As one of PH Audio’s dedicated audio producers, Mark Griffiths spends his days making client productions sound the way they should. But by night, he’s a hugely talented scriptwriter and novelist – and for his efforts he recently landed a publishing deal for his debut novel with Simon & Schuster.
In this post, Matt catches up with Mark to learn about the book and find out how he’s juggled the sound of words with writing them.
Hold messages have a bad rep in some quarters. When you listen to the worst examples of music on hold, you can see why.
Sound quality. Music choice. Voice choice. All of these things can make or break an on-hold experience. But something that’s sometimes overlooked is the script. And more specifically, clichés.
In this post, we’re looking at how an overused phrase with good intentions can actually have the wrong effect.
You’ve heard it all before:
We need blue-sky thinking. I’m talking about pushing the envelope, going forward, let’s touch base soon.
Translation: corporate waffle that, in reality, could be said in half the words. Just another way to say, “We need big ideas, so give me a call”.
Anyone who watched Heston Blumenthal’s attempt to resurrect Little Chef last year will no doubt remember the chief executive’s constant wittering about ‘blue-sky thinking’. The phrase alone is irritating, but when used in the context of menus and motorway services, it simply became absurd. You can watch the evidence here.
Finished cringeing?
Well, in this post, we’re looking at why these kind of phrases have no place in external communications.
Last week we had a look at the benefits of brevity in effective hold music messages. This week, we’re looking at the role of grammar and punctuation in audio copywriting – and how a slip-up can change meaning in a big way.
When we write audio prompts, we’re writing to be read aloud. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the conventions of prose or the kind of grammar that turns PR fluff into a stonking, high-impact press release. That’s because, in many ways, a company’s successful on-hold messaging is built on the same blocks as a good story – if the grammar, punctuation and spelling is spot-on, you won’t even notice it. The caller won’t be distracted; your message won’t be lost.
That’s not to say you need to be perfect, of course. But not paying attention to grammar can change a lot, inadvertently loading a simple statement with innuendo… or worse. Get copywriting tips after the jump!
Picture credit: sooperkuh @ flickrSomething we wrestle with on the PH Media copywriting team is how things are said. Not so much pronounced – although the odd company name might throw us – but written to be said. We write scripts for our professional voiceovers to read aloud, which means thinking about more than the rhythm of speech and the balance of a sentence.
And, because the difference between what’s on paper and what’s spoken can often be larger than we realise, we know a few things about what works – and what doesn’t.