 30 years later, writing about it.  Could I tell you anything about any other hot beverage adverts at the time?  I could not.

    Ummmmm… Don’t tell me…

    We’re all quick to celebrate adverts that are original, funny, breathtaking or cinematic, but do they always work? Take car ads, for instance.  The dazzling CGI reworking of Gene Kelly breakdancing to ‘Singing in the Rain’ is very memorable, but which car was being advertised?   It’s great fun to watch cars flying off buildings and executing barrel rolls, but what make were they again…?  The Fiat Compario…?  No, no that can’t be right…

    The successful advert isn’t always the one that wins creative awards or that people love.  It’s the one that gets business.  Which isn’t to suggest any old annoying rubbish will work – there’s a lot of thought even behind Gio.  His tune is very catchy (a re-working of a deliberately rousing World War I song, ‘Over There’) whilst Gio himself is visually striking.  In the original ads he appeared in ordinary situations from day-to-day life, popping out of nowhere to advise consumers looking for a deal.  In terms of neuro-linguistic programming this is embedding key messages for the viewer about the site’s service and almost hypnotically implanting the name.  The lyrics too play their part, which is why more recent versions had to start running subtitles since the overblown singing was obscuring them.

    It’s All in the Mind

    It’s easy to become lost in creative or egotistical pleasure devising fresh ideas for adverts, but the bottom line is they have to work.  You’d think that making customers smile would be the goal, but making them grimace could be even more successful – if you play it carefully.  Whether it’s the fictitious nobody Barry Scott advertising Cillit Bang or our very own Gio, the power of awful is not to be underestimated.

    BANG and the dirt is gone!

    We all like to think we’re immune to the influence of adverts, that the 30 second nonsense unfolding before our eyes won’t affect us at all.  But we’re wrong.  Like chewing gum on the heel we pick it up without realising it and carry it with us wherever we go, which is very annoying.

    Unless you’re in advertising.

    “Thatsa not faaaaair!”

    Posted in Advertising | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments