All’s fair in love and entrepreneurship. Marketing wisdom and observations from the world of outsourced marketing communications.

There are great writers everywhere these days. I won’t try to imitate any of them.

Some are more eloquent than I, and some are more brief. Yet the things I write about seem to strike a chord with people. . .big or small, old or young. I like to think it’s because I write like I speak. . .loosely. . .and hopefully, with a bit of a story to rouse one’s curiosity. Sometimes I use a few too many commas despite my status as a professional freelance writer and editor. But who cares. I like ‘em, and again they work with the way I pace things. . .kinda’ like those few dots right there. Yup. I like ellipses too. My grammar teachers would no doubt string me up if they knew where to find me.

But you know what? The entire reason we as humans write is to share ideas with other people via the written word. Only so much can be said and understood in one conversation, and only so much read in one sitting. Putting our ideas to paper allows our intended audience to re-visit and re-learn what has already been stated, and if you want that corporate magazine, company newsletter, white paper, or simple note to a loved one to actually be read, you’d better make it read well. The way to accomplish this simple feat is to write simply.

Last week I volunteered at the Chicago World Usability Day event held at the downtown office of Blue Cross Blue Shield here in the city. It was an event that, quite frankly, I somewhat stumbled upon while on-line searching for concepts and ideas related to my career as a technical writer. I write and edit all sorts of material, actually, but one of my greater joys has always been editing the work of others so as to help them make their message more clear. It is technical writing nirvana for me, really.

World Usability Day was an enlightening event for me because until a few weeks prior to it taking place, I never even knew such a field existed! My first discovery of this “new” creature was through the US government’s usability website where I learned that usability is, quite succinctly, the means by which designers aim to make the things we use and interact with on a daily basis more useful, usable and to quote Don Norman who was the keynoter of the event, more “friendly”. The folks at Motorola, Whirlpool, GE and a host of other companies are working feverishly to ensure the stuff we use in our lives is indeed useful. As writers, we should always aim for the same.

When I was first learning to write critically as a history major in college, I was always instructed to assume nothing when writing. No matter how educated my professors were on the subject matter I was investigating, I was to write my papers as if they knew nothing at all about the topic at hand. It makes sense, of course, and this single lesson is critical to having your work understood. A lack of attention to this principle is often the reason why technical communication in the form of manuals, reports and proposals typically fail to educate their intended audience. As a result, if your firm is spending money on material no one reads or understands, it is spending away its profits on filing cabinet and trash can fodder. There is a reason why our parents never learned how to program the VCR and now their cell phones, and a lot of it can be attributed to those joyful how-to manuals which accompanied those shiny new electronic devices. So if we’re not writing well and using language we can all understand, then fundamentally, we’re not communicating.

So take a step forward and be a change leader. Work on those corporate and technical communications pieces and grab your audience by the short-hairs. Use great ledes, great graphic artists and great writers. After all, you’re competing for your readers eyeballs as much as your own marketing department is, so let’s make it count!

Wouldn’t it be great if after all the hard work you put into your corporate magazine or corporate history piece, your firm’s employees actually read it?

Cool link: The folks at Ragan Communications are the thought leaders in this arena. Check out their work!

Cheers,
Doc Kane, Roscommon
Chicago, November 2006

Doc Kane is the president of Roscommon, a Chicago-based marketing communications firm that helps clients outsource their writing needs. Essentially, if it’s got words, Roscommon can help.   His firm has the privilege of writing for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Abbott Labs and Aon Corporation, as well as a good number of small businesses and experts making a lot of noise in their own backyards.  Doc has also been heavily involved in Internet marketing since 1994, and continues to help small businesses market themselves online via web content and SEO.  You can visit Roscommon online at: www.roscommon.com

Prologue

Did you know you could buy an internship for $5000.? Or, more realistically, your parents could buy it for you?

Did you know some students who are here illegally can receive scholarships to go to school for free?

Did you know some schools would prefer to not issue internship credit so you can gain work experience?

