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
Empathy – it’s what you need
There’s one thing my clients have been crying out for in recent weeks, it’s empathy. I don’t mean they think I’m not hearing them (at least they’ve not said so). It’s empathy for their people and customers. Some are concerned their marketing and comms teams might be sounding tone-deaf. Others are worried about how their…
Does an R look like a head?
I’ve seen what happens in companies when you change the language you use: happier customers, improved NPS scores, fewer complaints and increased click-through rates. But its power is more fundamental than that. It’s baked into who we are. This week The Secret History of Writing on BBC dug into why it’s the most important intellectual…
Why your copywriter is rubbish
You write a brief. You’re really happy with it. You send it to your copywriter. The copy comes back. It’s crap. You email back and forth. The next draft isn’t much better. By the eighth round of amends you’ve lost the will to live. You’ve wasted days on this. You don’t have the words you…
Podcasts
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.…
What’s your language revealing about you – podcast
Maria Franzoni, Speaker Bureau Director, invited me onto her Speaking Business podcast to chat all things language. What did we talk about? What’s tone of voice Not getting hung up on definitions of what tone of voice is and isn’t How I help businesses with tone of voice and I share a few examples The…
Language Manifesto podcast
We’re all very busy. There isn’t always time to sit and read the latest book or article but we do want to keep up with the latest thinking. I find there’s usually some time to listen. In the car, in the gym, even a quick podcast between meetings. And that’s why I was really pleased…
White papers
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…