Downtime Abbey

"What is a Weekend?"

It's one of the most quotable lines uttered by the imperious matriarch Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, on the smash British mini-series Downton Abbey, airing on Masterpiece Classic for American audiences. For the aristocratic Violet ("Granny" to her family), a life of leisure before the first World War meant everyday was a Saturday. Or a Sunday.

It's also a line that many a busy freelancer might utter.

In the freelance business, it can be feast or famine - insanely busy months or weeks followed by the sometimes dreaded/sometimes relished downtime - and workdays can lose their distinction between time off.

When in feast mode and the work is pouring in, the nature of the freelance business is such that jobs almost always have a way of coming in late on a Friday at, say, 4 p.m., accompanied by a request that they be finished and delivered first thing the following Monday. Therefore, I and others like myself are behooved to work on Saturday and Sunday - and thus we are well inclined to ask, "What is a Weekend?"

After a good long stint like that, slow time may be well deserved and even wished for, and when it comes, we may wonder ever-so blissfully, "What is a Weekend?" or better yet, "What is a Vacation?" The thought being we've no need for planned leisure time off - we are pretty much there already.

With my Masterpiece Classic viewing obsession of late (and the last show of season two to air Sunday), I like think of any lulls in my business activities as time spent upstairs at Downtime Abbey, where the aristocrats live and love. I spend my afternoons sipping tea, reading novels, taking walks along "the grounds," refilling the well of inspiration and creativity, possibly doing some charity work, and ... well - you get the picture.

Then, when it gets busy again, I go downstairs, to the servants quarters, to get things done.

Either way, the lines between the days of the week and the weekends can tend to blur.

And that's just fine with me.

I Heart the 2012 Love Ribbons Forever Stamp!

A stamp is forever, if it's a forever stamp.

Mail a Valentine. Help save the post office.

A suggestion:  why not use the new 2012 Love Ribbons Forever Stamp? It's not just appropriate for Valentine's Day; it's a nice touch anytime.

 

You can view the Love Ribbons Forever Stamp, as well as many of this year’s other stamps, on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps or on the website Beyond the Perf at beyondtheperf.com/stamp-releases/2012. 

Speaking of stamps ... Molly Rausch paints beyond the borders of ordinary postage stamps to create works of art out of her New York studio. A stunning example ...

By: Postage Stamp Paintings

My Valentine's Day Message For You

Send your Valentine's Day cards and letters early, folks

Sorry, USPS - I can't make it. Thanks, but no thanks.

USPS sent me an invitation to attend their Eastern Area Periodicals/Standard Focus Group Meeting ... an event slated for February 9 (which is today) on letterhead dated January 20 (which was last month) and with an RSVP date of February 3 (which was last week) - which arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

Hello.

Not to bash the service that I have relied so heavily upon for my career dollars over the past 20 plus years ... but when the venerable service touts the safety and security of "ye ole' snail mail" over e-mail (as in their "A refrigerator has never been hacked" commercial), they forgot to compare speed and timeliness.

And it's a shame, too, because I would have liked to attend that meeting.

Ironically, on the very same day that the aforementioned meeting invitation arrived in my box, USA Today runs a front page article entitled "Anything good in the mail?", with the more telling (albeit biting) subtitle that reads, "Postal service may be near its end as e-mailing grows and mailboxes just fill with 'junk.'" The paper's page one part of the story may spell all doom and gloom, but page two of the article gets all teary-eyed on us and spends a full five columns recounting the history of the U.S. Mail - from colonial times up to today, ending with a poignantly romantic story about a college student whose boyfriend was a medic in Afghanistan and sent her love letters in the mail. A quote in the article goes on to say, "'Nothing better may carry and connect sincere hearts...than a travel-worn letter with you name and address, handwritten.'"

Aw, so sweet.

So this year when I send my Valentine's Day cards and letters, I'll be sure to send them well in advance. Like tomorrow. Wait, is that enough time? (Counting on my fingers ... six days, minus Sunday, five days ...) Yeah, that should do. Least any hearts be broken. Unless, of course, I decide to e-mail or tweet my love and save the stamps. But a stamp is forever, if it's a forever stamp, that is.

