Do your brand voice guidelines tell people what to write, but not how?

Let me turn your voice guidelines into a series of writing techniques. I’ve helped Progressive Insurance, The Principal and other organizations realize their brand guidelines by transforming their “what-to’s” into “how-to’s.”

How may I help you?

Let’s talk!

Ever wish you had a writing coach — sort of a personal editorial trainer? In customized one-on-one consultations, I’ll help you jump-start your writing skills, recharge your batteries and get your creative juices flowing.

PERSONAL TRAINER: Make Ann Wylie your writing coach. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

We’ll work on your own copy — not made-up assignments with little relationship to your work. You’ll learn how to:

• Sell your ideas with reader-centric writing
• Organize your copy so it’s easier to read — and write
• Make your information more creative and compelling
• Measurably improve readability
• Lift your ideas off the page
• And more

Communicators at such companies as Fleishman Hillard, H&R Block, John Deere, Nokia and VSP (Vision Service Plan) have already worked with me to polish their writing skills. If you’re ready to take this important step to improving your own work, contact me.

Because of increasing demand for my programs, I’ll be increasing the fees for my writing workshops on Jan. 2. Now, for a limited time, you can lock in 2010 fees for 2011 programs.

To get this year’s fees for next year’s programs, you must complete booking (that is, get a signed contract and deposit to me) by Dec. 31. To book a program, contact me directly.

We’ve revved up RevUpReadership.com, the toolbox for writers, is now better than ever. Now she’s faster, friendlier and more fascinating — not to mention waaaaay better looking.

You’ll find:

• New sections on creative communications and communication planning
• Tips and templates for executive messages, survey stories, tipsheets and more stories you find yourself writing daily
• Old favorites like Visual Thesaurus, the monthly Rev Up Readership newsletter and discounts and priority scheduling on my learning tools, writing coaching and communication report cards
• More tips than ever — more than 2,000 and growing!

Gold members: Be the first to check out RevUpReadership.com II. Let us know what you think.

Silver members: Go for Gold! Apply your remaining investment in your Silver-level membership to a Gold membership and get all the benefits of RevUpReadership.com.

Not yet a member? What are you waiting for? Sign up today.

REV UP YOUR WRITING: Get more tips at the NEW RevUpReadership.com.

“Rev Up offers one the best values for the dollar for any publication that I’ve subscribed to. There’s not a lot of theory — just tons of useful advice.”

— Robert Anderson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Make sure your copy makes the grade

Too often, the job of producing communications leaves little time for considering what you’re doing well and what opportunities you have for improvement. Our writing report card can help.

Send us a sample of your work, and we’ll send you a report card on its strengths and weaknesses, plus more than two dozen metrics for improvement. Your report card will help you:

• Increase readability
• Lift your ideas off the page with scannable copy
• Polish your headlines, links and other display copy
• Otherwise improve your writing

Ask for a report card on web writing, persuasive writing or other writing.

Wylie Communications president Ann Wylie — whose own communications have earned more than 60 awards, including two Gold Quills — will review your work.

STRAIGHT A's. Get a report card covering more than two dozen metrics on your writing. Learn techniques you can apply today to improve your grade: Bit.ly/WritingReportCard

In 1998, I told an embarrassing story about another person in this e-zine. Even today, the details remain too painful to reveal. (Injured parties: You know who you are, and I am STILL SORRY.)

Since the incident — which is referred to as “the incident” by my friends and used as a cautionary tale for younger members of my family — my sister has held an unbending rule: I may not mention her in these pages.

So it is without Lynn’s permission and at the risk of one of my longest, closest, most important relationships that I share with you this email message, which Lynn sent to me. She writes:

“Trozzollo Communications pitched us today on a promotional campaign. When they found out you were my sister, they said, ‘We think Ann is one of the best writers on the planet.’

“And I said, ‘So does she.’”

By the way, Lynn Wylie is turning 50 on May 10. If you know her, please contact her and wish her a wonderful day as she celebrates her first half-century on earth.

Just don’t tell her I sent you.

“I have never, or maybe rarely, had members send emails following a session expressing how much they enjoyed a session. I received at least five following this session.”

— Mary Deming Barber, APR, Fellow PRSA, PRSA Alaska
Find out what others say about Ann’s workshops

It’s the good kind of problem to have: PRSA Alaska and the Architecture/Engineering Marketing Association of Alaska both had a little extra money in the bank. Which made chapter leaders ask …

“We’re saving our money … for what?” says AEMAA program director and president-elect Leah Boltz. “We wanted to take our money and really provide a benefit for our members.”

