Digital Publishing Formats: Advantages and Disadvantages

 

Before creating a publication it’s essential to research and understand the various output formats and tools available. There are many options out there and you should take time to consider which publishing format best fits your needs. Prior to creating a publication, there are many things to consider such as what platform your publication will be viewed on, what will be the focus of the content, the design and advertising strategies. Once you have come to a decision, you can then determine which tools are best for your publication.

Today’s generation of readers are more comfortable with digital formats and publishers are continuously searching for the right electronic content delivery to address these needs. Choosing the correct format is key. Each digital publishing format has its own characteristics and distinguishing features aimed at enhancing the reader’s experience.

In this blog, we’ll focus on two key publishing formats, Digital Magazines, and EPUBs, concentrating on the advantages and disadvantages of each. We’ll also look briefly at other available publishing formats that are popular amongst today’s audience.

Digital Magazine

Digital magazine publications are renowned for their interactivity and display of rich media. When building an online magazine, you are likely to use features that enrich the user’s experience such as video, audio, web links and social plugins. Such features mixed with attractive design options, multiple layouts and easy-to-use software make this digital publishing format extremely popular.

Let’s look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of choosing this publishing format.

Advantages:

• Interactive: You have a range of interactive features to choose from to create a truly engaging experience for your readers.
• Low Cost: The costs are relatively low compared to printed magazines, one of these being transportation costs.
• Reach: With an online magazine, you can reach readers all over the world. Your readers will remain loyal as they can change location and still receive your content via your digital edition.
• Dynamic: Digital magazines are extremely dynamic. They can be read on tablets and mobile devices anywhere and anytime. Readers can access the information without delays.
• Unsold Stock: There are no fears of having an unsold stock like that of printed newspapers and magazines.
• Environmentally Friendly: With digital magazines, there’s no need for paper or ink.
• Revenue: They open new sustainable revenue channels through advertising and e-commerce.

Disadvantages:

Digital magazines can sometimes be harder to read than printed magazines as the reader must be able to zoom in and out. Again, this would depend on the chosen digital magazine software. Other issues some people may face is outdated software, poor internet connection, and download speeds. With a physical magazine or newspaper, you needn’t worry about it running out of power.

EPub

The electronic publication format (EPUB) is one of the most widely known file formats for e-books on the market. You could view an EPUB as being similar to a website as it is largely based on HTML. It’s seen as the industry standard and can be used by anyone, including global giants such as Apple, Kobo, and Google. EPUB is the XML format for reflowable books developed for digital publishing.

EPUB format gives the user reflowable text. Reflowable text automatically changes to the size of the screen and the size of the text, similar to that of a website. With this, EPUB offers a great reading experience on both mobile and on ebook devices.

With an EPUB publication will you not find the same level of interactivity as in a digital magazine. EPUB publications can be viewed offline and the file format is used by many apps including the iBooks App on the iPad and iPhone.

Advantages:

• Industry Standard: With the growth of ebooks came the charge by many companies to introduce their own eBook readers. However, the majority of these don’t reach industry standard which stands to EPUB being seen as the uniform standard in the industry, with the format used in a range of devices.
• Open Format: As mentioned previously, EPUB can be used by anyone. The open format of EPUB was one of the reasons for its initial growth.
• Independent: EPUB is not controlled by a large corporation.
• Reflowable text: This fantastic feature allows the books to reflow the size of the screen.
• Compatible: EPUB has two languages XHTML and XML; this allows it to be used with a range of software. It is also delivered as one zipped file.

Disadvantages:

One of the disadvantages of using EPUB is that it demands some publishing knowledge. Users will need to be quite familiar with the syntax of XML and XHTML. There are also some rather precise requirements for creating the zip archive for EPUB. With EPUB, it’s also necessary for you to know how to create a style sheet. Generally, with EPUB you will at least need the basics of these languages if you wish to build valid files. Creating the zip archive for publishing is also difficult.

Content hub:

Enable your audience to access all your content in one place through a content hub. You can gather news from blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and more. By publishing your content to a hub, it can be easy dispersed to a wide audience featuring your social activity, flipbooks, RSS feeds. There is no need to maintain your Hub, the Hub updates automatically as content is added to your online sources. Hubs optimize your content to suit whatever device your reader chooses, ensuring maximum exposure.

APPS

Another option could be to publish your digital editions to an App and add all your existing online content sources also. Your auto-updating app can truly be an easy-to-use revolutionary publishing platform with no coding required. 3D Issue Apps is an online platform that enables anyone to create and publish their own native Apps for any iPad, iPhone or Android device.

The right digital format for your publication is the one that satisfies your objectives. Be careful not to rush on with your valuable time and resources. Instead, take the necessary time to research the options available.

Culled from 3D Issue

#digital

Steps to Making a Great Billboard Ad

Consumers are no longer looking at billboards in the same way they did 20 or 30 years ago. While billboards may still be considered premium advertising space, consumers are engrossed in their smartphones, tablets, and gaming systems. Eyes are down, not up, for much of our lives. 

 

However, that doesn’t mean billboard advertising is to be discounted or ignored. Billboards are everywhere, and even though we remember just a handful, they can still have a powerful branding impact.

 

With outdoor advertising upping the stakes and becoming increasingly more competitive, plus digital advertising becoming the medium of choice, it’s important to know how to make your advertising count.

 

Six Words or Fewer

Considering we’re on the move when we read billboards, we don’t have a lot of time to take them in. Six seconds has been touted as the industry average for reading a billboard. So, around six words should get the message across.

 

You can push this to a few more words depending on their length and ease of reading, but as a rule of thumb, less is more here. Concision is tough, but headlines that are small paragraphs will not get read. And that means if you have a complex brand, product or service, you probably should stay away from billboards.

 

Get Noticed, But Don’t Be a Huge Distraction

Most of the time, billboards are aimed at drivers, bikers, cyclists, or pedestrians (which is why you have just a few seconds to get a message across). It causes an interesting dilemma for the advertiser. You want to get noticed, but you don’t want to be responsible for major, or even minor, accidents. So, while being distracting is paramount in many media, it’s a fine balance with the billboard.

 

Not the Place for Direct Response

There are some truly awful billboards covered in phone numbers and website addresses. And without a doubt, 99.9 percent of the people who read the billboard will not call or visit the website. A billboard is a secondary advertising medium, which means that it’s ideal for brand-building and supporting a campaign, but it just cannot do the heavy lifting.

 

If you want a more intimate conversation with your target audience, use print advertising, television, radio, flyers, websites, and direct mail. Billboards are the wrong medium for anything other than a quick message. However, if your website or phone number is the headline, and makes sense, then you have an exception to the rule.

 

Be Smart, But Not Too Clever

A boring billboard will be ignored. A smart billboard will grab the attention and leave a lasting impression. A billboard that’s trying to be too clever, well, it will get lost on the audience.

 

As a rule, you don’t want billboards to make people scratch their heads and wonder what is going on. Complex visual metaphors are no good here. They say advertising should be like a puzzle to solve and should give the audience a sense of fulfillment to know they figured it out. But billboards should be much simpler than that. You’re in the business of advertising, not showing off how clever you are.

 

More Is Better

One billboard is not cheap. But it’s also not very effective either. Billboards are a mass market medium, but they need support.

 

Every billboard has a rating, called Gross Ratings Points (GRP), based on traffic, visibility, location, size, and so on. This rating gives you a showing score between 1 and 100. If it’s 50, it means that at least 50 percent of the population in the area would see one of your boards at least once a day. If you have only one board, your impact chances are less than if you have four or five.

 

You want to get close to a 100 showing, but that’s not going to be cheap (and may end up being more annoying than impactful).

 

Don’t Say It, Show It

Get creative with your billboard ideas. A flat billboard is standard, but it doesn’t have to be the norm. You can go 3D, have moving parts, have people interacting with it, and even have your billboard animate. There is no reason that it just has to be a large, simple print ad.

 

It is your opportunity to do something eye-catching and memorable, so go for it. The upside to this is it can create additional press, for free.

 

Be Wary of Logo Size

One of the most parroted pieces of client feedback ever given in advertising is “make the logo bigger.” The reason for that is easy to understand. The client is paying a lot of money to advertise his or her brand and wants the consumers to walk away with that brand planted firmly in their heads.

 

However, there is a balancing act that has to be played. Too big, it’s horsey and distracts from the message. Too small, it’s a clever ad for a brand no one connects with.

 

Do The Arm’s Length Test

So, you have followed all of the rules above. You’ve designed yourself one fantastic billboard. It’s clean, it’s concise, it’s got contrasting colors, it’s interesting, and it will work. But will it be seen? Will it be read, and understood?

 

Here’s a quick test to ensure you are not wasting everyone’s time and money. Print out your billboard to the size of a business card. Now, hold it out at arm’s length. Are you still getting everything you were when it was displayed on your 27-inch monitor? If not, go in and refine it. It needs to pop. And remember, you have roughly 10 seconds to get your message across.

Culled from The Balance Careers

Post Tags:#advertising#billboard ad#billboards#Branding#Marketing

Check Twice: Common Mistakes Self-publishing Authors Make

Writing a book is a daunting task but the writing is only half the battle.  Some seasoned writers would say, it isn’t even a quarter of the battle they faced to get their manuscripts published. Quite a bit of effort goes into editing it once the writing is done and I don’t mean just for spelling and grammatical errors either. A big publishing firm employs a whole department to edit books before they get published. That is a luxury that authors who self-publish can not afford. Self-publishing authors need to be aware of some of the traps that can trip them up if they don’t carefully edit their manuscripts.

Continuity and Consistency

One way that consistency is affected is a sudden change of premise.  You must be careful that things like the character attributes, scenes and plot remain consistent throughout your book. Changing any of these things during your story creates a conflict that will cause your readers to question the plausibility and your entire story falls apart.

Another problem authors face is the unanswered question. While building a story arc, you’ll present the reader with questions. Will he find his way home?  Will they get married?  Will he finish his quest? Who is responsible? Will they survive?  Not answering these proposed questions leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied. This is true of both fiction and nonfiction.  The questions must be answered or left open in a way that the reader feels good about.

There are technical issues that can affect your continuity and consistency as well. Some things writers struggle with remembering to use consistently are:

• Capitalization
• Hyphenation
• Digits versus spelled out numbers
• Regional spelling of words (British vs American English)
• Punctuation in bullets and tables

Write for Your Audience

You hear it all the time. “Write for your audience.” But what does that mean? Who is your audience and how do you find them?

The most important question when determining your audience is not who do you want to read your book, but whoever would want to read your book. “Everyone” is not an acceptable answer. No matter how amazing your revelation is, no matter how captivating your story is, not everyone is going to read your book. So, who is, realistically?

This doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think.  If you are writing about your favorite hobby, chances are, people who like the same things you do, will want to read your book.  If you’re writing a fairy tale, your audience is children, and the adults who read to them. If you stop to think about it, you probably already know who your target audience is.

Figure out who your audience is, before you even start writing. It might help to write to one person in particular and if you already have someone in mind, that’s great! Otherwise, you can create an ideal individual to write to, get chummy with the idea of him or her and get to writing.

Words to Kill

Words, words, words. There are just too many words! Wordiness becomes a concern when the sheer amount of words that you use detracts from the message you are trying to convey.

Redundancy

Unfortunately, redundancy abounds in our language.  Use of these words add fluff and bulk, but no substance. Instead, they serve to distract and even bore the reader. Avoid redundancy where possible. Words to cut from your writing are:

• Absolutely [anything]
• Actual [anything]
• Added [anything]
• Ask a question
• Closer look
• Completely
• End result
• False pretense
• Forever and ever
• Free gift
• Final outcome
• Invited guests
• Past [anything past tense]
• Plan ahead
• Still remains
• Written down

Intensifiers

Most intensifiers contribute nothing to a sentence and are used only to create a sense of importance where there would otherwise be none.  Instead of using an ordinary intensifier, like ‘“really” or “very” try try rewriting the sentence to be more exciting on it’s own merit. If you simply must use an intensifier. Find one that is unusual or gives a stronger picture.

