Develop a Style Guide to Build Your Brand
If you have many people sending emails, writing letters or developing proposals, it may be time for your company to develop a style guide. What is a style guide? It is a multi-page document that standardizes your employees’ use of grammar and style. It helps a company ensure their documents look professional and conform to your company’s “brand.” Why pay someone all that money to develop a logo, a theme and your website then not link your written communications to that brand?
The first few pages of a style guide are normally devoted to standard punctuation, grammar and capitalization styles. Then in-depth information follows to address style and presentation matters. For example, how often do your employees use a hyphenated term like “workers’ compensation”? Or is it “worker’s compensation”? Heaven forbid, they use “workman’s compensation.” Or what about hyphenated words, like “Call our toll-free number”? If you consider all the words and phrases normally used in your business communications, you can see that a style guide helps you develop consistency in your communications.
How do you develop a style guide? First, ask your insurance carriers if they have one developed that you can adopt for your agency. That may make the most sense. If not, put together a committee of a few good writers in your organization and let them do the work. There are many style-guide recommendations on the web found easily with a web search. Then look at some of your most frequently developed documents, both internal and external, to determine the phrases you use most frequently.
Alternatively, you can hire an editor to develop one for you. You can always ask them to provide their best recommendations and tweak them for your organization. If you would like to discuss this or other copywriting issues, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Read This Roundup of Cavalcade of Risk!
Great articles by many gifted risk thinkers. They are also kind enough to include me. See the Roundup here.
Cavalcade of Risk Posted
The latest Cavalcade of Risk is posted! Read a roundup of some of bright thinkers, and my column on the no-win position doctors often find themselves in when faced with return to work issues.
My Allbusiness Blog Continues to Gather Readers
My Allbusiness blog, Risk Management for the 21st Century, continues to gather readers. Some are agents and other risk management types, but many readers are business managers seeking better ways to manage risk. I post a new entry, usually about 500 to 600 words in length, about every ten days. Here is the link. Take a look.
Stop Struggling with Insurance Writing Tasks
Are you tired of struggling with writing tasks that are better outsourced?
Let’s face it, if you are a rainmaker agent or a consultant struggling to find enough hours in the day, writing may not be your best use of time. I work with insurance professionals all over the nation to hone and perfect their written communications. Whether you want to develop a White Paper to distribute at your next sales event or write an article for a national trade journal, Insurance Writer can help.
Writing that piece of sales collateral or a report may take you hours. We can assist and quickly turn your bullet points or a short interview into a collateral piece of advertising you will use for years.
Call us today at 602.870.3230 for a free consultation.
Latest Cavalcade of Risk
Several excellent posts on various risk topics.
Latest Cavalcade of Risk
The latest risk roundup is posted here. Read many interesting highlights across the risk spectrum.
How Are You Handling Generational Challenges?
Recently I told my brother I was cleaning the house and asked rhetorically how one person and one dog could mess up a house so badly. His response was simple. “Perfect coordination.” He is a bit of a wiseacre, but when I think more about it, perfect coordination is a wonderful thing.
Don’t you love those days when you have a thousand things to do and, at the end of the day, you sit back and say, “I accomplished most of what I set out to do.” Perfect coordination is important in business. If you are like me, my attention span fractures quite easily. I’m working on a project, the phone rings, an email arrives, a friend texts me — suddenly I am multitasking and not doing anything well.
I recently presented a series of seminars on challenges insurance professionals face as we blend four generations in the workplace. Each generation has its own work style and generational strengths. However, there is also an additional challenge in the “fringes” of each generation, who have characteristics of both generations. For example, I am a late -model Boomer, yet I have many characteristics of the following generation, Gen X. So if someone applied solely Boomer psychology to me, they would have troubling figuring out what motivates me.
In another few years, a fifth generation, now called by some the “i-Generation,” will arrive in the workforce with an array of electronic devices and technical capabilities. Remember, this is a generation that never knew life without a computer. How is your organization handling generational challenges?
If you would like to know more about how my presentation on managing generational differences, please drop me an email or call me at 602.870.3230. I’d be happy to help you with your company’s unique challenges.
Latest Cavalcade of Risk is Posted!
Read my latest column and read the latest risk management posts at this week’s Cavalcade of Risk.