From Creative Communications
A major utility takes a creative approach to safety
Communicators at PPL Electric use a children’s book format to raise awareness about safety in the home When was it written that you can’t have creative fun in Corporate Communications? Who said you can’t do cool stuff? You know, different stuff? Stuff people will actually notice? I am pretty sure a memo went out in 1953 …
Be a content provider, not a writer
This week’s Wednesday Wisdom is ripped right from the New York Times. Why? Because you can always count on them to demonstrate the latest trends in writing and communications. I’ve created a video to walk you through an example I found in the Times that shows the power of creating content vs. just writing an …
This One Crucial Tip Can Improve Your Interview Skills
Always ask one more question One of the biggest mistakes many employee communicators make when developing stories and content is not actually interviewing anyone for the piece. We create content off of PowerPoint decks (I call people who do that, without at least picking up the phone and talking to someone, “Deckheads”). Or we do …
Play this game and win . . . knowledge!
People love contests. If you’re on Facebook, you know this. There are some of the dumbest quizzes in the world out there, and millions of people take them. They all say: Take this quiz to find out: What character from Game of Thrones would you be? If we can guess your real age What your …
Hold up! Energize your corporate photos in a flash
Welcome to the first installment of Motivational Monday! Every other Monday, we will offer our audience a short tip, best practice, or mini case study. Hand in hand with that, every other Wednesday, we will feature Wednesday Wisdom, another short piece of realistic advice. So you’ll get a little shot in the arm once a week! So away …
From Corporate to Creative … how to get there!
For 25 years, I’ve been telling communicators they need to take the “corporate” out of corporate communications, and replace it with “creative.” And where is the most creative stuff happening? In the consumer world. Everything from Artificial intelligence and mobile to gamification and humorous videos. Our job, as communicators, is to make the important interesting. …
What is holding communicators back? Take this quiz to find out!
Communicators, pencils ready! You have three minutes to complete the following multiple-choice question. Good luck! Why do most corporate communicators fail to reach the status of Strategic Counselor in their organizations, and instead fall into the “Communication Order Taker” role: a. Never-ending deadlines that suck your time away and leave you no time to be …
Do your internal communications match your external brand?
They should, and the only way to find out if they are is to get out and have conversations with the people you’re trying to reach You have a kick-ass website that really resonates with your target audience. It reflects your brand: cool, hip, a bit irreverent and modern. In fact your marketing efforts have …
Infographics are a great way to get the attention of people who have no attention spans anymore
A lot of information in a small package Infographics are a great way to get the attention of people who have no attention spans anymore Infographics are taking the corporate communication world by storm. As attention spans get smaller and smaller, communicators are struggling with how to present complex information in easy-to-digest formats. And a good …
A global company … seen through the eyes of its employees
One organization with workers all over the world uses Instagram to build community and boost morale I have to admit, when I first learned about Instagram, the photo-sharing social media site, I had no idea how it could be used for internal communications. There was one major problem, as far as I could see: It’s a …