• Absolute
• Awesome
• Fabulous
• Fantastic
• Incredible
• Magnificent
• Quite
• Rather
• Real
• So
• Terrific
• Too
• Very

Vague or Empty Expressions

Try to use precise language whenever possible; when it is not, get as close as you can.  Vague language leaves the reader uncertain and without the ability to form a clear picture. Empty expressions create muddiness as well. Be clear, be concise.

• About
• Almost
• All things being equal
• Area
• As a matter of fact
• I believe
• I feel
• Often
• Frequently

Sure, once you write your book.  You probably don’t want to look at it again, much less go over it with a fine tooth comb. Using this list of common mistakes in self-published books should help you to edit faster and even to write better. So you can enjoy that “freshly published” feeling, faster.

Culled from: Book Marketing Tools

Are You a Writer or an Author? Two Different Paths and Responsibilities

Oftentimes, people think that being a writer and being an author are the same, especially because they are in the same line of work. Their work might be similar, but they are not the same.

First, definitions.

A writer is someone who carefully puts words together in a written form for a particular purpose, while an author is someone who has a published work to their name.

They are two very different paths. Here are some important differences between a writer and an author, as well as their responsibilities:

 

1. An author has the luxury of contracting their work to a ghostwriter while taking the glory. This simply means that one of the things that make one an author is having the idea behind a work. You might not be responsible for fleshing it out, but you have to be responsible for coming up with the idea behind the book. The writer in this case is a ghostwriter – that is, the one responsible for bringing an author’s idea to life, but taking no outside credit for it.

 

2. An author is someone that has had his works published. This is pretty straightforward. Someone becomes an author as soon as the credit for their work is given to them through publishing. A writer’s work is usually not recognized and many times they write without being given public credit.

 

3. An author is usually streamlined to a particular form of writing. That is, he is usually known for the kind of writing his work is published for, and hence does not have the luxury of writing and publishing his works under different kinds of genres. A writer, on the other hand, can write under almost any genre. All it takes is having a good understanding of what they are supposed to write and doing a good job of writing it.

 

4. Authors do not necessarily need the basic requirements of writing. They can write as they please and then send their work to editors who would do a good job of editing it. Or they can always contract professional writers to do the job for them. As for writers, they need more than basic knowledge and understanding about writing and have to do a good job of writing whatever they have been assigned to write, so as to capture the thoughts of their employers.

 

In conclusion, we can see from the above that there is a clear distinction between a writer and an author, but it does not mean that they both cannot be successful or happy in their career paths. They can be. The most important thing for any of them is to pick a path they are comfortable in and toe the line.

 

Olamide Omolawal is an avid research enthusiast with an interest in creative and content writing. She can be reached via email at oomolawal@gmail.com.

• AUTHOR
• PUBLISH
• WRITER
• WRITING

5 Things You Can Do to Bring Your Writing Ideas (and Career) to Life

How do you take your writing ideas, write a book and become a published author? This question typically is met with practical advice, tactical tasks, and skill-based tips.

There are other ways to help yourself become an author that have little to do with book structure, producing business and promotion plans, or even writing ability. However, they have a great deal to do with realizing your book idea and writing career.

My new book, Creative Visualization for Writers, is divided into five sections. I believe these areas can help you make your writing dreams real. Let’s look at each one.

1. Self-Examination

Personal development or growth lies at the heart of every writer’s ability to succeed. In fact, it’s the foundation upon which most successful people build their careers.

We all have unsupportive habits, negative thoughts, and limiting beliefs that hold us back. The best way to change these into supportive habits, positive thoughts, and unlimited beliefs is to explore our mind, emotions, and behavior for areas that need improvement.