Neither did I, and that is why I felt compelled to address these issues today. So, I will stray a bit from my normal rant to fill you in on some news you may have missed. But first, to place my opinion in perspective it might be important to note that aside from my current gig, I too wrestled my way through college like millions of others, paid my own way through school, and still continue to educate myself formally today. Unlike most, though, I have also been an academic and career advisor, and have had the amazing opportunity to meet and help hundreds of other students manage the process of getting through their college careers with spirit still intact. So each of these articles I’ll mention below struck a chord with me, and after weeks of wanting to write about it, today’s article finally sent my fingers to the keyboard. So here we go!

A Question of Purpose

Lately I have been puzzled and sometimes stunned by what I have been reading in the Wall Street Journal. First, Miriam Jordan wrote about brilliant, but illegal, Princeton Salutatorian Dan-el Padilla Peralta, whose captivating story of persistence and academic genius is the stuff movies are made of. Read it here: If you haven’t read it, I believe you’ll be amazed by some of what is said.

Then Ellen Gamerman’s article entitled “Now up for bid: Plum Internships” was published. In it, she highlights the new and interesting practice of auctioning-off “internships” at top companies to benefit the charitable wings of elite educational institutions and the students who attend them. As someone who participated in internships for years to make headway in the music industry for little or no money, reading her article hit me so hard it was as if someone had driven their fist straight through my stomach wall. Read it here:

Then today, Anne Marie Chaker took me down for the count with her article: “Summer Internships Can Carry A Price”, which details how academic credit is often required now for internships so companies can abide by Labor Laws. What this means, though, is that in the process of doing so, students may often have to pay thousands of dollars in tuition for the opportunity to work for free. Read a syndicated version here:

The real consequence of short-sightedness

What amazes me about each one of these stories is how often we seem to be missing the big picture, and, how at least in these three pieces, the people missing that picture reside in our academic institutions.

For example, how can it be, that former Princeton Dean of Admissions Fred Hargadon feels comfortable publicly stating Mr. Padilla “could have been from the moon and I would have admitted him.”? Isn’t Mr. Hargadon aware there thousands of equally brilliant students of different races and ethnicities who dream of going to Princeton — and attempt to do so legally? What about those students? Is it right to ignore the law and one’s own sensibility, merely because one student seems to be exceptional? I have no issue with Mr. Padilla Peralta himself. The shocking detachment from ethics is what really grabs me in this case.

And what of Ms. Gamerman’s bombshell about schools selling off donated internships to the highest bidder? As internships become more important to each of our students’ future, does it make sense to allow anyone who can afford to buy an internship for their child to actually do so? Nepotism will always be around for sure, but this seems ridiculous to me. Does the school not recognize that by adding several thousand dollars to their development coffers and making one teenager and her parents happy, they have at the same time disappointed the rest of their student body and their parents? This story was so unbelievable to me. Unfortunately, in the end, I couldn’t really place a finger on which group I was more upset with: our schools or our companies. So many hardworking, passionate students who would make great interns are being overlooked for God-knows what reason. The perception that money means brilliance I thought died a very long time ago.

And finally, today’s WSJ article left me again struggling to understand why administrators at some institutions would rather remain so firm on the idea that academic credit is to be given only for so-called “academic” courses, that in doing so they would prevent their student population from earning internships that require credit. Having known many a graduate student who received independent study credit for merely assembling a bibliography, I see no reason why an internship is not given the same weight. Are we talking about learning, or are we merely discussing learning that is done in an institutional setting? In today’s world they are not as far removed from one another as we might first think.

Epilouge

Schools need to realize that their students are their CUSTOMERS, and when they respect those customers, they will reap the rewards that come from doing so. This point is heavily debated in academia, and I’ve always been puzzled as to why, really. After all, one can make the leap from student to customer rather quickly, and that leap can be viewed very clearly from the sidelines. All we need to do is watch what happens when the student actually graduates from the school they have paid a small fortune to attend.

Who is it that sends the first letter congratulating them on their commencement? Their favorite teacher? Their fellow students? Nope.

Who follows up dutifully six months out. . .a year out. . .five years out. . .to remind that student of their proud experiences at their alma mater?

I think we all know who I’m referring to, right? Correct. The Alumni Association.

