We all love an underdog.
One of our Digital Designers, Mayumi Kurosawa, has overcome incredible odds to get to where she is today – a much-loved member of the Proctors’ team.
This is her story.
Act 1: A blessing in (deep, deep) disguise?
I may be happily settled in Bristol today, but the journey I took to get here started in Japan.
In 2018, I was working as a translator – my dream job back then. After five years in this role, my British-native husband told me he wanted to move back to the U.K. It wasn’t the best timing, but being the amazing wife I am, I agreed, making the decision to leave my job and challenge myself in a new country.
After along slog (another story in itself), I was finally granted permission to come and work in the UK. I landed an admin job working for a Japanese company dealing in imported car parts.
But bad timing struck again. The knock-on effects of Brexit were being felt in every industry, and within 8 months of starting my job, I was made redundant.
And to top it all off, my husband and I had just made the decision to move to a new city: Bristol.
Act 2: Kintsugi – Repairing what’s broken, with gold
After coming to terms with what had happened, I came to a realisation. Yes, I’d been dealt a few poor hands. But now I had a brand-new opportunity to discover what I really wanted from the next stage of my career.
So, I doubled down and made a plan: I gave myself one year to study and find out exactly what it was I wanted to do. And I had an idea of what that might be…
Act 3: The impossible dream
Since childhood, I’d dreamt of working within the creative industries. But I’d never felt confident enough to even talk about it – never mind found the guts to try. Nevertheless, the dream had stayed with me. And without the excuse of ‘being too busy’ now redundant, it was time for me to take a chance.
I knew I was interested in design, in its broadest sense. But, of course, modern ‘design’ covers a wide range of occupations.
It took me a while to focus on one discipline. First, I started studying UX/UI design with an online course called Interaction Design Foundation. Then, I moved into front-end web development with Codecademy – an online platform offering coding classes for people interested in developing their skills within the digital design sector. Finally, I studied graphic design, learning even more about the principles of aesthetics and creativity.
Every discipline had its merits, making it difficult to choose which specialism I was going to focus on. And just one year of learning seemed too short to become skilled enough in all of these different areas if I wanted to secure a job.
Act 4: The Great Battle of Imposter Syndrome
The truth is, I spent a lot of time over the course of that year doubting whether I was making the right choice. However, I’m stubborn by nature, and after every moment of uncertainty I would rebound into bursts of productively, further pushing and developing my professional skills.
There’s a cliché for a reason: the only difference between the people who succeed and the people who don’t, is whether they give up on what they want. And I just didn’t let myself give up.
So, I started creating a portfolio. I turned my skills to a selection of different websites that I felt could be improved with a mixture of design and UX. Not only did the process help me use the skills I had learnt, it also helped me to test myself – and prove to myself that I really could become a designer.
When I had three websites redesigned and mocked up, I took a chance and started to apply to some roles.
Act 5: An ending – and a beginning
To my surprise and delight, I received interest from some of the applications I sent, and managed to squeeze myself* into the creative industry. Now, I’m a digital designer for Proctor + Stevenson – and I got here without a relevant degree or industry experience.
Everyone is very warm, keen to help, and I genuinely enjoy working here. They are serious professionals, but at the same time they love to laugh and have fun.
I’ve just started my new career, so can’t give much industry insight yet. But I hope I can encourage people who want to learn something new, or want a career change, that if I could do it, you can do it too.
Post-credits
A quick comment from Proctors (and Mayumi’s manager, Dan Hardaker, Director of Digital Design).
*There was no squeezing necessary when it came to offering Mayumi a role with Proctors. Her portfolio – and her story – demonstrated so much potential and clear talent that we knew would make her a perfect fit for the role.
It’s important to us to look past a person’s work experience alone. Your drive and attitude are just as important as the places you’ve worked before. We believe in giving people the opportunity to develop their skills in a professional environment, and in supporting your goals with mentoring and training resources. So together, we can lay a career path just for you.
Why not take a look at our current career opportunities? There could be a new flagstone waiting for you…
Bristol-based digital design and development agency, Unfold celebrated success on 14th October 2021, taking home the title of “Best Digital Design” at The SPARKies 2021. This was awarded for the transformational work they completed for their clients Sherpr.
