You don’t have to be this thorough — some folks would say anal — to appreciate correct grammar and punctuation. Adhering to writing rules makes any sort of writing you tackle more professional and reader-friendly.

The style bibles. When I read a newspaper, book or blog post, I look for mistakes. It’s a game with me. How many little problems can I spot? I’m not suggesting that I don’t make mistakes — I absolutely doo. But every writer should have a general style bible of sorts to clue them into the basics of stylistically consistent writing.

This can be the Associated Press Style Book (my bible of choice), The Chicago Manual of Style or The Elements of Style by good ole Strunk and White. These guides cover how to handle numerals versus numbers, when to include state names following city names, and when to use just an acronym opposed to the long version of a name. They are handy and indispensable. Get one now.

The spelling bee king. Don’t always trust Microsoft Word’s built-in spell-checking function. The best resource for spelling is Merriam-Webster, so go there first if those little squiggly red lines appear under a word you’ve just typed.

The nitpickers. If you correct people’s grammar — only in your head, please — and have a favorite punctuation mark — god, I love em dashes — you may want to consider picking up a nitpicky guide. These are the back-up guides for writers who relish grammar, punctuation and style.

Lapsing Into a Comma: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print — and How to Avoid Them (Bill Walsh), Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know about Writing (Patricia O’Connor) or Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (by Lynne Truss) are three popular choices.

(Speaking of style, should “red-inked pen” be “red ink pen”  or “red-ink pen”in the first sentence? Weigh in if you have an opinion. To read about developing a personalized style guide for your company, check out the Sept. 1 post.)

1. What is your most marked characteristic? I’m succinct.
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? Someone who has his priorities straight.
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Someone who is friendly.
4. What do you most value in your friends? Since I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people, I most value those friends who can pick up where we left off.
5. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I get annoyed when my kids come downstairs after bedtime. I need that time but should be ready to listen.
6. What is your idea of perfect happiness? A Packer game on a Fall afternoon.
7. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I can’t imagine having to write an email like those we receive at work from parents after their child has died of leukemia. You can’t imagine the grace that flows from these individuals. How they do it, I’ll never know. I hope I never know.
8. Who are your favorite writers? I don’t have one favorite writer. However, my favorite book is The Endurance: Shackelton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. If you haven’t read it, get a copy right away. It’s a true story and the best leadership book you’ll ever read.
9. What is your current state of mind? Overwhelmed. But in a good way.
10. What is your motto? Balance isn’t balance every day.
11. What is your greatest fear? See #7.
12. What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance is my expensive haircut every five weeks.
13. On what occasion do you lie? When my kids want to go to Max & Erma’s, I have no problem telling them it’s closed.
14. What do you dislike most about your appearance? Depends on the day.
15. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I know, right?

One of the things I was thinking would have been fun to include in a 10 year marketing activity was a microsite. Oh the fun we could have had. We were brainstorming today on some crazy, outlandish goals for the next 10 years (loved Clay’s idea of rebranding the White House seal…cracks me up) and we could have shared such fun via a microsite. Then my brain hopped to wondering:  Do people really know how to utilize a microsite? I think we all get it’s a site (hence the name) but maybe not exactly it’s purpose or potential. I’ve come up with eight ways off the top of my head to get you started on how you can intertwine a great microsite presence to your marketing mix.

1. A Special Offer – You want to create a site that hosts your special offer. The special offer does not live on your home site and no one knows about it unless you drive them to or they find this special offer microsite.
2. Speaking Spanish – Want to branch out to a specific culture or group? Speak their language! We were recently talking to the International Center of Indianapolis and it made me think of all the global families that find their home here in our communities. What if we welcomed them, initially, via an entry point that was all known and comfortable to them?
3. Social – If you’re a social networking maniac and involved with more than a dozen social media sites, maybe it’s time to make your own social site.
4. Anniversary – note above. This would fit under the short-lived microsite type, but, it would have been relevant, had a great purpose and provided some history and facts that would have helped our clients and prospects learn a bit more about us.
5. Expertise – if you’re an expert in your area but you’re lost in the corproate world shuffle, get yourself a microsite. Your niche can win some SEO battles and help put you on the map a little faster when someone google’s your name.
6. Campaign – If you’re running a special campaign or fundraiser type tactic, great use of a microsite!
7. Product – this makes total sense if you’re selling a unique or special product, or, if you’re trying to education an audience. Help visitors learn what it is, what it does and how to get it.
8. Co-Branding – if you’re partnering with someone or want to jointly do something as two brands, a microsite may be your best bet.

