I talk in pictures. Mostly.

That’s why I describe investing in design, when your messaging is rubbish, is like respraying your car with a view to making it go faster or further.

Daft as this sounds, it happens a lot. New websites or brochures with the same godawful same-as-everybody-else messaging. It’s just silly.

If you want to increase how you’re noticed, remembered and chosen, the start point is almost never changing how you look, and almost always changing what you say.

If you’re thinking about asking a (good) copywriter to help your business. Here are a three things to quickly ponder.

1)  Don’t bother unless you’re prepared to really let them in. The good ones will be super nosey. They’ll want to know loads about you. Welcome that.

2) Describe the business problem, and leave it there. Leave it to the copywriter to define the best solution, if indeed copywriting can help at all. For example, a good copywriter will know whether it’s more clarity, simplicity and straightforwardness that you need. Or it may be that distinctiveness and an owned voice needs to be defined and codified. Sometimes it’s short, arresting written work akin to advertising that’s needed. Let them prescribe what to write, how to write it and how to use it.

3) Ask yourself if the copywriter really understands business. How business works, I mean. This is because copywriting in any of its forms might not be the answer – yet or at all. They should have broad enough experience – and broad enough shoulders – to suggest a different fix if that’s what’s needed.

Do consider investing in professional copywriting though. Done right, it has a faster positive impact on business than almost any other part of the comms mix.

If Stephen King is the scariest writer ever. And Pet Sematary is his scariest story (Stephen says it is) – then Pet Sematary is the scariest story ever.

Pet Sematary is about how far we’d go to get back someone we love, no matter the price or consequence.

That’s it.

It’s a 480 page book. A 1 hour 40 minute film. And all those pages, words and minutes can be distilled into one really interesting thought:

‘How far we’d go to get back someone we love, no matter the price or consequence.’

How strange it is then, that so many things we all read, by and about businesses, are so… well… thoughtless. I read things and am left thinking, ‘What the hell was that actually about?’ or, ‘Why are you telling me this?’ And I know why I think these things. It’s because the writer didn’t think what they were writing about, or why the hell they’re telling anyone. They were just… broadcasting. Putting down words. Spouting.

The amount of businesses that write stuff, without actually thinking about message, with absolutely no idea why they’re writing it, is scary. Not as scary as Pet Sematary, of course.

But the amount of time and money spent on this kind of kak is bloody terrifying.

I was at the docs yesterday. Blood test. I smiled as I sat in the waiting room.

I smiled because 30% of leaflets, posters, illustrations, badges, infographics (‘1 in 8 Will Get It’) all around me, highlighted prostate cancer. The black and white design. That little man logo made from little men. Nice!

‘Shit!’ I thought. ‘Great reminders.’

So I shuffled to reception, tippy-tapped on the sliding glass screen between myself and the receptionist, smiled, and asked for an appointment.

‘Sorry.’ She said. ‘There aren’t any.’

The Little Men in the logo, I think, are meant to make me think about Little Men like me. But instead, I thought only of the Little People, that should be Big People, that think this kind of thing, for Little People like me, is OK.

This could be a wee story about politics and politicians. It could be a wee story about the industry I work in, taking money to make things look good, that aren’t good. In fact, it’s neither. Or it’s both. That’s how story works.

But for me personally, it was a jolt. Because I’m such a lucky, privileged man living a lucky, privileged life.

But just for a moment, as I stood there in the waiting room, looking down, not quite knowing what to do next, I felt littler than ever.

Highest level Business Communications conversations almost always start far, far too low.

The first thing businesses talk about is very often Creative. Design, messaging, websites, print, logos, slogans, vehicle livery, brochures, business cards and letterhead. Businesses start here because it feels safe. Because you can actually see all this stuff you spent your money on.

But this is not the place to start. Go higher.

The next level up is Tactical Marketing. This is what we should actually do. Adverts. Channels. Social. PR approaches. Events. Sponsoring.

But again, this is not the place to start. Go higher again.

