I’m a self-confessed geek. My wife is actress. My daily life is a kind of experiment in reconciling two very different ways of dealing with the world.
Why is this important? Well, my job involves the same challenge. Writing is 50 percent technique (geek stuff) and 50 percent inspiration (creative stuff) and, according to my accountant, 10 percent arithmetic.
There’s a similar balance in programming and game design; two other areas of my life. And, perhaps, management.
I’ve written before about the difference between Looney Tunes people and Disney people and the difference between managers and entrepreneurs. And now, with love and respect to both communities and with a foot in both, here is how geeks compare to creatives.
Case studies are great for sales and marketing. Customer success stories are better than simply blowing your own trumpet.
That said, they first need to grab the reader’s attention, and second they must be credible and relatable enough for them to keep reading.
At Articulate, we have written hundreds of case studies. Based on our process and experience, here are ten steps to writing must-read case studies:
Do your groundwork. Understand the product or service being sold, and research the companies on both sides of the deal. This can be as simple as reading the ‘About Us’ section on a company website, or their company news page. You need some context for the deal you’re going to be writing about.
Get some background. Speak first to someone at the company you are writing the case study for. Try to get hold of the person who was on the ground and made the deal, and get them to tell you what happened. If you actually work for that company, try interviewing a colleague.
Interview the right person. The real story will come from the people actually involved in procurement, implementation and customer relations. Avoid interviewing marketing or PR people, as they will only tell you a repackaged story, which will sound hollow when you write it up. You want the real customer.
Find the story. This is the crux of the case study. There has to be a story: a struggle before, a journey to improve, and a benefit in the present. This doesn’t always mean profits:it might be improved employee retention, saved time or a new business model. The focus is on what matters most to the person you interview.
Create a template. Once you have your basic story you can build a structure. Most case studies fall into company biography, challenge, process and benefits. But structures are there to be played with. Tweak it to the story, and give yourself four or five subheadings.
Categorise your transcript. Take your interview notes and go through them, assigning each part to one of your subheadings. You should end up with three to five key points for each section.
Find your key quotes. Never use frankenquotes in a case study, people can spot them a mile off. It is best to use short, snappy quotes, dotted throughout the case study that underline or explain one of your bullet points. It will be clear from your transcript which words are better left as they are.
Flesh it out. You have a structure, bullet points and key quotes, which means the writing part should now flow easily. If it doesn’t, you haven’t got to the real heart of the story: go back and reassess the structure to make sure you are emphasising the right points.
Clean it up. Don’t use too many marketing phrases or clichéd product explanations – keep it human, but make sure you are referring to products correctly, and types of implementation or acquisition in the right way. Keep the story accurate.
Cut your copy. A case study doesn’t want to be more than 500-750 words. People rarely read longer case studies and you only want a long one if there is a really great story to tell. Cut out repetition, shorten quotes, and make sure everything you write is vital to the story.
Companies have had a bad press recently for exploiting interns but for many businesses and many interns the experience is very positive. In this post, originally written for Business Daily, we talk about what an intern experience has to offer to boss and successful candidate, and in particular the Articulate internship experience.
The boss’s story
Our multinational clients, including Microsoft and HP, regularly hire interns into marketing positions. Over the years, I’ve been really impressed with some of them and I’ve seen several progress into senior positions with great success. Interns are working well for them.
My businesses, Articulate Marketing and Turbine, aren’t as big as our multinational clients. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them. So for the last few years, I’ve recruited several interns and it’s been an incredibly positive experience.
Teaching them about our work has taught me a lot about it. For example, a seemingly simple question about attributing quotations led to a lengthy discussion and eventually a project to write a house style guide.
I avoid recruitment and intern agencies, preferring a slightly more idiosyncratic approach. I advertise the position on my blog, on a website that covers my local area and at my old college. Candidates apply online with a bit of personal information and a short test that asks them to write a short piece of marketing copy to describe why I should hire them.
The people who can write well get an initial call from my PA who knows me very well and knows what I’m looking for and then a phone interview with me. That’s when I see if I can work with them and if they have the right level of curiosity, self-direction and technology know-how.
I believe that it is important to pay interns – you should pay people what they’re worth not what you can get away with – but the real cost is not their honorarium but the cost of time for mentoring and training. This is important because it’s essential to give them real client work to do (with supervision and support, of course). In my experience, good interns repay this investment with dividends by doing work that pays their way and by challenging me to think harder about the business.
I’d like to think it’s been a good experience for the interns too – they learned something about writing, editing, project management and marketing. One summer intern went back to university to continue his architecture degree. Another is now an editor at the Oxford University Press. And Clare Dodd has joined the team on a permanent basis as a copywriter and I’ll let her talk about her experiences.
The intern’s story
Landing an internship with Matthew was actually rather an odd instance of serendipity. I wasn’t a fresh-faced graduate. I was living in the States and still trying to carve out a career direction at the age of 26.