I’m sure there are other great uses, but these quickly came to mind based on what’s going on in our world right now and what may be the most relevant to our  subscribers. Please share your microsite thoughts in our comments.

I’ve been inspired by Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution since at least the beginning of this year. Now my son’s school has made the commitment to go this route and it has sparked lots of good talks with my son about what healthy is and what healthy is not. For example, he recently told me he has three favorite places to go:  Starbucks, Target and McDonald’s. I had to cringe on the last favorite. I told him how McDonald’s isn’t healthy, but that it’s OK to eat occasionally, and selecting apples as your side makes it a little more palpable. Now, each time he picks something up, he asks me:  “Mama, is this healthy” and allows me to say whether I think it is or isn’t and why, i.e. what it will do for you.

I know first hand healthful actions make me more productive and happier, and therefore I think a better contributor to my work and life. Now I’m going to take more steps to bring that food revolution and lifestyle to our office. It’s the least I can do for my kids, myself and the wonderful people I work with each day.

Here are a few ways I plan to bring the natural to the office:

• My next trip to the farmers’ market will include an extra grab of goodies to bring in to the office for show and tell
• I’ll bring in flowers to bring the outside inside
• Next time I make a Rhu pie out of my aunt’s garden of goodies, I’ll make an extra one for the Squares to enjoy too
• I’ll pack my lunk at least twice a week

These are small steps, but they are in the right direction. I would enjoy hearing more tips and how you’re incorporating the natural into your work life.

Let’s rephrase the question: how is your site better than your competitors’ sites? That’s the question you need to be asking yourself because that’s the question your customers are asking.

We all get that simply having a website of any kind no longer makes you unique. Everyone has a web presence. Congratulations, you occupy space. Now what?

Something about your site needs to be jaw-droppingly good. What might that be?

• a startling and compelling visual design
• an engaging tool where your customers can log in and see their history with you
• give away practical and relevant advice to your visitors
• explain clearly how and why your product is important
• get involved with a charity important to your customers
• have a contest where visitors enter pictures, videos, or stories
• be funny

You don’t need to be the best at all of these things. You might decide you want to do a couple of things well, but all you really need is to find one unique hook for your site. If you knock that one thing out of the park, you’ve given your customers an answer to the question.

Need to know more? Join us at The Combine in Bloomington, Indiana (9/9 – 9/12). On Saturday, Raquel and Clay will be presenting on Web Strategy.

What’s being written and why? Start by surveying all of the writing you do: newsletter articles, blog posts, etc. For each type of writing, come up with one sentence explaining its role in your business. Following that “mission statement” of sorts, establish guidelines for tone, word count and voice for each type of writing.

As an example, the newsletter article should educate potential clients on how your company is serving the community, with some call to action included. Stick with 400-600 words, an affable tone and first-person voice.

What are the rules? The second part of developing your style guide will be an organic process of evaluating and reevaluating, of adding and subtracting rules. These rules can include things like how components such as staff contact information are written in emails, a collection of boilerplates such as your company’s mission statement, and editing and proofreading processes for your company.

These are items that only you can establish. Creating these rules and sharing them with your coworkers helps ensure consistency, accountability and the confidence that you are handling a writing project correctly.

What’s the lingo? I used to edit cookbooks full time. The style guide I created for cookbook writing and editing included at least 100 terms and names not covered by www.m-w.com. My guide included bearnaise, molecular gastronomy, Alain Ducasse and brunoise.

If you work for a law firm, financial institution or swimming pool manufacturer, you have your own set of terms that can be put down on paper to ensure consistency. Start making an alphabetical list. Every time an industry-specific word comes up, add it to your list. You’ll be surprised by how quickly the list grows.

(Check back on Sept. 8 for a post on general style guides and guides for the nitpicker.)