That’s when Boltz had the brilliant idea of bringing me in for a chapter writing workshop in Anchorage. (Little did she know her chapter would wind up with even more money in the bank!)

The secret? A comprehensive PR and marketing plan, as you might expect from these two groups. Among the elements of the plan:

• Offer popular topics. “Our members were interested in writing tips, and their bosses seemed interested in paying for it,” says Mary Deming Barber, APR, Fellow PRSA, and Boltz’s partner on this project. “We positioned the event as one that appealed to anyone who writes for a living, not just public relations professionals. This meant we could reach out to people beyond our own membership and was likely a key to success.”
• Promote aggressively. The publicity team created an extensive plan, targeting people who weren’t members of PRSA or AEMAA and involving individual outreach.
  • Reach out. Publicity team members asked each board member to send the invitation to at least 10 people who were not members.
  • Make it personal. Fundraisers contacted fundraisers; journalists contacted journalists.
  • Tap other markets. Event planners distributed fliers at chapter meetings of other groups, like associations of press women and marketers.
  • Go social. Leaders also published the event on the chapters’ Facebook pages and in a series of tweets.
• Get a sponsor. The chapters secured two corporate sponsors who contributed $1,000 in exchange for logo usage and one free seat at the event. Sponsors also provided graphics for the publicity and made workbook copies.

Two weeks before the workshop, the event had sold out. Even after asking the hotel to reconfigure the room to accommodate more seats, chapter leaders had to start turning people away.

Attendance: More than 100 people — some who flew in from Fairbanks — attended the program. Still, chapter leaders had a substantial waiting list.

“If you consider our chapter has 130 members, and we had 110 at the luncheon, that’s a fairly good ratio,” Barber says. “Attendance at our monthly lunches has been between 30 and 40, down from previous years.”

Between 25 and 35 people usually attend the meetings of AEMAA, which has 50 member firms.

Member service: In a follow-up survey, 100 percent of attendees said they wanted PRSA and AEMAA to bring me back for another workshop.

“I have never, or maybe rarely, had members send emails following a session expressing how much they enjoyed a session,” Barber says. “I believe I received at least five following this session. There were also tweets and other discussion about how much individuals learned and requests to be part of future programs.”

Revenue: The event brought in $17,120. After expenses, the chapters split more than $7,500 in profit. Which means they now have even more money in the bank.

What will they do with the extra cash?

“Reinvest it in educational programs and more member benefits,” Boltz says. “Save it for Ann Wylie next year!”

Learn more about my chapter programs and discounts.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2010 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

Do you have the skills and knowledge you need to …

a

1. Write copy that gets read instead of tossed?

2. Select and use the best structure for organizing information?

3. Use creative material to engage the reader, versus a dull, just-the-facts-ma’am approach?

4. Incorporate the most powerful form of human communication — storytelling — into the piece?

5. Translate numbers and otherwise clarify complex concepts with metaphor?

6. Surprise and delight readers with wordplay?

7. Make your copy clear and easy to understand?

8. Gather the information you need to write copy that grabs and keeps reader attention?

9. Create display copy — headlines, decks, callouts, cutlines and subheads, for instance — to communicate to flippers and skimmers?

10. Work intelligently with a designer to create pieces that enhance readability as well as looking good?

11. Write quickly and well without suffering the obstacles of writer’s block or procrastination?

12. Write Web copy that overcomes the obstacles of reading on the screen?

13. Present and package information on the Web to reach readers online?

14. Write online microcontent — links, headlines, and so forth — that gets the word out on the Web?

15. Write PR pieces that are among the small percentage (3 percent to 45 percent, depending on which study you look at) that actually get used?

16. Come up with fresh ways to approach even repetitive topics and messages (as opposed to writing the same old story over and over again)?

17. Make the approval process efficient and helpful versus a time-consuming, morale-sapping procedure that reduces the effectiveness of your communications?

by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.

a

I recently sent one of my pals a plea for reading recommendations.

“Read The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron,” he replied. “Read everything by William Styron. Then write like him.”

Not bad advice. After all, as communicators, we can learn a lot from the masters of our crafts — the William Styrons, the P.J. O’Rourkes, the folks who have earned Silver Anvils and other awards.

Consider this your invitation to model the masters, to learn new techniques by studying your favorite communicators’ work. It’s the best way I know to improve your skills.

