Comments Off on PERSUASIVE WRITING: Understanding Your Audience
By Paul Smith
There are three things you should think about if you want to your audience to be persuaded by what you have to say:
the reader
the result you want to achieve, and
your messages
Let’s start with the reader. Just who are they? What’s their demographic, their interests and background?
Consider the reason they’re reading: is it for work, pleasure or education, and what do they feel about the subject you’re writing about?
Understanding these things about your reader will help you to write using language and cultural references that connects with them.
Knowing if they are reading for work, pleasure or education also allows you to adapt your writing style to meet their needs:
If it’s work, you want to be clear and concise to allow the reader to quickly take want they need from the prose and get on with their task.
If it’s pleasure, your copy should be interesting and entertaining. After all, the reader could be doing other things with their time!
And if it’s for education, it should be comprehensive, for them to be able to learn.
Next, think about the result.
Be clear about what you think is achievable with this one piece of writing. For example, do you want the reader to recognise a brand name or to understand why a product or service might be useful to them? Be realistic and focus your writing on that goal.
Lastly, think about the messages – the information you use to convince the reader.
Choose a maximum of three pieces of information – readers rarely take on board more than three – then write them in a logical order on your page. They form the spine of your copy and you can write around them.
If you’re thinking about the reader, result and messages before you begin writing then you are in the best position to write persuasively.
Click here for details of the Amber Group’s Persuasive Writing training.
Comments Off on STORYTELLING: Tales Your Audience Will Want to Retell
By Ken Deeks
Telling powerful stories has never been more important. Increasingly, audiences – whether that’s employees, clients or prospects – want to be inspired and entertained when learning more about what we do as a business.
The best way to do this is through impactful and memorable stories. At the Amber Group, we talk about the power of the retellable story. The idea behind this is that if you tell a story, you should tell it in a way that your audience – reader, listener, viewer – will want to, and feel equipped to, retell.
So, what makes a retellable story?
Firstly, it should be easy to understand.
Individuals cannot retell the story if they don’t understand it. This can be tricky. You are telling a story that you are familiar with, but the person you’re telling it to could be hearing it for the first time.
If you are marketing or selling complex solutions, think about the benefit to your client or the outcome they could achieve by using your product or service. Focus on this and build your story around it. Always keep it simple. One of my favourite quotes is: “If you can’t explain it simply enough, you do not understand it well enough.”
Which brings me to my second technique. Every story needs a headline.
Think about how you digest news. It’s the headline that makes the difference between whether you click to find out more or scroll to another story. Your headline should make the reader want to know more.
Now you’ve got your audience’s attention, consider how you will keep them there.
My third tip is to paint pictures by telling stories about people.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “every picture tells a thousand words.” This is partly because we digest and remember pictures in a way we can’t always digest and remember words.
So, paint a picture. Rather than talk about how your products and services helped Natleys bank, talk about how you and your team first met Jane, the new CEO, and how – when you first met her – she had her head in her hands, looked up and said ‘help.’
I bet you’ve just pictured that. You ‘saw’ a different Jane, right? Someone with their head in their hands needing help. It painted a picture. It was memorable.
Use these three tips to give longevity to your stories through others wanting to retell them.
For more information on the Amber Group’s Storytelling and Writing Skills training, click here.
Comments Off on Developing an Account Manager Mindset
By Ken Deeks
The shift in role from an account executive to account manager in a creative or PR agency is one of the most challenging transitions you can make. It involves a move from the client seeing you as an administrative doer to a strategic consultant.
A major thing that underpins this transition, and will help you along that journey, is this: you must understand that you do things that the client can’t do; that you provide a service that the client does not have the expertise to do for themselves.
We all buy services and we buy those services for two reasons.
Firstly, we buy a service because we don’t want to do something. For example, we could wash our car but instead we choose to take it to a car wash, or we could make a sandwich for lunch but hey, there’s a Pret a Manger on the way to work… While we value these services, they tend to be a commodity purchase, based on price.
Now think about the services you buy that you can’t do such as solicitor, plumber, financial adviser, electrician etc. It’s because you can’t do them or have the expertise to do them, you value them that much more.
We often don’t remind our clients that we can do things they can’t and it can lead them to taking us for granted, because we haven’t educated them on what we do.
Next time you are reporting back on a piece of coverage you’ve achieved, explain what went into achieving it; how you built up a relationship with the writer over several years, the spin you put on the story to suit the publication’s audience, how you linked it to a piece of well-regarded industry research and how you came up with a compelling headline that grabbed the editor’s attention.
Think about the last time you did this – or have you ever? It’s something you should consider if you want your client to appreciate your value.
After all, when was the last time a plumber popped round your house, looked at the leak and said “Oh that’s easy, it will only take me a couple of minutes?”
