CNGVC Site Wins W3 Award

Published October 23rd, 2009 in alternative transportation, communications strategy, project profiles | No Comments »

I’m happy to report that the website we launched early this year for the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition won a 2009 W3 Silver Award in the green websites category—kudos to David Kerr, our design partner on the project, and congratulations to the Coalition project team. W3 awards honor outstanding websites, web advertising, and web marketing; winning entries are selected by the International Academy of the Visual Arts.

We’re especially pleased with this award because the site is model for making the most of limited resources to create a site that serves current needs, allows room to grow, and requires minimal maintenance. See my earlier post on how we did it, but in a nutshell, the keys were: a tight focus, simplicity, and a strategic plan that everyone was committed to.

Procrastination, the Enemy of Sustainable Communications

Published October 12th, 2009 in communications strategy | No Comments »

It’s easy to push the maintenance part of communications work to the back burner. So many pressing things to do and so little time! You don’t keep the website quite as current as it could be. Sales has been doing fine without those backgrounders—surely they can wait a few more weeks? Ditto, refining the messaging for that new target market.

But weeks stretch into months, and soon you find that the back of the stove is so crowded you don’t know which pot to tend to first. (I’ll stop the metaphor there.) Or the competition makes a move and you find you’re not prepared to counter it. And since all the parts are connected (or should be), one small need sets off an avalanche and you’re faced with what feels like a gigantic project instead of an exciting challenge.

I see it with clients who tend to react rather than remain on the offensive. And I’m guilty of it myself. (Hence the inspiration for this post—it’s as much pep talk to self as advice.) It just doesn’t result in communications that are sustainable and well thought out. It becomes difficult to change course. And it costs you in lost opportunities.

But a little effort can go a long way. You can set aside a few hours a week (or every two) to keep your site current and make sure your collateral reflects your needs and changes in your market. Figure out if you can save time by outsourcing or delegating.

Before you know it you’ll be freed to pursue those opportunities you once had to pass up because you weren’t prepared to tackle them.

Or rather, I should say, I’ll be freed up. I feel better already!

Mind the Gap: Strategy vs. Execution

Published August 26th, 2008 in communications strategy | No Comments »

An organization we work with from time to time undertook a newsletter redesign in-house, with the goal of enhancing their expert credentials by providing high-level information to a key audience. When we saw the result, we were floored: lovely design and fine writing, but the content was unlikely to inspire their target audience and failed to deliver key messages.

The only real surprise here is that we were surprised. We were looking at something we see all the time: the gap between strategy and execution.

We’re always preaching strategy, and many organizations do have a strategy in place. Yet communications still misfire. Informal polling and our own experience indicate that the top reasons include a familiar triumvirate: lack of time, lack of skills and lack of money. Strategies and their associated tactics need to be run through the reality checker with an honest evaluation of what’s needed to deliver on goals.

Strategy Doesn’t End with the Plan
There’s a deeper, less-recognized cause of the strategy-execution gap: a failure to engage in execution as a strategic activity. (This was the problem with the newsletter project.) Executing a big-picture strategy involves myriad strategic decisions about virtually every aspect of a communications tool, yet most organizations see strategy and execution as separate rather than interacting endeavors. 

Getting the ‘How’ Right
The strategy may be, “we can reach this audience with a newsletter (or whatever) that does X.” Therein lies the gap—how will your communications tool do X? It’s not always obvious.

Say your strategy is to build credibility by providing expert industry insights. The project lead recruits subject matter experts to write the copy and defers to them on what’s important (hey, they’re the experts). Will that work? Probably not—unless they’re the rare experts who are good writers, know and write to the audience’s knowledge and interests, and can also convey the organization’s work and message. A strong editorial hand is needed to shape the material so it hits those targets, but the project has no editor.

Quality Can Deceive
This kind of breakdown can occur in every aspect of project execution—choice of tool, design, style, content. Professional quality often disguises the problem and compounds it—when results disappoint but there are no obvious flaws, the organization is likely to assume the problem was the strategy and abandon a perfectly good approach. They just don’t see the gap between strategy and execution.

Want to make sure all the resources you devote to developing sound communications strategies pay off? Mind the gap. 

