This is not a list of greatest ever books, just a selection totally subjective one from my bookshelf.

John Simmons – The Invisible Grail: How Brands Can Use Words to Engage with Audiences: This discusses how brands use words to engage with their audiences. It takes examples such as Innocent Drinks and Lush to show how they create not a visual identity but a narrative.

A Book About Innocent: Our Story and Some Things We’ve Learned: Not strictly a business writing book but a great example of how to write for and about a business.

Jonathan & Lisa Price – Hot Text: Web Writing That Works: a mine of information.

John Simmons – Dark Angels: How Writing Releases Creativity at Work: Is this a John Simmons love in? Probably.

David Ogilvy – Ogilvy on Advertising: This worked in a different age but so many of the truths in this book hold today.

Stephen King – On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft: Rightly or wrongly, I’ve never read a Stephen King novel and this is definitely not a business book, but it’s one of the best books I’ve read about writing generally.

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So it’s all people with too much time on their hands talking about sex and what they had for breakfast is it?

I’ve been on Twitter for almost two months now. I have encountered little, if any, spam save one porn message today which was easy to eliminate and report. I’ve seen no breakfast reports, no boyfriend angst and only a few trite messages about how wonderful life could be if we all woke up and “smelt the coffee” (sic). I must be following the wrong people.

So what has Twitter done for me?

• I’ve got into some great conversations with people I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. I haven’t always agreed with them. Sorry @carolinebosher, I love your site and everything you say on it, but a Ferrari branded laptop is just wrong!
• I’ve read people that can be extremely erudite in 140 characters and not just @stephenfry.
• I’ve learnt stuff about the way in which I do my business through people posting articles.
• Indirectly, I think I may have a new client from it. I have a meeting next week. Watch this space.

The reality is that a majority of people on Twitter are not kids (sorry kids, no offence). They are there for good business reasons. They want to increase their notoriety, build their brand or even do business directly. Should you be there? Can you afford not to be?

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Anyone can write can’t they? So why bother with a professional?

One of the main problems I have trying to sell writing is that it is something that everyone thinks they can do or should be able to do themselves. For some reason, small business owners often think that no-one can convey their message like they can. This is strange because they readily give up control of designing brochures or web sites and even photography. They see do-it-yourself writing as a cost cutting exercise. You don’t need to go as far as hiring the one in the picture (OK, yes it would be difficult, and even if you could, not many would be able to afford him), but there are a number of compelling reasons why hiring a writer will save you time and money.

Quality. Your content will be the best. In your work, you are are an IT specialist, a financial advisor or a damn good painter and decorator. In fact, you are the best at what you do. Aren’t you? So is your writer. He will give you persuasive copy that really gets to the people you want to target.

Another view. A good professional writer will have experience of a lot of different sectors. He will be able to draw on that experience to provide you with a second set of eyes and help you develop your ideas.

Impact. Writing copy for marketing goes way beyond knowing where the spell checker is and how to use apostrophes. It’s a specialism that involves knowing how to present your product so it stands out from the rest. A specialist writer will also be able to improve your Google rankings (and by the way, if anyone says they can guarantee to get you to the top of Google, they’re lying. They can’t).

Time saving. It’s almost certain that a professional will write for you faster than you would. Even if he doesn’t, it frees you up to do more important things. I can do a competent job of painting my house. If I hire a professional, I’m not tied up doing work that is not benefiting my business, I get a better job done and I can earn the money to pay for it.

Perception. Some people perceive pictures better, others are better with words. Generally it’s a combination of the two. The right side perceives images and the left takes in the words. You can mess up a perfectly good design with rubbish words and vice versa. Work with writers AND designers to ensure your message gets across.

In the final analysis, you are professional in what you do, so is a writer. You really should be working together.

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Business South-West was an important event for Convalis Software last year.  They decided to launch their new customer relationship management and email marketing programme Convalis CRM at the exhibition. Both the launch and the event were a great success as they reached potential customers they would never have been able to meet otherwise.

They are now keen to show off the new enhanced version at this year’s event to be held at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter on 15th and 16th October 2009.

So why choose Business South-West as a showcase for your business?

Convalis used last year’s show to launch a new product. One of the company’s founders, Elaine Isaac, says that apart from doing tremendous good for its profile, being at the South-West’s best and biggest business exhibition showed her commitment to her own venture. It proved to be a great way of meeting like-minded people and of finding new suppliers.

This year, the company is looking to raise its profile even further.  The show had almost 3,000 visitors last year and is looking to attract more in 2009.  It should therefore prove to be a very cost-effective way of getting new business.

The economic climate means that it’s increasingly important to be seen so that when things do start getting better those that are in view will be the ones that benefit most.

Elaine says she does a lot of networking and the show will provide another opportunity to do so with speed networking events held across the two days and Meet the Buyer sessions where businesses will be invited to pitch to local public and private sector organisations for larger contracts.