If, for example, you want to become an author but you never write, you can explore why that is so. Are you afraid? Do you believe you are not good enough? Or is authorship an attractive idea but not your purpose or passion. Have lost interest in your current project?

If you feel afraid, self-exploration can help you discover what you fear and focus on positive outcomes you desire instead. If you believe you are not good enough, you can choose a different set of thoughts that serve you better. And if you don’t have the passion for your project—or for writing—you can decide to do something else.

Without self-exploration, you’ll never know what stops you. You won’t take the time to look at your daily routine and notice, “I always put my writing last. It’s not a priority.” At that moment you can decide to do the opposite and write first thing every day—before you do anything else—because it is important to you.

Such exploration helps you change unsupportive habits to supportive ones. If your habits aren’t helping you succeed, you need new ones.

Self-examination also provides you with the opportunity to discover what you do want and to train your thoughts on that. When you discover why you want to write, for instance, that reason can drive you to success. When you realize you have always been a good writer or you have a purpose to fulfill, and writing a book helps accomplish that goal, you will sit down and write.

Without that knowledge, though, you may stay stuck.

2. Visualization

When you consciously daydream about or imagine your goal—successful authorship, your brain fires in ways that help you achieve it. Since the mind doesn’t know the difference between your visualization and what you actually do in the real world, it gives your unconscious and conscious mind as well as your body messages that relate to becoming an author.

Creative visualization has been used in all types of circles including business, metaphysics and sports. Let’s look at a few.

Want to run a marathon? Visualize yourself getting through the tough middle or last few miles and crossing the finish line. Your mind tells your body what to do in that situation, which makes it easier to complete the actual race.

Want to walk on hot coals? Imagine getting to the other side of the glowing pathway and putting your feet in cool water. See yourself walking away unharmed. Your mind registers the fact that you can, indeed, complete a fire walk.

Or imagine yourself finishing your manuscript, sending it off to the publisher, and then holding up your published book in front of an audience of clamoring fans. Also image yourself writing when you don’t feel like doing so, facing your fear of rejection by hitting the send button, and the elation you feel when speaking about and showing off your book. Since the mind can’t tell the difference between what you imagine and what is real, the visualization helps you keep your fear, doubt, or lack of energy at bay. It says, You’ve got this already!

And when you imagine writing, fingers flying across the keyboard, your mind tells your body your are doing so. You condition yourself to complete your writing marathon.

3. Goal Setting

Some writers prefer not to set goals. They figure they will finish their book when they finish—whenever that is. That’s why many are still working on novels after five, six, seven, or more years.

Without goals, it’s hard to succeed as an author—or in any area of life. Goals help you set intentions, commit to them, and measure your progress in a concrete manner.

Goals also provide a way for you to take your visualization and put it to use in the physical world. It’s your way of taking action on what you have imagined.

You can talk about or daydream about becoming an author until doomsday and never become one. But if you set a goal, such as I will write 1,000 words per day five days per week, and you keep track of your progress, you become accountable for completing 5,000 words per week.

Goals are like personal commitments that keep you accountable to yourself. Of course, you can share them with someone else—and have them become your accountability partner. Public goals often inspire us to take action and accomplish them.

Without goals, you don’t know what you need to accomplish or by when. Without writing and publishing goals you also lack a to-do list and task due dates.

Writing a book can seem like a large and overwhelming goal. That’s where smaller goals—your to-do list—come into play. Completing your manuscript may be your primary goal. To accomplish it, you set smaller goals, such as completing a chapter per week. You then determine how many words to write per day.

This provides manageable tasks—mini goals. And it becomes easier to accomplish the larger one—finishing the manuscript. Plus, you now have an action plan to make your visualization real.

4. Creative Exercises

Some writers never write because they are waiting for inspiration to hit. They want their Muse to show up, and until she does, they won’t put fingers on the keyboard.

Most of those writers don’t do much writing. They aren’t productive.

