Attention to Detail

Communication
Attention to Detail

Attention to detail is a coveted soft skill that can impact your brand in a big way.

Even if the content is top-notch, it can be hard to see past spelling errors, extra spaces and other typesetting faux pas. 

Last month I downloaded a lead magnet that was funnelling me toward an expensive course. But by page two, I noticed:

  • inconsistent spacing of a bulleted list;
  • inconsistent capitalization, and;
  • two typos.

While the content did its job of providing an overview of the course, all I could think about was, “is the work this person does for their clients equally sloppy?”

We all make mistakes and we should be kind to others when we see that happen. 

But…

when trying to build trust and authority with prospective customers, these touch points influence our decisions and overall impression of a service or product.

I didn’t end up enrolling in the course. 

Not because of the mistakes in their PDF (although that lowered the trust factor for me). It just wasn’t a fit for my business.

Don’t lose a prospect over something you can easily avoid.

  • Always use spellcheck.
  • If you don’t have an editor, have 2-3 people review it, or;
  • Run it through an app like Grammarly AND have someone else check it.

I may be a graphic designer, but my perfectionist tendencies kick in with words too, and I slip into proofreader mode constantly. 

Don’t worry – I use my power for good. I would never belittle the cafe down the street for their “bacun, lettuce, and tomato sandwhich,” but I do look out for my clients. I want to make sure they put their best face forward.

Here are a few of the things I scan for:

  • Does any phrasing/jargon sound confusing? Have someone from outside your company (or better yet, industry) read it to see if they understand it.
  • Look for typos and grammatical errors (of course).
  • Is the capitalization of headlines or terms consistent?
  • Review numbered sections or lists. Are they consistently formatted and in numerical order?
  • Is the headline hierarchy accurate? It should help the reader scan through sections.
  • Are naming conventions consistent?
  • Are there extra spaces between words or punctuation? (The double space after a period went out of style long ago).
  • Are the appropriate dashes being used (hyphen, en dash, em dash)?
  • How’s the alignment looking? Scan the left side of paragraphs to root out extra spaces and look for misaligned tabbed lists.

How do you feel when you see errors in a published piece? Are you able to see past them?

P.S. I’m not an official editor, so you may very well find errors in this post. That would be rather embarrassing given the topic, so please be gentle and email me with your pointers. I’m always learning 🙂

6 Ways to Repurpose Your Webinar Content

eBooks, Infographics, Reports,
6 ways to repurpose your webinar content

Just like the yogurt container that stores your leftovers, webinars can also be repurposed to give that content a longer lifespan.

Great webinars don’t need to be banished to replay-land after they air. You can get more mileage from the content by presenting it in a different format. Changing up the delivery method could:

  • attract viewers that may not have watched the original webinar;
  • provide the information in a format that is more attractive to a customer (as we all learn in different ways);
  • provide a nice takeaway piece for those that did attend the webinar.

Here are six ways to repurpose your webinar content:

1. Blog Posts

Capture the essence of the webinar in a written post. Or even better—break it down into a series of shorter posts and you’ll have blog content for weeks! (Tip: You may want to consider using transcription software to capture the words from the video so it’s quicker to edit and organize posts.)

2. Long-Form Content

Create a whitepaper or ebook based on the topic, breaking it down into smaller chapters.

3. Q&A-style Sheet

Did you have a fantastic presenter? Rewrite some of the content in a question and answer format for a quick, interview-style recap of the webinar highlights. Or if there were multiple presenters, consider a FAQ-style and write questions to frame the key takeaways.

4. Reference Resource

Depending on the topic and style of the webinar, a shorter piece that captures the really good bits – the ones people scramble to write down during the presentation – is hot content. Formats to consider are checklists, resource lists, tip sheets, or a short how-to guide.

5. Infographic

Did the webinar tell a compelling story, illustrate a process, or was chock full of interesting tidbits? Consider an infographic as a way to pull all of those elements together in a visually entertaining way.

6. Social Media Graphics

Were there any great quotes or stats stated during the webinar? Turn them into social-sized graphics to share, driving customers to the webinar or other relevant content, so they can learn more.

If you need help figuring out how best to repurpose your webinar content, let’s chat.

Managing Design by Committee

Communication, Non-Profits
Two concepts on paper being combined into one disaster

You know the cliché about too many cooks in the kitchen…it often rings true when a committee is involved in the full design process. But when it comes to special projects in the non-profit world, it’s a hard scenario to avoid.

While it’s valuable to gather feedback from a variety of viewpoints, it’s important to filter through it quickly and not get hung up on the wrong things. Don’t let your project stall out because the committee can’t agree if the cover page should be cherry red or brick red.

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6 Tips to Improve your Report’s Readability

Infographics, Reports
6 Tips to improve your report's readability.

With limited attention spans and always feeling short on time, most of us don’t take the time to fully read a document or report. There are exceptions to the rule of course – those times when we can’t afford to skim the details (think an insurance policy or studying for a test).

But in most cases, we tend to scan for the highlights and the content that’s relevant to us rather than read something cover to cover. It’s not just lengthy documents we scan; I doubt you’ll read this short post word for word. I’m not upset – I get it.

So what can be done?

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