Comments Off on MEDIA TRAINING: How to Handle an Interview
By Ken Deeks
Every trainer shares their favourite techniques on how to handle an interview during media training sessions.
Here are my top 3:
Firstly, you need to focus on the journalist’s audience.
Too many spokespeople rely on providing generic content without thinking about the journalist’s readers or viewers. When I worked on the Daily Mirror, the editorial team was laser-focused on what our readers wanted – the type of story, the angle, the way it should be written. It was a brilliant lesson in an early part of my career.
Secondly, think about what you want from the interview.
All too often spokespeople are happy to let the journalist run the interview, and answer the questions posed. This is fine, but you also need to deflect so that your messages land.
Here’s a technique to help achieve this:
As part of your prep, write down the headline you’d like to see as a result of the interview. Then write down the first two or three paragraphs. Have this in front of you when you go through your interview. This will help you to focus on your own key messages.
Thirdly, use what we call verbal underlining to really drive home those messages. Use words like ‘importantly,’ ‘significantly’ and ‘crucially,’ and then pause before you slowly deliver your message. These words will prompt the journalist to want to listen.
My three favourite techniques: Think Reader. Think Message. Think Verbal Underlining.
I hope these work for you!
Click here if you would like more information on the Amber Group’s Media Training courses.
Comments Off on PRESENTATION SKILLS: Top Tips for Presenting with Impact
By Richard Baines
Presenting is something many of us have to do. If you find it challenging, you’re definitely not alone.
When we present, we communicate through three channels:
Our words – what we say,
Our tone – how we say it,
Our behaviours – or more specifically, our delivery style.
Presentation skills training can help you enhance your delivery and become a more impactful presenter. In the meantime, here are a few tips to get you started. Let’s begin with words:
Our words should INFORM our audience. To achieve this, they should be simple; free of unnecessary jargon and framed in short sentences.
To add impact, consider the occasional underlining word, such as significantly or importantly to tee up your key messages.
The use of framing statements such as, “so why is this so important for us?” is also a great way to draw your audience’s attention to your key point or takeaway.
If words inform, it’s our tone that CONVINCES the audience. As the saying goes, it’s not what you say but how you say it.
Consider two techniques here:
Place emphasis on key words and statements to underline them and ensure they stand out. You can even repeat the occasional point for greater resonance.
Vary your volume. All good presenters use this technique to add a little theatre and variety to their delivery. You don’t have to over-do it. Remain authentic and try not to fall foul of a monotone delivery at all costs.
Finally, consider your delivery style. This is what engages your audience so focus on:
Pace: often when presenting we speed up, usually because we feel anxious. As we get faster, we use more ‘filler words’ because our brain is struggling to keep up with our mouth. “Err,” “umm,” “basically,” and “sort of” are all good examples. A few of these are ok but too many can reduce your impact. So slow down. It will allow you time to think. It will also enable your audience to keep up. Remember, they are probably hearing this for the first time.
Use the power of the pause: a well-placed pause compels your audience to reflect on what you have just said, while building anticipation for what is to come. Like a well-crafted song, it’s the gaps between the notes that are just as important as the notes themselves. So don’t be afraid to let your delivery breathe a little with a timely pause here and there to keep them engaged.
Like any skill, practice makes perfect so don’t be afraid to experiment with your words, tone and delivery style to add impact to your presenting.
Good Luck!
If you are interested in Presentation Skills training, click below for information on the Amber Group’s training courses.
Comments Off on INSIGHTS DISCOVERY®: Using Colourful Language to Improve Interactions
By Richard Baines
Effective working relationships are key to the success of any team or business.
However, we are all different, we don’t all see the world in the same way and we sometimes like to behave differently. Consequently, our workplace interactions don’t always run as smoothly as we’d like.
While our own preferred style of communicating works well for us, it might be less effective or even frustrating for others. One size certainly doesn’t fit all when it comes to connecting with colleagues and clients.
So how can we be more successful in our interactions? How can we engage with and influence those people we find most challenging?
Insights Discovery® training can help us do just that. Discovery uses the language of colour to identify four different aspects of our personality type:
Fiery Red
Sunshine Yellow
Earth Green
Cool Blue
We all possess each of the colour energies but in different quantities and our most dominant colours have the greatest influence on how we behave.
At the heart of the Insights Discovery system is the Discovery Profile, a detailed reflection of our preferences based on answers entered into an online evaluator. As well as providing clues to our communication style; our strengths; possible weaknesses and our potential blind spots, the profile tells us the order and quantity of each colour energy in our personality.
Together, the Discovery colour system and profiling tools provide a great way to enhance personal and team effectiveness. They help us to do three things:
Better understand ourselves,
Better understand others, and
Develop the skills to adapt and connect, so that our interactions are more successful.