Come on, guys. It’s really simple. If you can’t look at the students as your customers when they’re a captive audience and paying tuition, why is it so easy to view them as customers when they’re no longer paying and MUCH, MUCH harder to influence?

When was the last time you donated? (Note: I am actually an active member of my alum association, and believe firmly that changes can and should be made to better serve the administration AND its students!)

Please, Administrators: know your audience!

P.S. For further fodder, please read Zachary M. Seward’s intriguing article about how Alumni magazines want more “Rah, Rah from their magazines in order to bring in more alumni support! Read it here:

Cheers,
Doc Kane, Roscommon

Doc Kane is the president of Roscommon, a Chicago-based marketing communications firm that helps clients outsource their writing needs. Essentially, if it’s got words, Roscommon can help.   His firm has the privilege of writing for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Abbott Labs and Aon Corporation, as well as a good number of small businesses and experts making a lot of noise in their own backyards.  Doc has also been heavily involved in Internet marketing since 1994, and continues to help small businesses market themselves online via web content and SEO.  You can visit Roscommon online at: www.roscommon.com

This past week I rented Terrence Malick’s “The New World”. His lush portrayal of Virginia in all its boundless beauty left me awestruck at times, and I must say his eye for dramatic scenery is impressive. The story, for those who have not seen the film, is about the legendary Pocahontas and the rather impactful life she led over 400 years ago. Of course there are parallel stories and other characters, namely John Smith and John Rolfe, but who really remembers their names after 4 centuries? Historians, perhaps. . .but that’s about it, really.

So let’s consider that for a moment. The spread of time, I mean.

. . .four hundred years.

Pocahontas was a teen-aged girl who had interactions with a group of explorers and settlers from England long before the majority of events that preoccupy most of us today were ever recorded, and yet we’re still talking about her in 2006! Mention her name to anyone above the age of five and they can probably at least identify her.

So that got me thinking about business and corporate permanence. And more precisely, at what point does one’s story stick? There are countless examples of individuals and companies whose legacy just does not stand the test of time, so what causes those others we do remember to remain a fixture in our minds? I can’t tell you how many buildings and streets are named after individuals who were quite well known in their time and for some years after, but have since been lost to the ether. Why? And how can you ensure your legacy and that of your company outlives you and your grandchildren’s children? Of course, the answer is yours to contemplate, but as a corporate historian myself, I’ll give you a few ideas as to how you can get started. Check out a few of these links to place yourself on the right path toward immortality.

Maintaining great corporate records is the role of any serious corporate historian. But what do you do when the cubic feet of archival documents you possess about your company’s history outweigh the building where your office is located? Check out the History Factory and be AMAZED! Also, History Associates runs a tight ship for corporate histories.

The Committee To Encourage Corporate Philanthropy exists to drive corporations to stretch the bounds of the current definition of corporate responsibility. I had the pleasure to hear Miles D. White of Abbott Labs address an audience at the Executive’s Club of Chicago on this very topic, and it was right on, and quite insightful. After all, helping out our friends is a good thing, and as we experienced with Hurricane Katrina, businesses are often in a better place to do it than our governments. Hey, do like Pocahontas and be nice. It seems to create a lasting memory!

Of course, the first step to being remembered, is to start writing. Below I have included a few links to companies who have done a relatively good job of documenting their company history on-line How are you doing? Here are their sites:

Pfizer

Coke (they even have a museum!)

Interestingly enough, Google already has begun the task of documenting their corporate history!

We do corporate histories as well so feel free to reach out if you would like a documented history of your company you can be proud to pass on to your shareholders, employees, and grandchildren. Reach us at www.roscommon.com

Cheers,
Doc Kane, Roscommon

Doc Kane is the president of Roscommon, a Chicago-based marketing communications firm that helps clients outsource their writing needs. Essentially, if it’s got words, Roscommon can help.   His firm has the privilege of writing for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Abbott Labs and Aon Corporation, as well as a good number of small businesses and experts making a lot of noise in their own backyards.  Doc has also been heavily involved in Internet marketing since 1994, and continues to help small businesses market themselves online via web content and SEO.  You can visit Roscommon online at: www.roscommon.com