Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment

It's not just CEOs and corporate spokespeople who need effective language to be the message. The most successful advertising taglines are not seen as slogans for a product. They are the product. From M&M's "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" to "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" bathroom tissue, from the "plop, plop, fizz, fizz" of Alka-Seltzer to "Fly the friendly skies of United," there is no light space between the product and its marketing. Words that work reflect "not only the soul of the brand, but the company itself and its reason for being in business," according to Publicis worldwide executive creative director David Droga.

In the same vein, advertising experts identify a common quality among the most popular and long-lasting corporate icons: Rather than selling for their companies, these characters personify them. Ronald McDonald, the Marlboro Man, Betty Crocker, the Energizer Bunny -- they aren't shills trying to talk us into buying a Big Mac, a pack of smokes, a box of cake mix, a package of batteries; they don't even personalize the product. Just like the most celebrated slogans, they are the product.

Walk through any bookstore and you'll find dozens of books about the marketing and branding efforts of corporate America. The process of corporate communication has been thinly sliced and diced over and over, but what you won't find is a book about the one truly essential characteristic in our twenty-first-century world: the company persona and how words that work are used to create and sustain it.

The company persona is the sum of the corporate leadership, the corporate ethos, the products and services offered, interaction with the customer, and, most importantly, the language that ties it all together. A majority of large companies do not have a company persona, but those that do benefit significantly. Ben & Jerry's attracts customers in part because of the funky names they gave to the conventional (and unconventional) flavors they offer, but the positive relationship between corporate management and their employees also plays a role, even after Ben and Jerry sold the company. McDonald's in the 1970s and Starbucks over the past decade became an integral part of the American culture as much for the lifestyle they reflected as the food and beverages they offered, but the in-store lexicon helped by setting them apart from their competition. (Did any customers ever call the person who served them a cup of coffee a "barista" before Starbucks made the term popular?) Language is never the sole determinant in creating a company persona, but you'll find words that work associated with all companies that have one.

And when the message, messenger, and recipient are all on the same page, I call this rare phenomenon "language alignment," and it happens far less frequently than you might expect. In fact, virtually all of the companies that have hired my firm for communication guidance have found themselves linguistically unaligned.

This manifests itself in two ways. First, in service-oriented businesses, the sales force is too often selling with a different language than the marketing people are using. There's nothing wrong with individualizing the sales approach to each customer, but when you have your sales force promoting a message that has no similarity with the advertising campaign, it undermines both efforts. The language in the ads and promotions must match the language on the street, in the shop, and on the floor. For example, Boost Mobile, which caters to an inner city youth demographic, uses the slogan "Where you at?" Not grammatically (or politically) correct -- but it's the language of their consumer.

And second, corporations with multiple products in the same space too often allow the language of those products to blur and bleed into each other. Procter & Gamble may sell a hundred different items, but even though each one fills a different need, a different space, and/or a different category, it is perfectly fine for them to share similar language. You can use some of the same verbiage to sell soap as you would to sell towels, because no consumer will confuse the products and what they do.

Not so for a company that is in a single line of work, say selling cars or selling beer, where companies use the exact same adjectives to describe very different products. In this instance, achieving linguistic alignment requires a much more disciplined linguistic segmentation. It is almost always a more effective sales strategy to divvy up the appropriate adjectives and create a unique lexicon for each individual brand.

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Understanding Narrative and Descriptive Forms Of Writing

This article is an attempt to understand the narrative and descriptive forms of writing. It starts with a passage which contains both forms of writing. Later, few sentences from both the forms have been discussed to make the difference clear.

Whenever I feel tired of the busy and monotonous city life, I often seek refuge in a small hill station located close to my hometown. Known as Nathiagali, it happens to be my favorite vacation spot. This small hill station is surrounded by high mountains, which remain covered with snow throughout the year. Tall pine trees welcome the visitors, with soft chilling breeze and smell of cone trees, all through out its way.

