No matter the field, industry experts are beginning to catch onto a new marketing trend. By documenting and distributing expert knowledge, they are able to prove their stance as industry leaders. This documentation and distribution can come in either print form (books) or online form (blogs, guides, web pages).

This often benefits the person due to three key reasons:

1. It highlights the importance or necessity of the services or products in that industry. 

If a videographer writes a book or a series of blog posts on the uses and benefits of video marketing, then he or she may convince readers of the usefulness of video in the marketing world. This creates a desire for the reader to pursue video marketing and the consumer may seek the videographer to help in such efforts. This is an indirect way of marketing. The videographer created a job opportunity simply by highlighting the importance of using pictures and sound.

2. It creates a sense of trust in the expert.

When deciding to hire a professional for any given job, you need to be able to trust his or her expertise in that field. That is why when an industry expert writes a book, blog, or web page on various information relating to their field, those seeking services or products will feel confident they have found the right person for the job. It is an indirect way of marketing because the author offers information in exchange for possible interest and loyalty.

3. Publications can be used as portfolio pieces.

It is essential to showcase your published pieces and projects as part of a portfolio. This is not tooting your own horn. This is proof of performance. Take pride in what you've done. Be ready to explain why what you have done is important and will be beneficial to the potential client.

Anything you write – letters, handbooks, brochures, labels – is a reflection of your company. It is important to make sure that written material maintains a similar tone and quality. It’s especially critical if there are multiple writers on your team.

If you’re going for a serious tone, you don’t want jokes in your company handbook or puns on your labels. Style changes like this can be confusing for consumers, as well as employees.  

There are two simple ways to control your company’s writing.

1.  Be on the same page.

The first step to being on the same page is to identify your business voice. Check out our post on voice here for more details. Once your voice is established, create an in-house style guide outlining the most critical elements that makes your voice unique:

• Tone
  
• Audience
  
• Goals
  
• Examples of company style
  
• Any sensitive aspects to your business
  
• Common company phrases, style usages, and correct spelling of product names
  

Give this document to anybody who writes anything for the company. Post key points from it in the office at the water cooler, copy room, and wherever there is heavy traffic.

Drill it into the mindset of everyone on your team. They must live your brand. Make expectations crystal clear.  

When you communicate well with your team members, they will communicate better with clients.

2.  Share your work.  

Read your employees’ writing. Ask your employees to read each other’s writing. Have someone read your writing.

Peer editing is important – it helps to catch grammar errors, hone style, and spark dialogue within the company.  

Constructive criticism also boosts team morale and lets everyone know he or she is a valued team member. Be open to feedback from your employees as well. Thank them for their contributions and willingness to share ideas. Encourage them to be honest when reviewing work from their peers; reassure them there will be no repercussions for being a straight shooter.

To create consistent copy within your company, be mindful of everyone on your team and his or her differences. Different people approach writing from different lenses. Validate ideas and differences in opinion, but set clear expectations for your company’s style, copy, and business voice.

Finding a voice is one of the most difficult tasks a writer faces. Finding a business voice can be even trickier because business deals with something larger and more formal than ourselves. You have a lot to say, and you need people to listen. How do you do it?  Here are a few basics that apply to almost every piece of business writing.

1. Don’t Qualify Your Statements.  
Which sentence makes you believe me more?
a) Avoid qualifiers.
b) Maybe you should think about not using so many qualifiers.

Try to steer clear of “maybe,” “might,” “seems,” “could,” or “probably.” While your intent may be to offer choices and not seem pushy, qualifiers can give people a reason to doubt you. You are an expert in your field. Show why people can trust you. Be ready to back up your claims.  

2. Don’t Rely on the Passive Voice.
In most cases, you want to use the active voice. It is easier to follow and more interesting to read. The only one who gets the point across consistently with the passive voice is Yoda the Jedi Master in the Star Wars series.  

But this isn’t a galaxy far far away, and brace yourself here...you are not Yoda.

I am not Yoda.

In the real world, before deciding active versus passive, you must ask yourself, “Who or what is the point?” If there are legitimate reasons for using a passive voice and it aids readability, then use it. Otherwise, keep an active voice.

