Points of view
Measure What Matters
How to write effective emails
We’ve had 15 years of practice, but we are still writing very bad emails. Watch out for those annoying salutations and cheesy sign-offs. Don’t start your mails with the words ‘hi’, ‘hey’, ‘all’. You’ll raise hackles straight away. Beware of cheesy sign-offs, too....
How to use the web to build your brand
Do you want to see what brand actions captured the imagination in 2014? Here are the top ten creative brand expressions of last year. Many didn’t even air on TV, which shows the increasing supremacy of the web as a brand-building tool. Without a doubt, ‘#LikeAGirl’...
Brain bending words and phrases that make you stupid
If you feel like your brain is melting as you read the latest annual report, thought-leadership article or strategic tome then maybe it is? Business jargon has invaded our language and is corrupting even the most agile minds. Make it stop!...
How to pick the right social media post for your business
How do you pick the right social media posts for your business? The question is not ‘how to post’ but ‘how-to-think post’? A lot of company content – tweets, posts, articles and infographics – don’t support a business goal, according to marketing strategist Joe...
The language of going global
It’s hard enough to master the art of good communication in your native tongue, but the key to expanding abroad is to master the complex art of translation. Smartling, a cloud software company that helped GoPro launch online stores in six languages, says the trick to...
Tweet, tweet sales
Can a well-worded tweet really trigger a sale? Publisher Hachette has teamed up with Gumroad to use Twitter’s new ‘buy’ button to sell a limited number of titles, including astronaut Chris Hadfield’s book, You are Here. Musicians and charities have already used...
Perfect Posts
Social media can build your brand and spread your story, but only if you are use it aggressively. To succeed, you must learn to be bold – and to be sly, say Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick, the authors of The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users...
Want to sell more? Give the girls a Lego up
Barbie has been an astronaut since 1965 but Lego, the world’s second-largest toymaker, waited until 2014 to launch female action figures. Is the brand suffering because its male-dominated corporate management team (19 men, two women) isn’t doing enough to understand...
The Beyonce School of Communication
Beyoncé has joined Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s campaign to ban the word bossy when talking about women in business. "I'm not bossy," the singer says in the campaign video. "I'm the boss." Read more on how language can hamper communication:...
How to build an empire with Infographics
If Infographics were an artist, they’d be Salvador DalÍ – the most interesting person at the cocktail party. If they were a band, they’d be the Beatles – capable of communicating sophisticated ideas to the masses. Get the idea? Infographics create massive hits and can...