Last month, when I wanted some time to relax and escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, I took my way to this incredible paradise. For me, it is the most enchanting place on the planet, offering both pleasure and relaxation. One of the things I love doing the most on my visits to Nathiagali is sitting on the marble benches at hill tops, which offer view to my entire paradise. I keep sitting for hours, meditating and feeling accompaniment of pure nature around me. In such instances, Wordsworth's verses hit my mind one after the other and I too, like the great poet, feel a strange affiliation with the nature and the divine presence.

A small inn in the middle of the trees is probably the only place for the locals to gather and sip tea from their clay mugs. This inn is covered with tall pine trees from three of its sides. The front offers a small broken wooden door for the visitors to enter, a window and a chimney which makes it look much like the fairy tale cottage. I often go in, not only to sip the typical sweet tea they are fond of, but also to develop acquaintance with these simple and pure people. Their purity of thoughts is something I believe lacks in people living in urban societies.

Watching the sun set is a breath-taking scene in Nathiagali. Sun seems to be closer here than at any other places that I have ever been to in my life. The solitude and fresh air provides a heavenly background, much needed to view this blessing. Early in the morning, the crimson hue spread by the sun all over the sky, leaves a picturesque scene as if some painter has spread a stroke of orange, red and yellow in a random manner to leave the painting look so unique, yet so natural.

These beautiful mornings are what I crave for when I am living in the city. On my visits to my paradise, I sit by the window of my guest house, listening to the songs of the birds. Mornings, in Nathiagali are incomplete without these chirping birds who one by one sing songs which sound similar to the changing of the songs in a music player. Nights are equally magical and absorbing; sound of the crickets and presence of the gnats in the near by trees, smell of cone trees and cold wind, all mutually contribute to provide a beautiful atmosphere.

Long walk on the trails and hill paths is another feature that attracts me towards my paradise. Many times I have spent hours climbing the peak of hills, to feel even closer to nature than I would otherwise feel. These paths and trails are long but not tiring; covered with flowers of various colors, in the months of March and April, they are full of fragrance of all sweet natural scents. During the snow, it looks like a white sheet of fabric that has been laid all over the place to make it stay safe from everything. Monkeys, wild goats and squirrels can be often seen during walk to these hills, climbing their way on the tall trees and staring at humans when they pass by.

This little paradise of mine provides me a tranquil environment where for some time I can feel an association with my Creator and the Mother Nature. I have been to my paradise million of times but I even crave for it today as if I have not been to it ever. This source of attraction in its beauty and purity is a never ending charm.

Following are some of the narrative and descriptive sentences from the composition.

Narrative Sentences: 1. On my visits to my paradise, I sit by the window of my guest house, listening to the songs of the birds. 2. Whenever I feel tired of the busy and monotonous city life, I often seek refuge in a small hill station located close to my hometown. 3. I often go in, not only to sip the typical sweet tea they are fond of, but also to develop acquaintance with these simple and pure people.

Descriptive Sentences: 1. The front offers a small broken wooden door for the visitors to enter, a window and a chimney which makes it look much like the fairy tale cottage. 2. During the snow, it looks like a white sheet of fabric that has been laid all over the place to make it stay safe from everything. 3. Mornings, in Nathiagali are incomplete without these chirping birds who one by one sing songs which sound similar to the changing of the songs in a music player.

In order to relate narrative with descriptive, there is a need to form unity between the two so that the structure does not seem absurd. This can be conducted with the method of being creative so that the narrator uses his vast imagination, through which he is able to paint a true picture before the readers. The narrator has to be a good story teller as well as a writer, who can present details by using effective words and phrases.

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Four Things You Need to Have a Good Academic Essay

If you're primarily due creative in your writing before, and are suddenly asked to write a solid academic essay, then you know that you could view this assignment with a certain amount of trepidation. However, it's important to note that an academic essay is really not as hard or as scary as you may think it is. Even if you don't have experience writing in this style, you can still wind up with an excellent paper if you just have these for things first.

The first thing you'll need when it comes to writing an academic paper is patience. Generally speaking, these types of assignments are not things that you can do the night before they are due. You need to understand that especially with academic papers, there is quite a bit of planning, preparation, and research that goes into the final product and as such it is not something that you can rush and expect to get a good result in. Of course, there are those that do work well under pressure however even they wouldn't leaves a large assignment in its entirety until the night before it is due.