However, successful and productive writers invoke their Muse each time they sit down at the computer. They call out, It’s time to write. Join me. And she shows up on command.

How do they do that? First, they sit down and write at the same time and in the same place daily. They make writing a habit. That habit creates a trigger. When they sit down and put their fingers on the keyboard, creativity kicks in. They get inspired.

Additionally, they use creativity exercises. Possibly the most common one involves having a writing ritual.

Just like athlete have rituals—they may wear the same socks, wake up at the same time, or listen to the same music before a competition—writers have rituals. Some meditate or journal prior to writing. Others exercise and then go straight to their desk or light candles and say prayers.

Writing ritual develop another habit. They tell the mind it’s time to write. And the mind responds accordingly.

However, you can try other creativity exercises, such as writing:

• while listening to baroque music, which helps you focus.
• while reclining, which has been proven to spark creativity.
• at your non-peak time, such as in the morning if you are a night owl.

Additionally, you can call on different parts of your brain and, in the process, increase your creativity. For instance, you can:

• Draw
• Color
• Create mind maps
• Sing
• Play an instrument

As you begin to use these strategies, you’ll find the Muse showing up more and more often. You’ll get in the creative flow faster each time.

5. Focus

Lack of focus causes many aspiring writers to continue aspiring rather than become published. And with the number of distractions we all face each day, it’s no wonder that focus has become such a large challenge.

You only have so many hours per day, and you may have responsibilities that fill the majority of those hours. Therefore, when you block out time to write, it’s imperative that you focus your attention on writing.

Many articles and posts have been written about how to focus during writing periods. There’s no need to repeat that information here. Instead, I’d like you to focus on your goal of successful author ship in two unusual ways.

Write affirmations.

Draw or color pictures related to your vision.

Affirmations:

Affirmations are positive statements that negate your negative thoughts. So if you think writing a book is hard, you affirm I am a natural writer and my books take shape easily and effortlessly.

Affirmations are a staple of positive psychology and can help you feel more confident and courageous about your writing project.

You also can try affirmations like:

• I overflow with creativity.
• I have an overabundance of ideas.
• I can write anytime and anywhere.

Coloring:

The recent adult coloring book trend primarily focuses on the relaxation that comes when you color. However, college students find that when they color during a lecture, they absorb and retain more of what is taught. They become more focused on what they hear.

Coloring is like a meditation. It gives the mind something to do, which quiets your thoughts. If you color pictures that relate to your visualization of successful authorship, though, you feed your mind pictures of what you want to create. Your mind focuses on the meaning of the picture.

For example, you could color a picture like this one, which is included in Creative Visualization for Writers. It focuses your mind on writing as you color.

As you put these five strategies to use, you’ll find they complement the traditional advice about how to publish successfully. And you’ll discover that you can move toward your goal of successful authorship more quickly and easily.

Credit: WritersDigest

5 Reasons Rejection Is Needed For Growth

Chances are, you read the title of this post and huffed, “I hate rejection! Rejection, I will dance upon your grave!”

The good news is that if you are to sustain your growth as a writer, you’ll never stop experiencing rejection, so you won’t have to be shining up your dancing shoes anytime soon.

Wait — did I say the good news?

I did. In my career as a magazine writer, book author, content marketer, blogger, and copywriter, I’ve been rejected well over 500 times. Yes, I counted.

But instead of seeing “no-thank-yous” as a sign that I should just give up and get a real job, I see them as a tool for boosting my career success.

Here are five reasons to consider rejection your bestest friend …

#1. Rejection teaches you how to stop being rejected

In the late 90s, I was trying without success to break into the national women’s magazines. Every pitch was met with rejection.

Then, one day, I received an email from an editor at Woman’s Day. She said she liked my query — in fact, she wanted my permission to showcase it at a writers’ conference as a pitch that was almost-but-not-quite there — but that I didn’t do enough research on the topic. Why don’t I expand on the idea and send it to her again?

So I did a few interviews, added some quotes to my pitch, included a few examples of what I would include in the article, and turned it in.

