GUEST POST

This post was kindly written by Andrew Ingle. Andrew is a freelance copywriter with whom it has been a pleasure to work. He is a gentleman, a craftsman and a true pro. He can be contacted at copy.writer@btinternet.com. He is clearly passionate about writing for websites, and one day he may even get around to writing his own.

Ok, his words and opinions from here on in….

If, in the short walk from pub to pad, the hot-totty you picked up at the bar changed appearance, attitude and sex, you’d have the right to feel a tad worried. Cheated even.

Then why is it that so many agencies and their clients are apparently unperturbed by the fact that customers are reading web copy that bears little or no relation to the ad that sent them to the site a millimoment before?

If the ad is cheeky and chatty, the website copy should be cheeky and chatty too… Isn’t that common sense: a branding basic from ‘The Ladybird Book of Marketing’? Seemingly not.

Sharing the blame

Where does the fault lie? It could be that the digital agency has failed to see the wisdom of investing in writing talent. Or worse still, the client has written the copy. (Sadly, neither of those is unheard of, and will be the subject of Whinge No.2.) But, more often than not, it’s all down to a lack of communication in our communications industry.

In this connected, networked world of ours, it’s bizarre to see such a gulf between the agency that writes the site copy and the agency that writes the ads directing prospects to the site. There’s little or no connection. Step beyond the landing page and any tone that the original ad possessed goes walkies.

And no, of course, this isn’t true of all sites (or of all agencies and all clients). But unless your standards are depressingly low, it’s undeniable that good web copy is the exception rather than the rule. And good web copy that’s consistently on-brand, hitting the right tone of voice from one end of the map to the other, is as rare as rocking horse poo.

Nobody is immune

Just before writing this, I took a link to a famous drinks website. This brand is one of my favourites, with a lovingly developed tone of voice that makes me smile at least once a year – usually at Christmas.

Designwise, the site is charming and witty (as it should be). But, once you’re all loaded, the tone changes. The site loses its voice. The writing is dry, repetitive and overlong. It’s everything the brand wasn’t before I got on the site, but is to me now. What a shame.

Surely it’s in the interests of the client and their above-the-online agency to ensure the digital copy is on-brand and on-promise? The site is where everyone gets to see – and prove – ROI: it’s where conversion takes place, data is gathered, sales are closed. It’s not just important. It’s frigging vital.

Making the marriage work

What’s the solution? Well, a single agency doing the whole shebang is one answer. A Jack of all trades. But that’s not always possible or desirable; unless you’re pretty sure the in-house talent is evenly spread across all the agency’s offerings.

So, assuming there’s more than one agency involved, it’s got to be client-led. The client is, after all, responsible for these arranged marketing marriages. And only the client has the clout to get all those egos toeing the line.

The client has got to insist – from day one of the contract – that their agencies talk, meet and work together on a regular basis. So very regular that the usual preening, point-scoring and political positioning of most inter-agency meetings (we’ve all been there) doesn’t just become foolish but untenable.

Channels of communication must be permanently open and used. Briefs must be shared. And systems and positions must be set up to ensure that the terms of this relationship are adhered to. All parties must invest in it.

And if agencies really have their client’s interests – as well as their own fragile reputations – at heart, they’ve got to be ballsy enough to tell it like it is. That without this kind of relationship, they simply can’t be as good as they could be. Indeed, as Dave Trott never said to me, “nobody can work well in a vacuum, unless they’re called ‘Shake ‘n’ Vac’.”

Of course, this sort of creative cohabitation doesn’t just apply to copy. It applies to every facet of any campaign that requires the input of more than one agency.

No excuses

It’s all very irksome for the client, because it means more work, and probably greater cost. They might even have to stay in the office until 6.15pm. But the resulting ROI will prove the effort worthwhile.

On the flipside, it may not make an iota of difference. If, after everyone has been properly informed, consulted, included, briefed and generally loved-up, the copy is still tummy-rot, then it’s okay to flourish the waggy finger of disappointment in the red faces of those responsible. Clearly the fault lies elsewhere. Exit Whinge No.1. Enter Whinge No.2…

I met Les and Paul, aka The Shower Guys, when I presented to eBusiness West Lothian. They are a small family business, but they are also social media naturals. They make friends wherever they go and they’re clever with content. I’m delighted that they agreed to write the first guest post on the Blonde blog.

