Disqus - Latest Comments for gordongraham

Re: Is Your Thought Leadership Content Missing the Point?

Gordon Graham — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 15:39:29 -0000

Right on! As a white paper writer, I cringe when a client tells me, "We want to develop some thought leadership with this content!" So I really appreciate the sentiments from Jonathan here. By definition, only a few can be leaders... and those are the ones with many others following them. No piece of content will magically create that situation.

Re: 10 Years of Self-Employment: Here’s What I’ve Learned

Gordon Graham — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 14:55:09 -0000

Ed, I'm sure it was Gordon on that T-shirt 10 years ago! Happy anniversary and thanks for your thoughts. I think your discoveries still apply after, well, 25+ years of freelancing!

Re: 5 More Typography Mistakes You Can Eliminate

Gordon Graham — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 10:56:41 -0000

Thank you Patrick, for another clear set of great tips. I will point all the designers and non-designers among my clients to this piece. These may seem basic to people who lived through the desktop publishing revolution, but they're still news to many keyboard jockeys.

Re: Are Upwork and Other Freelance Job Platforms Killing Freelancers?

Gordon Graham — Tue, 31 May 2016 14:56:13 -0000

I believe writing is like any other marketplace. Some clients shop on price, some shop on quality, some on reliability, some on status, and so on. Any client going to Upwork to find writers is CLEARLY shopping on price. So if you're looking to Upwork for gigs, don't be disappointed if you don't get high rates.

I think what Ed is saying is every writer can position ourselves to appeal to a certain type of client. For example, "reliable" means meeting your deadlines with something the client can use. You don't have to be brilliant. You just have to show up, like Woody Allen says. That puts you way ahead of many writers on Upwork, who can't even provide any content the client can use... according to some of my contacts who tried it.

Re: Why Content Is Not Actually King

Gordon Graham — Fri, 06 May 2016 12:16:17 -0000

This is another case of QUANTITY over QUALITY. Marketers should slow down, take a pause from your editorial calendar's dictate to blog 5 times a week, and create something with higher quality that will generate business results. Less can be more.

Re: Have Whitepapers Lost Their Strategic Purpose?

Gordon Graham — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 11:16:04 -0000

Great post, thank you! I've been saying the same things for 10+ years. Here's my mantra: An effective white paper helps a business person understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Marketing fluff and brochures are selling dreams, not reality. Keep up the good work.

Re: The most effective videos for marketing (Study)

Gordon Graham — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 12:18:12 -0000

Nice effort, but shesh! Don't you find these stats a little over-precise, considering they are drawn from a survey of only 208?! self-selected?! marketers out of a pool of 50,000?!?!?! 51% said this, 50% said that, but only 49% said the other. That range is across a span of only half a dozen people, so it's pretty invalid. Plus, these people are a mix of B2B and B2C?! I'll pay attention when I hear a survey from a bigger pool of B2B-only marketers.

Re: Can you make money as a writer?

Gordon Graham — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:05:03 -0000

Thanks for the clarification, and I agree with you.

Looking for work in a sunset industry (news) that's laid off 50,000 people in recent memory will not likely lead to any happiness.

But effective writing will enhance any career.

And so will knowing how to ask the 5 Ws. I've noticed that this is the secret of many effective managers, who get down to bedrock by asking, "What are we trying to accomplish? For who? By when? Where? Why?"

Re: Can you make money as a writer?

Gordon Graham — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 21:29:19 -0000

So... it sounds like you're advising people NOT to try to become full-time writers? Or did I miss the point?

I agree there are more people dreaming of being writers than there is money to go around to all. That's the same for any creative field. Would you advise people NOT to try becoming artists, musicians, comedians, etc? Just because it's hard?

While the internet has demolished traditional publishing, it has also opened up tremendous possibilities to write copy and content for corporate clients.

Many ex-journalists (and I'm one myself) can't make the transition from writing for a media company to writing for any other type of company. Too bad, they're really missing out on a world of possibilities.

Re: How to build your own style sheet

Gordon Graham — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 13:50:52 -0000

Thanks for this article! And keep them coming.

I believe the point of a style sheet is to handle the same issues the same way, within a document and across documents from the same organization.

A seasoned editor told me years ago how to create an effective style sheet "on the fly"... you just deal with each issue as it comes up in a text, and note down your decision. Then you handle that issue the same way from then on.

Of course, find-and-replace is your friend for going back to check for any missed instances of that issue. You can read more in my article here... http://bit.ly/1TRJel8

Re: B2B Marketing: Why (and How) to Focus on Reviews, Not Case Studies

Gordon Graham — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 10:55:15 -0000

What a surprise: another pop-up guru proclaiming that one marketing format will replace another... the only thing missing was a declaration that "case studies are dead!"

Of course, in-depth reviews are great. But like anything else, they have drawbacks and limitations: in-depth reviews take resources to create, they can expire over time, they can be blocked by a no-endorsements policy, and they can't always be trusted.

Recorded music, the telephone, radio, TV, movies, e-mail, the internet, social media, and now in-depth user reviews were all supposed to "replace" older and "obsolete" forms of communication. But they didn't, did they? The more sensible view is that each new format nestles in among existing formats and finds its most useful niche. Mark my words: both user reviews and case studies will continue to be used where they work best.

Re: Why Content Marketers Need Better Statistics

Gordon Graham — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 12:19:23 -0000

Great post, Britt. With a very good tip about creating a page listing the best stats and sources for a certain sector.

BTW I share your research frustration at times.

I tried to find research about the impact of color on communications. Everyone from Xerox and HP on down says that color attracts attention, boosts conversions, builds sales. It's obvious, right? But after spending hours Googling and a whole day in Canada's largest reference library in Toronto, I found absolutely no original research to back up this claim. It's just something everyone says.

