SPELL CHECK & CHAOS

We trust technology too much in communication.  Email allows us to receive massages instantly rather than weight for the male.  Mangers are butter aware of orifice operations and diners can be micro waived in seconds.  Sure, many techno knick knacks are trustworthy, butt end up casting us a lot when we misplace our truss.  Believe it or not, spell check clams this paragraph to be flawless.  How do we spare ourselves?

Don’t Trust Spell Check.  Txt mgs to friends are one thing, but contract proposals, resumes and marketing materials are another.  The classic slipup is my resume client; who dropped the “l” and identified herself as a “pubic relations specialist.”  She struggled for months to land an interview and couldn’t figure out why she’d been so fruitless.  Spell check didn’t catch her error, but the hiring authorities had no problem.

Another Set of Eyes.  Asking someone to review our work not only helps catch grammatical and spelling errors, it provides insight into a reader’s perspective.  We easily get so close to our work that what reads well in our minds can dumbfound or confuse others’.  Reading text aloud will also reveal trouble spots in readability and flow.  By the way, thanks to the editors who looked over this column.

Sleep on it. Scrambling to meet a deadline becomes problematic for obvious reasons.  I’m just as guilty of this as the next person, but have spared myself immense hassle and embarrassment by completing projects early and looking them over in the morning.  Staring at the monitor for hours can fry attentiveness and spike fatigue to the point that the most blatant mistakes can be easily overlooked.

These suggestions might seem remedial, but foregoing them can inflict detrimental, preventable loss.

THREE YEARS IN BUSINESS

September 1, 2011 marks Master Manuscripts' third year as a strategic communications and writing firm.  Whether you're a client, partner, friend, or web site visitor, I owe you a debt of gratitude for contributing to the triad.  You deserve a glimpse of what you've helped create.

In 2008 I was executing my job search from Mom and Dad's basement; determined to never forgive the employer who just cut my job.

The monitor displayed more job descriptions than pixels, torn up "thanks for your interest" letters covered the floor, and "overqualified" had been in the Google search box since the computer was hooked up.

Then, the phone rang and the caller was asking me for resume help.  I cordially replied, "You've got to be kidding."  But I needed the work so that caller became my first client.

Two days later, on Sept. 1, 2008, I launched Master Manuscripts committed to helping clients reach, capture, diversify, and grow the audiences they need by creating communication strategies and written messages that set them apart.

Now it's 2011 and more than 200 clients throughout the nation and economic spectrum advance their interests by using communication strategies and written content I created.  However, my biggest accomplishment is the benefits clients receive and perpetually enjoy after working with me.

Clients from 17 states, the District of Columbia, Central America, and Asia have come to Master Manuscripts for communication and writing services.  It's personally rewarding that most became clients as the result of referrals.

Multitudes provide those referrals, but the resume client I mentioned above came from the staff at  Preference Personnel - before I was even in business.  Evidently, my resume impressed somebody.  This staffing agency has been in business for decades and has been a pillar in my first three years.  When candidates request resume help, they often respond, "Call Mark Puppe at Master Manuscripts.  He can help."  Support like that is hard to come by so every comment Preference and other staffing agencies make on my behalf is appreciated beyond description.

Resumes are what people hear most about Master Manuscripts because other clients need to put their own name on the public statements they make, but I actually polish or prepare.  Legislative testimony, letters to the editor, web site content, speeches, PR campaigns, newsletters, and every other kind of message clients order gets  prepared on my computer(s).  Then the client's name goes on it. Clients deserve the credit because those messages are products of their thought.  They're just generous enough to provide me the chance to boost their impact and influence.  That process has worked over and over again in multiple industries for innumberable interests during the past three years and I'm grateful to have had a role.

Although referrals are the primary marketing force behind Master Manuscripts, every inquiry is appreciated and I constantly seek new business.  So, when you want your message to make an impact, you know where to go - as well as where to direct others who have similar needs.

Thank you, EVERYONE. for supporting Master Manuscripts during the past three years and your continued enthusiasm for the company in the future!

