Danielle Dayen

Communication Experts Help You Avoid Communication Disasters

When I'm referred to as a communications expert, I sometimes find myself thinking: Who? Me?

This is not modesty or a lack of confidence in my specific skills and abilities. It's just that I've always believed that much of effective communication is good, old-fashioned common sense. Which is why I find it so shocking when a truly egregious piece of communication emerges from a company whose management should know better... or at least employ people who do. 

Such was the case last week when I read an article in the New York Times about the Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter website, which documents the lenders who are running into financial trouble in America. Included with the article was a voicemail message (posted on the website) to which employees of Family First Mortgage Corp. had been directed. Those lucky employees were told that if they:

"have been directed to this voicemail box, your employment with Family First Mortgage Corp. has been officially terminated, effective immediately."

It boggles my mind that someone thought this was an appropriate way to communicate important, ultimately life-changing, information to the employee population. You don't have to be a communication expert to understand that this was highly inappropriate and downright disrespectful. 

Then again, maybe you do. I guess the basic principles of communication that I liken to common sense are more mysterious to non-communicators. One more reason companies need the services of experts like me. 

Even Professionals Can Use A Refresher

I've always been an editor. From the age of nine, when I sat at my mother's typewriter transcribing the sci-fi stories of my precocious three-year-old brother—automatically correcting his grammar mistakes and making plot suggestions—I have always loved the process of taking a good piece of writing and making it better... all the while maintaining the author's voice and style. 

Due to my tendency to be a perfectionist, over the years, proofreading and copy-editing have almost become a sickness. I cannot look at a piece of copy without noticing the typos and misspellings present. Writing on the web is a constant source of chagrin. Friends who borrow my books find the margins marked with corrections and notes where the author and editor (having, I know, read the manuscript so many times it's difficult to "see" the errors) have missed a mistake in continuity, timeline, or plot. 

While I possess a degree in English, have a few years in publishing under my belt, and have studied copy-editing, I've always felt that I simply have a "sense" about editing. I know when a grammatical mistake occurs and how to fix it—even if I can't always recite the exact rule behind it. 

But now, living in England, the grammar and punctuation rules have changed. While I've picked up most of the differences, my inner perfectionist feels that a good school girl's review is in order. And so I have enrolled in The Publishing Training Centre's online grammar course. 

Because even professionals can use a refresher from time to time. 

Shape the Message, Control the Story

While I can't say that I agree with the politics and policies of the Bush Administration or the Pentagon, this recent New York Times article outlines the highly-effective campaign they used to control the message being presented to the media and the American people about the "war" in Iraq.

Pitfalls of Public Speaking: The Dreaded "Um"

I recently came across a great quote on Ask Oxford, the online version of the Oxford Dictionaries.

"Actors use pauses. Mortals use 'um'."
—Simon Jenkins (1943—), British journalist

Nearly all of us are called upon to do some sort of public speaking in our professional lives, whether it be contributing to a meeting, making a customer presentation, or addressing a conference of people in our field. Yet for many of us, this skill does not come naturally. We're nervous and uncomfortable and it shows.

Do You Labour or Labor Over Your Communications?

British English or American English. Which to use?

It depends on who you are and who your audience is. If you are a British company selling a product or offering services in Britain, you are obviously going to use British English. The same applies if you're working in Western Europe, where most people learn British spelling, grammar, and punctuation. And if you're marketing to America, you should probably use American English.

But what if you're an American working for a British company whose customer base is in China?

The Perils of Misjudging Your Audience

This past week Boston went into anti-terrorism mode as various "light installations" placed around the city as part of a promotion for the movie version of Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force were mistaken for bombs.

While clever marketing and advertising campaigns have their place, from a communication standpoint, the agency behind this promotion neglected what is perhaps the most important principle:

Consider your audience.

Any successful communication must begin with an understanding of the audience to which it is directed: who are they? what's their background? expectations and preconceptions? what do they need to know? how can you best reach them?

While the promotion may have appealed to fans of Aqua Teen, being placed in high-visibility locations in a major city, it was not targeted specifically to them. Therefore, those behind the promotion should have considered the more general audience that it would reach--namely, an urban population living in post-9/11 America that is encouraged to report any suspicious activity to the police.

Always consider your audience carefully. It can be the difference between a successful communication and a public relations disaster.