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Ideas are powerful but communication will change the world

You have the most amazing things to say, but are struggling to engage your audience. Your thoughts are complex and the visionary thinking is lost in the messaging. There are 200 slides in your PowerPoint presentation, but none of them relate to you personally.

Sounds familiar? If so, in 2016 make it your mission to discover how to transform your presentations and persuade audiences with clear ideas through thoughtful communications.

For more inspiration, watch Nancy Duarte share the secret structure of great talks at TED 2011.

Effective communication allows ideas to evolve, emerge and expand.

There is magic in narrative that cannot be evoked by presentations – storytelling creates responses; words in PowerPoint can fall flat.

As a presenter, you are the storyteller, the mentor and the hero. Without passion there can be no persuasion.

There is a common architecture to all great presentations that can be learned. Great stories and presentations have arcs that transport us from the present situation to the future that can be. Great storytellers can take us there.

A call-to-action is the most important aspect of your story, yet the most overlooked…

…so do let me know what your great ideas are, and if – and how – you are inspired to communicate them in 2016.

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Connecting Digital Strategy with Social Business and Next-Gen Mobility

A comprehensive tour through the various and interconnected elements of digital strategy. 

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Yahoo acquires Tumblr: another Flickr or a very shrewd investment?

Earlier this week, Yahoo acquired the social "micro-blogging" site Tumblr for a staggering $1.1 billion. Some are saying that's a lot of cash to be investing in what is essentially the world's largest collection of cat gifs. But with page views of 12 billion per month and the potential advertising revenue that amount of exposure with bring - not to mention tapping into the entrepreneurial vision of founder David Karp and the other 180 Tumblr employees - Yahoo may have finally turned the right corner after all the wrong ones it took over the last decade in its fruitless pursuit of Google and Facebook (industry insiders blame Yahoo's decline on a loss of focus on customer needs and a baffling shopping spree of acquisitions).

Stripped to the basics, Tumblr is essentially a friendlier, cooler content-sharing platform than WordPress and I've long been a professional user and advocate (I'm currently typing this blog post into Tumblr after researching Tumblr on Tumblr). The ease of use and multitude of free design templates and plug-ins make it ideally suited for start-up companies who are trying to establish a web-presence and find out what they need their website to do to drive their business  -- all before committing to the expensive and time-consuming cycle of content development-review-approval, branding and design, functionality and programming, social media integration...expand and repeat ad nauseum. 

With Tumblr, you are immediately generating content, engaging audiences and interacting with customers. It's not just small businesses either. The White House has a Tumblr. Brands are big on Tumblr: IBM, BMW, Coca-Cola. With web-forwarding, no-one need ever know that your own company website is running on the same free platform as (the hilarious but not professional) Text From Dog or Sad Stuff on the Street.

So, is Tumblr right for your company's online needs? It is as yet unknown how blatantly Yahoo plans to recoup its investment through advertising, but there are already promises not to "screw it up" and David Karp remains at the helm. And as with any communication channel, you first need to research whether you will interact with your target audience (are they online?) and that the platform has all the features you will need (there are some formatting and hosting shortcoming).

Read my tips on using Tumblr as a professional blogging or website platform here, and I'd love to hear from you if dip your toe in the Tumblr pond.

Next: Who will buy Pinterest?

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Social media and pharma: the role of communications specialists

Two years ago, I attended an interesting debate on the use of digital and social media platforms in healthcare, and specifically their adoption by pharma. The overriding message from attendees – including pharma marketers, healthcare communications specialists (e.g. medcomms) and freelance writers – was that (as in other industries) pharma should already be embracing these technologies. However, it was universally acknowledged that with respect to the use of social media, there were challenges and obstacles particular to pharma that need careful elucidation and navigation before jumping on the Twitter bandwagon.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2013 and we’re back at the same venue for a panel-led discussion of the challenges in social media for the pharma industry – and somewhat frustratingly in this fast-moving arena, the sentiments were basically the same.

Attempting to define “medcomms” with a crowd of medcomms agency workers, freelancers and recruiters was ambitious. First we need to clarify “social media” in the context of pharma, as well as the relevance of some of the buzz words and phrases that were mentioned, including “big data”, “visualizing data and Google” “SEO”, “listening” “gentle social media”.

The increasing usage and interest in social media may reflect the increasing scope in patient participation in treatment pathways rather than represent client (pharma) interests. Social media embraces two-way communication, connecting pharma with prescribers and patients, providing information and education. Unfortunately, what pharma often hears back may not be to their liking in a public forum where reporting of adverse events is a real issue.

