April 21, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
Whether you’re a marketer, a developer, a salesperson or an astronaut, chances are you have to explain things from time to time. And it doesn’t matter if you’re writing an email to a vendor or composing a scientific paper on space rocks—explaining things is hard. You can spend hours lovingly crafting a PowerPoint deck, searching for the right font, timing the transitions just so…only to receive a bunch of drooly stares in return.
Explaining is a big part of what we do at Jellyvision. We help explain healthcare benefits, complex software systems, crazy complicated financial stuff, and the difference between this laptop and that laptop. So now, we’re going to explain how to explain. So meta!
The first important part of a good explanation? Know your audience. Here’s a few tips. Make sure you check these off before you launch into, “So, space rocks…” (more…)
Tags: communication, how to explain
April 15, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
Emotion is one of the most powerful communication tools. Get someone to feel something, and you’ll get them to listen.
Jellyvision’s big on using humor to communicate (insert fart sound here). But emotions beyond amusement are just as effective for making a connection with your audience. Fear. Pride. Anticipation. Empathy. And in this example of Damn Good Communication, some good old fashioned tugging on the heartstrings. (more…)
Tags: communication, emotions
April 12, 2014 | Josh Braun | Damn Good Communication
Oh financial debt, you are so hard to avoid. Thank you, Saturday Night Live, for using humor and simplicity to help educate us on how to keep our financial situation under control.
Watch the skit below break down this complicated topic. (more…)
Tags: communication, financial communication
April 10, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Communication Makeover
I recently read a great blog post about how one of the coolest untapped marketing tools out there is receipts. Yes, receipts. Think about it. People take receipts home. They hold on to them. They’re used to them—no one has to be trained on how to use and interact with a receipt, unlike some trendier marketing tools.
“What if we see the receipt more as a publishing medium—a product unto itself that people actually want to take home, that they want to engage with, be fully interactive with?” said Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of Square and co-founder of Twitter, at the National Retail Federation’s expo. “What can we do with this everyday tool?”
Curious, I un-balled some receipts from my purse and decided to see how retailers were handling the receipt marketing opportunity.
(more…)
April 4, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
At Jellyvision, we believe that everything is marketing. And because everything is marketing, everything your company puts out into the world should reflect your brand and, in general, be pretty spankin’ delightful.
It’s pretty easy to picture a delightful thank you web page, or a delightful email (we’ve highlighted a few in the past). But when you start to get into the…let’s say “less enchanting” types of business communication, like contracts and estimates, it can be harder to imagine where the human element fits in. Is there really room for plain English, let alone your brand, in a 20-page legal document?
You’ll have to excuse me as I toot the horn of our sales team for a sec, because they (specifically this charming lady) recently wrote a document that proves that any piece of communication can be engaging and enjoyable. This is the introduction to a statement of work for a project that deals with benefits communication: (more…)
Tags: communication, corporate communication
April 2, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
“Everything has to come to an end, sometime.” –L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz
“That jerk face jerk butt jerk monster jerk. They want to ‘part ways’? I’ll show them PARTING WAYS!” –Typical Businessperson, while lighting fire to desk and all personal belongings
Having a customer break up with you stinks. And it’s easy to react with anger and arson rather than taking Mr. Baum’s more philosophical approach. Losing a customer hurts, even if it’s not a real blow to your bottom line. And it’s easy to say, “screw ’em” and never talk to them again.
But take a look at how GrubHub responds to losing a customer: (more…)
Tags: clients, communication
March 28, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
Texting while driving is unequivocally bad. However, lots and lots of people still do it. In fact, at any time during the day, 660,000 people are using their phones while driving. That’s a lot of drivers just asking to play bumper cars in real life.
How can we communicate the dangers of texting and get people to change their behavior? One guy is using the power of sweet, sweet shame.
Brian Singer, a graphic designer in San Francisco, has created a project called TWIT (Texting While in Traffic). He asks you to take pictures of drivers who are messing with their phones in traffic. (Only if you’re a passenger, of course.)
Then the best (i.e., worst) photos are used to create billboards of public shame. (more…)
Tags: communication
March 25, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
Being a brand on social media can be tough. Too often, brands can come across as the awkward guy at the party. Everyone else is talking about the big game, and then ol’ Brand Brian butts in with, “Speaking of GAMES, doing your taxes with Taxiful Solutions is so fun, it’s like the game you play with your net income!”
Or brands pivot too hard the other way and try to be “fun,” and just make everyone uncomfortable in the process.
(more…)
Tags: communication, marketing, personalization, social media
March 20, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
Ahh, morning. You wake up, say hello to the sun, listen to the songbirds, and wander into your kitchen to pour yourself a nice bowl of cereal. You pull the milk out of the fridge…and everything is ruined when you get a whiff of rancid milk.
Goodbye, nice morning. Goodbye, sun and songbirds. Yes, you’re left with a dark, cold Earth, because the sun doesn’t want anything to do with that nasty milk. Spoiled milk is the worst.
Thankfully, science and good communication are pairing up to save our mornings. (more…)
Tags: communication, packaging
March 18, 2014 | Melanie Davis | Damn Good Communication
If you’re in charge of marketing aluminum siding or servers or machines that help paint dry, I have for you a beacon of hope: GE’s Pinterest page.
GE is making things like turbines, data, heavy machinery and sealants interesting. Just look at the Badass Machines board. (more…)
Tags: creative communication, marketing, social media
