Welcome to The Word Story

Business writing, now more than ever, needs to have punch. All communications have to be understood– fast. No one has the time or the patience to plough through complex, technical language to unearth your message. Most businesses want quick results, just as readers require quick messages.

According to a recent column by Maurice Saatchi for the UK’s Financial Times, ‘social scientists [now] divide the world between digital natives and digital immigrants. Anyone over 25 is a digital immigrant [with] a thick, debilitating accent.’

He continues: ‘The latest affliction, according to neuroscience...is that the digital native's brain is physically different as a result of the digital input it received growing up. It has rewired itself. It responds faster. It sifts out. It recalls less.’ Day-after recall figures that he cites are as low as 10 percent today (compared with 35 percent in the 1960s).

So how can we effectively communicate today? ’There is only one option left,’ according to Saatchi, and this is to revisit the following: “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God”.

Saatchi again: ‘No copywriter could put it better. The word is the brand’s guide, protector, defender and saviour.’

‘The word is the saviour because in each category of global business ...Only brutally simple ideas get through. They travel lighter, they travel faster.’

Last century, Steve Morris declared ‘the formulaic approach [to business writing] is dead.’ Why? ‘Because people want something that is personal, warm and friendly.’ So what you may take for granted – your message and the way it has always been said – demands a new perspective. Good, effective and consistent communication (across each and every platform, whether it is email, letters, manuals, brochures or e-newsletters) actively promotes three things: your distinctive brand, client loyalty and a considerate image.

Does your organisation consistently realise these three things in your communications?

When we write, we are telling stories about our business, that is if we accept Poulton‘s idea that ‘the purpose of a “good” story is to make common themes new and fresh by using a range of poetic techniques...it forces us to look at a common message in a new way, allowing us the opportunity of not being repetitive or mundane conversationalists.’ Furthermore, just like with fairy tales and morals, ‘a deeper understanding of the ethics and morality of a firm can be found in the stories that circulate [about it].‘

Remember writing is about communicating to someone else who can actively participate in your message; it is not about simply getting the words down. Steve Morris: your audience should ‘act and react–emotions are engaged, even challenged, something real is exchanged. This is not the anodyne communication of the faceless, bloodless corporate brochure; instead it is the new and dynamic model for real-time communication between real individuals.’

There are many different ways to communicate your message, but you must be vigorous, sharp, appealing and to the point. Technical material is often the most serious offender when it comes to verbiage.

To show we have our heart in it, we will show you how to sharpen up your communication. Send us 250 words (or less) of one of your current communications and if we think it could be improved, we will do it. Free.

You might also like to browse an article about creativity Anna Kassulke wrote for the August 2006 edition of Australian Management Today, some advertorial, or a humorous piece written for the Financial Times ’The Business’ magazine.

’Anna is an integral part of my business when it comes to converting ideas into opportunities and proposals into deals. I have no hesitation in recommending Anna or The Word Story for any undertaking where authenticity, quality and precision are a baseline standard.’

Morris S & Willcocks G. The Burton Morris Guide to Great Business Letters, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000.

Poulton, MS. ‘Organizational Storytelling, Ethics and Morality: How Stories Frame Limits of Behavior in Organizations’ Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, Vol 10, No 2, 2005.