The SPARKies is one of the year’s most hotly anticipated tech awards ceremonies in the South West. Since Managing Director, Harry Cobbold won ‘FutureSPARK’ back in 2019, Unfold has been nominated for several other categories (including ‘Tech Leader of the Year’ this year). The ceremony was held at The Showroom on Bath Road and was joint hosted by the TechSpark team and comedian Stephen Bailey (who had everyone in stitches).
Sherpr came to Unfold with two problems;
Unfold built a custom web app, admin portal and marketing site for Sherpr in just 10 weeks. This completely transformed their business. As well as automating all of the time-intensive back office tasks, Unfold also created an editable CMS through which the Sherpr team could update and manage their products without constant developer support.
As well as immediate savings in overheads, Sherpr were also able to process far more clients with their new reliable and automated booking system.
Following the work Unfold completed for them, Sherpr achieved their first ever 6-figure month and hit an annual run-rate of £1.2m.
“From beginning to end, the team at Unfold have been great to work with. Communication has been easy and any changes we needed to make during the build process were welcomed and perfectly executed.” – Andy Watson, CEO of Sherpr
Read more in-depth info on exactly how Unfold helped Sherpr achieve this remarkable step-change in their full case study.
If you have a project or digital platform you’d like advice on, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Unfold team.
Gather Round’s second co-working space is now open at 15-16 Brunswick Square, St Pauls.
Purposefully designed for creatives by creatives, the new space supports up to 90 creative professionals; inspiring creative thinkers and doers to connect, collaborate and thrive.
Gather Round is a growing family of soulful, creative workspaces, designed to foster a positive community of like-minded creative people through an open and supportive culture. Gather Round’s flagship workspace, at the Cigar Factory, Southville, opened its doors in 2018 and has since become a hub for creative minds.
The newly renovated grade II listed building in Brunswick Square, St Pauls, looks to build upon their success and expand the creative network across Bristol. The new site will house freelancers, self-employed and micro-businesses, from the surrounding areas of St Pauls, Montpelier, Easton, St. George, Kingsdown, and beyond.
Nestled in the heart of the vibrant St Pauls, the neighbourhood is renowned for its heritage and cultural significance, as well as thriving community spirit. Founders Ben Steers and Jason Smith hope to mirror this ethos within Gather Round’s doors.
“Good culture comes from great people. We’re conscious about the kind of people and businesses that share our spaces; we look for ambitious individuals and companies that share our values of creativity, community, culture, character, kindness and integrity. – Jason Smith, Co-Founder of Gather Round.
The Georgian terrace has been carefully considered to work for the diverse needs of the creative community. It boasts flexible areas with fixed and casual desks, a private 5-6 person studio, meeting rooms, hang-out areas, communal kitchen tables and quiet areas for thinking. It also has a dedicated public event space with room for 50-60 person events.
Membership options are flexible and transparent, with no hidden extras or nasty surprises. Whilst none of the memberships have lengthy tie ins, signing up to a co-working space can feel daunting. This is why – for a limited time only, they’re offering the chance to check out the new space for yourself with a free day pass. Click here to get your free pass.
Andy Nairn, who has been named the UK’s number one brand strategist for the past three years, joined us for a fascinating and entertaining event to share insights from his new book, Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways to stack the odds in your brand’s favour.
In the book, Andy explains how the history of marketing and advertising is full of brands that stumbled across great ideas by accident or turned misfortunes into huge successes. During the event, the co-founder of advertising agency Lucky Generals highlighted some examples and outlined the lessons for creative companies. Dan Martin summarises his insights.
Opening his talk, Andy Nairn explained that we have a strange relationship with luck in the UK. “Other parts of the world find it completely natural to talk about luck and it’s a perfectly acceptable part of business conversation,” he said, “In the West, we’re a bit snooty about the whole thing. We think of it as a bit primitive and not to be trifled with.”
