Writing That Works, 3e_ How to Communicate Effectively in Business - Kenneth Roman [42]
WHY TELEVISION? — It’s Media Smart
It Provides the Needed Extra Impact
It Extends the Person-to-Person Print Campaign
WHAT DID OUR RESEARCH SHOW? — Review of Objectives and Methodology
Television Findings — Breakthrough Quality was Key
Television Shifted Respondents’ Perceptions
Television Proved Unique Advantages over Print
WHAT IS OUR CREATIVE RECOMMENDATION?
TV Goals
Headings help put your points in the context of your total recommendation.
4. Recommend — and do it early
This is a recommendation, not a story with a surprise ending. Busy people don’t want to guess what you’re leading up to, so get to the point quickly and clearly.
We propose that a new environmental program be launched within six months.
The committee recommends a new organizational structure to focus more on clients and markets.
Most recommendations involve a degree of pain — a new and expensive investment, or a difficult trade-off. Delaying the bad news is not going to help. Get it up front. Then lay out specific reasons in support. The rationale for your recommendation is the heart of your argument. What is the evidence?
Ogilvy & Mather recommended an expensive campaign of large newspaper ads consisting mostly of text. To forestall a likely client objection that “nobody reads long copy in advertisements,” the recommendation cited numerous cases of ads with hundreds, even thousands, of words that had produced terrific results:
A single British Travel Authority advertisement with over a thousand words attracted 25,000 responses. BritRail, a primary cooperator, reported “its best sales year ever in the U.S.”
An all-type campaign for International Paper drew a thousand letters a day commenting on the advertising or requesting reprints.
For Cunard, an advertisement with 26 separate paragraphs of information paid for itself four times over in direct sales.
Specifics persuade. But they must be relevant and impressive — every one of them. A chain of specifics is no stronger than its weakest link; the weak one will attract the attention of your critics in the audience (and distract your friends).
It’s wise to anticipate questions that are likely to be asked. But sometimes a question that may seem devastating doesn’t really strike at the heart of the matter. In such cases, reframe the question. The question Ogilvy & Mather anticipated was “Does anybody read long copy?” The recommendation reframed it so that the reply would reveal what the questioner actually needed to know: “Does long copy sell?”
5. Emphasize the benefits of your recommendation
There must be a payoff in a reasonable time if your recommendation is to be accepted and acted on. A recommendation by a management consultant emphasized these goals:
To achieve sustainable competitive advantage in cost, technology, and systems quality.
To reach an appropriate return on investment.
To maintain the highest levels of customer satisfaction.
To improve the use of key people.
The recommendation went on to show how those objectives would be met. Never fail to answer the main question your audience is asking, however silently: “What’s in it for me?”
Proposals That Win Grants
Foundations and government agencies that grant money have an unhappy dilemma: having to say “no” far more often than they say “yes.” Much more money is asked for, and for deserving causes, than there is money to give. Whether you’re applying to a federal agency or making your case to a foundation, it is possible to stand out from the crowd. And there will be a crowd.
Talking about measurable program results (“outcomes,” as they’re termed), shows professional expertise — and makes your proposal stand out. Here are some other principles:
1. Get to the point — fast
“I know the head of a major foundation who says he’s tempted to toss out any proposal that doesn’t tell him quickly — in the first paragraph or second — how much money is requested, and what it’s for,” says one professional fund-raiser.
Not