Hammering the Keys

Brand architecture -- market research, message definition, creative direction -- aims to build personal relationships between your company and your customers. You need to remember that every communication, every "touch point" where your customers experience the brand is personal. If your written language is unclear, clumsy or just plain bad, you are putting up barriers to communication and relationship where you should be opening doorways.

Your brand needn't speak to everyone in exactly the same way, but it needs a recognizable voice. That goes along with telling moving and inclusive stories. People don't want to relate to brands they can't understand. They don't want to be part of stories they can't appreciate.

In short, good writing is always important, whether it's a print ad, an article, a brochure, a data sheet, an owner's manual, a Help screen, even a specification. Every time you put words on paper you create an experience of your brand and your company. Pre-sale communications are promises. Post-sale communications are part of the product or service. There's no place for sloppy thinking, awkward language or murky communication in any of them.