The negativity around luck was cemented in Victorian times, Andy said. The Industrial Revolution and the Protestant work ethic created the belief that if you were rich, you were successful because you had worked really hard for your money and God had smiled upon you, but if you were poor, it meant you hadn’t tried hard enough, you were work-shy and you should try harder.
That attitude around only hard work can generate good results still prevails, shown by the blurring of work and personal lives during the pandemic, Andy said.
“We can all think of situations where working an extra hour hasn’t given us a creative breakthrough and it can actually sometimes make it worse. Working hard means we’re stuck in the middle of it and what we really need is to get some fresh air and space around us.
“The book says yes, hard work is a good thing but you also need a bit of luck. The more you think about luck and the more you’re conscious of it, the more you can do to increase the chance of it coming your way. If you just deny that luck exists, it’s very hard for you to do that.”
There are 40 tips in Andy’s book that fit under the following four themes:
You might not realise it but you are highly likely to have assets in your business that you are not taking full advantage of. Andy used three non-business examples to illustrate his point:
Many businesses are guilty of not appreciating what they’ve got, Andy said. Brand history, heritage and provenance are often neglected by brands but talking about the history of your business, where it’s from and why it’s called what it is could be a valuable benefit to your marketing and other business activities.
Other examples include the data your business holds and the window display in your business’ offices.
And what about your logo? Could that be used in a different way?
Andy’s business, Lucky Generals, was asked to come up with an advertising campaign for Amazon that worked in multiple countries. The answer turned out to be a simple but very powerful one that was inspired by the company’s existing smile-shaped logo. As the Lucky Generals website says: “We hit upon the simple idea of heroing Amazon’s iconic packages and the epic journeys they make, to put a smile on the faces of people around the world.”
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To illustrate this point, Andy highlighted a 10-year study into the nature of luck by Professor Richard Wiseman. As part of it, he gave a group of people a newspaper and asked them to count the number of photographs. The unlucky people took around two minutes whereas the lucky people took just three seconds. The reason was that on the second page of the newspaper was the message: “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.”
The study concluded that lucky people are good at constantly looking for opportunities beyond what they’re working on or the thing they’ve been told to do.
This can also be illustrated by the world of science, Andy said. Several important discoveries have been made accidentally and of the most famous is Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin after spotting some mould that had accidentally developed on a plate.
Diversity of teams is important here too. It’s easy to recruit people who are the same as you but that can mean you’ll just come up with the same ideas. However, if you take on people from different cultures, backgrounds and experiences, “it gives you a much better chance of striking it lucky” and spotting opportunities you might never have discovered.
There are many examples of businesses converting a bad experience into a good one. One brilliant one is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an early character created by Walt Disney in 1927. It was popular but a contract dispute with his producer led to Disney quitting work on the cartoons. On the train home from a meeting, he came up with a new idea. It developed into Mickey Mouse, the most successful cartoon character of all time.
“We’ve all experienced our ideas being pulled, budgets being cut, timings being changed and clients changing their minds, but what we have to do is go again and come up with something that is even better, like Walt Disney did,” Andy said.
“The best companies don’t just deal with a bit of bad luck, it’s almost like they go running towards the bad luck. There’s a good energy that comes out of that.”
Steve Jobs was known for killing off his own products (the iMac killed the Macintosh and the iPhone killed the iPod) because, as Andy said, “his attitude was, if I don’t kill them off, someone else will.”
There are also some brands that take on taboos and talk about them directly. Bodyform and periods is an example.
Others take what could be seen as an annoying product flaw and turn it into a positive. Think of Guinness and “good things come to those who wait”.
When working with a big brand, Andy said he goes to the “darkest corners of social media” to find the negative conversation about that brand. “The jokes and nasty comments often have a truth and by acknowledging them, you can own the joke, turn it on its head and turn against those people.”
Andy’s last point is about deliberately building luck into your processes. He illustrated it with examples from music.
What similar techniques can you build into your business processes so you constantly generate ideas?
Be lucky!
The next Bristol Creative Industries online keynote is with Anne Thistleton, marketing veteran and former strategy lead for The Coca-Cola Company in South Africa. She will share easy and practical lessons from mind science to make sure your audience really hears you. BCI members get £15 off tickets. Book your place here for the event on 21 October.