The next level up is Strategic Marketing. This is thinking about the right mix of the very best things to say and the very best things to do in order to sell more, more easily. It’s the nuanced ‘how’ to achieve what you want to achieve. Maybe by market segment. Maybe by territory. There can be real magic here.

But again, this is not the place to start. Go even higher.

The next level up is Brand. This is exploring and pinning down your very essence. Why you exist. Why you started. What you believe in. Your precise opinions and ideas. Your non-negotiables. This is the change you want to make. This is your reason for being.

But there’s still one level higher. So go there – and start there.

The top level, and the place to start when considering your business communications (admittedly whilst zigging and zagging into and out of the Brand bit) is Organisational Objectives. Turnover. Profit. Market(s) share. New product launches. Percentage growth. People and departmental/structural growth. The bits that grow organically. Step-change (what and when). Milestones and phases. That kind of thing.

1. Organisational Objectives. This is where to start.
2. Then Brand.
3. Then Marketing Strategy.
4. Then Marketing Tactics.
5. Then Creative/Design/Messaging.

Very few businesses do this properly. And this is why huge amounts of business communication spend is just wasted. Because the work they do in Creative/Design/Messaging is not directly linked to where the damn business is going. It’s obvious!

When considering Business Communications, start with your Business Objectives. With the right execution of the four levels below, in the right order, it’s very best chance you have of achieving them.

It’s important to keep an eye on how you’re actually perceived. We fib to ourselves about ourselves. And about the competition.

We’re great. They’re not great. That kind of thing.

New entrants can take us by surprise. Existing competitors can up their game and destabilise us. Attack us. Weaken us. We can be actively repositioned, as we may strategically try to do to others.

So, whilst not surrendering the owned brand position, thinking about how to best communicate and add resonance and power to our comms is something we should clearly be reviewing regularly. And as I say, honesty is key.

Internal Pride will kill you if you are not in tune with the Lived Reality of what people out there really think of you.

‘Best check.

When Apple, at their peak, spoke. You knew it was them.

‘Chic. Not Geek.’

‘Sorry. No Beige.’

‘I think, therefore IMac.’

Quietly. Smirkingly. Taking the piss out of PC users.

Apple’s copy was uniquely theirs. Short. Snipey. Confident. Which is why it’s a shame that copy on almost any website is interchangeable with any other player in the same category. Switch it around. No one’ll notice. There’s just no… character.

If you’ve nothing unique to say, and no unique way of saying it then of course you’re destined for low close rates and price-war. It was ever so with samey, blend-in businesses.

This week, one of the comments that Liam Gallagher made about The Beatles’ new single was,

‘The Beatles could shit in my handbag and I’d still hide my polo mints in there.’

I think that only Liam Gallagher could have said that precise thing. In that precise way.

He has ideas, opinions and a certain ‘way’. And from that comes character.

So think about your brand. Brand character comes from your ongoing narrative, your opinions and ideas – uniquely expressed.

No character. No brand. And everything in the business is so much harder.

Each time somebody explores working with me, we either end up working together, or we very quickly agree why we should not. There’s never any competitive pitching, so no price erosion, no protracted process, no scope grabbing (wanting more for less) and no creepy-crawly cajolery from me. We’re either right for each other. Or we are not. It’s one-on-one.

This is because there is only one me. And I am not talking about me, the person. I am talking about me, the brand. I make this distinction (person v brand) because the above scenario should be true for any strong brand – whether that brand be a person or a business.

My brand is my ‘way’. It is what I authentically believe in and the change I want to make as a consequence, what I do, how well I do it, my tone, what it feels like to work with me, how well and how consistently I execute, and ongoing effectiveness.

This shines a light on perhaps the most important relationships in business. The relationship between brand and closing.

Strong brands have high close rates, with the right kinds of customer, for the right kind of work, at the right price point – for everybody. And the brand feels elated at the opportunity to march on and make their change.

Weak brands have low close rates. Or they win shitty work and feel momentarily satisfied because they can pay next months bills.

Brand better. Close better. One of the simplest and most difficult things to get right in business. But if and when you do get this right – it changes everything.