Similar chestnuts concern so-called "learning styles" and different "intelligences" and the notion that people only learn X% of what they see, Y% of what they hear, and so on. I couldn't find any scientific basis for these claims at all. They were just made up by psychologists and everyone started citing everyone else in a merry-go-round.

The corollary to your piece is NOT to believe everything you read and hear without attribution. If more buyers were more critical, marketers couldn't get away with so much insubstantial fluff.

Re: How to Keep Infographics from Ruining Your Visual Content: 8 Rules

Gordon Graham — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 11:30:27 -0000

Finally! A meaty contribution to CMI that goes beyond mindless boosterism of the latest fad! I really appreciate the examples of poor and effective uses of infographics. Like anything else, infographics have their place, but they take time, research, and expertise to produce. And they can't tell every story to every audience. This piece is probably the best post I've ever read on CMI. Please do more like this.

Re: #007: How I Took My Writing Biz to the Six-Figure Level (Pt. 2 of 2)

Gordon Graham — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:06:24 -0000

Ed, thanks so much for tell us this story. I think you touch on THE big question that I find too few wannabe copywriters can answer.

I often meet people who've never written anything, have no aptitude for writing, and don't even LIKE writing... yet they expect to quit their jobs and make $100,000 the first year as a successful copywriter?! While taking off all the time they want for long strolls on the beach? Can any dream be less realistic?

If someone was thinking about being, say, an F1 racing driver or a crime-lab chemist or a UN interpreter, could they get away with such an utter lack of experience, aptitude, and enthusiasm... and have even a ghost of a chance of success?

All the successful copywriters I know spent YEARS studying the craft and honing their skills. We actually LIKE to write, and we get up every day because we're excited about our current projects, and about what lies over the horizon. I know I do. That's how I answer that fundamental question about the big WHY: Because I like to write. And copywriting gives me an endless set of interesting projects and tough challenges and neat people to work with.

If that's something something can get passionate about, go to it. If not... keep thinking until you hit on something that really drives you. All the best!

Re: Why You Must Create an Outline of Your B2B White Paper, Report or Ebook

Gordon Graham — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:01:06 -0000

Thank you Rachel, it's great to see this idea gain more traction!

I've been recommending for years that white paper writers submit a short, early deliverable that sums up the current direction for their reviewers to "bless."

Even a busy executive can read a one-page overview and make a few comments. And this can save a ton of time and effort. It's far quicker to delete a sentence or two than to trash 2 or 3 pages of draft. So I agree 150% with this suggestion, and hope that this becomes an industry standard practice.

Re: Dear Colleague, Put the Notebook Down

Gordon Graham — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:01:02 -0000

Here are the notes I typed in after reading this article. Sorry, I couldn't do it WHILE reading the article because I only have one screen attached to my PC.

This post is 100% opinion. 0% research. 0% metrics. 0% peer-reviewed. Unless you count the comments, which are running looks-like-at-a-quick-scan 80% against your thesis. WIse up and let your colleagues do their own thing. Live and let live. Get off your high horse, which you ADMIT is commercially motivated. Sheesh. Now I've just wasted more time on this silly article.

Re: Dennis Ritchie: The Shoulders Steve Jobs Stood On

Gordon Graham — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:52:28 -0000

"they soon
decided they needed a “higher level” language, something that would
give them more control over all the data that spanned the OS."

This is a poor definition of high-level vs low-level which fortunately is clarified later in the article. "low-level" languages generally mean closer to the hardware as in machine language, while "higher-level" languages generally mean further from the hardware as in more human-readable.

In the earliest definition in the article, a more clear and simple definition would be better. Good piece though, Ritchie does deserve his due.

Re: Could Bing Overtake Google in 2012? [CHART]

Gordon Graham — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:48:42 -0000

Christina, if you haven't already got the message, there's a problem with building an entire post/article around a single data point. Your graphs are pretty, but not worth the pixels they're displayed on. Next time do more digging, and come up with at least 2 data points from different sources, preferably even 3. I know it's more work... that's why they call it "work." Right now I would characterize this piece as wishful thinking, sloppy research, or even shilling for Microsoft.

Re: What We Wish Apple Would Do With iTunes

Gordon Graham — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:13:36 -0000

Redesign the interface and streamline it so it's not such a hog. I have "only" 80 Gigs of music, about 10,000 songs... and iTunes is my only app that routinely shows the beach ball. So I don't listen to music much while I work on my Mac. What's up with that?!

Re: 5 Reasons to Stop Writing List-Based White Papers

Gordon Graham — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:13:29 -0000

I found this piece amusing, but not persuasive. I have no problem with list-based articles... though I hesitate to call them "white papers." Why do readers love this format? Because a list is easier to scan than narrative text, it promises a quick read, and it has an explicit organizing principle. I'm not going to stop writing list-based articles any time soon.

Re: White Papers vs. Reports: Very Different Beasts

Gordon Graham — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:48:43 -0000

For small business prospects, I love calling white papers "special reports" and then naming a vertical market, as in "a special report for restaurant chain owners." I think people outside of IT and big enterprises respond very positively to this type of subtitle on what is essentially a white paper.

Re: Freelance Writer Hiring Trends: Credit Checks and Drug Tests??

Gordon Graham — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:04:41 -0000

Well, I wouldn't take any amount of money from a company that obnoxious. And I would seriously wonder who in HR is harvesting all that juicy information to use for ID theft.

Not that I have anything to hide, but I agree with many of your posters that no amount of $$ is worth this kind of intrusion into our private lives as freelancers.