Workforces in the creative industries are at risk of becoming more unequal unless efforts are made to improve diversity and inclusion.
That’s the warning by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Creative Diversity following an 18-month research project with King’s College London and the University of Edinburgh.
The resulting report, Creative Majority, publishes a framework of five guiding principles which it says will lead to immediate and long-lasting change. It also makes a series of recommendations to the government and businesses.
The UK’s creative industries remain unrepresentative of the population as a whole, the report says.
Straight, able-bodied, white men living in London are only 3.5% of the UK population, it highlights, but “this small minority still dominates the creative sector, and in particular occupy a vast number of the most senior creative roles”.
Chi Onwurah MP, co-chair of the APPG for Creative Diversity, said the coronavirus pandemic has deepened this issue with fewer creative organisations and job opportunities for diverse talent.
Disabled people, younger workers, those not engaged in higher education and mothers are among the employees hardest hit by the pandemic. Individuals from a minoritised racial group have also been hit hard. Employment in the arts and entertainment sectors for women in those groups has fallen by 44%, more than any other group in any industry.
“Without action, we risk exacerbating inequalities further in the creative industries and an entire generation of talent – the future of the sector – could be lost,” Onwurah warned.
As part of the research, roundtables were conducted to gather evidence about diversity and inclusion in the creative industries. Among those participating were Sam Friedman, associate professor of sociology at London School of Economics and commissioner at the Social Mobility Commission, who said:
“In most of these industries there’s a kind of historical legacy of who’s done this kind of work in the past and how they’ve been able to embed, even institutionalise, their own ways of being that still, in the present, are able to shape taken-for-granted ideas about who is appropriate to promote and progress, and that’s basically the legacy of white, privileged men in this country in almost every elite industry.
“What’s being valued is a misrecognition of merit that tilts in favour of behavioural codes and forms of self-presentation that dominant groups and yes, people from privileged backgrounds but also this is hugely racialised and gendered, around acceptable ways of being in the workplace.”
Robert Adediran, EDI consultant and former executive director at London Music Masters, said:
“There’s a strong sense that everyone who is at the top is there because they are the best people for the role and that’s very damaging because it prevents us from looking for talent elsewhere.
“In music, particularly classical, there’s a sense that the art form has reached a pinnacle, that it could not possibly get any better than it already is. Again, that is very dangerous because it robs one of the key drivers for diversity and inclusion, which is to make the art form better. There isn’t the drive to bring new people in to change things and to push a more creative output or a better creative output.”
Miranda Wayland, BBC head of creative diversity, said:
“We can’t really be effective until we tackle the question of what ‘good’ really looks like. I can sit here and come up with different metrics about how diversity of thought and diversity of inclusion in our recruitment practices are really at the heart of it, but if those people who are making decisions aren’t really thinking about what good looks like, no initiative, no scheme, no target that we’ve all been imbedded in supporting over the last 10, 15, 30 years, is going to make a difference.
“We need to break the illusion that ‘good’ only comes in a certain package, from a certain background, with a certain title and a certain destination.”
The report said the creative industries have many lessons to learn from how society has adapted to big changes in the way people work.
Working from home, collaborating remotely and new safety measures show that “change, on a massive scale, is possible in a short time frame”, the report said. “The same momentum now needs to be applied to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).”
The report publishes five principles as a framework for good and effective practice that it says should act as benchmarks for anyone wanting to see results in EDI.
The five principles are:
Read more detail about the framework in the full report.
The report also makes a series of recommendations to policymakers and creative organisations.
It says: “This report represents a challenge and represents a demand. It offers a chance for policymakers, along with organisations and businesses, to step up and to lead.
“We need bold and visionary leadership to support diversity in the creative economy. As our report shows, the challenges are great. Yet, bold and visionary leadership will reap the rewards of a diverse workforce and audience. It is a challenge to which we need policymakers to rise.”