1. What is your most marked characteristic? I would hope it is my sense of humor and eagerness to help. Could also be the piece of lunch still left in my teeth (ooh, I hope not)
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? A friendly demeanor and sense of humor are most appreciated in a man. They most often mean that he will be interesting company.
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Intelligence without pretense is an attractive quality in a woman. Women often have the ability to engage their power more subtly than men, and the ones who do it well are incredible.
4. What do you most value in your friends? I most value interaction and collaboration with friends. I enjoy the energy and exhilaration of a group of friends, whether that is working, watching a ball game, camping, or just hanging out.
5. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I have a lazy streak that I struggle to overcome. I get frustrated at myself when I find myself in a lazy mood.
6. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Perfect happiness is when all things are going well. I enjoy the joy of those moments.
7. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Coming to the end of a week (or period of time) and realizing how much is left undone.
8. Who are your favorite writers? Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Dave Barry
9. What is your current state of mind? Challenged by these questions but determined to answer them with relevance and grace (hmmm, maybe too much bs in that answer)
10. What is your motto? ‘Motto’s are for wimps, but a good manifesto…’
11. What is your greatest fear? Physically, I have a great fear of heights. But more spiritually, I am afraid that life is moving by too fast. When the day comes that I have to rely on memories rather than experiences, I want to make sure those memories are rich and meaningful, rather than just a blur.
12. What is your greatest extravagance? My extravagance is going off on tangents. I’ll get going on something and go crazy. Golfing, motorcycles, camping, guitars, drums, computers, etc. I’ll jump in, buy a bunch of stuff, play around for awhile, and then get bored and move on to something else. My house is THE stop when we have a garage sale.
13. On what occasion do you lie? I lie when I tell myself that I can finish a project while watching TV late at night.
14. What do you dislike most about your appearance? The 75 or 80 pounds I’ve let accumulate on my waistline.
15. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I have a couple, but can’t seem to think of them right now. I grew up in a corporate environment and cringe when I hear corp-speak terms like ‘synergy’ and ‘leverage’ come out of my mouth. Still, I say them too often – old habits die hard.

So you see, when I sit across the table from you or talk to you on the phone about understanding the commitment, the fun, the hardship, the challenge, and yes, the good return on your investment that your blog can bring, I say it with true knowledge. So, now that we all know I have fallen off the wagon, I’m just going to get back on it. That’s what you do.

So welcome back. Welcome back to me, and welcome back to a whole new host of ideas, authors, topics and tips that our crew will be bringing to you on a daily basis once again. Thanks for hanging in there with us.

Website

The website for the show is actually pretty basic. It’s a simple blog layout. What made it successful was the editorial calendar. When the site was created I mapped out 10 weeks of posts leading up to opening night. The topics included profiles of people involved with the show, casting announcements, photos and videos, and contest announcements (see below). The steady stream of new information helped us build inertia and interest in the show. Because we included individual profiles of people in the show, we made it very easy for them to tap into their personal networks by sharing a link to their profiles.

Email Newsletter

We knew we would have a small group of advocates who would love to help promote the show if we could arm them with the ideas and collateral to do so. On the website we created a signup form for anyone who wanted to receive a weekly email with tips on what they could be doing to help promote the show.

Facebook

An enterprise like this is ideally suited for Facebook. Armed with a decent camera you can walk into rehearsals and get a steady trickle of photos leading up to the show. Photographs like these get good traction of Facebook. Many of the photographs were of cast members who are regularly active on Facebook. Tagging them in photos drew a lot of online attention to the show.

Contests

We ran weekly contests leading up to the show in which people could win free tickets to the show. The details varied from week to week, but ways to enter included tweeting about the show, leaving a comment on the blog, or commenting on a promotional video on YouTube. I was honestly surprised that the contests did not draw even more attention, although they were certainly successful at raising awareness and buzz about the show.

Other Contributing Factors

Less it seem like I’m claiming sole responsibility for the successful promoting of this show, it’s worth mentioning other factors that certainly impacted the box office sales.

• Local celebrity. Many of the people involved in both creating and performing the show are well known names in Lafayette, where this world premiere was held.
• Creative. Thanks to John Metzinger the show already had a great logo and visual branding in place before I was involved.
• Video. Promotional, performance and documentary footage of  the show was captured and edited by video wunderkind Jack Klink
• Lafayette Civic Theatre. It’s not their first rodeo, and the theatre’s relationships with local media, the blog, and their existing promotional machine was also a key for this run.