Something else you'll need when it comes to properly writing an academic paper is the ability to properly manage your time. When you're in University, especially if you're in first year, the temptation to let things slide is almost overwhelming. Having been there myself, I can tell you that given the choice on Friday night between starting your research for the paper that is due two weeks from now or going out and having a beer, most of us would opt for the beer. And this is fine! So long as you ensure that you have a system of properly managing your time so that you not only stay on top of your regular course work, you're able to properly begin your paper so that you have done by the time it is due.

The first thing you'll need to ensure that your academic essays of good quality is research skills. Well several years ago the skills are mainly confined to what you could find in the library and perhaps on microfiche, now you need to be able to use the World Wide Web and the Internet effectively to not only find the information you're looking for but to distill it into usable form and be able to separate what is useful from what is not. And this unfortunately, is something that can only be learned through constant repetition.

One final thing you'll need when it comes to your academic essay is the ability to take criticism well. Consider for a moment that the first draft of any paper is not likely to be its final form and, if you ask other people to proofread it you will likely encounter some constructive criticism. You need to make sure that you can handle this and use it to create the best paper you can.

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An Economics Education by Bitcoin - Part I

For those unfamiliar with Bitcoin, there are better ways to begin understanding it than this article; I'd recommend Wikipedia for starters. This article is intended for those who already think they know what Bitcoin is, but haven't yet traded in it. I was there - I thought I comprehended it, too, but having since dipped my toe in the pond, I've discovered an unexpectedly enlightening experience. There are so many nuances involved in the trading of Bitcoin as to make it tremendously educational. It forced me to consider a lot of the built-in features which go unscrutinized and even unrecognized in traditional currencies. In so doing, it made me assign my own values to those features, and allowed me to decide the most preferable ways of satisfying my various needs - choices which are normally taken from us.

There are aspects of Bitcoin which make it similar to fiat currency, but it is not cash. There are aspects similar to gold, but it is not bullion. There are aspects similar to securities, but it is not exactly a security. The question of "What is it?" is actually much more complicated than it appears. It exists solely as an entry in a distributed digital ledger; "having" Bitcoins really means having authority to transfer Bitcoins. No, in fact, that's not even technically correct. It means having a degree of authority measured in Bitcoins to transfer that very same authority. Try to wrap your brain around that. Going forward, I'll resort to referring to Bitcoins as the thing of value which is transferred, but understand that my doing so is solely shorthand to make this essay readable. Having Bitcoins is the authority to transfer authority.

Thus, upon deciding to acquire my first Bitcoin, the first step was to determine how to attain authority to transfer Bitcoins. One could theoretically print out the cryptographic code of a Bitcoin and hand the paper to someone else as a means of transferring the Bitcoin represented by the code, but how would that recipient know that the printout hadn't been duplicated and already spent? For that matter, how would the recipient know that the printout even represented some value in Bitcoin rather than merely a string of random characters? Transferring printouts of Bitcoin on paper may work (albeit inefficiently) between people who implicitly trust each other, such as for gifts between relatives, but the genius of Bitcoin is the distributed but authoritative nature of its ledger, and for that to work, transactions have to be exposed to its network.

If a Bitcoin printout is transferred around amongst a group of people without being exposed to the network, none of them would know whether it was valid or counterfeit. It would be like passing around a bank draft made payable to "Bearer;" it might have already been paid, or it might never have been good in the first place. No one would know until they tried to present it for payment at the maker's bank. As long as someone else is willing to accept a potentially-hot potato for goods or services, perhaps it doesn't matter, but people tend to be wary of ending up with hot potatoes. I am one such person, so I wanted my receipt of Bitcoins to be verified by the network. This turned my focus to a study of digital Bitcoin "wallets." Wallets are a digital place to store Bitcoin authority codes.

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Essay Proofreading Software - Easily Proofread Your Writing!

Essay Proofreading Software can make life easier mostly for those who spend much of their time writing emails, articles and other digital documents. The use of advanced word processing and language processing electronic solutions is constantly increasing the past few years. Want to know more about improving your English writing? Read the following article.

