How Politicians are Being Taught to Engage Online

February 28, 2007 | 2 Comments

The political world seems to be in a similar predicament to that of advertising. People have been bombarded with so much spin and deliberately ambiguous language that they have simply stopped listening to political messages. Less people now vote in the UK elections than they do for TV talent show contestants. People have simply lost interest in responding to political campaigns that appear little more than contests between marketing and PR departments.

But over the last year we have witnessed the impact of the connected internet world on politics. Political bloggers have been able to set the agenda, by pushing stories onto the traditional media, and we have recently seen an unprecedented 2 million votes being cast in a government e-petition. The time is ripe for the political world to start understanding the changing mindsets that the internet is creating, and to be aware of the possible repercussions of failing to engage with their voters online.

I was notified of a research project, to teach political bodies how to engage with voters online, by a post from Stephen Davies aka PR Blogger.

The Digital Dialogue study was launched last year to assess how the internet could be used to improve and promote communication between politicians and the public.

The study observed various government departments as they got to grips with blogs, forums and webchats. The aim is to assess how they could be incorporated into the political process and assist politicians to become more responsive and more in touch with public opinion.

The study is being carried out over two phases of six months. The results of the first phase were released last December. These were some of its key findings:

  • Government departments found they were able to interact more closely with the public, rather than maintain the ‘stand-back and watch’ approach of traditional communication channels.
  • Senior managers were keen to push the projects forward recognising that “the public has been a silent partner in the development, delivery and evaluation of policy and services for too long.”
  • Learning how to most effectively utilise the new communication tools at their disposal would take time with the need to assess the budget requirements, time management and how to incorporate with the existing channels.
  • The response of the public had been “enthusiasm tempered with a healthy scepticism.” People were keen to have the opportunity to be able to engage with policy makers, but had serious doubts as to how genuine the invitation for their input was or what influence their opinions would actually have.
  • The government policy teams felt that the input of the public had been valuable and incisive. It will, however, take time to quantify what impact their input has had on policy decisions.
  • Overall the exercise “benefited government to explore alternative routes, develop new skills and send out a statement about its commitment to better engagement and more transparent decision-making processes.”

The second phase of the study is now in operation and due to be completed by the end of spring. The study’s organisers will be aiming to further develop the practices explored in phase one, and expand them into using wikis, podcasting and audio-visual blogs.

It remains to be seen how seriously senior politicians would absorb the input of the general public. The complexity behind many government decisions would make it irresponsible to decide policy simply based on the public clamour.

The Digital Dialogue study does, however, demonstrate how more businesses and institutions are learning to get to grips with the new mindsets being created by the connected online world. One way communication is dated and dying. Two way engagement, transparency and responsiveness are on the rise. Now anybody in a democratic society with an internet connection can have their own soap box to say what they think. And now more politicians are learning that they have to be able to listen, as well as to dictate.   

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog 

What Can You Learn From Consumer Magazines About Marketing Online?

February 21, 2007 | 5 Comments

Many freelance writers have been watching the falling readership of newspapers and magazines and started preparing themselves for the shift of audiences online, believing that the old print medium is dying. I was one of the many eager to be ready for the millions of people expected to start arriving and adopting the internet as their new home for news and information. However, in the UK there is still a healthy offline writers market worth £385 million and experiencing growth of 10% every year.

Consumer magazines, produced by companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Waitrose and Walt Disney, are being heralded as the essential corporate marketing tool. They are believed to be read by 79% of the population, and can increase their sponsor’s sales by 8%.

A recent study, of 50 titles and 17,000 interviews, found that 78% prefer communication via consumer magazines than any other marketing media.

The study reached these key conclusions:

  • The average time spent reading a consumer magazine was 25 minutes.
  • Two thirds will keep their magazine for 1 week.
  • Engaging with the magazines has a positive impact on the customer’s relationship with the brand.
  • 80% actively responded. Popular actions were trying a recipe, visiting a store or buying a featured product.

Consumer magazines are being hailed in the UK as a powerful, and largely untapped, tool for developing an affinity and desire for an association with brands. By providing a “substance read”, rather than blatant advertising, they are valued by consumers and engaged with, rather than immediately regarded as junk to be binned.

“Research found that this engagement with the magazines has a positive impact on customers’ relationships with the brands,” said Julia Hutchison, director of the UK Association of Publishing Agencies (APA), “It delivers above all other direct marketing the holy grail of permission marketing and participation media.”

The APA believes there has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of consumer magazines as companies wake up to positive impact of providing high quality editorial and articles of value.

The good news for writers is that consumer magazines aren’t reliant on advertising to be self sufficient, but are funded as part of a company’s marketing mix. This presents a stable market and one experiencing yearly growth.

Another recent study has suggested that there is still plenty of enthusiasm for consumer magazines in the US. A USA Strategies survey of B2B executives found that print was still preferred for promoting their products and services. The perceived lack of online metrics remains the big stumbling block for promoting on the web.

