Posts Tagged ‘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 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 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 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…
Read MoreYou Don’t Have to Break New Ground to Contribute
by Sarah Warlick, content director “It’s been done” shouldn’t keep you from starting a conversation or stating your position. Blogging, tweeting and all the other opportunities to contribute to the social media conversation can be intimidating for a lot of professionals, particularly when they feel that they have to come up with completely original…
Read MoreThree Simple Steps Toward Grammatical Perfection
by Sarah Warlick, writer and copy editor The Grammar Geek never gets to enjoy a nice trip to the supermarket or a relaxing read of the online news. Sure, she goes the same places you do and loafs about every bit as much or more, but everywhere she looks there are grammatical atrocities that…bother her. It’s…
Read MoreYou Are What You Write
by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor Language gives us the power to share thoughts, dreams, feelings and observations. It drives business relationships as well as personal ones, and does much to shape our perceptions of others. Our choice of words can deliver subtle messages masked behind the obvious ones as we talk to ourselves and…
Read MoreLessons in Content Marketing from…The Daily Show?
by Sarah Warlick, writer and copy editor It’s not a professional services firm, but the strategies the show employed to become so successful translate directly to good marketing advice for your firm. As an award-winning comedy/news program, The Daily Show created an unusual niche.It’s been incredibly successful there too, on the air for well over a…
Read MoreAvoiding Common Writing Mistakes
by Sarah Warlick, copy editor, BBR Marketing Writing is a basic cornerstone of business communication that most of us do every day. We’re judged on our ability to write clearly, and even though it’s not fair to gauge our professional abilities by our writing – who but a grammar geek has time to learn…
Read MoreClose the Deal with a Great Bio
Who are your favorite vendors and business partners? Are they the ones with the best professional pedigrees and impressive lists of degrees and designations? Or are they the ones with whom you enjoy working, who have your best interests at heart while at the same time having the skills needed to do the job?…
Read MoreThe Power of Proofreading
We all do it. Some more often than others. We are embarrassed when we are caught at it too. What am I talking about, you ask? Mistakes in your writing. Some may be small, like poor comma placement. Others can be big, like an incorrect word or bad subject-verb agreement. Even worse, misspelling a…
Read MoreBBR Marketing Takes On Stupid Corporate Lingo
There is a serious affliction that is spreading rampantly across the United States. For the longest time, no one really knew what to do to stem the spread of this disease, until now. I am talking about the disease known as stupidosis corporatus lingiosis, or in layman’s terms, stupid corporate lingo. You know exactly what I’m talking about, those pompous, multi-syllabic, often vague terms thrown about in Websites, marketing brochures and elevator speeches. They are (over)used to showcase the exceptional services and fantastic products a company or firm offers. The problem is that often these terms only serve to confuse the reader. How many times have you been on a website that used terminology that looked smart and sophisticated, but once you were done reading, you had no idea what the company does or sells?
Read MoreWriting for the Web
Writing for the Web is very different than writing for print. Knowing and following a few easy rules can make your Website truly stand out from the rest.
Read MoreCheck out my Guest Post
Last week I got a return email from someone who wanted to hire me. Then I read the email and laughed so hard I spit coffee out of my nose. The email came from an innocuous sounding group like “the writing guild.” The exciting project they had in mind for me was to write reviews for…wait for it…porn sites. Yes, you read that right, reviews of porn sites.
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