If you’re looking to enhance your personal effectiveness, to develop high performing teams or build stronger client relationships to grow your business, Discovery may be the answer.
Richard Baines is a licenced Insights Discovery® practitioner. For more information on the Amber Group’s Insights Training, click below.
Comments Off on COACHING: Help Your Employees to GROW
By Richard Baines
It’s said that when we tell people things it can close their minds, but by asking questions, we trigger their thinking. This is one reason coaching as a management skill has risen in importance and popularity in recent years.
But what is coaching and how does it differ to training?
Let’s take some examples from the sporting world. Why do elite athletes such as sprinter, Dina Asher-Smith or tennis star, Novak Djokovic retain a coach? Surely, they are among the best in the world already.
The answer is threefold:
We all need help to achieve our full potential,
We can’t always see for ourselves where we can or need to improve,
We can all suffer dips in performance or motivation from time to time.
A good sports coach will tackle these areas, helping the athlete achieve levels they are unlikely to reach alone. Done well, the same can be achieved with workplace coaching.
So, what makes a good workplace coach and how should we go about it?
It’s about asking good questions and having a structured approach. A tool that can really help with this is called the GROW model, which consists of four powerful steps:
GOAL – what do you want to achieve?
REALITY – where you are now?
OPTIONS – what are the possible routes to success?
WILL – what actions will you commit to, to get there?
Structured coaching for your future stars can be a powerful way to stretch their thinking, develop their performance and help them achieve their potential more quickly.
Corporate Coaching also has several benefits over training
It’s fully tailored to the needs of the individual,
It’s more immediate in nature and easily applied to live challenges or opportunities,
It’s a more continuous form of development, where training is more concentrated in nature.
The next time a team member comes to you with a question, challenge or opportunity, consider whether coaching might be a better way to help them GROW.
Click below to find out more about the Amber Group’s business coaching services.
I’ve spent many years helping companies develop winning pitches and bids. One thing I’m often asked is what makes the difference between a losing and a winning presentation. For me, these three tips consistently stand out:
Tip 2:do or say something unexpected. Years ago, when training as a tabloid headline writer, I was told to come up with something to make people go ‘GOSH!’ – something unexpected, almost unbelievable, that made them want to know more. So, look at your presentation deck and ask yourself: “Where’s the GOSH factor”? If there isn’t one, find one. And if you are struggling for that headline, do something that just feels different. For example, mix it up a bit by starting with your second point instead of your first…
Tip 1:start with your audience. What do they want to hear and how do you deliver something that resonates with everyone? While it’s important our stories have that GOSH factor, there will be different buyers in the room wanting different things. Some – procurement for example – will just want to know that you can do the job and have a process in place to ensure it’s delivered. As they say, different strokes for different folks.
Tip 3: very much connected to our previous one: personalise the story – but personalise it about THEM. All the best stories are about people. When we talk about people we make what we do for our clients that much more understandable. As the old saying goes, “facts tell, stories sell.” But tell the stories about THEM rather than YOU. Paint THEIR picture not YOURS. Describe the difference it will make to THEM and not YOU. Get THEM – your audience – to feel the pain or enjoy the success of the potential opportunity. It will engage and make them feel part of the story. And that will make them more likely to buy.
At the Amber Group, we are ALL communications experts. We know – because our clients tell us – that our advice and support for bids, pitches and presentations can often be the difference between winning and losing. We help build confident teams and equip them with the stories and content that make them stand out.
Comments Off on There’s a New Type of Leader Out There
As someone who sometimes runs leadership training courses, I am always intrigued by the different leadership styles adopted by people.
I was therefore fascinated by the profile of Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, in The Times on Saturday.
Succeeding Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Mr Nadella is a very, very different type of leader, radiating calmness and empathy as opposed to the more bombastic leadership style of his predecessors, particularly Ballmer. At first, employees were sceptical (it was change and people typically don’t like change), but his empathetic and quiet style of leadership has been a huge success.
With all these things, however, leadership ultimately isn’t about being liked, it’s about success.
And under his watch, Microsoft’s share price has doubled.
Mr Nadella’s approach reminded me of a survey I saw recently. As part of this survey, business leaders were questioned about what they thought their employees would say, if they were asked what they wanted from a leader. The business leaders, not unreasonably, suggested their employees would put forward words like vision, drive, focus and even ruthlessness.
The survey then asked employees what they wanted from their business leaders, and the response was this: the number one attribute employees wanted from their leaders was for those leaders to show genuine concern for their wellbeing.
Wow! I didn’t see that one coming. And it’s the word genuine that jumps out at me. It’s got to be real, it’s got to be authentic, the leader really does have to show they care.