Typical social media channels (e.g. Twitter) do not necessarily provide adequate platforms for corporate responses to negative sentiment. In the case of some industries (fashion being one example), Twitter can provide for immediacy of information, therefore being primarily perceived as a customer service, and in some instances damage control. However, with the highly regulated, process-driven environment seen in pharma, the beauty of the immediacy of response is lost.

So, what do pharma clients want? They are hungry for digital projects delivered by multiagency, multiplatform communicators, all bound by industry guidelines. And what is the healthcare communications industry currently doing in order to evolve and meet these needs? One answer is – not enough.

The outstanding question remains: is there a role for specialist communicators, such as medcomms, in providing guidance and consultancy to pharma?  Perhaps this lies in helping (web-naïve or averse?) clients to understand the potential of social media whist circumnavigating the pitfalls. Some (Facebook-literate) pharma marketers are frustrated at traditionalist medcomms agencies that cannot already provide this guidance on the spot, as well as the services that offer the flip side of social media shout outs – namely listening strategies and sentiment analysis.

As was very much the case two years ago, when it comes to use of social media in pharma, it’s not necessarily the technology that provides the challenges; it’s the internal corporate philosophy and the uncharted external environment. Digital is simply another platform that we need to utilize to disseminate messages; but first we need the right guidance, the right people and the right processes in place to optimize real-time communications.

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5 key considerations for effective marketing and corporate communications

With over 15 years of experience in delivering successful marketing communications in healthcare and pharma, as well as promoting internal corporate initiatives across both small and large organizations, I have learned a few things about how to tell people what they want or need to know – and maybe sell a few things along the way. Here are my top five tips on optimizing all your interactions with stakeholders, be they customers, shareholders or employees. Audience – who are you speaking to? Are you tailoring the content, tone and messages in your communications appropriately? Always bear in mind your audience when writing content. Imagine sitting in front of your intended audience and reading your words aloud. Are you having a dialogue without patronising or boring them? Messages – keep these simple, succinct and preferably single! Most marketing or corporate communications revolve around money as an indicator of success – how well we have performed, what we can do for you in your budget…If people want to know where the money goes or what it gets them, tell them and they will pay attention. Delivery – will your audience connect better with digital or print-based vehicles? Do you know if they can access websites, use mobile apps or QR codes, or log onto Facebook or Twitter to listen to what you have to say? Or do they only have time for a HTML email on their desktop or an A5 flyer on their desk? Be memorable and creative – it’s a noisy world in marketing communications and there’s a lot of competition for the attention of your client or employee. But you can be noticed by giving careful consideration to the branding and layout of your newsletter, website, poster or exhibition stand. Again, bear in mind your audience, and try to have some fun if you can! Create a dialogue – always include a call to action and facilitate feedback by including contact details – phone number, email, website or Twitter. If you can challenge your audience to respond or debate your content, you have already engaged them with your messages and services. So if you have anything to add, email me at contact@cornerstroke.com, or find me on Twitter (@cornerstroke).

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Powerful tools for delivering messages

Fed up of packaging all your creativity into PowerPoint and PDFs?Mix it up with one of the following free solutions, where your imagination is the only limitation…

Prezi http://prezi.com/

“The zooming presentation editor”: This cloud-based presentation software (with annual pricing ranging from free to $159 depending on how public your end product is) uses a zoomable canvas to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result, according to Prezi and most users, are “visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.”

SlideShark https://www.slideshark.com/

 “PowerPoint® on the iPad and iPhone the way it was meant to be seen.” Slideshark is a free app that can be used to view and show presentations as you intend them to be seen, preserving animations, fonts, graphics and colours on these iOS devices. Sounds simple, but notoriously difficult without this app!

iBooks Author http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/

Create and publish multi-touch books for the iPad on your Mac. Rich media content such as video, image galleries, interactive diagrams, 3D objects and more, can bring your books, newsletters and marketing materials to life. Free from the MacApp Store.

