Lucid Lingo
Communicating... in plain English
Lucid Lingo
Posted on May 9, 11 by Gary Chow | 1 Comment » | Tags: brochure, financial services, Graphic design, Marketing, product disclosure statements, superannuation pds
I specialise in copy writing for financial services, and over the years have written and edited copy for many product disclosure statements for superannuation and pension funds.
A product disclosure statement (sometimes referred to as a prospectus or a member’s guide) provides information allowing a consumer to make an ‘informed decision’ on whether to invest in a financial [...]
Posted on April 11, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: active writing, conversational tone, direct copywriting, personal copywriting
I used to edit and proofread technical reports written by environmental scientists. What struck me was how formal and passive the writing was.
Their reports were full of passive sentence constructions such as ‘the writer believes’ or ‘it is thought’. And instead of referring to the reader as ‘you’ they’d refer to them using their full [...]
Posted on April 4, 11 by Gary Chow | 1 Comment » | Tags: copy, information sharing
Once upon a time I was a corporate warrior; worked in an industry where rather aggressive selling practices were the norm.
I was a marketing manager and was exposed to the ways of the sales force. I recall one of the maxims held dear to the heart of sales agents was to ‘sell the sizzle not the [...]
Posted on March 30, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: Marketing, niche marketing, strategy
This famous scene, from the Billy Crystal film, ‘City Slickers’, says a lot about the importance of ‘focus’ in business; that is, concentrating all your efforts and resources on being good at one main thing.
The dialogue is: “You know what the secret is? One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything don’t [...]
Posted on August 13, 10 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: answering inquiries, Customer service
You know what annoys me more than anything when it comes to dealing with businesses?
Voicemail!
I don’t mean the typical big company telephone menu selection (although that annoys me, too), where you keep hearing a robot saying how much they love you and then proceed to make you hang on for another 10 minutes.
No, what I’m [...]
Posted on August 11, 10 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: contact us webpage, Customer service, website content
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been busily house hunting. So one of the websites I’ve frequented a lot in this period is a real estate site that advertises properties for sale.
On this website (advertised as the ‘biggest address in property’), agents list the houses they are selling and if you want to make [...]
Posted on May 31, 10 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: advertising copy, copywriting, Marketing, marketing messages, Web copywriting
I was chatting with a friend the other day about… batteries. Both of us recalled the ‘energizer bunny’ commercials but neither of us was sure which company it represented. Is it Eveready or is it Duracell?
Coincidentally, on the same day I read this post about the sameness of company websites by Seth Godin. He points [...]
Posted on May 28, 10 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: avoiding gobbledygook, copywriting plain english, plain English writing
Memo to computer store staff: speak to customers in plain English and drop the jargons and buzzwords. If you want to serve and help, answer questions and explain your products in lucid, precise language. Listen to the questions and answer directly, and use words people can understand without having to refer to a jargon dictionary. [...]
Posted on April 22, 10 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: branding, Marketing, web content, Web copywriting, web design, website content
The other day I wandered into the new Apple computer store which recently opened in the Brisbane suburb of Chermside.
I’ve got to tell you, the first impression you get is ‘wow!’
There are Apple stores all over the world, at last count 283 including 6 in Australia. So I guess there are many just like this [...]
Posted on March 16, 10 by Gary Chow | 1 Comment » | Tags: copywriting, Marketing, product benefits
When promoting a benefit of your product, your message will resonate with your readers far more if you can write about the benefits in a way that is personal and meaningful.
A good example of this approach can be found on the website of Bluescope Steel, a leading steel company in Australia and New Zealand.
Rather than [...]
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