Some basics

Essay Proofreading Software is an advanced technology that not only corrects your English writing for any errors, but helps you on improving your writing skills. Advanced English proofreading programs rely on smart algorithms and ever-growing databases. It works in three steps: Analysis, comparison, and correction. While examining this technology we can see that most of these solutions enable the following: proofreading content for correct grammar, punctuation and spelling.

What are the main benefits?

NLP technology undoubtedly transforms English writing easier and more efficient:

* Saving on proofreading and editing costs such as hiring proofreading services or professional editors.

* Improving our word choices with synonyms, adjectives, and adverbs suited to our text.

* Helping people who use writing as their main working tool, whether at home or in the office.

There are probably many other benefits that aren't described in this article, as this technology keeps improving, bringing us fresh solutions that help us on improving our Writing performance.

Quick summary

Essay Proofreading Software not only improves our writing, but helps us to better express our thoughts and ideas. Advanced NLP (Natural Language Processing) saves us precious time that we usually spend on proofreading and editing our emails, documents and other writing assignments. Although it brings many challenges to software developers, we can expect this innovative technology to further develop itself, for a single reason: writing is among the most significant tools that help us communicating with others.

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Creative Writing Techniques - Learn Writing Skills Fast

Introduction to Creative Writing Techniques

In this century, ideals no longer have as much control over reality as it was taught to have been by great thinkers like Plato and Aristotle. Emphasis these days has shifted from what "ought to be" to "what is".

Consequently, a thousand and one media now exist, all transmitting and disseminating information but with little communication. Little communication because everyone has become a media in himself/herself thus the conventional mass media though have great impact still, but are only chosen according to each man's self-augmenting needs.

In this era world over, socio - economic systems no longer reward anybody for his/her labour, rather every one sells himself and his abilities out to get him/her rewarded.

You are therefore, daily accustomed to seeing young men and women carrying gadgets of social communication, including laptop and note book computers, enabled telecommunications handsets that do not only allow easy and efficient accessibility to business partners, consumers and clientele, but also serve as ready modems to the World Wide Web.

The challenge every individual must face now is how to be relevant in the stiff competition that has arisen from modern trends, in order to make his/her ideas and personality sell. As it must be insinuated from the scratch, that no one makes your point for you if you fail to make it; you are simply left out.

On this note, when you hear, read about or actually know someone personally who you assume is asserting the rights of the less privileged, wisdom demands that you look again, as you will see that they are only agitating for their share and more of what the "system avails".

Furthermore, in this century, one can't ignore the fact that his level of exposition to relevant information determines his/her level of transformation, which in turn, determines his/her overall success.

It is undeniably glaring therefore, that to stay above the floods and hold sway in his/her field, everyone must, in these times, must necessarily acquire skills in self-expression. This is what makes it important for everyone to understand the basic techniques of creative writing.

So, whether as a student with huge interest in skill acquisition to critique, create and analyse creative writings, or perhaps your interest lies only in the appreciation of a particular genre for pleasure, this article is baited to improve your outlook, as it contains a concise, yet elaborate practicable guide as well as academically sound perspective to self-development in creative thinking that will prune your writing skills.

What is creative writing?

The term "creative writing" suggests the idea of making to exist by writing. However, the process of creative writing goes beyond the incubation of ideas to create a notable world. As a field, it encompasses every acceptable technique and methodology of self-expression, by which your creation achieves beauty and at the same time, achieves meaningful communication in reflecting human situation as universally empirical.

However, while being empirical in science may mean a pattern of strict adherence to a prescribed process of understudying phenomena, in creative thinking, this refers to the fact that whatever world you create by your writings must be similar with human experience enough to stimulate desired emotional response in a dimension that everyone who has had a similar experience would be able to identify with the characters and social situation created in your works.

Based on the above, creative writing may be seen as a means/tool of presenting in a manner to achieve pleasure/entertainment, inform or teach a lesson informally and to achieve beauty without undermining the universally accepted standards of and devices of self-expression and presentation.

Creative structures

That creative writing is creative alone disqualifies the word structure in its literal meaning. Not that it has nothing to do with its physique, but structure in creative writing is deemphasised from the physical form of having a head up, hind limbs behind and trunk at the centre.

