Three Fresh Ideas: Inspiration from the spookiest time of year
Vol. 5, October 2022
Hello, readers!
Maybe you enjoy this crisp season by leaf-peeping, marching your masked goblins around the neighborhood or simply embracing all things pumpkin spice.
Around here, our thoughts turn to wicked-good storytelling?
Join us as we take a closer look at the challenge facing every communicator: What stories will make people pay attention?
I wish we had a fun-sized candy bar every time a B2B marketing client or corporate communicator described their own company to us with something along the lines of, “We’re boring.”
We’ve been around the haunted block a few times, and I can say with confidence every company has a story to tell that will make people take notice.
Bonus points if they jump.
Mary Pat Nimon
President
Give them less bore, more boo
This time of year, my sister Carol likes to terrify the children in our extended family by telling a story called, “The Ghost with One Black Eye.”
Parents love that. Especially at bedtime.
The kids’ eyes grow wide as the ghost scares one adult after another with his chilling refrain, “I’m the ghost with oooone blaaaack eyyyye.” The kids want to know more. You might say, they’re dying to know more.
Is your corporate storytelling going as well?
Sure, ghost stories are exciting, especially to kids who are a tad too young for them. (Thanks, Sis.) But your company’s stories can be nearly as compelling if you find the good ones.
How? In Carol’s story, the children love that the ultimate hero is a kid just like them. That’s a great way for you to start. Find your company’s most relatable heroes, and you’re on your way to some spooktacular storytelling.
Spoiler alert: After all the adults run away scared, the kid-hero tells the ghost, “Shut up or I’ll give you two black eyes!” Pause for laughter.
Top that, corporate communicators!
If you’re creepy and you know it, clap your hands
Reportedly, author Stephen King asked himself early in the pandemic: “What could you write that would make you happy?”
Lucky for us, King answered that question by writing his newest novel, Fairy Tale, a story about a boy who inherits a parallel world where good and evil are at war. As if we didn’t already know it, terror seems to breed happiness for the legendary storyteller.
Many here on the WordsFresh team are fans of Stephen King’s horror novels. But several are also fans of King’s nonfiction book of practical advice on how to write (titled, cleverly, On Writing).
Some of our favorite takeaways from that book (that work just as well for business writing):
- Avoiding long words in favor of shorter, simpler ones (King deems using a fancier vocabulary to be as unnecessary as “dressing up a household pet in evening clothes”)
- Identifying your ideal reader (which we like to call ‘knowing your audience’)
- Using your failures as fuel (King says he nailed his rejection slips to a wall …until there were so many slips, he had to use a railroad spike)
So back to the question Stephen King asked himself about what he could write that would make him happy…
If you asked yourself a similar question, replacing the word “write” with your core genius, what kind of world could you create?
Let’s go ghostbusting
I thought it was just me.
I’d sent emails to people who work with me, seem to like me or had even asked me to write to them. One email was an extensive proposal that had been requested and had taken a week to prepare. No reply.
Ghosted.
Then, I heard about job hunters, even in this historically tight labor market, who never heard back after interviewing with potential employers. I talked to vendors who got no replies to their estimates.
They had also been ghosted.
Then it was me. I received emails that required more thought and time than I wanted to spend. One or two were somehow awkward. Everyone was doing it. I’m ashamed to admit I ghosted them.
I get it. Maybe we don’t have time or energy to phrase things just right. Or maybe we don’t have the mind space for another human engagement. Or maybe we want to avoid delivering unpleasant news, especially when we’re not exactly obligated.
Enough. Let’s just reply already.
Even a few words are better than the spooky silence. Here are some phrases I plan to use to banish ghosting from my life. Help yourself if any of these work for you.
- Sorry for the hasty note…
- We’ve decided not to proceed. More later.
- Quick thought…
- I can’t elaborate, but for now…
- Crazy busy. Please write back next month.
- Sorry, we need to pass. Thanks for your interest.
- No, thanks. Appreciate you reaching out.
- Sorry, my schedule doesn’t allow for that right now.
- I’m still considering.
- Let’s circle back in a few months.
- Maybe, but can’t confirm now. Stay tuned.
Also, let’s agree to a few ground rules:
- Most replies fall into these categories: yes, no, maybe, later. Let’s make the world a more efficient place for all and not say ‘maybe’ or ‘later’ when we mean ‘no.’
- Once we reply, we’re not obligated to respond to objections.
- When spam emails haunt our inboxes, we’ll banish those directly to the junk graveyard.
… and a mystery
Double, double, toil and trouble…
Three Fresh Ideas: Inspiration from the spookiest time of year
Vol. 5, October 2022
Hello, readers!
