« Bogie Thoughts
People Hate Marketing
I’ve heard this for years in focus groups and usability tests, and I try to keep those voices in my head when creating web content. By “marketing” what we’re talking about are those mostly useless words we are tempted to use to decorate our useful content.
I put together the post Develop a Writing Style Guide for Your Company, and I think it is a great resource if you are considering or currently creating a writing style guide. Then that temptation crept up.
I thought, “Hey, this page doesn’t tell you why you should create a style guide.”
So, I started writing some stupid stuff like:
- A consistent style is key for …
- Developing an easy-to-follow style guide helps your organization …
- Speaking with one voice …
Imagine you needed a YouTube video to show you how to change the gear that drives the auger and impeller on your Toro snowblower. You wouldn’t want to spend the first two minutes learning why, when that part is broke, it’s a terrific idea to replace it. You would just want to see how it’s done
Do your best to show how, and why will be apparent.