Like a huge number of graduates, upon completing my degree, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. I looked into the traditional graduate recruitment path, but nothing seemed to grab my interest. The paths and programs are all very corporate, cookie-cutter roles, which talk a lot about fast-track and management, but never seemed to tell me what my specialism would be or what I would actually be getting better at doing on a practical level.
On Matthew’s internship description however, he had written, ‘this is an informal programme that will suit a rugged individualist rather than a corporate clone wannabe.’ He also outlined exactly the sorts of tasks I would be doing, on a day-to-day level. Exactly what I hadn’t seen up to that point. No promises of ‘great networking opportunities’ or a ‘chance to watch’, but actual hard grind doing copywriting. Brilliant.
The internship was exactly as advertised. He sent me detailed briefs for different types of copy, so that he and I could both get a feeling for what I had a knack for, where I needed to practice and what I did and didn’t know. Within the first couple of weeks, I saw my copy up on a blog. I was doing real client work from the beginning. I was also working extremely hard, because that is the intern’s side of the bargain as I see it.
Being paid was great, and proved Matthew wasn’t going to take advantage and get me just doing grunt work. His advice, feedback, recommended reading and interest in my professional development, however, was where the real value was. And it was only fair to him, and it was of more value to me too, to work as hard as possible to get the most out of it. And it paid off.
Now I’m a full time employee, I am still learning and there is still a conversational and development-focused grounding to our working relationship. I am loving what I’m doing, and the internship let me figure out that this is what I want to do, which I think, is the best thing an internship can do.
I work in my own study. It’s quiet and calm. I have double-glazing, a door I can shut and even a hand-built silent PC. Nothing disturbs my work except my own distractability.
Brain work requires flow – a psychological state of concentration that takes 15-20 minutes to achieve and which is easily disturbed.
Make some noise about silence
But millions of people work in environments that stop people concentrating. Indeed, it seems like companies go out of their way to build working environments that actively prevent work.
Recent research confirms the intuition that “Sound affects us psychologically, psychologically, cognitive and behaviourally, even though we’re not aware of it,” according to Julian Treasure, Chairman of The Sound Agency.
Noisy shops are unwelcoming. Hospital noise levels affect patients and distract staff. But perhaps the worst culprit is the open-plan office. Treasure says that office workers are 66 percent less productive in an open-plan office than when working on their own.
The open-plan nightmare
In the noisiest offices, people actually achieve only about one hour’s productive work for every ten hours of body time, according to research cited in Peopleware. The best environments managed about four hours in ten. Imagine if you could quadruple your staff’s productivity simply by small improvements in the working environment?
Silence is golden
Here are some suggestions for controlling your working sound:
Don’t add music to noise to cover it up. Address the underlying causes of the noise.
Avoid lyric-heavy music or, worse, speech radio.
Adopt library rules for shared working areas. Sshhh! No talking.
Try a Trappist Tuesday where nobody speaks for a day. If that’s too daunting, try it for an hour and see how much you get done.
Cancel one meeting a week, or just don’t turn up for one.
Check out Study for iOS, an app that plays calming soundscapes.
Or just try Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.
If possible, give people doors they can shut.
Try noise-cancelling headphones but without any music – just for the silence.
Switch off phone ringers and pagers to reduce interruptions.
Monitor your own concentration levels with tools like RescueTime.
Create spaces for casual conversations and meetings away from people’s desks.
Invest in a bit of sound proofing and quieter equipment – noisy PC fans aren’t always obvious but the cumulative din can be draining.
Will they or won’t they? There’s been a torrent of speculation about Apple’s interest in a smartwatch – an ‘iWatch’ – as seen here as a design concept on Cult of Mac.
Wearable computing is definitely climbing the hype cycle, with the arrival of Google Glass. I actually saw someone wearing these glasses in London a couple of weeks ago.
If you don’t fancy waiting, I’ve reviewed two current-generation smartwatches: the Pebble (which I bought, liked and reviewed on Forbes) and the MetaWatch (which was promising but not so usable).
And launched just this April are two Android-based smartwatches, one of which even promises that you can leave your phone at home.
Good writing is grounded in what E.B. White referred to as ‘the eloquence of facts’. Whether it’s client copy or personal blog posts, you should always make sure you do your research.
That said, it’s a tough balance to strike between knowing enough to write with information and generating copy quickly and efficiently. We can’t all be world renowned experts, so here are seven top research tips to make sure you know you’re telling people what they need to know:
Go back to the source. A good brief will include helpful collateral. Clients will always have some document, brochure or video that they can share. Devour and break down whatever you are given. It not only tells you objective information, but tells you how the client likes to see themselves and their offerings in terms of tone and attitude.
