Writing
Join Me on My Campaign to End Hyperbolic Language
During the seemingly never-ending election season we are in, we are hearing a lot of “worst ever” and “best ever” comments, neither of which were true in most cases. (And don’t worry, this isn’t a political post; I’ll let others handle that quagmire.) But it did make me start noticing how often we are bombarded…
Read MorePut Your Content Marketing Efforts on Steroids: Now You Can Be Awash in New Ideas!
By this point, you are probably pretty familiar with the differing qualities and benefits of inbound and outbound content marketing. You’ve even considered how you might take advantage of strategic inbound initiatives to support your longstanding outbound effort, but are afraid to jump in with both feet. That’s understandable. It’s not always easy to…
Read MoreBest Practices for Using Data in Your Content
Blog posts and other written content often contain references to data. Including facts and figures in your work helps convey quantitative context to readers as well as giving them confidence that the points you’re making are backed up by solid research. It’s important to conduct due diligence before using this sort of information, however,…
Read MoreBlog Strategy for Beginners
Publishing a blog is one of the building blocks of a solid content marketing strategy. For professionals who deal in specialized knowledge, this is a key foundational step to building recognition and respect in the niches you serve. Some firms that understand the need, however, are still hesitant to begin – often because they simply…
Read MoreEsoteric Mysteries of the PDF
Have you ever copied text from a PDF file and pasted it somewhere else, comfortable in the knowledge that it had already been proofed and approved, only to find that certain letters were missing? If not, it’s time to get a little uncomfortable. That’s because there’s a strong likelihood you have used this finalized copy…
Read MoreAnd the Winner Is…
It’s that time again. Not Thanksgiving, or Christmas-in-November, or even the Election from the Black Lagoon. No, it’s the most exciting event of all – the wonderful moment when Oxford Dictionaries announces its Word of the Year! After a pretty rough year so far, we could all use something to celebrate and here it is:…
Read MoreTalk About Trump and Chat About Clinton With Your Clients
Published by AccountingToday on October 27, 2016 Let’s not ignore the 500lb (orange or blonde, you pick) gorilla in the room. Like ‘em or hate ‘em, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are on everyone’s minds right now. And with the election just a few short weeks away (can’t get here soon enough in my opinion),…
Read MoreSave the Endangered Period!
The next time you’re ready to begin a rant about these kids today, you might want to add this to list of youthful transgressions: Millennials are driving a language trend that could result in the demise of the period. That’s right, those young people are managing to pose a threat to proper punctuators everywhere with…
Read MoreWTF, English Language?
With the ascent of social media, Americans are utilizing written communications in a public forum to a far greater degree than they once did. That’s not true for everyone, of course; there have always been prolific writers who shared their opinions and debated the issues of the day via thoughtful essays, outraged manifestos and carefully…
Read MoreWhoops! And Here’s Why Proofreading Is So Important
If you’ve read the bbr marketing newsletter that went out yesterday, you probably noticed something – a glaring typo in the main headline.
Read MoreYour Keyboard Is More Dynamic Than You Realize
Ever since the dawn of typing, people have wondered why the keys aren’t laid out alphabetically. That way we’d know where to look for them, and after all, the original typewriters patented in 1868 did use an alphabetical layout. The QWERTY Keyboard The answer given most commonly is that the co-inventor of the typewriter, Christopher…
Read MoreContent Creators: Heed New AP Guidelines When Reporting Data
guest post by Laura Sparks, Creative Sparks, for bbr marketing “Data sources used in stories should be vetted for integrity and validity.” Amen, and thank you to the good folks at Associated Press for including this new entry on data journalism in the 2016 edition of the AP Stylebook, released on June 1. Data and…
Read MoreA Smorgasbord of Digital Marketing Trivia
I recently attended Digital Summit Atlanta, a conference dedicated to sharing insights and educating attendees about online marketing and its many opportunities. This year’s event was definitely informative – I learned about emerging trends, bandwagons to avoid and interesting new tricks to be used with the old dogs of digital marketing. In between sessions, each stage…
Read MoreYes, You Can Make a Dull Topic Interesting
I absolutely love words, and the more creatively they are used, the better. At bbr marketing, we are called upon all the time to make complicated, technical or downright boring topics interesting, and most of the time we manage to succeed. As you may expect, I’m also an avid reader, and when I find others…
Read MoreWhat Is Greeking? (or Why Is My New Web Copy Gibberish?)
Have you ever looked at a webpage that’s under design and been confused to see your carefully crafted copy rendered in some unreadable foreign language? If you’re not familiar with greeking, you might well wonder what’s going on. That text you see beginning “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,” is a standard passage used as placeholder copy…
Read MoreWhat’s In a Name? Weird History & Fascinating Trivia
Does your firm’s name include the surnames of a few partners, all joined by the familiar ampersand symbol? Many professional services firm names do contain this common character, which is often emphasized as a significant design element. Everyone knows how to pronounce it and that it’s used to link items in a series, but far…
Read MoreBlogging? Here’s what others are doing…
by Sarah Warlick, content director More and more professional services firms either have, or are considering adding, a blog now. Do you find yourself wondering how often other firms post? How long their articles are, and how long it take to write them? Are your blogging practices the norm? You are not the only…
Read MoreEnglish Expands Again (or Don’t stay butthurt – visit a cupcakery!)
by Sarah Warlick, content director Each year, language lovers enjoy celebrating and sometimes criticizing the brand new words that have been added to the dictionary. These are words and phrases that have been used in small niches of society for varying amounts of time, but have recently grown in popularity enough to spread into…
Read MoreHow Long is Too Long for Bios?
by Sarah Warlick, content director Professional bios come in every imaginable length, from the briefest of single lines to detailed compilations that require many hundreds of words. What’s the best length for yours? Figuring out the best length for a professional bio isn’t always a straightforward matter. Based on the wide variation one sees…
Read MoreIt’s “Over” Grammar – It’s About Right and Wrong
by Sarah Warlick, content director Following shamelessly on the heels of National Grammar Day on March 4th, the Associated Press’s official diction policy has been amended to allow (gasp) the use of ‘over’ to describe an amount greater than a specified quantity. No longer are writers required by the rules of accuracy and good…
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