The recommendations to government include:
The recommendations to creative industry businesses and organisations include:
This event is a practical series of five virtual sessions to set you on the right track with your diversity & inclusion (D&I) efforts. It will help you make sense of what D&I means for your business, why it matters, and how to turn the conversation into action. You’ll get insights, tools and techniques to help you overcome any fears and obstacles, before starting to develop a plan.
The first session has already taken place but book the remaining four sessions by 9.30am on 6 October and you’ll be sent a recording of the first session along with the presentation slides.
Sign up here. Bristol Creative Industries members get £75 off the ticket price.
In his book on creativity, Dave Birrs (ex Poke, McCann, etc.) explores what creativity is and isn’t. He presents an approach to help individuals and organisations develop better ideas.
In the first half of “How To Get To Great Ideas” Dave debunks a few of the myths surrounding creativity. These include “creativity = art”, “creativity = originality,” and “you can’t develop creativity”. He concludes that creativity is more of a path to get to ideas. The book continues on to explore the relationship of creativity to human development from our neolithic selves to the present day. Along the way, we learn that the human brain is shrinking, curiosity is the foundation of creative thought, and that it may be almost entirely impossible for a single person to discover something new in the modern day.
The second half of the book focuses on the process. Dave introduces us to his R.I.G.H.T. thinking framework. While it would be great to have a little more meat on the bone in the form of activities and examples, overall, he delivers enough practical advice here to work into your own creative processes. The framework starts with Research. So often, we are put off of researching by its dry nature. However, it is a powerful tool. When data is given context by adding information and knowledge, we can get to wisdom. It is from this wisdom that good ideas take shape. Dave is keen to encourage us to create divergence from habits and routines, use play within our team sessions, develop our individual creativity, learn how to judge good ideas, and then hone them into great ideas.
I like the book because it provides a balance of insight and practical tips. These help you develop your creative thinking prowess and build out a culture of curiosity and creativity in your team. I found that I picked up quite a few points that I missed on the first reading. So, I recommend keeping it around to refer to while you tweak your ideas generating machine.
Head over to Amazon to get your copy.
If you would like to find out more about our creative process, check out Chris’s article on creative workshops.
Develop your narrative skills and write rich, engaging games.
A strong story is key to engaging and retaining players in video games. Held over 7 weeks, this online course teaches the story-structure essentials that will help you craft richer and more compelling games.
This is a professional development course for anyone who works – or aspires to work – in the gaming industry as well as writers and designers seeking to develop their interactive storytelling skills.
The course has been created by the UK’s foremost expert on narrative structure John Yorke and Caroline Marchal, founder of British studio INTERIOR/NIGHT and Lead Designer for Heavy Rain.
In this training course, you’ll investigate the relationship between player and protagonist, discover how to merge story and gameplay, and find ways to use those skills in a real-world development team. Working in a small group, you’ll receive weekly one-to-one feedback from the tutor team.
By the end of the course you’ll have written an industry-standard story treatment for an original game.
On successful completion of the course, you will receive a certificate of completion evidencing your learning and study hours. You will need to set aside 4-5 hours per week to complete the assignments.
Read a review of the course on Polygon.
Exclusive 25% discount on the £1,200 published course price. Just £900 to Bristol Creative Industries members for 35 hours of intensive learning.
MORE INFORMATION HERE or email [email protected]
Atomic Smash is pleased to announce the sponsorship of a desk space at Spike Island Workspace – the same co-working space where Piers Tincknell and David Darke, co-founders of Atomic Smash, first set up shop as WordPress and WooCommerce specialists over a decade ago.
Atomic Smash will cover the full desk space costs for 12 months so that the recipients can concentrate on developing their business, with the option – but no obligation – to continue as users in Spike Island Workspace after the sponsorship ends.
Spike Island Workspace is the perfect location for emerging or micro-businesses who are ready to develop and establish themselves further. Working from the space expands your connections and opportunities for growth, as you join a dynamic and diverse community of artists and creative businesses.
This sponsorship is aimed at:
The sponsorship is open to all creatives who would benefit from the opportunity and we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Through your application, you will be able to tell us how this opportunity could make a significant difference to your future. Please also describe any access requirements you may have within your application.
