That’s an interesting mix of subjects that should resonate with most of our readers. I must admit, I’m starting to really enjoy this blogging thing. Sharing what I know and what I believe with a bunch of creative-minded biz friends is fun and challenging.

Blogging.
As I sit down at my keyboard tonight and begin to write this week’s posts I ponder about some things.

1) Should this blog and Oddpodz for that matter be more narrowly focused, our content, tools and offerings?
Today, we strive to give creative-minded business people and organizations, from a 1 person solo practice to a 500-person enterprise, good ideas, free tools and a network to find and connect with other valuable resources and people.

Is diversity a good thing? Or is a more laser-like target better? Please tell us what you think.

2) What does it take to build a power blog?
In general terms, we know it’s about good content, ongoing SEO efforts and participating in other high traffic communities and blogs. But what are the top 10 most powerful actions a blogger can do to significantly move the reader meter.

I’m going to post both of these questions in our forum and invite you to add your feedback. I’ve been using my Linkedin groups quite a bit to have discussions on a bunch of issues. I’ll be compiling these soon and sharing them with in Oddpodz.

Headlines.
It was my intention to next blog about my friend Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success

Me 2.0 teaches people how to use social media tools for personal brand building and is the first book of this kind written for the millennials generation. I suppose us older folks can also learn from this book, since we often act like we are 30 something. The book is great and I will be posting a review in the book review section in the Oddpodz forum and will dedicate our Tues. blog to some of the book’s highlights and the topic of personal branding.

Sorry, I got side tracked.
As I was crafting my blog title on personal branding, I discovered a very cool, free tool that analyzes headlines for its emotion marketing impact. As you know, reaching your customers in a deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.

The Advanced Marketing Institute provides the free headline analysis tool.
The Advanced Marketing Institute is a group of researchers, educators, and developers who have come together to provide real tools and knowledge to businesses and individuals who are tired of struggling to control their chaotic systems.

How does the Headline Analyzer work?
Simple go to: Headline Analyzer

Type in your headline. It must be under 20 words. Hit analyze this.
Your headline will be analyzed and scored based on the total number of Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) words it has in relation to the total number of words it contains. This will determine the EMV score of your headline. In addition to the EMV score, You will find out which emotion inside your customer’s your headline most impacts:

Intellectual
Words which are especially effective when offering products and services that require reasoning or careful evaluation.

Empathetic
Words which resonate in with Empathetic impact often bring out profound and strong positive emotional reactions in people.

Spiritual
Words which are especially effective when offering products and services that require reasoning or careful evaluation. Words which resonate in with Empathetic impact often bring out profound and strong positive emotional reactions in people. Words which have the strongest potential for influence and often appeal to people at a very deep emotional level.

So I tested out a few headlines. There is no limit to how many headlines you can get feedback on.

Remember this title is for a blog post for Dan Schawbel’s new book,and other personal branding insight.

My first headline: Be a business magnet Project Authority Earn trust Win Contracts
My Headline’s EMV Score: 40%

My 2nd headline: How to be a business magnet, project authority, earn trust and win contracts today
My Headline’s EMV Score: 42.86%

My 3rd headline: Stop losing opportunities. Be your strongest business magnet, exude authority, earn trust and win more clients today My Headline’s EMV Score: 52.94%

This score indicates that my headline has a total of 52.94% Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Words. To put that in perspective, the English language contains approximately 20% EMV words. And for comparison, most professional copywriters’ headlines will have 30%-40% EMV Words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines.

Yahoo, I’m gifted! For at least a few minutes.
This is a cool tool and gets you really thinking about how to write more emotionally charged copy. But for a blog title, it also has me thinking search engine results. So my recommendation is: Headlines should be short and include keywords, use the highest rated title as a subtitle.

In closing, what does constipation have to do with any of this?
Well for starters, brilliant comedians have been leveraging this writing technique for years. It’s called a triple. Two words are normal, expected and could go together. The last word is goofy, unexpected and some times shocking. Which makes the choice and combination of these three words so effective in getting attention and hopefully a laugh. You can use this method when you are speaking or writing.

Last week I talked about dealing with creative brain freeze, which could also be described as creative constipation. This week I’ve been jamming, pumping out ideas and enjoying my favorite things, writing, thinking and problem solving. If my thawing your brain tips and the free ebook on creative productive we recommended didn’t help, start reading Mark McGuinness’ blog, it’s amazing! Or, eat more fiber.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

No, not for creativity’s sake. Creativity can never be too creative. That’s a flagrant oxymoron. But can an over-the-top creative approach to copy impair your conversion rate from event attendance or visitors to your Web site? Unfortunately, it can. Especially when you are communicating to people and markets that are conditioned to a common language. Does this make me happy? No, it frustrates me. One my greatest joys is writing, thinking, and doing things that are creative, fresh, and different. But, I am a businessperson and attracting people to consume my company’s brands is a priority.

Last week I was traveling to New York City to speak to a Scandinavian hotel group. My flight was canceled and I had time to pick up the Wall Street Journal. To my surprise, on the front page of the Personal Journal section was an article about my boss, Becca Cason Thrash, from my first marketing job (I was 22).