Behold! My first women’s magazine assignment.

And I went on to write for Woman’s Day again, and also sold more than a dozen ideas to Family Circle (and became their highest-paid writer) using my new, well-researched query approach.

Of course, not all rejections will be full of friendly tips from prospects, but you can learn even from boilerplate “No thanks” responses.

For example, if you’re getting a lot of these impersonal rejections, that’s a sign you’re doing something wrong and need to reconsider your approach. Something about your letter of introduction, pitch, offer, or samples may be lacking.

#2. Rejection allows you into an exclusive, world class club

Ever hear of The 4-Hour Workweek — you know, that New York Times bestseller that created a worldwide movement to work less and earn more? Author Tim Ferriss was rebuffed 26 times before he found a publisher willing to take him on.

Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, was turned down 30 times. King was so frustrated he chucked his manuscript into the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to submit it just one more time.

JK Rowling suffered countless rejections before scoring a hit with the Harry Potter series. She’s now one of the richest people in Britain.

Take heart that the rich and famous have been where you are right now, fielding no-thank-yous left and right. When you get rejected, you have something in common with the most successful writers out there.

#3. Rejection demolishes your competition

I cannot even tell you how many wannabe writers I hear from who gave up in the face of rejection.

That makes me sad, but it offers an advantage for you: The more writers out there who let “no’s” stop them, the more opportunity there will be for you to land those content writing gigs.

In other words: Fewer writers = less competition. Yay, right?

#4. Rejection helps you cut through the crap

Think of rejection as clearing the path towards your best successes.

All those prospects who are turning down your content writing offers — they’re just obstacles you need to get past before you finally reach the prospects who will hire you.

Every rejection brings you that much closer to an acceptance. Think of those famous failures we just talked about. What if Tim Ferriss had stopped at rebuff #26, or Stephen King had given up for real at #30?

They were at their final rejections, people!

Who knows which will be the final rejection on your current marketing campaign? If you’re learning from rejection and tweaking your copy and offer in response, chances are you’re getting pretty close.

#5. Rejection brings you better clients

My take on rejection is that if someone turns me down, that means we wouldn’t be a good fit.

Sayonara, sucker!

You may be thinking — especially if you’re a newish writer — that any client would be a good client, but believe me (I know from experience) that there is such a thing as a bad client, and that you don’t want one.

So the ones who turn you down? They’re sparing you from slogging through an assignment for a client that isn’t a match for you in work style, writing style, pay, or PITA (that’s Pain In The A**) level.

Even better: When you get a rejection from one prospect, that leaves room for better ones to enter your life. (Why yes, I do believe in all that woo-woo energy stuff!)

Over to you …

Why do you love (or hate) rejection? Are you on the verge of giving up?

Can you see how rejection can be used as an ally in your work, instead of merely a hard bump in the road?

**

Culled from Copyblogger

Protecting Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media

Robust risk assessment and a well-rehearsed crisis management strategy are essential in today’s social-media world to protect valuable brand reputation if disaster strikes.

From Volkswagen to TalkTalk, companies are learning that a brand’s reputation is hard won, but easily lost.

The damage to a brand’s public esteem from a scandal, disaster or accident can be devastating and long lasting. Some businesses never fully recover, as in the case of consultancy Arthur Andersen which saw its reputation hit by association with the fraudulent operations of Enron back in 2001.

In today’s environment, with the explosion of social media platforms, chat boards and online review sites, reputation has become far more fragile and can be tarnished even more rapidly than in the past. A corporate disaster can be widely discussed on Twitter before the company’s chief executive has even found out about it.

Reputational insurance policies

The insurance industry is waking up to the possibilities of covering companies for the loss of brand reputation in the event of such disasters. While historically, companies tended to derive most of their value from physical assets, such as buildings and machinery, today intangible assets, most notably brand reputation, make up the lion’s share of value for many of the world’s biggest businesses.