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How the Rift Between Sales and Marketing Undermines Reps

10:18 AM Monday November 7, 2011 by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson  It's no secret that sales and marketing executives don't always see eye to eye. In a recent Corporate Executive Board survey, sales executives' top terms for their marketing colleagues included "paper pushers," "academic," and perhaps worst of all, "irrelevant." On the other hand, marketing executives called out their sales counterparts as "simple minded," "cowboys," and flat out "incompetent." Strikingly, across several hundred sales and marketing responses, a full 87% were negative. Management has long called for sales and marketing to bury the hatchet, but the requests often lack urgency and are generally met with indifference. That must change. In today's historically difficult selling environment, the rift between sales and marketing seriously undermines even the best-performing reps. In previous posts (here, here, and here), we've described a gifted kind of sales rep we call Challengers. Challengers excel by creating constructive tension with customers through unique and surprising competitive insights. However, all but the very best Challengers will struggle to source and package those insights unless they have organizational support — especially from marketing. Yet much of the sales support marketing provides falls short because it's focused on teaching customers about the supplier's business, not the customer's. Worse, the function responsible more than any other for differentiating your solution in the marketplace often churns out collateral and sales tools that look and sound exactly like everyone else's. Where's the teaching in that? Don't take our word for it. In a recent study, public relations expert Adam Sherk analyzed the most frequent terms in company communications, and the results were eye opening. Here are the top ten: Leader, leading, best, top, unique, solution, largest, innovative, and innovator. Sound familiar? Most companies' marketing materials make generic claims like "an industry leader with decades of experience helping global customers achieve business objectives through unique solutions and uncompromised value." Blah, blah, blah. When customers hear such commoditized messages often enough, they stop hearing them altogether. So, you say to your customers, "Our solution is unique," and your customers don't believe you. Why should they? Your message sure isn't. Their reply? "That's fantastic. Can I get a discount?" After all, why should your customer pay more for your solution when it sounds exactly like everyone else's? So what's the alternative? In our book, we share case studies of companies whose marketing organizations have gotten it right. Here are four rules Challenger marketing organizations live by: 1. Identify your unique capabilities, not all your capabilities In their excitement to tell the world about their broader "solution," most marketing organizations fail to identify the handful of capabilities that truly set them apart. Sure, your products are "faster," "newer," "smaller," "bigger," or "greener," but why does it matter? If customers see no difference between you and the competition, anything you teach them will simply wind up in an RFP headed for a price-driven bake-off. Bottom line, if you can't identify the unique capabilities customers should be willing to pay you for, they're sure not going to do it for you. Answer the question, "Why should our customers buy from us over anyone else?" It's a simple question, but often proves surprisingly hard to answer. It's shocking how many companies are unable to identify what truly sets their solution apart. 2. Focus on the unique capabilities your customers currently undervalue Most marketing organizations naturally focus on capabilities customers disproportionately value. The thinking goes: customers want it, we're best at it, so that's the core of our value proposition. The best marketing organizations, however, are far more interested in promoting capabilities customers under value. Why? Because their primary goal is to teach customers new perspectives, not reinforce existing ones. The best teaching opportunities often spring from the question, "What is it that customers fail to appreciate about their business that leads them to undervalue our capability?" The answer provides a strong foundation for insights that challenge customers' thinking. 3. Design messages that lead to those capabilities, not with them Virtually all marketing collateral suffers from the same flaw. If the first five pages — and the first ten slides — of your collateral or sales pitch deck are about you (and they almost invariably are), you've got it wrong. Build messages that lead to your unique capabilities. In a teaching conversation, the supplier enters the conversation at the end, not the beginning. 4. Calculate the ROI of changing behavior, not of buying a solution Finally, equip reps with an ROI calculator that shows customers the value of behavior change. Surprisingly, the best ROI calculators are supplier agnostic. They're built to convince customers to do something, not to buy something — to take action on whatever new perspective you've just taught them. Of course, when customers ask, "Wow, who can help us do this?" the rep must be able to legitimately say, "Let me show you how we're uniquely able to help make this happen." Successfully challenging customers' thinking is a team sport. Does your company set up Challengers to succeed? Pull out the latest piece of collateral produced by your marketing organization. Does it equip your salespeople to teach customers about their company or about yours?

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Closing remarks: Day 1 Beyond Digital Health (Manchester) 2011

The Beyond Digital Health Manchester 2011 conference took place last week and was a great start to what will now be an annual event. The closing speech on day 1 by Dr. John F Stageman, Chairman of Bionow Ltd, was a real show stopper and he has kindly written up his notes for us here.

Read More

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Tumblr - for all your micro-blogging needs

Tumblr has been around for a while, but is sadly underused as a professional blogging platform. I don't know why, as it is ideally suited for small and large business alike. More expansive/expressive than character-limited Twitter, less fangirl than LJ and simpler than WordPress.

If you are turning onto blogging for your business or yourself, first consider the following.

What do you need to communicate to your customers? Self-generated articles, useful information, clever graphics, images or links?