This applies for blogs too – think about what sparked your idea. Go back to the article, find the film clip, search out the photo. Even go back to the place where you first thought of it.
Ask an expert. Whether it’s a product expert from inside your client’s company, a third party specialist or a happy customer, there is always someone out there who knows more than you. People love to talk about what they’re passionate about so aim high and try to talk to the best in the field. And remember, interviews should be guided and informative conversations.
The site you can never cite.Wikipedia is fantastic for getting an overview of a person, a term or anything else. Of course you should never cite it as a source, but start there and give yourself a grounding.
Yourself. For a company like Articulate, who writes a lot on tech, there are plenty of occasions where we get crossover topics. Dig through your archive, you’ll probably be surprised what you’ve written on before. Warning: never plagiarise yourself, but feel free to use yourself as an informed prompt.
Google it.…Ok, maybe that’s a bit simplistic. We all know ‘Google it’, but here are a couple of specific search engine tips for researching something you want to write on:
5a. Google News search. Looking at what comes up in the headlines, and where in the world that topic is buzzing is a brilliant way to tap in to the heart of the current conversation, and it helps to make sure your writing is bang up to date. Start with Google News, then drill down into industry or interest-specific publications.
Google Blog search. Wander down the rabbit hole. Some people write great, well-researched blogs that just happen to get very little traffic. Others are extremely popular and with good reason. Not only is this a good way in to the conversation on a given topic, but a great way of finding links to other articles, studies, facts and figures.
Future-gazing googling. What I mean by this is: Imagine you have written your article and it’s online already. Now be your ideal, target reader and type into Google the question that your article will answer. Use the phrases and mindset of your reader and see what’s already out there talking to them, and where the gap is for you to write something even better.
Last week saw the first of our ArticulateTalks. It turned out to be a great couple of hours spent talking, questioning and of course imparting those all important copywriting secrets.
What really helped to pull it all together though was the fantastic venue. We held it at Club Workspace Chiswick, a communal workspace for entrepreneurs, consultants and remote workers looking to co-work, collaborate and just plain get out of the house.
Designed with collaboration and innovation in mind, Club Workspace Chiswick combines dedicated lockable desks with co-working chic and an inspiring auditorium for event and presentations
Event space
With the shuffle of a couple of tables, the wheeling of a moveable wall and the pulling down of a projector screen, suddenly we had a relaxed but well structured presentation space.
There are tables and chairs for your early arrivers, seating up to say 30. Then sloping up towards the back of the room are some (cushioned) bleachers/ step seats. This is particularly good if you are not sure how many people will turn up as you don’t have a vast echo chamber reaching back, but plenty of seating if you turn out to be a smash hit.
Start at the bar
Being the kind and generous souls that we are at Articulate we offered a free drink with every ticket, so we set up in the little kitchenette area, replete with fridge, sink and bin. The essentials really.
Folded in neatly next to the bleachers, there’s plenty of counter space to line up your glasses of bubbly or bowls of nibbles and it’s not disconnected from the seating area so it’s easy enough to network and natter at the same time as catering to your attendees’ needs.
Location, location, location
Starting small and working outwards, it’s off the main road so you’re not disturbed by traffic noise, but it’s still easy to find. (It’s also next to a nice pub if you’re looking for an after-event retreat). Chiswick is a lovely area, and Club Workspace is mere minutes from Turnham Green or Chiswick Park Tube stations. Took me about 25 minutes total to get from Victoria.
And there’s more
The manager Phil, @Hodgkinson_PRJ , was a great help and really enthusiastic (which was particularly helpful for us first-timers).
And finally, you’ll be pleased to know, there’s another chance to see us and the venue in action on July 4th when we hold our next ArticulateTalk: Writing for the web: how to improve your website copy. Check us out, check Club Workspace Chiswick out and maybe be inspired to hold an exciting, expertise-imparting event of your own.
Happy Friday! It’s widely known that a writer’s job is to turn caffeine into copy, and here at Articulate we have both a coffee addict (me) and a tea junkie (Matthew). Therefore in the interests of fairness (and keeping the peace) here is a look at the best of the web on what lies at the heart of those two equally brilliant *cough coffee is better* beverages: caffeine.
First thing’s first: in moderation caffeine in its various forms has some super healthy properties.
Every second counts. Small savings quickly mount up. If a task takes five seconds longer than it should and you do it five times a day, you’ll save 12 hours over five years by streamlining it. Here’s a table to help you work out how much time you’ll save (Hat tip: XKCD.)
Write less. Just as non-existent code doesn’t crash, non-existent copy is very quick to write. So give yourself a break: cut that section, delete that sentence, move on to the next point and reduce the word count.
Spend more time planning. Writing is not the same as planning or editing. Research cited in Peopleware suggests that programmers who spend more time planning and less time just hacking out code tend to get more done. The same is true for writers. Aim to spend about half your time researching, thinking and planning, a sixth of your time actually writing and a third of your time editing and proofreading. Division of labour is the secret to productive writing.
