How Words Shape Corporate Culture

Organizational language shapes its behavior. Can you guess what company is known for these phrases?

“Done is better than perfect.”

“Move fast and break things.”

“The riskiest thing is to take no risks.”

They’re from Facebook, but this kind of official and unofficial lingo is present in all organizations.

Around Enron, you would have heard phrases like “We’re an aggressive culture,” and “Guys with Spikes,” and “Money is the only thing that motivates.”

Ritz-Carlton, on the other hand, is well known for its loftier statement: “We’re ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”

This kind of organizational talk sets the stage—grants the permission—for the behavior that follows. Whether the words are official statements or off-handed comments, what is said by leaders and crafted by professional communicators directly nurtures certain organizational behaviors—intended or not.  

Because of its wide-ranging impact, leadership and official corporate language must be held to a high standard.

Those who shape the message in an organization can elevate, inspire or prohibit certain types of organizational behavior. Especially in a world where words travel with lightning speed, messages need to be developed with great care.

In his Harvard Business Review Blog “How Language Shapes Your Organization,” Kevin Allen suggests that we think about the “legacy phrases” in our own organization and ask whether they need erasing or replacing. His article is an important read—and worthy of reflection.

What legacy phrases does your organization live by?

Image Source: www.blogs.hbr.org

Reclaim Your Sense of Wonder

Today it may appear that we diverge from business matters, and yet if you think about it, our business work flows from what is within us—so perhaps we are not diverging at all.

If it has been too long since you allowed wonder, discovery and beauty to fill you, then this Ted Talk will give you a 10-minute space in which to reclaim it for yourself.

Allow wonder to become gratitude, and see where it takes you. Namaste.

Image Source: www.youtube.com

What the Color of the Year Can Do For You or Your Business

The fascinating world of color theory is at work all around us—often causing us to feel or think a certain way about a brand even before we can explain why. The most effective communicators pair well-chosen words and images with an understanding of the moods color can evoke.

Take the 2012 color of the year: Tangerine Tango. Each year, Pantone names a color of the year, which influences every industry from fashion and interior design to advertising. Tangerine Tango, according to Pantone, is a “spirited reddish orange”—vivacious, friendly, warm, magnetic, exotic and energizing.

If you’re looking to suggest any of these attributes in your brand, consider the lively, modern hues of orange. At the very least, a pair of orange shoes might be just what you need to electrify your summer look.

Image Source: Frederic Cirou/Corbis, pantone.com

How Simple Illustrations Can Stretch Your Photo Budget

Need to get your message across—but tight on budgets and short on good photos?  We recommend the trusty illustration, which performs well and provides a simple but distinctive look.

In this campaign, we maximized the budget by building the family of marketing materials around a simple but clear visual theme featuring illustrations. We find that readers can rarely resist this browsing-friendly format, which delivers quick nuggets of information efficiently.

The package includes print ads targeting employers—as well as a custom calendar, direct mail and video featuring employer testimonials.

Maybe it’s time to hire a student?

The Word Doctor: 15 Grammar Gaffes to Avoid

Should you ever break the rules of grammar?
Professional writers know that there are some rules to break (but only intentionally) and others that should never be broken. Misusing words is a common mistake of the neophyte, and rather than serving a linguistic purpose, simply hurts one’s credibility.
 
Image Source: BlueGlass.com

How Executives Are Using Social Media

How do CEO’s you’ve worked with look in comparison to this data?
While many still fear the lack of control that social media has introduced onto the corporate messaging stage, executives are using social media in a variety of ways—as this chart from penn-olson.com shows.

How Entertaining Can Increase Readership

One of the biggest challenges of any communicator is getting the attention of their target audience.
 
As businesses, our messages arrive at the consumer’s eyes and ears but are allowed in only with their permission. Very often, they’re not seeking what we have to say.
 
The entertain-engage method of communication is one way to break through the sea of communications. Give your target audience something they’re hungry for—whether it’s entertainment, inspiration or a mental break—before you give them the message you want them to absorb.
 
We recommended this method for a university’s recruiting piece we helped develop targeting high school sophomores. We know that messages that carry entertainment value are more likely to be allowed in, and chose to pay an irreverent visit to age-old clichés that parents use to get the readers’ attention and build a platform for a deeper message.
 
Besides increasing the chance for engagement with this audience, its unexpected approach provides a fresh take on college recruiting material—much of which looks very similar.
 
Are there opportunities for you to tell your brand’s story using this method?

4 Ways to Get Your Online News Release to Rank Higher in Searches

If you’re trying to increase the ranking for news releases you’re posting on line, consider these simple tips offered by Adam Sherk with Ragan.com:

1. Identify keywords likely to be searched for. You can find out popular words by using tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool and Google Insights.
2. Include some key words—but don’t go overboard—in the text, title and quotes if you can.
3. Include links (3–4 tops).
4. Keep your release short.

Want more details? Read his full article.

How to Make Your Complex Message Easy to Read

Need a way to deliver difficult messages quickly and easily? Consider infographics. Whether it's static or animated, this increasingly popular communication tool allows the reader to digest key points—even difficult and complicated points—at a glance. By using visuals, it accelerates the time the brain takes to translate words into images in the brain—and also makes it easier to remember.
 
Here's an infographic from BlueGlass that unpacks some health myths in a way that draws the reader in. It drew 800,000 visitors over five months.
 
Have you ever used an infographic? Did you find it successful?

A Simple Way to Increase Your Facebook Impressions by 50 Percent

Jeff Bullas cites a study by Roost.com that evaluated 10,000 Facebook and Twitter posts by 8,000 small businesses across 50 industries and found the following content drives engagement the most:

1. Photo posts. They received 50 percent more impressions than any other type of content.
2. Quotes. These provided 22 percent more interactions compared with other types of posts.
3. Questions. They generated nearly twice as many comments as any other post type.

The report also showed that links were 87 percent more likely to be shared than any other type of post.

What pages do you frequently visit that do this well?