Recently refurbished, Spike Island Workspace is located close to Bristol harbourside and in a busy building offering art exhibitions, artists’ studios, offices, production facilities and a café. Find out more about the space.
Monday 18th October 2021: Application closing date
Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th October 2021: Interview dates
Friday 29th October 2021: Spike Island Workspace visit
Monday 8th November 2021: Sponsorship start date
Friday 4th November 2022: Sponsorship end date
Would you benefit from this opportunity? Apply here!
Creativity and Community: a Love Story
Calling the laptop cafe junkie, the kitchen table connoisseur and the battle-weary spare room crew. There’s a new way. A way with the flexibility, community and creativity you need at its centre. And the coffee is (probably) way better.
Shared office spaces have been popping up since San Fran paved the way and a generation of freelancers and startups are flourishing. Offices split across cities and a new approach to flexible working from modern start-ups mean that co-working is here to stay.
The benefits of joining a co-working space are as long as your to-do list;
Increased productivity
Spaces designed for your working day and with focus and efficiency in mind. A relaxing, comfortable space to break for a coffee is as important as a heads-down quiet space for deep thinking.
Peers
The inspiration of like-minded souls around you and a friend always on hand to give feedback.
Connections
Co-working spaces can’t promise lifelong friendships, but they do have chats over coffee and someone to share lunchtime with.
A work-life balance to be proud of
You get to go home! A different place to where you work! Such a novelty!
Networking
A whole load of independent, creative businesses looking to work with independent, creative businesses (just like you).
Cost Efficiency
Pay only for the space you need, with the flexibility you need as your business grows into a huge, massive, gigantic billionaire corporation.
Bristol’s favourite co-working space Gather Round know all about the benefits of co-working, and they know exactly what makes the perfect space. The team there couldn’t find what they were looking for so they decided to create their own; a space designed by creatives, for creatives.
After meeting Fiasco Design and Pixelfish at Gather Round and seeing the incredible work they were capable of, working with them on our launch was a natural choice. They helped the vision for Twelve, our sustainability strategy and communications consultancy, become a reality. – Jess Ferrow, Founder of Twelve
Gather Round; Community, Creativity, Collaboration
Bristol is a city long-known for its celebration of creativity. Tastemaking musicians, culture aplenty and a love of art found from the pavements of Clifton to the patched grass of Turbo Island (if you know, you know).
The decision to build a creative business here was a simple one for founders Ben and Jason. After a successful start, their design studio Fiasco Design grew quickly and they found themselves moving studios as they expanded. After struggling to find a workspace that wasn’t a corporate office with extortionate rates and a long term contract, the idea of Gather Round was born.
The Southville residence at the old Cigar Factory proudly hosts creative thinkers and doers that call it home. Morning coffee chats, lunchtime collabs and a deep understanding and respect of one another is something that has happened naturally. They’ve created a space that allows that all to thrive. They’re soon to be heading north of the river to Brunswick Square to hold court for another incredible bunch of creatives.
Why Gather Round?
I met Amelie of Duo Hue when she joined Gather Round. She was looking for some imagery to further her brand, it felt like the perfect collaboration. Sharing a space made the planning and creative process easy and the work we produced featured in national press. – Nic Kane, Photographer/Director
Body
The Gather Round team have a few simple rules; no indoor caravans, tardis-style meeting rooms or beanbags; just beautiful spaces and good design. They’ve got all shapes and sizes covered with roomy co-working areas, permanent desk spaces for freelancers and separate offices for micro-businesses. There are spaces for collaboration, whether you’re musing over an idea, chatting out a project or need a full-blown meeting room to launch your world-takeover plan.
Mind
With Flexi desks, Resi memberships and dedicated studios for small businesses, there are flexible memberships for business needs.
For solo entrepreneurs, micro-businesses or small startups the support of peers is invaluable. Within the community at Gather Round, you’ll find support from like-minded people. Our campfire talks, morning workouts and members breakfasts, fuel the mind and body of all that attend. A day that starts with a croissant amongst friends and ends with a creative discussion on businesses in the climate emergency – is a day well spent.