Here, what it implies is that there are ideal features a creative piece must have, and not the order of occurrence of these features.

Broadly, every creative work of art has some type of the following:

• Introduction - a catchy, interesting beginning that must say what it is all about, why it is important and possibly how it is presented. In complex works, you may need to detail introduction to include explanations to certain functional concepts.

• Connection - were we to compare this to an animal, connection should be a neck, as it links the introductory with the body of the piece. This could be a maxim, figurative expression or connected sentences that accurately serve as build up to introduction and foundation to the body. Using connective terms here always makes it easy for digestion.

• Explanation - the body of your creative piece accommodates all details. The devices used must all be weaved together to create a beautiful image with lasting impact.

• Conclusion - this may just be a couple of sentences tied in to the piece and corroborating the entire work from alpha to omega, or may be a quote, a short story or whatever device your creativity dictates.

For the purpose of emphasis, take it again that the order and style of these rely extensively on your creativity as a writer. It is your duty to choose a style most suitable to your work.

Elements of construction

Achieving creative masterpieces requires a writer as creator of worlds and scenarios to know understand and adhere to the elements or techniques of writing. These elements discussed here are what make or unmake your writings.

• Universal standards/landmarks: like the creative writer of the Stone Age, the modern man must recognise the existence of certain acceptable standards that are practised all over the world. In as much as the arts have no formulae, there are yardsticks that will make your piece either good or bad. Believe it or not, not minding your mechanical accuracy, people know when work is good or bad and they will tell you by the way they react to it.

Telling a good and interesting story alone does not make your work fit for eternity but to these, you must synchronise the ancient landmarks of the profession.

If for instance, your genre is poetry, not minding the incidence of the "free verse", landmarks should be seen as opportunity to express yourself beautifully and meaningfully rather than an obstacle to avoid. You can try to imagine what poetry would be without figurative expressions and the use of such devices as rhyme, rhythm, and meter etcetera. The poet must know the basic types of poetic designs that have been identified and their respective features, as his/hers must fall into one category or another.

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In Consultation: Creative Writing

So many children struggle with Creative Writing; it is a most difficult subject to master, yet an ability to write well is absolutely essential for examinations later on. Personal Statements for university and job applications all rely on expert use of written English. No wonder, then, that it is such a concern to parents.

We are fortunate, in this area, to be surrounded by so many excellent educational establishments, - top independent schools, and local schools with parents equally determined and ambitious for their children. Parents from all these schools invest heavily in out-of-hours tuition, and I see many of them in consultation.

And there is one universal problem: Creative Writing.

It is one of the greatest causes of anxiety. Parents say that their children 'take a long time to write', or 'have lots of ideas, but can't write'.

It always saddens me to meet children who have been under a pressurised regime with huge quantities of homework, - sometimes marked by their parents, - and are quite fed up with it all.

And well they might be. Their 'creative writing' is uninspiring, and dull. They cannot produce the quantity required in the time, and are unable to structure an essay. I am often asked what should be done.

Motivation and inspiration is the key. Children need to be enthusiastic and confident in their ability to speak, and to record their language. Their word power needs to be strong enough to support their work, and give them a choice of vocabulary.

This problem requires creative attack. Art is key. Even without such specialised knowledge, there is so much parents can do at home to assist their children, and it's never too soon to start:

Encourage young children to enjoy using the library, and continue visiting it. Make sure they also read newspapers and journals.

Spend time there, browse the books on the shelf, and read them with your child.
Make up stories with younger children, about their toys, pets or world around them.
Draw with your child; discuss your drawings, using adjectives to widen thought and assist your child in learning new vocabulary.

Write the adjectives, sentences and stories on the paper, then encourage your child to do the writing.

Work towards a page of A4 in three, clear written paragraphs.

Make sure your child learns how to plan, and work towards five, well-structured paragraphs. Continue with the art, and widen the scope. Continue looking, in 'in depth' detail, which can be translated into writing. Keep discussing, to strengthen language and thought. Children are naturally inventive, - to write well they must perceive the written word to be an extension of their general level of conversation.

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