3.  Know Your Business and Your Audience.
If you can answer these questions about your company, then you’ll have a solid foundation for your business voice.

1. Who will be reading this?
2. What are their motivations?
3. What do I want them to learn from this?
4. What image(s) do I want to promote for the company? Serious and trustworthy? Fun? Inspirational? Price Conscious? Convenient? Elite? Other?

Some of the largest food retailers have mastered the craft of voice because they know how to target their desired audience.

Take a look at these business voices:

Trader Joe’s:
“Some folks contemplate greatness. At Trader Joe’s we contemplate greenness. Through dark times and bumps in the road, we’ve discovered, via extended periods of contemplation, that it is indeed possible to achieve greatness in greenness.” – Fearless Flyer

Walmart:
“Breakfast food. Rise and Shine with eye-opening savings on breakfast food at Walmart. Breakfasts food of all kinds costs less when you get them at Walmart.” – Cereal and Breakfast Food

Whole Foods:
“An Italian, whole-wheat pasta with an eye on the environment! DeLallo Biodynamic Pasta relies on the pure and ancient practice of sustainable farming for its wheat.” –Featured Products

In just a couple sentences we learned a lot about each of these companies. Trader Joe’s is a company of every-day people who are having fun. Walmart is friendly with unbeatable prices. Whole Foods is trustworthy, sustainable, and health-conscious. These are three very different business voices all about the same subject...food. These companies know who they are and what their consumers want, and convey that clearly in their business voices.

If you know your audience and yourself, it’s hard to go wrong. If you would like help with this very important project, Juniper Shore Publications can help you identify and craft your voice.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

However, a recent factoid challenges that adage. According to http://visualteachingalliance.com, our brains process visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Therefore, it's no surprise that pictures and words pair together like pb and j to help a reader understand a document.  

But you still need to lay it out well...

Entertain the Brain.

When designing a document, think about ways to keep your reader engaged. Invest time in researching and selecting the right colors and shapes to use. Of course, much like stars, no two brains are exactly alike. What draws one person's attention may be overlooked by another.

However, there is something to the science. Research it. Know your audience. If you click on a website and it makes your eyes hurt and your head spin, it's safe to say the chosen design may be a bad one.

Your document must be aesthetically pleasing. Here's an interesting and very visual read with examples, http://www.slideshare.net/hollykatharine/understanding-the-basics-of-document-design.

Get Graphic.

We all remember the 80’s ad campaign with a small kid telling bigger guys how he may look like this now, but just wait and see. “Milk, it does a body good.” The images are iconic. The phrase is catchy and fairly short.

In the 90s the phrase evolved with the simple, yet legendary, “Got Milk?” campaign and the world's largest celebrities became immortalized wearing a milk mustache. The milk campaigns still offer some of the most powerful images today and show just how important visual elements are in conveying a message.

If your pictures are strong enough and the words are selected wisely, the combination of text and graphics are uniquely powerful.

Get Some Help.

If you need a little assistance, there are many websites out there to guide with design and graphics. Whether designing curriculum, marketing literature, or a direct mail campaign, If you'd like a more personal touch in blending text and design, Juniper Shore Publications is here for you.

Some people find grammar boring and uptight. Others cannot get enough of it (ourselves included...we are commonly referred to as the grammar police and don’t mind one bit!). Even if you use spell check (and please use spell check!), mistakes happen. These errors hinder effective communication, distract readers, and are just unprofessional.

Here are four grammar errors that even a good proofreader might miss:

1. The Comma Artist

This blog post is about the comma, a very important punctuation mark, and proofreading.

This blog post is about proofreading and the comma, a very important punctuation mark.

Where you put commas matters. It’s easy to overlook, but it does matter. Usually careful re-reading and some fiddling with placement will solve the problem. Keeping style guides on hand, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, will also help alleviate common comma woes.

2. The Dangling Participle 

Hurrying to think of an example of a dangling participle, the tea got cold.

Here’s the problem: as much as I wish my tea could think up examples for me, it seems rather unlikely. The first clause of this sentence doesn’t name a subject, so it grabs the nearest noun it can: the tea. Generally, readers can infer the meanings of these sentences, but not always. Pay attention to subject placement. (Also, if you don’t dangle your participles, people won’t giggle at your inadvertently absurd sentences!)