Maybe I'll crash that USPS meeting today.

Nah.

What is a Copywriter?

What's On My Desk Now

Nothing like starting off a new year with "Fresh, New Words" to grow your business. And looks like my clients agree ...

Today's assignment: Write a follow-up letter to remind prospects to register for an event be held in the summer of 2012. Assignment received yesterday afternoon, first draft of copy delivered to client this morning. Awaiting client feedback.

Next: Getting ready to prepare copy for a PowerPoint presentation to be used by a global professional organization to recruit members in 2012.

And just got wind of a brand-new opportunity: Received a call earlier today from a CEO who just started working with a new organization. She and I have worked together in the past, and she wants me to head up their social media launch in 2012. 

It may still be the last week of 2011, but shouldn't your business be thinking about what "Fresh, New Words" you'll have in place for your 2012 marketing efforts?

Season's Greetings From The Copy Grove

Thought Control Technology

And I thought "thought control" was just something stupid from that movie "Dinner for Schmucks." Watch the video ...


InteraXon presents Bright Ideas from InteraXon on Vimeo.

I RELEASE YOU!

Writers who design; designers who write

In the advertising world, there are many writers who are also wannabe designers and designers who are wannabe writers. In fact, I know quite a few designers who can (and do) write some amazing copy. I also know copywriters with a great eye for design who can whip up a mean writer's rough. I like to think of myself as being in - or at least edging into - the last category.

My design leanings case in point ...

Above: Cropped shot of my hat design on the Henri Bendel website.
The winning design, to be announced next month, will be manufactured and sold at Bendel stores.

From pencil and watercolor paint to an electronic newsletter wireframe I just did for a client ...

... and hundreds and hundreds of writer's roughs in between, I've found that it's good to think creatively in BOTH words and pictures. If I'm stumped on coming up with a headline or a copy approach for a new assignment, I start researching visual images or formats. Taking out my pencil and pad, I start drawing ... what if it looked like this? What would it say? How should I say that? And viola, a concept evolves. Sometimes it's even stronger than if I had started thinking in just words alone.

Next time you get blocked creatively on a project, try thinking in the opposite of what you normally do. If you're a writer, try to draw the solution; if you're a designer, try to write down some options. Think outside of YOUR box. And watch what happens!

How do you spell mammajamma?

"Tell us in 140 characters or less why you deserve a scholarship to our MBA program?"

Ok, so my "What's happening?" tweet above probably won't win me a two-year scholarship to the University of Iowa's MBA program ... but someone's will.

The university is among a handful of others - both corporate and academic - to tap potential candidates' social media skills to find the best of the best.

So who says tweeting is a waste of time? (And did I spell mammajamma right?)

I'm One of 365 Days in 2012 ...

365 Days of Women's Wisdom: I'm thrilled & honored to learn that my inspirational quote was chosen from over 5,000 submissions to be featured in the 2012 Woman's Advantage Calendar! It's the only calendar written BY women biz owners FOR women biz owners.

Ouch, Babe

Disguised As a Giant, 15" Postcard

"Giant Inventory Sell-Off" - Here's the 15" "postcard" from McCafferty auto that arrived in my mailbox today. Bent, yes. Big, you betcha. But they didn't "go it alone." 

The piece, if you look closely, is from The Colossual Circular, whose tagline is "Reach your customers in a BIG way!"

And it's not actually addressed to me, but rather "****ECRWSS (which stands for Extended Carrier Route, Walking Sequence Saturation) Postal Customer." 

And there are ads for a hair salon, hoagie shop, attorney, and roofing company on one side - mixed in with McCafferty "coupons" for FREE inspection and alignment check. 

So it's not really from McCafferty auto, and it's not really a postcard after all, but a circular disguised as a humungo postcard.

Ok. Fooled me!

Being in the business of "who's mailing what," my first reaction when I saw this was, "Wow - marketers ARE mailing giant things and paying flat surcharge postal rates, despite the added cost. There you go, Mr. Crumby Economy!" But now I see how they did it ... and just thought I'd share that with you.

So what's new in your mailbox?

QR Patchwork Post

I made this. Just for you. Using my QR code for this blog.
Because I'm good like that. : )

A little of this, a little of that. I've got QR codes on my mind.