Becca is quite a success in her own right. She was born into a regular-class family that lived in a less-than-glamorous small Texas town. In the early ’80s she built one of the leading PR event firms in Texas, and later co-founded The Paper, a very chic, fashion, and social publication. Today, through lots of hard work and creativity, she has earned the brand of international socialite and philanthropic giver. I’m proud of her and her achievements.

The article, ironically, was about creative copy on invitations and how even relatively creative people didn’t get the message. The article was entitled, “Uncreative Black Tie, Please; The End of Goofy Dress Codes.” Becca had just produced a history-making event at The Louvre in Paris. Her elegant invitation read: “dress code—high black tie,” which was intended to ward off the simple short black dresses and encourage the full-glam garb. Instead it got floods of calls, “What is high black tie?” The return to clear instructions is back in vogue. Which brings me to Web copy. Simple, straightforward copy like street signs works best.

Think of a Stop sign that reads: Politely Pause or No More Gas.
Think of One Way sign that reads: Preferred Path or Go With the Flow.

This does not mean don’t be creative. This does not imply following the pack. It does mean be smart with your action words. Be clear on your guidance and your instructions. Make it easy. Get ’em in the door to your site or your place of business. Then, deliver an awesome experience that’s memorable, distinct, and well-branded.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

Whether you are writing a blog post or a note to kick your romantic pal to the curb, your choice of words says a lot about you. Do you want be a mere lame, language lightweight or an author with personality and punch?

Here’s resource I use to keep my tongue tone, tantalizing.

Wordspy.com
My pal Paul McFedries is the brain behind this resource. His Web site archives over 2,500 current life, trend, culture and behavioral-centric words. You can sign up for a regular email dose, which I love.

Here’s a recent post:
white pollution n. Litter, particularly plastic bags, but also papers, cups, and food containers.

He also includes:
Example Citations
Earliest Citation
Related Words

I asked Paul how did this word resource get started?
Paul explained, “It amazes me that the language has this extraordinary capacity to generate neologisms. I view the language not as a solid mountain to be admired from afar, but rather as an active volcano to be studied up close. This volcano is constantly spewing out new words and phrases; some of them are mere ash and smoke that are blown away by the winds; others are linguistic lava that slides down the volcano and eventually hardens as a permanent part of the language. Both types of ejecta are inherently creative”.

His Word Spy work grew out of this. Word Spy began as a mailing list where each day he’s send out an interesting word to a collection of friends and readers. The first post to the Word Spy list was back on January 2, 1996. After he’d accumulated a few dozen words, he created the Web site to give people a record of what had been posted and to make it possible for other people to join the list. The list and site have grown by leaps and bounds since then: He gets over a million page views each month; the list has over 10,000 subscribers; and Word Spy has been cited or profiled in over 150 newspapers and magazines around the world.

He does accept suggestions, although prefers new words and phrases seen in the media, not neologisms that people have made up themselves.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

HOW Magazine knows you’re busy and has decided to make your life a little easier: they’re extending the Early-Bird registration deadline to July 31. That gives you two more weeks to save $60 on your registration for the new Creative Freelancer Conference, presented by HOW and Marketing Mentor.

This is the only deadline extension, though —so move the Creative Freelancer Conference up to the top of your list and register today!

Find out more about the Creative Freelancer Conference—and start making plans to join us in Chicago August 27-29—by clicking one of the banner below:

HOW magazine is teaming with creative-industry consulting firm Marketing Mentor to present the first and only business conference for self-employed creative professionals, the Creative Freelancer Conference, August 27-29, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The event is expected to draw several hundred solopreneurs from a variety of creative disciplines—graphic designers, copywriters, illustrators and photographers, as well as solo practitioners of interactive, interior and industrial design.

“Anyone who makes a living selling creative services on a freelance basis (or would like to) will benefit,” said HOW editor Bryn Mooth. “The business challenges we’ll address are not unique to designers, but they are unique to creatives who are flying solo.”

Those challenges will be addressed by a panel of creative-business experts, including Marketing Mentor co-founders Ilise Benun and Peleg Top. They’ll share best practices for marketing and positioning, talking to clients about money, building client loyalty, crafting proposals and contracts, maintaining a work/life balance and other skills critical to freelance success.

The conference program also includes breakfast roundtables by topic, networking events and optional, one-on-one business reviews of attendee portfolios, proposals and marketing materials.

Online registration is now available at CreativeFreelancerConference.com. Attendees who register by July 15 will save $60 off the $495 registration fee. Groups of three or more will also receive the discounted rate.

Published since 1985, HOW is the creativity, business and technology magazine for graphic designers. It’s also the force behind the HOW Design Conference, the Mind Your Own Business Conference and the In-HOWse Designer Conference.

Marketing Mentor is a mentoring and consulting firm specializing in the creative industry. Founded by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top, their expertise lies in marketing and business development. Their mission is to help creative firms market their services, get their ideal clients and create the work/life balance they want.

CONTACT: Beth Dean
(513) 531-2690 ext. 11552
beth[dot]dean[at]fwpubs[dot]com