THE SALE DOESN'T SEAL THE DEAL

No matter where or how hard we work, our income comes from other people. They can be clients, donors, members, taxpayers, and even someone who saved us money by doing us a favor. Those relationships drive our income. Sustaining active communication with these relationships ensures we profit. Tailoring our communications to the audience and personifying ourselves will help ensure that payment keeps coming in.

My dentist recently sent me a handwritten note with congratulations for paying attention to my teeth and a gift card for a premium car wash. I don’t know how much the car wash cost, but I bet it’s negligible relative to payments he received from me. Nonetheless, his commitment to communicating with me beyond the sale will keep me coming back.

Here are two simple steps that will keep your customers coming back to you:

Personalize the message. A brief, handwritten letter that not only thanks people or their business, but also shows admiration, makes a far better impression than silence or form letters. People want to be acknowledged. If you see a customer on the news or hear them on the radio, let them know. If you learn something unique about your customer during the sales process, incorporate it into future communications.

Follow up. Sure, it’s important to do this during the sales process, but critical to continue it after the sale has been made. You had to overcome their skepticism before making the initial sale. A simple email or telephone call inquiring about the effectiveness of what you sold them can perpetuate the trust required to secure future sales.

These are two among many other powerful and cost-effective communication strategies you can use to attract and win your audience. Do some research, and keep them coming back.

*Published by North Dakota Young Professionals, July 29, 2011.

INTRODUCING MASTER MANUSCRIPTS

Three people called me the same day for resume help in 2008. I was unemployed and re-re-writing my own resume at the time. Interestingly, there must not have been much wrong with mine, those calls were advised by staffing agencies that were helping me. I was just “overqualified.”

Being unemployed and contacted for resume help made those requests paradoxical to say the least, but they became clients nonetheless. Then, a light popped-on in my mind and in less than a week, I reentered the work force under the banner of my new strategic communications and writing firm: Master Manuscripts.

The company keeps me afloat by providing organization development, public relations, and writing services that attract and win audiences for clients. These clients come from coast-to-coast and throughout the economic spectrum so their interests, goals, and messages are profoundly diverse. Therefore, so are the means they hire me to create and enhance.

Whether you’re sending a message via newsletters, web site content, speeches, press releases, resumes, online social networks, special events, or any means in between, Master Manuscripts has made them audience magnets for clients. That’s what strategic communications is all about and exactly what traditional marketing ignores.

It’s now 2011 and that resume I was working on in 2008 has been replaced. But the time-tested strategic communications concepts and practices that Master Manuscripts applies remain overlooked by the marketing firms and people needing them most.

That doesn’t mean you’ve lost your chance to use them -- the need for high impact, audience-centered communication is inherent and eternal. It just means that Master Manuscripts is among the few firms that understands them and can actually help fulfill that need.

WIN THE AUDIENCE - LET IT SPEAK

The audience already knows that we think our products, services, or ideas are the best.  However, happy audiences believe that what we promote actually fulfills their needs in ways that reflect their own interests.  Not until we know the audience's needs and interests can what we sell be sold, but when we do know, the things we sell can sell themselves.  Reaching that end can be challenging and very expensive, but cost-free steps do exist and taking this one will help us get there.

Two Ears.  One Mouth. People don’t like being told about their needs or suggestions that one exists.  When it happens, they instantly become skeptical of everything a seller asks and says.  That doesn’t help because audiences are often skeptical in the first place.  Sometimes, audiences don’t even recognize their own needs, but they’ll believe themselves before anyone else.  That means giving them the floor before putting our own products, services, or ideas on the table.  Think of it as interpersonal SEO.  When prospects talk, they share key terms we can use in our own messages as we Google for their interests.  When communicating face-to-face or over the phone, use the same words.  When writing, review the prospect’s web site or previous messages and then incorporate the key terms into yours.

Letting audiences create the map will identify the route they want our messages to follow.  Taking that route, rather than our own, enhances the leverage of our eventual response.  Yet keep in mind that we can’t respond until an initial message exists.  Allowing audiences to bump and set is our chance to spike.

*Published by North Dakota Young Professionals, May 20, 2011.