Anecdotally Speaking

Published August 19th, 2008 in communications strategy, marketing | No Comments »

Anecdotal evidence may be an oxymoron in scientific terms, but sometimes it’s the only thing standing between you and a pitch-black knowledge void.

Many communications are hard to measure—most organizations aren’t going to conduct a survey of people who received their annual report or a hide a free iPod offer on a key Web page to see how many people read it (though that would be cool—any takers?). That leaves you with selectively gathered or incidental comments.

Relying on this kind of feedback, it must be said, is a bit like relying on your sense of direction instead of a map—you can easily head down the wrong road. Our forays into navigation by anecdote have taught us a few things:

Ask your audience directly. If you’re asking colleagues for feedback, you’re getting a second opinion. If you want evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, you have to ask the people you’re targeting. (And if you do want a second opinion, make sure to tell people what you’re trying to achieve—otherwise, all you’ll gain is insight into your colleagues’ personal tastes.)

Don’t just ask, “What do you think?” The responses you get will be exactly as thoughtful—and useful—as the question. Ask focused questions, such as “Did that X we sent you fill you in on our latest Y?” or “Did the projects we featured in X help you understand what we do?” Construct the questions in advance and make sure they’re not subtly leading people to positive responses.

Write down any comments you receive—solicited or not. Don’t rely on mentally noting anecdotal evidence—you’re likely to lose the original meaning of the comment. And most of us don’t need to indulge our tendency to remember only what we want to hear.

Get a third party to gather the evidence. This could be a firm that does this type of research, but it could also be someone from a different part of your organization. You might not think this is necessary if you’re conducting a small, informal survey, but people are more likely to give honest feedback if they know the person seeking it didn’t have a role in creating the communication in question.

Use with caution. Give anecdotal evidence its proper weight—pay attention to it, but carefully consider the source and how the feedback was generated (see above) before using it to justify a dramatic change in direction or a continuation of business as usual.

Does Quality Really Matter?

Published June 10th, 2008 in communications strategy, marketing | No Comments »

We’ve spent our careers championing quality—and we’ll continue to do so, despite the sometimes quixotic nature of the quest. Why? For starters, the quality of your communications reflects the quality of your work. It sends the message that you’re credible and trustworthy.

Quality content, in particular, is important if you’re addressing new technologies, emerging markets, or skeptical audiences (the clean tech sector faces all three challenges).

First-rate content delivers crystal-clear information about your services or products, your values, and why you’re different or better—and backs up those claims with facts and concrete examples. This is critical in a website, organization brochure, or other materi­als that introduce you to key audiences. People aren’t going to buy your pitch just because you say it’s so.

Homework: Not Just for Kids
That’s why, when developing critical communications for clients, we make sure everyone does their homework, so we have the information needed to clearly convey benefits and value and provide substantive information rather than vague claims. We also make sure the design serves the information and reflects the personality and values of the organization.

Getting Away With Good Enough
Can you ever get away with “good enough”? Even we have to admit that sometimes, the answer is yes. With a one-time handout or a simple, event-specific website, for instance, you don’t need to add to your workload with elaborate planning and complex execution. Just know what you need to say and the results you need, and cre­ate only what you need to accomplish the task—no more.

One organization, for instance, recently sent an HTML e-mail an­nouncing a few upcoming teleconfer­ences. The design wasn’t great and the copy had a first-draft feel. But they didn’t need more. They’re a pretty ca­sual group, the message was sent to people who already knew them, and the content was fundamentally sound: the class descriptions were engaging and the message clear. On the other hand, the teleclass message probably did nothing to raise anyone’s esteem for the group. And if this were the first contact we had with the organization, we wouldn’t think too highly of it.

When You Care Enough …
Good-quality design, active writing (free from errors), and substantive content send the message that you care about your audience and you care about what you do. Quality communications are compelling because they speak clearly to your target audience and reflect what your company is all about. Sloppy copy, weak content, and poor design convey exactly the opposite.

So, if you want to attract discerning customers, educate skeptics, or win converts to your cause, it pays to put your best foot forward. First published in Words That Work, October 2007.