Insurer Tokio Marine Kiln offers policies that compensate companies for negative reputational events that can affect brand sales. That could include a product recall, a cyber breach or a case where a celebrity sponsored by the brand becomes discredited.

Reputational risk impacts

Innovation director Thomas Hoad gives the example of plain T-shirts which would normally sell for, say, €5. The moment you put the picture of a celebrity on them, they might sell for €25. But if the celebrity became involved in a scandal, the company might lose all or a substantial part of their expected sales of the T-shirts.

The Tokio Marine Kiln policy would cover the losses associated with that scandal, up to a maximum of $25 million per policy. Mr Hoad says reputational insurance has sold well since his company introduced it five years ago, though he believes many companies are reluctant to reveal they have this coverage.

“Alerting the public to the fact they have got it in a time of crisis is not a good idea,” he says. “It is very sensitive.” This could be especially true in the event of an accident in which people are seriously injured or killed.

Improving risk management

While some brand-tarnishing events may be unpredictable and unavoidable, companies need to get better at risk management, says John Hurrell, chief executive of risk managers body Airmic.

The organisation has published in-depth research into reputational damage with its report Roads to Ruin outlining 18 of the most striking recent examples of companies brought low by reputational damage. “We found that in almost every case, the most catastrophic failures would have been survivable had there been better risk management,” says Mr Hurrell.

Company boards may be made aware of the risks facing their businesses by risk-mapping, which are graphic illustrations of foreseeable events and their likely impact. But these risk maps are limited by the ability of risk managers to imagine scenarios, so may miss both the unexpected events and the most obvious failures which often bring companies down.

Mr Hurrell says: “We are recommending that companies take a stakeholder-focused look at reputation risk, considering critical stakeholders, such as regulators, consumers and employees. They need to look at what underpins their reputation stakeholder by stakeholder. It might be different in the eyes of the customers and in the eyes of regulators. By taking a stakeholder-focused approach, it forces you to ask questions you don’t ask in the conventional risk-mapping process.”

Companies need a sophisticated crisis management strategy in place, for instance, knowing in advance which executive in the company will be able to comment to the media and ensuring the situation is quickly contained by suspending relevant activities. Some companies have practice run-throughs of their crisis management strategies to make sure they will be ready to act if the worst happens.

Managing reputations

But Mr Hurrell believes many companies are failing to take the right steps to protect their brand reputations. “They are making very comforting noises about how important it is. Our members say their boards are putting it on the agenda, but you pick up a newspaper and organisations are failing,” he says.

Reputational damage can be from self-inflicted wounds, such as Volkswagen’s fuel emissions scandal, which has dented profits at the world’s second-largest car maker and wiped $10 billion off its brand value, according to brand valuation company Brand Finance.

Or the damage may stem from the acts of a malign player. TalkTalk estimated it lost more than 100,000 customers after a serious data breach led to the credit card details of thousands of customers being stolen.

Alternatively, it may be a product recall, as happened to Toyota, or a terrible accident as in the case of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Many business people will be thinking, “There, but for the grace of God, go I”, and wondering how they can diminish the likelihood of such disasters occurring and manage them if they do.

For many businesses, the task of managing reputation falls to the public relations and marketing departments. However, a crisis that damages a brand will probably emanate from a different part of the business, usually operations, data-handling or from somewhere in the supply chain. So brand reputation needs to managed in a far more proactive fashion.

As John Ludlow, senior adviser at Alvarez & Marsal, says: “You have lots of people in communications listening to what newspapers and Twitter are saying and responding to it. That’s not the best way to react over time. You shouldn’t just be relying on the comms department to bat away nasty stories, you need to grow a capability in the company that understands and predicts the risks.”

He says reputation needs to be understood in a much broader sense, as something that affects the entire company, so every department needs to learn how to manage risk and minimise reputational damage.

As digital communications increase corporate transparency and allow the public an ever-greater ability to influence brand reputation, businesses need to take heed. Brand reputation is one of the most valuable assets many companies have, so they need to make sure it is well protected.

Culled Raconteur

#brand reputation #business #crisis management #Social media