(-- F3 to save and exit --)

2. Copy/Communications



Documents are weapons in the business war. To win
you need a large and diverse arsenal. Besides
quantity and diversity, quality is also a vital
consideration. Communications, from the brochures
and contracts, to the tone of your voice, and the
verbiage you use when answering the telephone, are
all marketing tools.


Each product/service (as well as the company itself)
should have several sets of increasingly technical
and complete pieces of literature. So too should
groups of related products. Don't forget corporate
documents that set the stage for all other written
copy. Develop effective cover letters for all
situations (brochures tell, cover letters sell).


       Do all our products/services have:

Data sheets? Brochures? Press releases written
about them? Trade magazine articles written about
them? Misc. promotional photos, slides, etc. of them?
Case studies and/or mini case studies (application
briefs)? Demo versions?


       Does our organization have:

A media/press kit? Internal and client newsletters?
Product reply/response cards? Form sales letters?
Formal contract/agreement documents? A company
brochure? A spokesperson? A official set of
guidelines/answers to respond to questions asked?
An advertising plan, budget, and strategy?

A computer database of all media contacts,
associations, publications, movers and shakers,
editorial calendars, freelance writers?


       Do all our communications have:

A consistency of: color, shape, message, theme,
layout, appearance, quality? Limited amounts of
technical jargon? Liberal amounts of stimulating
adjectives?


DOES EVERYTHING STRESS USER NEEDS, WANTS,
DESIRES, BENEFITS and not product/service
features, or company boosting?


       Handling bad news and negative PR:

Are we prepared to handle the response that will
appear if our company has a major accident, crisis,
disaster, emergency? Do we have an action plan (and
materials) ready to publicly present after only
brief modification?

Do we have an action plan (and materials) in place to
capitalize on a competitors' mistakes (i.e. how we ca
capture their former customers, why it wouldn't
happen to us, etc.)?

Do we have materials ready to send to the press
responding to some no-blame crisis that we know will
happen sooner or later? Being the first to respond
will get us media coverage and position us as
national/international experts.

         (-- F3 to save and exit --)
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