“A lot of the distrust regarding the internet stemmed from the fact that although marketers can track click-through rates and page views, they still have trouble relating those metrics to actual sales,” explained Patrick Yanahan, USA Strategies president, “That should be a wake-up call to advertisers and marketers everywhere. For new media to be successful there has to be measurable results.”

The survey found that most executives still regarded websites as mere brand promotion vehicles, and that targeted search marketing had little value. It was editorial coverage and print ads they favoured as the main drivers in building customer trust and pushing sales.

Consumer magazines are highly valued as effective marketing tools because they provide content of value to the consumer. They are able to develop the sales process by building trust and confidence, rather than filling themselves with one page sales pitches. The consensus is that you now sell through information, not advertising.

Producing a consumer magazine is an expensive and complex process. However, it is relatively cheap to be able to apply the same marketing philosophy to your business website. Static brochure websites are now dated. Your web presence should become an evolving portal of news and articles that entices visitors to make return visits, or subscribe via RSS, so they can learn more about you and your services.

If you’re a freelance writer, you might want o investigate the offline market for consumer magazines. They have a wide readership, stable funding and are experiencing continuing growth.

If you have a business website then you should consider applying some of the lessons learned from consumer magazines. By providing regularly updated news and articles of value, you can turn your website into an effective vehicle for engaging with prospects and turning them into customers.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Marketing 

Bad English Costs UK Government £800 Million

February 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Wasting £20 billion on a flawed new computer system is unfortunate. But to lose £800 million because of poorly written leaflets is simply inexcusable. A recent report has found that poor wording and incomprehensible language in UK government literature is creating a huge dent in public finances.

The committee found that leaflets produced by the Department for Work and Pensions, designed to help people make benefit claims, failed to use plain English and used 14 different terms for the word ‘payment’. Just being able to make sense of some of the convoluted terminology also required a reading age above the national average. Many people struggled to understand the questions; consequently they submitted incorrect forms, costing taxpayers millions.

Writing clearly and concisely should be one of a writer’s primary aims. It is the writer’s duty to be able to communicate through their words, particularly when you’re providing crucial advice to the general public.

“Where leaflets contain information which is inaccurate, out-of-date or impossible to understand, then the consequences can be serious indeed,” observed Edward Leigh, the committee chairman.

It would appear that the Department for Work and Pensions didn’t deem it necessary to employ a professional copywriter. Perhaps they thought they could save valuable funds for the Christmas party by writing the leaflets themselves, or posting the job on a freelance bidder website? The quote they may have received of $200 for 20 leaflets probably no longer seems like such good value for money.

Only 81 of the DWP’s 178 leaflets passed the Plain English Campaign’s Crystalmark for comprehensibility. But at least now they appear to have learnt from their mistake.

“We have a duty to communicate with all our customers to make sure they are aware of their benefit entitlements,” said a spokesman for the DWP. He added that from now on, “The leaflets will all be tested with customers and submitted for the Crystal Mark before they are published.”

Organisations often believe that they only require a professional copywriter for their sales letters, email campaigns or brochure style website. But just being able to write in a clear, concise and lucid fashion doesn’t come easily to everybody.

As this particularly expensive case study has shown, employing a professional copywriter might seem like an extravagant expense, but will pay for itself by improving the impact and response to your organisation’s words.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Copywriting 

Why Copywriters Should Prepare for the Evolution of Websites

February 7, 2007 | 2 Comments

A recent survey of British pensioners found that surfing the web is now their favourite pastime, ahead of gardening and DIY. Popular uses included email, banking, reading the news and searching for information. This is indicative of the general population as a whole. The internet is becoming a dominant platform for entertainment, organising your lifestyle and buying goods and services. As a result, more and more businesses are starting to realise that static brochure style websites are inadequate for capturing the attention of info hungry surfers.

Blogs have been heralded as excellent marketing tools: enabling your website to be able to develop trust and confidence through the provision of information of value. Blogs can help push people further down the sales funnel, position your business as a knowledge leader and organically optimise your website for search, from where 80% of your traffic is expected to come from. Now web savvy freelance copywriters are harnessing the ethos of blogging in preparation for the growing market for online writers.

Usage of the internet for searching for product and service information is booming; creating the demand for relevant,original and useful content. This means plenty of work for online copywriters to provide fresh articles that sell through education.

Businesses could opt for republishing free content, or regurgitated $10 copy, as a cheap solution but this isn’t going to impress consumers looking for a knowledge leader, or promote the unique values of your enterprise.

If you search Google news for the term ‘copywriting’ you will find a number of press releases from freelance copywriters, myself included, advertising their new ongoing, content package for news and articles. Gone are the days when copywriters were only need for writing the home, services and about pages. Websites are now organic portals for news and information. They need to be continually evolved to encourage return visitors, and develop the sales process.

It seemed inevitable that the proven, positive aspects of blogging would start to influence how websites evolve, and increase the demand for online writers. So if you are a freelance copywriter, and want to take advantage of your increasing value to businesses, put a press release together and notify all your clients of the need to turn their websites into portals of news and information.

Just make sure that for all your articles they switch comments on, although this might still be a bridge too far for many.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Copywriting, blogging