Maybe it's because I read an interesting post about them yesterday.

Some marketing pundits have dubbed 2011 "the year of the QR code," and those quirky mazes of pixel-ly thingies (not to be confused with pizzelles - which do seem to look like they have QR codes on them, and why couldn't they?) have been spotted on everything from business cards to t-shirts, billboards and even in sand.

Are QR codes hot or not? Should marketers be basing entire creative campaigns on them? Probably not. Including them in their campaigns? Sure. But don't overestimate the power of a QR code. It ain't nothing compared to a great headline when it comes to getting prospective consumers to "act now."

David Weineke hits the nail on the head in his June 8th, 2011 article Why Marketers Shouldn't Waste Their Time With QR Codes:

"QR codes can actually impede the conversation. First, you have to assume not everyone knows what they are, so you have to explain how they work. Then, you just hope people are willing to download the app and go through the hassle of getting it to work. Then and only then will they be exposed to whatever brilliant website you have put together. And the majority of the time, this process neglects the critical issue of why someone would want to do any of this in the first place. Right now the answer to that seems to be, 'Because marketers thinks it's cool.'This is a dead-end technology. This is a transitional technology, and other options are headed to market that will quickly displace it. Improvements in mobile search far outpace QR capture. Near Field Communications will provide richer machine interfaces. Google Places has already abandoned QR codes for NFC chips .... It's not all bad though. There are some good QR uses. These are the ones that actually make people's lives easier -- like displaying a boarding pass on a smartphone to a ticket reader. But the day of huge billboards that are nothing but QR codes is definitely past."

Yeah, it's kind of like how artists would take mother boards from dead computers and make them into jewelry or sculptures. Looks cool. And a QR code, in the right designer/artist's hands CAN be a visually stimulating thing, which I'll get to later.

Still, David makes some very valid points in his article. but I think it's even simpler than that:  Machines read QR codes, not people.

To me, QR codes represent "high tech" in advertising. They are becoming less of a curiosity to a significant segment of the digerati/wired-for-business professionals so as to warrant the inclusion of these quirky symbols on marketing materials that connect with a tech-savvy audience. Instead of keying in a website with multiple keystrokes, one click takes you from ad to web. Bookmark the page, save it for later - you're in. What could be easier? That's what QR codes are all about, really.

In direct marketing, we love to give the audience a choice of ways to contact the product or service provider - call a toll-free number, visit our web site, fax us, or return the reply form in the postage-paid envelope provided. QR codes are just another one of these options. A QR code can help facilitate response but it alone can not generate it. It's like having an ad with a giant toll-free number and nothing else - no reason to call. Curiosity will only get so many calls. Even Tommy Tutone knows, you gotta ad the line "for a good time call..."


So don't mistake a QR code as a strong enough impetus to generate an inquiry or sale or use it to replace a headline. Strong headlines and copy speak to people, not machines.

On the other hand, design crowd - do you think an ad that has a great photograph or illustration coupled with just a QR code could do the trick? Could that be enough to drive traffic to a website? Sure! Get creative. Just look at this awesome example ...

And here's another from Macy's ...

And yes, I did in fact recommend adding a QR code to a client's piece this morning. Adding it. Not centering the whole piece on it. Because that's how I roll.

Post it, Dano.

Community Service - Giving Back, Giving Thanks

"Those who can, do.  Those who can do more, volunteer." ~ Author Unknown

Community service is important for everyone. It's something I learned at an early age in Brownies and Girl Scouts, and something I continue to do as a working professional, utilizing my skills in a way to promote the positive impact of organizations such as the American Red Cross. Currently, I am active as the Social Media "guru" for my local Lower Bucks County Chapter and was honored to attend a June 3rd event to thank the chapter's major donors and supporters. For my coverage of the event, you can visit our chapter's Ready & Red blog.

Cynthia Maniglia of The Copy Grove, Social Media Volunteer, attending the American Red Cross Lower Bucks County Chapter's Donor Appreciation Night on June 3rd, 2011.

The event was sponsored by Toll Brothers and held at one of
their Dutchess Farm Estates model homes in Newtown, PA.

The thank you card, with pins, that was given out at the event.