The company, its history and the future

Convalis Software is an IT consultancy and software development company specialised in data-driven customised applications for small and medium-sized businesses.  The company makes customer-relationship management systems mainly targeted at 2- or 3-man bands and larger customised systems aimed at medium-sized businesses.

Elaine Isaac and her partner Richard set up the company in 2006 as a diversification from the family farm. It has grown from a small room at the back of the house into a specially-built office and is now looking to expand over the next two or three years taking on staff and growing its product base.

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HP sauce bottles no longer carry French text, it was dropped in 1984 to howls of protest apparently. Not least from teachers of French who said it introduced young people to real non-classroom French for the first time. The decision inspired one of those bastions of British middle class outrage, a letter to the Times:

Sir,
Am I alone among your readers in deploring the loss of that much loved and most piquant of French primers – the label on the HP Sauce bottle?
If unfortunate circumstances decreed that there was nothing else to read at the breakfast table one could always turn to the HP Sauce bottle for a little French revision. It will be sadly missed.

HP sauce is a particularly British phenomenon, if you live in the US, don’t go Wall Mart or any other supermarket, go to Amazon to get it. It is even more difficult to find in France.  I lived there for 20 years and never saw it once on a supermarket shelf save perhaps the foreign products one and even less on a French table. More fool them possibly.

Like the outraged Times correspondent, I regret the passing of that text. It was one of my first contacts with a foreign language and gave the sauce some mystery (don’t laugh – I was only a teenager). I imagined it had some exotic and sophisticated origin that made me want to associate with it. The strange thing is that it was put there in the first place for no apparent reason.

Foreign words give products and companies kudos. Prosciutto crudo sounds so much better than raw ham, you might shop in Bon Marché, but would you want to be seen in Cheap?, and foie gras as fatty liver anyone?

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Innocent Drinks is a brand close to my heart as it has a strong basis in writing. Their cartons tell amusing little stories whilst getting the boring compliance information across. They engage with their customers even inviting them to drop in to “Fruit Towers” for a chat. I don’t know to what extent that’s a relic from the early days, but it’s a sign of how they create a dialogue with the people that buy their products. In the same way, their web site gives the impression that they’re just cool, regular guys.

The foreign language versions do the same. the French one even perhaps goes a bit further, inviting people to “La Halle aux Fruits” and asking you to bonjour@innocent.fr.

The trouble with a highly popular company like Innocent is that sometimes its customers think they own a little part of it. Of course, they do own some of the brand because they have bought into it literally and philosophically. So they feel some justification in kicking up a stink when, as they see it, it sells out to The Man/Mammon ( delete as applicable).

So why allow Coca-Cola a 30% stake? I’m not going to get into the rights and wrongs of the deal. I (and you dear reader) would be here all day or all night. A recent article in Marketing Week advances the idea that small, ethically-based brands may be acting as Trojan horses within their own larger parent companies and they are actually influencing the marketing and branding of their larger partners.

I for one raise an eyebrow when the very virtuous Green and Black’s  was gobbled up by Cadbury a couple of years ago. Now, it seems that the flagship Dairy Milk will be sourced exclusively from Fairtrade sources from the end of the summer. Fairtrade  is very much part of the zeitgeist these days, but can it be pure coincidence?

It  should not be forgotten that Cadbury’s has its own ethical past with its Quaker founding principles and its Bourneville village near Birmingham built in the 19th century for its employees and others who would otherwise have lived in slums. Just as Lever Brothers  built Port Sunlight.

The very same Lever Brothers who through their modern Unilever incarnation bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000. It is reported from within Unilever that Ben & Jerry’s has had an impact on the sourcing policies of other brands in the portfolio such as Lipton tea and PG Tips. Ice cream production has been moved from Vermont to Europe and a sustainable dairy programme has been developed with the help of of the parent company with aim of making the operation carbon neutral. These large scale projects would not have been possible without funding and support from Unilever.

So, three companies, three brands, Innocent, Green & Black’s  and Ben & Jerry’s. All  trailblazing worthy brands that have had to bring in outside help in order to expand. Sold out  do the litte guys or Trojan horses ready to attack from the inside? Innocent say they chose Coca-Cola because they promised to be the most hands off. Let’s hope their engaging style does not suffer in the process.

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The site is undergoing repairs. A little booboo meant the whole thing came crashing down a couple of days ago. As soon as I sort the picture problem and get the posts back up again, normal service will be resumed. In the meantime, have a look at the other pages to see what I do when I’m not blogging or being the company’s IT director.

Le site a eu quelques bobos. Il est chez le docteur pour l’instant mais sera bien rétabli dans quelques jours. En attendant, jetez un coup d’oeil sur les autres pages pour voir ce que je fais quand je ne suis pas en train de blogger ou en train de résoudre des problèmes informatiques.

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