Soul
Here at Gather Round, they take design seriously. Their buildings are chosen because of their character and soul. You won’t find grey walls, no-spill carpets and budget-friendly lighting. Beauty breeds beauty, and Gather Round have created a space that feels like home. If your home has deep velvet sofas, bespoke shelving and enough plants to start a greenery obsession.
The latest offering in the beautiful Brunswick Square is almost at the ribbon-cutting stage. An almost perfect location with Bristol greats such as Circomedia, Farro Bakery and Yoga on The Square, all just a stone’s throw away. Temple Meads station can be reached in 15 minutes and you can (almost, but not quite) hear the thrum of the city centre close by. They’ve created a slice of creativity in a building steeped in it and it awaits Bristol’s brightest and best.
In the digital age the focus is shifting from longer prose in the form of articles and handwritten letters, to short, snappy sentences on social media. That’s if there’s any copy used at all with attention turning increasingly towards images and videos online. While the faster means of communicating via social media has its benefits and is an excellent way to reach more people, more quickly than ever before, it is taking something important away too.
The written word is a wholly powerful thing. Here’s an example to demonstrate its importance. Think about how it feels to receive a text from a friend. As much as you care about the person texting, it probably isn’t much of an event anymore. It’s probably short for starters, and it’s more likely to be about something practical or light-hearted than it is to be about something deep and emotional. Of course, that’s fine for day-to-day interactions, but now think about how you would feel if you received a handwritten letter through the post. Perhaps from a friend or family member telling you how important you are to them, or how grateful they are for something you have done, or how proud they are of what you have achieved. Because we know a letter has taken more time, effort and thought, it means more. It is also something you can hold on to forever.
Prioritise a personal touch
The same thing applies in the business world too. Social media is a fantastic way to promote your wares as a business and reach more people. But used alone, it isn’t very personal. It can’t be when you’re using so few words to talk to so many people. And with the rise of shorter, faster, more convenient ways to communicate, has come an increasing lack of attention to detail. It’s as though speed and quantity are more important than quality. Unfortunately, it probably is in terms of social media or SEO algorithms, but what does it say about you or your business when your written word is full of typos, grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes? Don’t get me wrong, we’re all human, we all make mistakes. A few errors here and there can be forgiven, but a consistently problematic read is jarring and affects our perception of the author, whether we realise it or not.
The power of persuasion
When done well, the written word can harness the powers of persuasion in a way short text and images cannot do. People believe what they read in magazines, newspapers and trusted online sources, so when they read about best practice or advice on particular product options at length, they are likely to believe the content. Many of these pieces are ghost written by a copywriter or PR agency and serve to position businesses in the way they want to be seen, whether market leading, ethical, customer focused, or all of the above!
Future generation of writers
I have been lucky/unlucky enough to be in the mass of home schooling parents during the Covid-19 lockdown periods. This allowed me to see very closely the process of my reception child learning to write his first words, sentences, even stories. The pleasure to see him gradually grasp the different sounds and put them together on the page is immense and we will keep a lot of his writing to show him when he’s older. He may even decide to keep it and show his children one day. But what is the future of this creative outlet for him? Will there still be a requirement for any longer prose when he’s an adult, or will he gradually unlearn these skills and techniques and freedom to express himself, in exchange for quicker, easier ways to communicate?
I hope this isn’t the case because the impact of the written word on someone else whether in your personal life or in the business world, is something special and powerful and future generations should have the opportunity to give and receive this gift. The power of the written word should not be left behind in the digital age.
Pay your audience the attention they deserve
Whether you are talking to prospective customers or new or well-established customers, pay them the attention they deserve by spending more time on your communications. Quick and consistent social media messaging is great, but giving more thought to longer advice blog posts, a thank you note for their custom, or feature length articles in their industry magazines, offer a different level of connection between you and them. Aside from anything else it offers far more potential in terms of word count, to get your message across to them.
If the idea of this sounds appealing to you, but you simply don’t have the time, don’t forget you can delegate (read more about when and how you should delegate here https://blogwrite.co.uk/to-delegate-or-not-to-delegate/) to ensure you don’t miss out.
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