Why did the Showerguys choose Twitter?

Since first being introduced to twitter only three short months ago, our business has connected to a whole new group of people, some local, some afar. In the past our fellow Twitterers would have been referred to as customers, targets, prospects or something equally offensive. What they are to us, however, are real people who have chosen to make an investment of their time in a community that wants to talk.

Its easy to forget that the current culture of chat and friendship in social media is very new. About 15 years ago, I remember attending a seminar on security at the NEC, sitting amongst a bewildering arrary of technical, electronic devices designed to isolate their owners from the hoards of the great unwashed who were by all accounts set to rampage through the nation destroying the delicate fabric of our society. “There was” the speaker commented in a knowlegeable manner, “a move in society towards ‘cocooning’ “.

This unstoppable trend was to present great opportunities for the security industry as society was set to built high fences around itself and arm itself with every electronic weapon the technogadgeteers could invent.

I remember being shocked by this notion of a faceless society without community. There was a developing mantra; isolate and protect yourself, trust no-one – a mantra that placed self protection, personal gain and greed at the core of things. Fortunately, online Social Media applications are helping to change these outdated notions very quickly, and whilst some will be resistant to change, I considered it vital that our business embraced these new methods if we were to survive through the recession and be in a good position to grow thereafter.

Trading as The Shower Shop (www.theshowershop.org), our business as Bathroom Fitters would not seem to lend itself easily to the required change, there are no computers involved, our skills are very traditional and easily understood by everyone. However by adopting a slight change in the way we were representing ourselves, we created an online persona that was wholly in line with our real selves and so The Showerguys concept was born.

We ‘Twitter’ as Showerguys on a daily basis to communicate our thoughts and ideas to our approx. 900 followers. Some of our tweets are aimed at attracting visitors to our blog where passing visitors and commenters assist in the construction of our Google Rank. To encourage this we regularly employ one or two response mechanisms, including ‘WHAT’S MY TOOL?’ and ‘WHERE’S LES SITTING?’ both of which feature a touch of classic Carry-On humour mixed with tongue in cheek competition. We even give out with small prizes for guessing what Paul’s tool is called, or for identifying where Les is sitting this week.

In order to build closer relationships with Twitterers in our immediate vacinity, we invest considerable time in talking directly to people about anything and everything. People instinctively know we are a business, they know what we do, but we never try to sell to them or directly advertise the installation of bathrooms. We consider the ‘elephant-in-the-parlour’ approach to be more agreeable.. For people who don’t know us yet, our Twitter bio sets the tone from the start and the response has been very positive. A successful commercial outcome is for The Showerguys to be considered  the number one Bathroom Fitter  in our Twitter community.

Many people are surprised when we tell them of the effectiveness of Twitter as a ‘face to face’ networking tool.  Let me explain, Imagine a room full of strangers, people who have never met, they do however, share one thing in common, Twitter. Welcome to the world of the TweetUp!

They Twitter all day and now they have got together in a pub via the power of twtvite.com to put the faces to the avatars they have been speaking with for the last few weeks. Polite certainly, a little shy at first maybe, but give it a few minutes and it’s amazing, you can’t stop them talking! After restricting themselves to 140 characters for so long, it is as if they are set to burst, quite simply the best free networking you’ll ever find in my opinion.

Very early in our Twitter ‘career’ we were approached to produce an interview for Tweetabix.com, a site devoted to people who Twitter, responding to several questions about Twitter and our use of it. In order to make it more appealing we made it on video. Constructed during the course of one working day, it reveals our thoughts on Twitter at the time, see what you think.

Only time will tell if we were right to make the change, but one thing is for sure The Shower Shop web site will never again feature unmemorable, unreadable tosh aimed at presenting the false and misguided impression of a large corporate organisation. Mission statements, ISO9000 and ‘fake-it-till-you-make-it’ marketing deceptions have officially been banned by order of ‘The Showerguys’.

Follow us on http://twitter.com/showerguys
View our blog http://www.theshowershop.org/videoblog.htm