Who are you communicating with? What's your demographic?

Do you have the time and resources to start and keep the ball rolling?

Are you linking from your own website? And pushing to Twitter?

Does any of the above make sense to you??

If not, drop me a line. I'd love to hear your thoughts and share ideas.

In the meantime, take a look at the following:

Tumblr for Small Business (for professional platforms)

The 90 Best Tumblr Blogs Of 2011 (for self-expression)

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To hyphenate or not?

Compound modifiers are groups of two or more words that jointly modify the meaning of another word. When a compound modifier other than an adverb-adjective combination appears before a term, the compound modifier is often hyphenated to prevent misunderstanding, such as in American-football player or little-celebrated paintings. Without the hyphen, there is potential confusion about whether the writer means a "player of American football" or an "American player of football" and whether the writer means "celebrated paintings" that are little. Compound modifiers can extend to three or more words, as in ice-cream-flavored candy, and can be adverbial as well as adjectival (spine-tinglingly frightening). However, if the compound is a familiar one, it is usually unhyphenated. For example, at least one style guide prefers the construction high school students, to high-school students. Although the expression is technically ambiguous ("students of a high school" / "school students that are on drugs"), it would normally be formulated differently if the latter meaning were intended. Noun–noun compound modifiers are also written (according to some) without a hyphen when no confusion is likely: grade point average and department store manager. When a compound adjective follows the term it applies to, a hyphen is typically not used. For example, "that gentleman is well respected", not "that gentleman is well-respected". Some authorities differ, and recommend the hyphen when the compound adjective follows the verb to be or any of its inflections. According to most style guides, hyphens should not be used in adverb-adjective modifiers when the adverb ends in -ly. For example, wholly owned subsidiary and quickly moving vehicle because the adverbs clearly modify the adjectives and "quickly" cannot modify "vehicle". However, if an adverb can also function as an adjective, then a hyphen may be or should be used for clarity, depending on the style guide. For example, the phrase more-important reasons ("reasons that are more important") is distinguished from more important reasons ("additional important reasons"), where more is an adjective. (In contrast, the hyphen in "a more-important reason" is not necessary to distinguish it from "a more important reason" since both mean the same thing.) A mass-noun example is the following: more-beautiful scenery as distinct from more beautiful scenery. Strunk & White notably does not have a prohibition against hyphen use in compound adjectives ending in -ly. Rather, as with other hyphen usage, the key is "common sense" and writing for clarity. See id. Hyphens are used to connect numbers and words in forming adjectival phrases (particularly with weights and measures), whether using numerals or words for the numbers, as in 28-year-old woman and twenty-eight-year-old woman or 320-foot wingspan. The same usually holds for abbreviated time units. Hyphens are also used in spelled-out fractions as adjectives (but not as nouns), such as two-thirds majority and one-eighth portion. However, with symbols for SI units—as opposed to the names of these units—both the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology recommend use without a hyphen: a 25 kg sphere. When the units are spelled out, this recommendation does not apply: a 25-kilogram sphere, a roll of 35-millimeter film. In English, an en dash ( – ) sometimes replaces the hyphen in hyphenated compounds if either of its constituent parts is already hyphenated or contains a space, for example San Francisco–area residents or public-school–private-school rivalries. En dashes are more proper than hyphens in ranges (pp. 312–14), relationships (blood–brain barrier) and to convey the sense of "to", as in Boston–Washington race. Via Wikipedia

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The Web Design Usability Series is supported by join.me, an easy way to instantly share your screen with anyone. join.me lets you collaborate on-the-fly, put your heads together super-fast and even just show off. Writing content for web users has its challenges. Chief among them is the ease wi...

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Tumblr, the simple sharing service and blog alternative, continues to attract a record number of visitors each month. According to comScore, Tumblr scored 13.4 million unique visitors in the U.S. in July -- up 218% from the same time last year. The blog-meets-social-network service has see...

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Which Marketers Should (and Shouldn't) Tap Social-Media Darling Tumblr

As Brands' Presence Grows, Blogging Platform Finds Sweet Spot in Fashion, Media

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Laura Marriott is CEO and and acting board chairperson of NeoMedia. She was also named one of the industry’s Mobile Women to Watch 2010 by Mobile Marketer, Top 50 U.S. Executives by Mobile Entertainment and Top 10 Women in Wireless by FierceMarkets. Marriott is highly regarded for her global vo...

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Is digital important to healthcare? 

I say that digital is important in healthcare communications.