And when you think about it, then of course that makes sense. I personally have always been sceptical about the brash, bold, over the top approach to ‘motivating’ employees. Steve Ballmer typified this leadership ‘style’, often leaping around at company rallies, screaming: ” I love this company.” (Well of course you do! It’s made you zillions!!) But the point is, why would anyone else love it? Which reminds me of the brilliant David Brent line: ” There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that the office is relocating and you are all losing your jobs. The good news? I’ve been promoted.” Every cloud…
The message then is that leaders need to empathise, show concern and always be mindful that what motivates them might not motivate others. It requires brilliant listening skills and for that you need to ask the right questions.
So, a question for all you leaders out there. When was the last time you sat down with your employees, asked them about their aspirations, and REALLY listened to the answers. And then acted upon them.
If you’re not doing this, then you’re not the leader that your employees say they want.
Ken Deeks is a trainer, coach and business adviser for The Amber Group
I was using the washroom of a top London PR agency recently – in between training sessions – when a chap wandered in, deeply engaged in conversation, his mobile phone clasped to the side of his face. As he stood at the urinal, he proceeded to splash and dash with one hand and the dexterity of a master card magician, while chatting away to his client, before washing and leaving – still talking. Whilst I admired his ability to multi-task, I was stunned that he felt the need to do both things simultaneously. I’ll leave you to ponder the dilemmas of 21st century office washroom etiquette, but it did make me wonder if his compulsion to save a few moments underlines a creeping concern that the agency world is being driven in a direction of “efficient doing” rather than effective thinking and execution.
After 12, mostly wonderful, years working in UK PR agencies, today with the Amber Group, I spend the majority of my time helping train and develop the new generation of PR practitioners. Visiting and working with consultants at a wide range of PR firms, from the very largest to the next big things, I can honestly say I have learnt more about the industry as a trainer looking in than I ever did as someone working within it. It is a brilliant industry; full of bright minds, enthusiasm and creativity. But one trend does seem to be accelerating at a pace; the pressure to spend time doing rather than thinking. I suffered similarly when working full time in agencies; too much to do and not enough time to do it. Busy being busy. Focused on the near-term result but neglecting the ultimate objective. In the spirit of encouraging our industry to continue to flourish, here are five things I wished I had reminded myself every day before stepping into that mad, chaotic but brilliant energy-bristling, creative maelstrom that is the agency world.
Everything we do should be geared towards helping clients sell more stuff or helping them change the way their target audience thinks and behaves. This is the magic. At its best PR makes people think and do things they hadn’t considered before. Wow, what a job! So let’s not get bogged down in ordering the ingredients, let’s makes some potions!
From account manager upwards, it’s about thinking – not doing. As an industry, we promote account executives for being efficient doers. They get through their to do list, shout early enough if they are about to drop a ball and are quickly rewarded with promotion. Unfortunately, we forget to tell them that from account manager onwards their success depends predominantly on their ability to think rather than do. We don’t sit them down and explain this and then we wonder, after a confused six months in their new role, why they are still behaving like glorified account executives. Let’s get our new talent thinking from day one.
There are no new PR ideas – only beautifully executed campaigns. Call me a cynic but once you have delivered the 12 or so PR tactics a few times for different clients, there really are no new ideas. (Care to take on the challenge of naming the 12?) It’s the same principle as there are only ever seven stories – or variations on the theme. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again and lives happily ever after. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again but then dies tragically. You can swap or mix the genders but you get the picture. So, the magic is not in the tactic but the execution; the crafting of the message and the delivery that makes the target audience take on the idea like osmosis. Let’s think harder about the planning and ensure every bright idea has the impact we desire.
Curiosity didn’t kill the cat – it turned it into a brilliant PR person. With the intensifying need for action, we are losing a natural curiosity for life and knowledge and discovery. The most creative, mind-bendingly brilliant campaigns I ever had the pleasure of having a tiny hand in, or been touched by, came from naturally curious agency people joining the dots and coming up with something brilliant. To join the dots in our mind we must feed the brain with information and cultural context to allow the unconscious to make the connections. Let’s build agencies that encourage and thrive on curiosity. Let your people wander physically and mentally.
Sometimes the client doesn’t know their objective from their strategy and tactics – help them understand. Some clients buy agencies for extra arms and legs, but most want insight, clarity and direction. Many mid-level marketing and PR managers in large organisations are lost in the detail of the day-to-day. We owe it to those clients to help make them great.
This is not a knock at the PR industry – agency or client. I love this industry. It has clothed, nourished and educated me and I will be forever grateful. Its people strike me with their enthusiasm and natural joy for communication each and every day. We have a world-leading industry and brilliant minds, but this is a plea for more thought before action – more time to think – and to pee!
Prompted any thoughts or reflections? I look forward to reading them.
Paul Smith is a trainer and coach with The Amber Group