Here’s a six-step process to get you started:

1. Browse the best.

If you’re going to model the masters, you need to look at the masters — the best communications being produced in any field. For me, “the best stuff” includes:

• The leads, kickers and classic feature structure of The Wall Street Journal

• Men’s Health’s tricks for packaging basic how-to information into compelling articles and departments

• Warren Buffett’s methods for bringing the driest financial formulas to life through humor, anecdote and metaphor

• Southwest Airline’s ability to make how-to-fasten-your-seatbelt information amusing enough to pay attention to

• Approaches used by other award-winning writers, editors and webmasters

So ask yourself, “What communications do I most admire?” Then add those to your regular reading and review list.

2. Forage more widely.

The next step is to forage more widely, or to make sure you’re looking at great pieces of communication — not just the ones you need to gather information and conduct transactions in your daily life.

One way I forage more widely is to look at winners of major communication competitions. For instance, I follow the winners of the National Magazine Awards — which explains why I subscribe to New York even though I live in Missouri and to Parenting even though I have no children.

3. Read like a writer.

As you study the masters, make sure you’re reading as a writer, not just as a reader. Readers read for information and entertainment. Writers read for information and entertainment, too. But they also read for something else: technique.

Another writer might introduce you to a new way of crafting a headline, constructing a metaphor or structuring a story.

As William Faulkner said, “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.”

4. Clip it.

Next, start a clip file of the pieces you admire most.

• Rip out articles that do a stellar job of demonstrating the WIIFM to the reader.

• Bookmark websites that allow visitors to experience a new process, service or product instead of just reading about it.

• Copy magazine articles that offer good examples of “telling and selling” the story in the headlines, subheads, callouts and captions.

One guideline to follow: Whenever you hear yourself saying, “I wish I’d created that,” “that” goes into the clip file.

5. Study it.

Now that you have a file bulging with great communication samples, go through it again. This time, take each piece apart and put it back together until you understand why you like it and what the communicator did to make it that way.

6. Steal the techniques (not the words).

Now it’s time to model the masters, or pattern your pieces after the best talent in the field.

Note: We’re not talking about plagiarism here. I once outlined this approach to a group of communicators in a seminar. At the break, one of the participants pulled me aside and proudly explained how she collected The Wall Street Journal headlines — then used them verbatim in her own newsletter.

Yikes! That’s not modeling. That’s plagiarizing.

The key to modeling the masters is to steal the techniques, not the words. Modeling the masters means getting inspiration from the very best communicators out there, then adapting their approaches — not adopting them, but adapting them — to your own work.

Try it yourself. Feel free to borrow and improve on other communicators’ methods. It’s a widely practiced form of flattery. Take whatever you can, and keep T.S. Eliot’s advice close to heart.

“Amateurs plagiarize,” he said. “Real writers steal.”

Open the Creativity Toolbox

Want to come up with fresh ways of telling the same old story?

• Bring Ann to your organization for a workshop on Opening the Creativity Toolbox.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on developing creative story approaches at RevUpReadership.com.
• Get ideas for making your own communications more creative with a communication review.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2003 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.

a

How do your writing skills stack up?

Find out with Wylie Communications’ new writing assessment. This free yardstick will help you identify where you are and how to get to the next level. Plus, you’ll get free tips and tools for improving your skills.

In these days of enormous changes in media technology, vast increases in information overload and almost complete transformation in readership habits, monitoring and improving your writing skills is essential.

Take the next step

Not where you want to be yet? Use this tool as a professional-development yardstick. Here’s how:

• Identify your most urgent skill — something you need to do well every day, but that you couldn’t give yourself the highest marks on.
• Focus on developing that skill for the next six months. Read books and articles, attend workshops and teleseminars, or do whatever you can to master that single area of expertise.
• Retake the assessment and identify your next area for development.
• Repeat. As you continue to polish your skills, revisit this assessment every quarter or so. You’ll track your progress and identify the next area to focus on for improvement.

That’s what the best writers — the masters of their craft — do.

Good luck!

Polish your writing skills

Want to master the art of writing better, easier and faster?

• Check out Ann’s Power Pack of learning tools.
• Get more than 1,750 tipsheets for improving your writing at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s upcoming writing teleseminars and workshops.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a writing workshop.
• Work with Ann to improve your writing skills in one-on-one writing coaching sessions.
• Subscribe to our free writing tips e-zine.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2005 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.