3. The Wrong Word

They sound the same, so sometimes we type the wrong one. Here are a few of the most commonly mistaken homophones:

-Fewer and Less –  The less you confuse this, the fewer times you’ll have to edit.

-You’re and Your – You’re going to make fewer grammar mistakes in your writing now!

-Their, There, and They’re – There are many grammar experts, and they’re very precise in their writing.

4. The Agreements
While writing many late night essay in college, I frequently made this error.

All the nouns, verbs, and pronouns need to be in the same tense and plurality. Our brain will often do things like fill in the “s” at the end of a word, and we don’t always see these things when we edit. Editing by reading out loud will help to locate these errors.

Paying attention to grammar helps make your smart ideas and phrases easier to understand and more enjoyable to read. When you need a fresh set of eyes, Juniper Shore Publications is happy to be your first responder to editing emergencies.

There are countless ways to create a positive image across web platforms. Whether it’s through words or images, reputation management is something to consider implementing before you may actually need it. The following are a couple of the most universal ways business owners or companies choose to manage their reputation.

Lost and Found
If you or I need help, we need it now. Make sure your business ranks number one in the browser search. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a key to success. Keep your website domain plain and simple: companyname.com; or if you are developing a personal brand: firstnamelastname.com.  

Some companies hire a professional just for SEO. SEO pros spend hours and hours researching how to get your name out there, first. Think about incorporating a blog on your company website, or creating a new domain for a company blog. Blogging is a great way to share information with readers or customers with a personable approach.

Be Social
Keep up to date with social media and build a strong audience. Social media marketing gives you the potential to grow your business and attract loyal customers without spending a dime on advertising. Here are some of the most tried and true social networks:

• Facebook – Post industry-related articles, images, videos.
  
  
• LinkedIn – Create a page for your business. Share content with people in similar industries. People can easily recommend you to others.
  
  
• Twitter – Follow tweeters in the same industry, or related, and gain a decent number of followers in return. Tweet about specials, discounts, and news updates, while keeping engaged and interacting with customers. Because Twitter only allows a certain amount of characters, you must be succinct to get your point across.
  
  
• Google+ – Upload and share photos, videos, links, and host video conferences, or how-to tutorials.
  
  
• YouTube – The go-to place for video content. Create useful how-to videos; the possibilities are endless. Be sure to include your name or company name in the title.
  
  
• Pinterest – Not just for crafters anymore. Pinterest showcases product offerings while developing your brand’s persona with unique pinboards.
  
  
• Instagram – Upload pictures and develop a strong following of customers who pursue interest in your business.
  
  
• Yelp – Encourage customers to upload photos of your company’s product and post reviews, offer extra incentives such as check-in rewards or special discounts.
  
  
• Flickr – Great for pictures. Always make sure your photo’s file name is companyname.jpg, or yourname.jpg.
  
  
• Vimeo – Similar to YouTube, but much smaller. Forbes.com lays out the differences nicely here http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2014/05/04/things-you-should-know-about-youtube-vimeo-vine-and-instagram/ 

Here’s the key to creating continuity across the web: stay true to your brand, but be willing and able to change with the audience and the everchanging ways to reach them.

In a newsroom, hundreds of press releases come across the assignment desk every day.  You need to get your press release moved to the top of the possibilities pile.  But, how do you do it? 

Write a head turning headline. 
Your goal is to grab the reader’s attention right off the bat. The clock starts ticking as soon as that piece of paper or email hits his or her hands. Be clear. Be concise. Get straight to the point. We want to care. Make us care. 

Let's make this quick.
The entire press release should be no more than one page. Hit the 5 W and 1 H: who, what, when, where, why and how. However, another page or even a paragraph with answers to possibly asked questions are helpful and appreciated. Journalists follow the KISS principle. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Some prefer Keep It Simple, Sweetheart. If you are writing a release for television broadcast, think in terms of picture and sound. What are the best photo ops? If there is a certain time this is happening, please be specific in the release.

