When Google wanted to alert users to significant changes in its online privacy policy, it didn't couch the news in the formal language that corporations normally use for major policy announcements. Instead, it used phrases such as "This stuff is important" and "This stuff matters." Whether or not one believes "stuff" is stylistically appropriate language […]
Author Archives: George Dovel
Ringing in the New Year with an Eye-Opening Prediction
Happy New Year! From everyone on the Bovée-Thill team, we wish you a successful new term. Looking at what lies ahead for business communication, this recent article in Workforce Magazine certainly caught our attention. The consulting firm MBO Partners predicts that over half the U.S. workforce will be independent by 2020. Reaching that threshold would […]
Please Don’t Buy This: Patagonia’s Un-Marketing on Cyber Monday
From Black Friday to Small Business Saturday to Cyber Monday, business communication over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is all about buy, buy, buy. In this hypersaturated message environment, this email missive from the outdoor-clothing supplier Patagonia on Cyber Monday definitely stood out, starting with the large headline "Don't Buy This Jacket" and a large photo […]
The Challenge of Nuanced Messages in Lean, Text-Only Media :(
You know that feeling when the words don't quite capture the spirit of your intended message, but words are all you have? Let's say your project team has just been reprimanded by the boss for missing an interim deadline. You're confident that the team will meet its final deadline, so you're ready to brush off […]
Teaching Students to Keep Their Cool After a Public Insult
Consumer-review websites such as Yelp can be a boon or a bane to local businesses. They can help businesses with little or no advertising budget get exposure through positive word-of-mouth, but they can damage businesses when unhappy customers use the Internet to vent their frustrations. When a bad review is justified, it can alert potential […]
Twitter Exercise to Help Students Grasp the Value of Their Business Communication Course
This Twitter exercise can help students students grasp the value of the communication course and practice writing tight, focused messages at the same time. Have them write four messages of no more than 140 characters each to persuade other college students to take the business communication course. They should think of the first message as […]
Putting Social Media to Work: Three Examples (with PowerPoint Slides for Classroom Use)
These PowerPoint slides offer annotated examples from three companies making effective use of social media tools to develop customer relationships: Biznik Segway Lie-Nielsen Toolworks You can download the PowerPoint file from the link below.