Shitty first draft. Perfectionism is the enemy of fluency. You can type much faster than you can ‘write’. A lot of time spent ‘writing’ is actually spent browsing the web, looking of the window and otherwise procrastinating. So, stop censoring yourself and just type. Don’t worry about the quality – edit later, that’s a separate job and a different skill. You’ll be astonished at how much you can get down if you just leave quality control for later.
TK. If you get stuck looking for a fact or detail or metaphor, just write ‘TK’ (meaning ‘to come later’) and press on. For example, ‘Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in TK DATE 1969.’ There, now I can carry on writing without losing my train of thought and look up the date later. Just search for ‘TK’ when you’re ready to fact-check and replace them all with real information. (We use TK because it’s such a rare letter combination in the English language that it’s unlikely to pop up anywhere else in your text).
Use a familiar format. Sticking to a format like a top ten list, a how-to guide, an ‘A-Z’ of something, an inverted pyramid or a story spine can help you write faster by telling you what you need to write next. It’s self-outlining copy.
AutoReplace in Word. Someone suggested this to me yesterday when I was teaching a course in business writing at a tech company: use Word’s AutoText feature to add complex phrases without typing them all out in full every time. For example, you type ‘i5’ and Word adds ‘3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors’ including all the trademarks. Brilliant.
Online proofreading. Once you decide to split your time up, you can actually start delegating some of the tasks. We use professional proofreaders in New Zealand (we email them by 6PM and then get the revised copy back to us by 9AM the next morning) but we also sometimes use Wordy.com for quick turnaround online proofreading. Very efficient.
Go distraction-free. WordPress has a distraction-free editing mode. So does Word – you have to add the Full screen button to the menu bar. There are also standalone distraction-free editors. Switch off everything you don’t need so you can concentrate on writing. RescueTime will even block non-productive websites for a set period so you absolutely can’t cheat
Take a break. It may seem counter-productive to stop working when you’re in a hurry to get stuff done but as my colleague Clare points out, taking a break is good for productivity.
Equal opportunity is not equal unless everyone receives the encouragement that makes seizing those opportunities possible.
This book is wonderful. Lean In is by a successful woman who wants to help other women succeed in business. It does not cover every aspect of gender inequality, nor does it pretend to. As the subtitle sets out, it talks about ‘women, work, and the will to lead’, and it does so with authority, insight and research.
Getting off on the right foot
There has been some criticism of Sandberg for speaking from a position of moneyed privilege and addressing only well-educated, equally fortunate women. Let me address this, as Sandberg herself does, right at the beginning. She acknowledges the position that she writes from, but also explains that she aims to offer advice that would have been useful to her at any point of her career and that will help women ‘lean in’ no matter what their ambition, or what stage of life they are at.
While I believe that increasing the number of women in positions of power is a necessary element of true equality, I do not believe that there is one definition of success or happiness.
What are we talking about?
Lean In addresses both the external and internal barriers that hold women back in their professional careers and Sandberg cites numerous studies to back up her observations and suggestions. She explains the cultural assumptions and messages that are embedded from a young age that cause women to shy away from ambition and leadership.
How individuals view what they can and should accomplish is in large part formed by our societal expectations.
Equally, she explains how expectations around the traditional male role means that the work men do in child rearing and in the home is not valued as highly as professional achievements. This creates a stigma and feeling of failure for men who try to buck the trend and contribute their fair share to the running of the household.
Letting yourself lead
Sandberg gives numerous personal experiences, as well as tales of people she knows in order keep her arguments and suggestions grounded in the real world. For me at least there were continual lightbulbs of recognition in terms of treatment I have received and behaviour I have displayed, the root cause of which has been deeply culturally ingrained messages of gender inequality.
Of course, Sandberg does not suggest that simply pointing barriers out will make it easy to overcome them, but openly talking about them and acknowledging their destructive capabilities is certainly the first step towards change. She provides reassurance that you won’t immediately get fired for asking for help, or be viewed as lazy for controlling your hours in order to manage your home life. This book provides support.
Reminding us of reality
Powerful women are likeable.
Advocating for yourself is the only way to get noticed. Hard work and diligence alone won’t do it.
It’s impossible to get everyone to like you, and trying will hold you back.
Honesty is the best policy. Speak up and give feedback and ask for it in return.
Feminist is not a dirty word, it is, as Sandberg puts it, ‘a distinguished label.’
A manifesto for men and women alike
Everyone, men and women, managers through to interns, should read this book. It is not fiercely academic or intimidatingly intellectual. Instead it is grown up, powerful, human and extremely important. I know I will be returning to it for reassurance and reminders for years to come. It communicates what has been felt in silence for years and it does so with wit and clarity. It is good business writing.
