My good buddy, Tom Ahern, is a genius. No, I mean that really.
He’s taken the lowly newsletter — the one put out by non-profits — and has built an incredibly successful consulting business telling said non-profits how to make their newsletters better (i.e. get people to write checks).
Tom also puts out his own terrific e-newsletter — and the most recent issue, “Dear Untrusted: Show This to Your Boss,” is one of his best yet.
In it he talks about a certain client who rewrites everything his staff writes.
In this particular case, the boss had rewritten his staff writer’s press release. She had written it just the way Tom had trained her and others in a workshop.
If you’re a writer, this scenario is familiar. The boss (or client) fancies himself a writer and loves to get in and muck around in your copy. (Can you feel your stomach already sinking?) Tom writes:
Praise to the boss. Answering to a board of directors, and its occasional fire-spitting rogue members, isn’t a job I’d wish on any enemy.
But here’s the thing: being the executive director does NOT make you a capable writer. Occupying the top box in an org chart grants you no special powers.
On the contrary: Being executive director mounts you on a pedestal where you can SAFELY mouth ONLY lofty-leaning vagaries which take all sensititivies into account. Job #1: Offend no one.
That is not the job a writer. In fact, it’s exactly what effective writers DON’T do.
Tom then goes on to talk about the differences between “normal” writers and “effective” writers.
“Normal” writers are literate — they can read and put together sentences and paragraphs BUT their job does not depend on them writing effective (successful) communications.
“Effective” writers, on the other hand, be they non-profit, B2B, or B2C, work their asses off for one goal only: to get people to take a desired action (write a check, download that white paper, sign up for a Webinar, place that online order).
And the reason “normal” writers aren’t “effective” writers is because they lack the understanding and training to write effectively (or “make the cash registers ring,” as Bob Bly says).
Tom’s newsletter hit home for me because even though I don’t have a boss who rewrites my stuff, I have had clients over the years do so.
It usually goes like this — Client: “I showed your copy to my daughter — she’s at Harvard – who made a bunch of corrections.” (Me — Groan.)
The “offending” copy has usually been stripped of its marketing voice — leaving it to sound like something written by well, like an English major. (Trust me — I used to write hard-hitting thesis paragraphs too.)
So what’s an effective writer to do?
Tom concludes that there isn’t much you can do if a boss (or client) doesn’t want to know the truth. Which is why he advocates printing out his newsletter article and leaving it on the boss’s chair.
What do you think? Is Tom right? Have you had situations where the boss or a client has rewritten your work? How did you deal with it?
” is a must-read for any company that thinks it can safely ignore the changes taking place online via social media because “that stuff doesn’t impact our business.”
Recent Comments