Scott belsky founder of behance talks about presentation and the importance of overcoming the stigma of self-marketing in the creative world. He goes on to talk about the notion of marketing oneself that can sometimes bring about feelings of tremendous discomfort.

He does however give a few tips on communicating your strengths (with class) They are related to the design/creative industries, however can be applied to everyday business:

1. Share projects that you are particularly proud of. If you have a particular talent for vintage-style illustration and thus had two particularly well-known clients that valued these skills, then this should be a point you make with everyone you meet. You can simply share the projects that you feel utilized your strengths most effectively.
2. If on a team, volunteer for projects that engage your strengths. All too often, we wait to be told what to do – even if it is not utilizing our skill set. People get promoted for out-performance, and people only outperform when they are on a project that taps their strengths. As such, you should take initiative to get staffed on projects of interest. This is the work you should actually volunteer for.
3. Get measured for your strengths. When working with a client (or a manager), state up front that you intend to use particular strengths or skills to make the project successful. Then, at the end of the project, request feedback on those elements of the project.

Ultimately, your strengths are what will distinguish your work. It is your job to ensure that your career path moves in the direction of your strengths. It is also your job to get noticed, so don’t spend your life in the metro station as people in search of great music pass you by.

1. Giving outstanding service
2. Be honest
3. Be yourself
4. No hard sell

I was reading an article on by Dan Gillmore from the Guardian on Saturday 3, October 2009, about The new rules of news. One of the points he mentions in his 22 ideas for changing the way news is produced is that he “would replace PR-speak and certain Orwellian words and expressions with more neutral, precise language.

If someone we interview misused language, we would paraphrase instead of using direct quotations. (Examples, among many others: The activity that takes place in casinos is gambling, not gaming. There is no death tax, there can be inheritance or estate tax. Piracy does not describe what people do when they post digital music on file-sharing networks.”

This got me thinking about language in the context of social media and more importanlty “HOW TO TALK.  I then went onto search on Google for “How to talk” the results showed 1 – 10 of about 302,000,000 – everything from how to Talk To The Opposite Sex, and even how to talk gangsta?

As humans we learn language through storage (of new words) encoding and retrievel (or repetition of the new words we ave just learned.)

The problem with social media however is that everybody has a voice and everybody is trying to get reach and standout!  If we are to learn how to talk properly, which in my opinion is to listen first, then we need to understand that the way in which we communicate is changing from long form to short form, with twitter being a classic example whereby you can only communicate using 140 characters.

There still has to be some kind of structure however, otherwise the way in which we talk and how we talk will simply become a series of nonsense syllables and gibberish.

What do you think?  Leave a comment about it or re-tweet

In an earlier post I wrote about whether you could describe what you or your product, service, concept or idea were about in 30 seconds or less.  The point being that you need to be able to clearly define what you or your business do and not alienate your customers with jargon and “corporate speak”

I read a great article about the walls of separation by David Armano (who I recommend you read his blog) which was on the same lines, which suggests that Many companies, brands and organizations are inadvertently building walls between themselves and their customers.

It’s unintentional, happened over time—but ultimately in this age of empowerment, customers feel more connected to each other than they do to your business or brand. Maybe it’s always been this way—but it seems to me that it’s getting worse, not better. How else can you explain things like this?  Somehow, some (not all) brands seem to be increasingly “out of touch” with their own customers.  What does it all mean?  To me.  Well, if you as an entrepreneur, you need to make sure that your offering is not so complicated that no one actually gets it.

Here’s a short video that talks about why painting a picture is important

1. Pitch  -  This is the quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it. Essentially the degree of highness or lowness.
2. Inflection – This is the change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function.
3. Clarity – This essentially is how clear your communication is.
4. Tone – This is the overall quality of what you are saying.
5. Utterance – These are things like, (uh, mmm, i see, ahh etc..)
6. Rhythm – This is how your sentences flow.  Just like music, there needs to be consistency of speech.
7. Energy  – The speed or energy in which you speak can give of a positive or negative impression.  To illicit excitement you should increase your speed.  To show authority and subject knowledge you should slow down.

for more information about how we communicate here’s an interesting post about linguistics

Have a look at your sales letter or proposal that you’re writing.  If you notice that there seems to be lack of the words “You” “We” & “Our” then you may want to revise your proposal.  Why?  Well, from the clients perspective the most important person and business is them.  The reason why the words “You” “We” & “Our” are so important is because they show a collective perspective on what you’re discussing and a focus on your client or customer. To get a better understanding of how to create impact with your copy. Here’s  your FREE  “127 Winning Headlines.” by Lawrence Bernstein, which you can  download here.

You can read Copy is King Part 1 “Secrets of Successful Headlines”