Who you gonna call?
If journalists have questions, they need to be able to get a hold of someone NOW. Include a contact office phone, home phone, cell, pager, twitter, facebook, instagram, whatever is the best to reach you.  Your client will not be happy if his or her story didn't make air or press because you couldn't be reached. 

Be memorable. 
 If your story is covered, call or even write to say thank you.  Keep good records of your contacts, even take notes on any personal information he or she may share to ask about later.  First impressions go a long way.  Take the time to stand out.            

What do you see first when you look through a magazine, newspaper, or website? It probably isn’t the text or even the headlines; it’s the pictures. 

Images grab a reader’s attention, help to inform them of content and tone, and guide the reading experience. They are powerful tools – think of the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” If you are mindful about the images that you use, these evoked “words” will only deepen and affirm the content of your writing.

Tone
The tone of your image and the tone of your writing should match. For example, if you are writing a cheerful piece, you probably want your image to be bright and fun. A dark and shadowy picture would give readers mixed messages.

Tone is not always an easy thing to describe. Before you use an image in your writing, ask yourself how the colors, shapes, and textures make you feel. This feeling is your tone. Sometimes you might want an image, like a picture of a product or a graph, to have a neutral tone. Simple white backgrounds help create this neutral space.

Decoration versus Information
Be careful of using images for decorative purposes. Some decoration on a website or brochure is nice, but it can easily become cluttered. A good image will add meaning. Before you use an image, ask yourself what it adds to the reading experience.

Letting the Images Speak for Themselves
A simple caption is often enough, but they are not always necessary. If you try to explain the image too much, it can lose its power. Trust that your readers will understand. Trust that the image can speak for itself.

Quality
Nice pictures equate to higher sales, more interested readers, and a better company image. Pictures are the first element most people look at, so they set the standard of quality in your writing. If you use a below average image, your writing will appear less professional, even if you have an amazing title and intriguing first paragraph.

Having an image that is blurry or hard to make out is like having a sentence full of grammatical errors. Take as much care with the image’s quality as you would with the quality of your words.
 
Copyright Laws
Ok, this one is pretty simple. Don’t use images without checking their copyright information. There are many free image websites you can use, but that leads us to our last point:

Originality
Be original when possible. Millions of people can download the same free image that you can. If someone sees the same picture on a facebook ad and on your website, it will be diminishing to your site. Originality with images is just as important as originality with words.

The Internet offers us the ability to see new things at any moment. Entertainment is endless online, and at times the desire to watch funny YouTube videos instead of being productive is overwhelming. Successful websites are those that reduce these temptations by keeping the reader interested and focused.

Here are a few easy ways to do this:

Titles
 Use titles. Use them a lot. Titles are short statements about what you will be telling the reader. Big blocks of text can be daunting and unappealing, often driving readers away. 

Even if you have a lot to say, titles can help break up this text and direct the reading experience. Don’t be afraid to make titles interesting or surprising, this will only draw readers in further.

Simplicity
Notice the difference between the sentence you are reading right now, which has far too many words, is too complicated, has many clauses, and seems as if it was written in a sort of long-winded delirium (probably caused by the author muddling through a lot of poorly written internet articles), and this next sentence which is essentially saying the same thing. 

Be simple. 

Be clear, but simple. 

Long and wordy sentences are for comfy couches and Sunday mornings – they are much harder to digest at a desk or on a screen.

Hyperlinks
 Hyperlinks are one of my favorite elements on websites. People are click-happy on the Internet. No amount of beautiful, perfect, internet-adjusted writing is going to fix that, but as the saying goes, “if you can’t beat em’, join em’!” 

Hyperlinks are a writer’s answer to the temptation to click. They allow you to more keenly focus and direct the reading experience. They also give writers the ability to explain jargon or acronyms without going into too much lengthy detail. 

Linking to other pages on the same website can also be useful  - there’s no need to repeat lengthy data or facts if you can link to them. However, be careful to use hyperlinks sparingly – too many can be distracting.

Be Personal
 Dealing with machines is often frustrating and boring. From automated messages to technical issues, we would almost always rather be dealing with a person. We receive the Internet through the impersonal space of a machine, making the voice of an author all the more important. 

It is important to let readers know there is a person behind the words. More than anything else, this will hold their interest and keep them reading.