Dictate What You Want to Communicate
Friday, December 4, 2009 at 9:32AM Happy holidays! Finally, here is my next installment of the ABC’s of Marketing Communication. (If you missed A/B or C, take a peek back.) We’re already almost to mid-school year – my inspiration for this particular blog series. I didn’t anticipate it taking nearly this long, but hey…. Kindergarten is 4 whole quarters.
So, for the letter “D” I originally planned on writing about the role of design (as in graphic or creative design) in business communication. Maybe I’ll actually get to that one day, but something recently happened with one of my clients that changed my mind for this post. We were wrapping up a copywriting project and she said she had a new one for me…. a letter. But she had recorded her thoughts on her phone and wanted to know if I was okay with her sending me the audio file and writing the letter from it. A sort of dictation, if you will. Now, a couple of stereotypes come to mind when I think of dictation. First is a bleary-eyed doctor sitting in his pitch-black office beside the glow of a single desk lamp and speaking into his trusty hand-held recorder about his patients. Second is a polyester-clad businessman rattling off thoughts at a mile-a-minute to his cowering yet frantic secretary in some old-school sitcom.
Neither of these stereotypes, I’d never worked with a client through dictation before. But I was certainly willing. And it worked out beautifully. That got me to thinking… maybe verbally dictating thoughts, points and information would be easier, less daunting and much quicker for non-writers to communicate what they want and need from their copywriters. I can’t tell you how many times the process has come to a complete halt when I suggest that a client jot down some notes on what they want. It’s because, as I eventually realized, while writing comes easily to me, it doesn’t to everyone (shocker, I know...) – even if it’s just an outline. Instead, I frequently rely on interviewing my clients and making my own notes. But this dictation thing could definitely be another option. See, in the case of my client, she had given me a verbal outline, which gave me a loose idea of what she was looking for but also allowed me to use my writing experience and skills to craft an effective final letter. So, if you’re a natural talker instead of a natural writer, the pressure is now off. Just download some audio recording software (like Audacity) to your computer, and you’re off and running. Or, with the right kind of cell phone or a digital voice recorder, you can get your thoughts out while you walk your dog, on your way to work, while eating lunch in the park or, still, just at your desk.
The more I think about dictating your marketing communication, the more I like it. It really fits in with my goal to free clients’ time up to do other parts of their jobs… those parts that can’t be outsourced. Maybe even those things they actually like to do.
What about you? Would it be helpful for you to dictate to your copywriter what you want to communicate in a letter, brochure, article, landing page or press release? Please comment on this post to let me know. I’d love to hear how this could work or has already worked for you.
Reader Comments (2)
Thank you for being receptive to copywriting from my verbal notes to self. Now I devote more time to focusing on management tasks. Great work!
Thanks for the kudos, Happy Client! And thanks for being my first blog commenter, too! (In fact, I didn't even see in my site's backend until just now that you commented. Now I thankfully know where to look for future reference.) I envisioned bells ringing, lights flashing and confetti falling. Did you? :) Looking forward to digging in on the monthly email articles. Will be fun in 2010!