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Avoid these words at all costs. And if you discover that by removing them your content ceases to be interesting to you, imagine how little it means to your customer. There are lots of lists that identify words, phrases or concepts you should avoid using in your content, but I've had a list of nine for several years that I've never seen included in those lists.  Joe Basques and I went over a few of these in a Hangout ( that you can see here ).  The full list follows. Leader/leading There's an old Afghan saying. “If you think your are leading, turn around.  If there is no one there, you are just taking a walk.” Everyone who claims to be a leader in this world is really following after someone else.  They’re probably far behind the pack and everyone knows it.  If you want to know who the leader is, look for the company that never uses the term to describe itself.  Leaders don’t have to say it. Key This actuality means “of crucial importance...

Our economy is struggling for a lot of reasons, but one reason that seems to get almost no practical discussion is the lack of trust.  Everyone knows it exists but very few believe it is their problem because, after all, each of us knows we are trustworthy.  Right?  Lawyers, corporate executives, politicians and journalists know their poll numbers are in the tank collectively, but individually they all believe that they are, somehow, different than everyone else.  What’s more, individually, they are appalled when they find out that, no, few people trust them. “That’s their problem, Not mine!” I understand that position and, personally, I believe most people are trustworthy and act ethically most of the time. Yeah, I’m naive, but if find that to be true more often than not.  What I also find, however, is that very few people invest any effort into presenting themselves as trustworthy and put no thought into how they present themselves. They merely assume peo...

A few months ago I boasted about a program Footwasher Media directed and provided a few links, but hadn't really provided much detail.  The partner companies involved in the project decided I was far too humble and actually financed the development of content and promotion.   This link will take you to a full-sized video interview of one of the team members, Josh Herndon, talking about the genesis of the Cultivate the Call Initiative.  There is a link in the video to download the PDF of the complete case study. Related articles Content development: you're probably doing it wrong Why some people don't want to tell their story

Almost every company describes themselves to the customer base almost exactly the same way. Customers are left to make up their own minds and without any differentiation they make the same choices: the one they know that costs the least. Every company is unique.  Every company has something that sets them apart from all the others.  Products and services have been developed with care and dedication.  But almost every company describes themselves to the customer base almost exactly the same way.  The same phrases, same buzzwords, same claims, same features, same keywords.  Customers are left to make up their own minds and without any differentiation they make the same choices: the one they know that costs the least. The companies believe their products and services are their differentiators, and they would be right… from their perspective.  The customers, however, have no idea what it is that sets those products apart because they are described the s...

The first ever Customer Experience Recognition Awards (CERA) will be part of the Information Development World (#IDW2014) program in October. The first ever Customer Experience Recognition Awards  (CERA) will be part of the Information Development World (#IDW2014 ) program in October.   CERA will recognize outstanding contributions to exceptional customer experiences by information developers in a variety of disciplines including technical communication, marketing, content strategy, customer support, translation, and product management.    Nominations for the awards are being accepted until the September 19th. You can invite folks to nominate themselves or nominate others. You can even nominate companies if you would like.  Submissions can be made to recognize companies, teams, project leaders, and consultants working in content development within any industry. CERA honorees demonstrate how content is integral to exceptional customer experience, and show co...