The human business donut
This donut means business. To build an authentic brand, start with your culture. Discover what you're like at your very best and build on it. Once you've defined your brand, you have direction for your communication. Back that up with the right behaviour and you have a more human business that'll make your people and customers happy.
Videos, articles, papers and podcasts...
to help you get more from your culture, brand, comms and behaviour.
Culture
How language reveals your culture
Every word we use matters. It's what creates our culture. It's what attracts the people who buy from us and the people who work for us.
How does Appreciative Inquiry work?
Appreciative Inquiry inspires change by involving people in creating the kind of organisation they want to belong to. The problem is it’s human nature to...
The Language Manifesto
When you focus on language, you help everyone connect as humans. You’ll find it easier to give customers what you promised and they’ll be happier.
Brand
Language builds brand
Why words matter and how using the right ones can transform your business. How clear thinking = clear writing and better results.
Hollywood and your brand personality
Brand personality is a powerful way to understand how your business relates to your customers. So we’ve taken a look at how Hollywood...
Tone of what? Voice and tone? Brand voice? Explain…
A really good brand tone of voice will draw people to your company and keep them listening… and buying. It’s using words to communicate...
Communication
Cut the crap. How to write so people trust you
Learn the approach we developed through training more than 40,000 people in some of the world’s largest organisations. In this guide...
Why don’t people write the way they speak?
We hear people explaining their plans in a way that inspires the whole room. They’re clear, they’re interesting and they throw in a few jokes...
Can language really make a company more human?
What happens when you get a load of tone of voice experts in one room? Find out what they had to say about tone of voice, language and social media...
Behaviour
Confessions of a Marketer podcast
Hear my conversation with Mark Reed-Edwards on his Confessions of a Marketer podcast, where we discuss language, culture...
Empathy - it's what you need
There’s one thing our clients have been crying out for in recent weeks, it’s empathy. Some are concerned their marketing and comms...
How to make sure your new brand tone takes hold
How do you help people to write clearly, consistently and on-brand? Strong tone of voice guidelines are a good start. But you also need...
Articles
Vision, mission and values – where’s your truth?
Like everyone else, I’ve had to change things in my business in the last year.That’s partly my choice – I want to focus on where I can make the most change. Starting at the top with language strategy. But the work I’ve been asked to do has changed too. A lot of clients have been…
This week’s Dirty Language Award goes to…
Bad communication isn’t just bad communication. It’s a symptom of something deeper going on in your organisation. And when there’s a problem with your culture, processes, leadership or behaviour, it shows up as Dirty Language. And this week’s Dirty Language Award goes to… 🏆 The Furness Building Society 🏆 2 sides of A4 16 paragraphs…
How does Appreciative Inquiry work?
What’s Appreciative Inquiry? Appreciative Inquiry (AI) inspires change by involving people in creating the kind of organisation they want to belong to. It’s human nature to look for problems and try to solve them. This ‘negativity bias’ means we spend most of our time discussing what’s not working. This leads to stress, and when we’re…
Podcasts
Zimmer frames, how language evolves and getting het up about grammar – podcast
I’m not quite ready for the old people’s home yet, but it’s funny what comes up when you’re chatting. Susan Heaton-Wright recently invited me onto her Superstar Communicator Podcast – a weekly broadcast around being a great speaker and communicator. I’ve been speaking on the power of language for over a decade, and the Professional…
It’s a donut, not a doughnut – podcast
Mark Reed-Edwards, a man with a wonderful radio voice, asked me onto his podcast again. And we ended up with 45 minutes of stuff to help you think differently about language, brand and connecting with your customers. https://confessionsofamarketer.com/the-language-strategist/ What did we cover? How to change how you talk to customers along their journey. Your customer…
How powerful is language – podcast
Fancy a mini-masterclass on the power of language in business? Check out Robert Craven’s interview with me on his GYDA Talks podcast. It’s part of the GYDA initiative, helping digital agencies grow. We covered a lot, from afiatone to our donut model: Why words matter and how using the right ones can transform your business.…
White papers
Six objections to a new tone of voice (and how to overcome them)
We’ve run hundreds of workshops showing thousands of people how to write well for their organisations. And, as you might imagine, we’ve come up against resistance here and there to changing to a new tone of voice. So we’d like to share the most common reasons people give for not changing their writing, what lies…
Nine steps to getting great work from copywriters
Some of the things we’ve learnt over the last 15 years: How to write a brief that’ll inspire How to make sure you don’t pay over the odds How to make sure things happen to deadline How to make sign-off quick and painless What to do if the tone isn’t quite right Starting with a writer…
Video
Celebrate what’s right with the world
How about a little joy? I’ve loved taking photos since I was a teenager. Especially street photography. But I’ve always felt like my photos weren’t quite edgy enough. Like they need more grit or drama. But then I watched a TEDx recommended by my Appreciative Inquiry mentor, Mette Jacobsgaard. Appreciative Inquiry is the approach organisational…
How language builds brand
Fancy a mini-masterclass on the power of language in business? Check out Robert Craven’s interview with me on his GYDA Talks podcast. It’s part of the GYDA initiative, helping digital agencies grow. We covered a lot, from afiatone to our donut model: And how you express empathy – why truth matters. Why words matter and…
An brief intro to language strategy
Hi folks, here’s my quick intro to language strategy – what it is, who I’ve helped with it and what results it brings.