Maybe you enjoy this crisp season by leaf-peeping, marching your masked goblins around the neighborhood or simply embracing all things pumpkin spice.
Around here, our thoughts turn to wicked-good storytelling?
Join us as we take a closer look at the challenge facing every communicator: What stories will make people pay attention?
I wish we had a fun-sized candy bar every time a B2B marketing client or corporate communicator described their own company to us with something along the lines of, “We’re boring.”
We’ve been around the haunted block a few times, and I can say with confidence every company has a story to tell that will make people take notice.
Bonus points if they jump.
Mary Pat Nimon
President
Give them less bore, more boo
This time of year, my sister Carol likes to terrify the children in our extended family by telling a story called, “The Ghost with One Black Eye.”
Parents love that. Especially at bedtime.
The kids’ eyes grow wide as the ghost scares one adult after another with his chilling refrain, “I’m the ghost with oooone blaaaack eyyyye.” The kids want to know more. You might say, they’re dying to know more.
Is your corporate storytelling going as well?
Sure, ghost stories are exciting, especially to kids who are a tad too young for them. (Thanks, Sis.) But your company’s stories can be nearly as compelling if you find the good ones.
How? In Carol’s story, the children love that the ultimate hero is a kid just like them. That’s a great way for you to start. Find your company’s most relatable heroes, and you’re on your way to some spooktacular storytelling.
Spoiler alert: After all the adults run away scared, the kid-hero tells the ghost, “Shut up or I’ll give you two black eyes!” Pause for laughter.
Top that, corporate communicators!
If you’re creepy and you know it, clap your hands
Reportedly, author Stephen King asked himself early in the pandemic: “What could you write that would make you happy?”
Lucky for us, King answered that question by writing his newest novel, Fairy Tale, a story about a boy who inherits a parallel world where good and evil are at war. As if we didn’t already know it, terror seems to breed happiness for the legendary storyteller.
Many here on the WordsFresh team are fans of Stephen King’s horror novels. But several are also fans of King’s nonfiction book of practical advice on how to write (titled, cleverly, On Writing).
Some of our favorite takeaways from that book (that work just as well for business writing):
- Avoiding long words in favor of shorter, simpler ones (King deems using a fancier vocabulary to be as unnecessary as “dressing up a household pet in evening clothes”)
- Identifying your ideal reader (which we like to call ‘knowing your audience’)
- Using your failures as fuel (King says he nailed his rejection slips to a wall …until there were so many slips, he had to use a railroad spike)
So back to the question Stephen King asked himself about what he could write that would make him happy…
If you asked yourself a similar question, replacing the word “write” with your core genius, what kind of world could you create?
Let’s go ghostbusting
I thought it was just me.
I’d sent emails to people who work with me, seem to like me or had even asked me to write to them. One email was an extensive proposal that had been requested and had taken a week to prepare. No reply.
Ghosted.
Then, I heard about job hunters, even in this historically tight labor market, who never heard back after interviewing with potential employers. I talked to vendors who got no replies to their estimates.
They had also been ghosted.
Then it was me. I received emails that required more thought and time than I wanted to spend. One or two were somehow awkward. Everyone was doing it. I’m ashamed to admit I ghosted them.
I get it. Maybe we don’t have time or energy to phrase things just right. Or maybe we don’t have the mind space for another human engagement. Or maybe we want to avoid delivering unpleasant news, especially when we’re not exactly obligated.
Enough. Let’s just reply already.
Even a few words are better than the spooky silence. Here are some phrases I plan to use to banish ghosting from my life. Help yourself if any of these work for you.
- Sorry for the hasty note…
- We’ve decided not to proceed. More later.
- Quick thought…
- I can’t elaborate, but for now…
- Crazy busy. Please write back next month.
- Sorry, we need to pass. Thanks for your interest.
- No, thanks. Appreciate you reaching out.
- Sorry, my schedule doesn’t allow for that right now.
- I’m still considering.
- Let’s circle back in a few months.
- Maybe, but can’t confirm now. Stay tuned.
Also, let’s agree to a few ground rules:
- Most replies fall into these categories: yes, no, maybe, later. Let’s make the world a more efficient place for all and not say ‘maybe’ or ‘later’ when we mean ‘no.’
- Once we reply, we’re not obligated to respond to objections.
- When spam emails haunt our inboxes, we’ll banish those directly to the junk graveyard.
… and a mystery
Double, double, toil and trouble…
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Three fresh ideas (and a meme)
Our monthly take on today’s marketing and communications topics… and a little fun, too.
