Read it; feel it
Read the words coffee, camphor or eucalyptus, and the part of your brain most closely related to the sense of smell responds.… Read the full article
Creative communications
Mobile makeover for depression post
Communicator transforms piece for the small screen
Make mine to go.
More than half of your audience members now receive your emails, visit your web pages and engage with your social media channels via their mobile devices, not their laptops.… Read the full article
A bear’s tale: Storytelling structure in action
3 steps to a great story
Facts tell, stories sell.
But it’s not enough just to have a great story. To make the most of your best business stories, you also need great storytelling.… Read the full article
Make size and scale visual
How tiny is tiny? How huge is huge?
How small is small? One-third the size of a ladybug? The size of a sprinkle on an ice cream cone?… Read the full article
Give numbers context
How can you help people see 6,000?
When 6,000 power poles went down in New Orleans during a series of ice storms, Entergy Senior Communications Specialist David Lewis needed a way to make that number tangible in an executive speech.… Read the full article
Vital statistics
Add color and credibility to your copy with numbers
Which personal finance story would draw you in? One that starts:
Are you saving enough for retirement, no matter how young you are?
… Read the full article Make a scene
Description adds color to even the most drab story
Google: It may be the next best thing to being there.
The best way to get description is to go to the scene and observe.… Read the full article
Metaphor at work
6 reasons analogy is more persuasive than literal language
Metaphor is more persuasive than literal language: It’s been proven in the lab.
Make that 41 labs over more than 50 years.… Read the full article
Up close and personal
Metaphor creates intimacy, builds understanding
People who read metaphors are more likely to understand what someone else is thinking.
Or so say Andrea Bowes and Albert Katz, two researchers at the University of Western Ontario (London).… Read the full article
‘The Emperor of All Maladies’
Siddhartha Mukherjee clarifies cancer with comparison
If you were … say … a brilliant oncologist and a spectacular writer, and you wanted to tell the story of cancer in a way that people who weren’t brilliant oncologists could understand and enjoy it, what literary tools might you use?… Read the full article