Most common in business writing is the traditional—but, dare I say, passé—black dot, followed closely by the slightly more updated version of the little black square. But bullets do allow for more expression—just pick a design that suits your mood. You can choose checkmarks, diamonds, and arrowheads. You can even change up colors, if you feel like it.

Bullets tend to work in groups—and when you think about it, they are kind of conformists. They all look exactly the same, place themselves in an ordered column, and generally attach themselves to the same amount or type of text.

Bullets are known to be tough and stand tall—breaking up dense text to save the reader from trudging through another bulked-up paragraph. Bullets just file in and save the day, providing a peaceful refuge for the reader’s eyes as they peruse otherwise thick copy.

Bullets also:

• Remind me of a classic wardrobe piece: Once you know how to use them, you can apply them in many different ways for surprising results.
• Serve as billboards that scream, “Find important stuff here!”
• Are great for highlighting salient points, top benefits, or summary statements.
• Frame key takeaways masterfully.
• Can be used simply to break up a complicated comma series. (The end result? A staccato-like list of related items.)

One important thing to keep in mind when using bullets is that they should begin in a grammatically consistent way. All verbs? All noun statements? Either is fine, just keep them coming. The end goal is that you want your reader to be able to breeze through the bulleted list quickly and with little effort. For example, use bullets to describe a software application that allows you to innovate, streamline, or reduce—all action verbs that give the text some rhythm and make it easy to digest.

So let’s review. I love bullets because they are:

• Visually appealing
• Able to break up dense text
• Precursors for important copy
• Easy to skim

Now go forth and unleash your inner bullet.

We want perfection! This person will be on the front lines, working directly with our top clients, team members, and me. Sincere thanks for referring your best candidates!

Responsibilities Include

ACTING AS SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT FOR KEY CLIENT ACCOUNT(S).

• AM will work directly with clients (marketing managers in large tech and financial services companies) desiring new work from the Content Bureau. AM will scope, price, negotiate, submit paperwork (ICA or SOW) required to open PO, then ensure PO is issued.

WORKING WITH CONTENT BUREAU TEAM.

• Work with contractors performing work to gather scope and budget information.
• Update Excel job list with information about all new and ongoing projects with client, to facilitate efficient client invoicing and contractor payment.

Skills Required

• 6-10 years account management experience
• B:B marketing experience within the high-tech and/or financial services sector
• Outstanding project management and organizational skills with strong written and oral communications abilities. Perfect grammar a must.
• Ability to manage changing requirements and short timelines as well as multiple overlapping projects at one time
• Self-starter with the ability to work independently and to accurately manage expectations

Timing

30 hours a week, anytime between the hours of 7 a.m.–9 p.m. PST (Person should respond within ~2 hours to all requests during 8 a.m.-5 p.m. time window. If interested in working extended hours, candidate is encouraged to do so.)

Location

Remote worker; however, must be available for client meetings in greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Interested candidates, please submit resume to julie@contentbureau.com by May 21, 2012. You will be contacted after that date.

Bar graph

A bar graph is used when there are two variables, and is helpful when comparing groups or tracking changes over time. The bars can be vertical or horizontal and represent relative value or frequency. A line graph also can be used in these situations, but a bar graph is preferable when illustrating magnitude rather than direction.

Bar graph example: two variables

In this case the time period is constant, but biggest revenue source by percentage is being compared— underscoring the fact that Google’s revenue stream (top line of chart) is the least diversified.

(Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-google-is-the-least-diversified-business-in-tech-2012-2)

Line graph

A line graph is also used when there are two variables—but only makes sense when you’re tracking changes over a continuous measurement (e.g., time, temperature, distance). Line graphs are especially useful for illustrating direction (i.e., peaks and dips) rather than magnitude.

Line graph example: two variables

In this line graph, the dip in the summer months and beginning/end of the year illustrate the seasonality of this company’s business.

Pie graph

Unlike a bar or line graph, a pie graph is used when there is only one variable and is best for comparing parts of a whole. The sum of the pieces always equals 100 percent, and the visual conveys a relative value or frequency. A pie graph is not particularly insightful if all parts are about the same or if there are too many discrete pieces.

Pie graph example: one variable

In one quick glance, this pie chart tells us that the iPhone brought in the bulk of Apple’s total Q1-11 revenue.

As these graphs demonstrate, when making comparisons, illustrating trends, or highlighting relationships, the old saying rings true: A picture is worth a thousand words.

How will you know which type of graph is best suited for your data? Ask yourself:

• How many variables do I have?
• Am I trying to highlight a trend over time or make a comparison?
• Or am I illustrating a relationship between parts of a whole?

Your answers will steer you towards the right answer.

“[Contributed articles] are wretched for many reasons,” Morrissey writes. “The top ones are that they are both boring and self-promotional … you can tell the PR-written pieces from a mile away. They’re as dull as dishwater, clumsy in their attempts to sneak in a product pitch, and devoid of passion.”

Pretty damning words—and he’s right. While my Content Bureau colleagues and I have been fortunate to work with executives and marketers who collaborate to craft thoughtful, original industry commentary, I know from my wider work in PR that opinion pieces with actual opinions in them are few and far between. I’ve been asked to write op-ed pieces intended to be pitched to The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times—the toughest opinion pages in the world to crack—using a few stale old press releases and a vague piece of inspiration from the exec along the lines of, “Do something about, um, why innovation is important.”

It’s no surprise that even by tapping into every bit of writing mojo I possess, opinion articles based on these thinnest of premises are stinkers. (And they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting into the Times or the Journal.) However, Morrissey places the blame solely on hapless PR and marketing writers, which is a bit unfair: In many cases, the writer (and there are many highly talented ones in PR and marketing departments) isn’t getting any opinion from the exec worth writing about. Garbage in, garbage out.

The solution for marketers is to pair up execs with professional writers (like the Content Bureau team) in order to craft some out-there, potentially controversial positions on which to base contributed articles. I think many executives avoid being opinionated because they fear the blowback from investors or partners. Sure, you may ruffle some feathers—but feather-ruffling is what gets you in the Journal and lands you speaking gigs at TED, not a wimpy article on, uh, innovation.

As popularized in his 1948 pop science/business best-seller Your Creative Power, Osborn’s innovation was to ban negativity from the idea mill; the creative team should respond to a given problem with any clever or clueless free-association that came to mind, the less mulled-over the better, unafraid of scornful derision or momentum-halting criticism. In theory, the unfettered spontaneity of the brainstorm would yield gold among the dross, a sacrosanct belief in many a corporate culture.

We’ve all seen it work, academic studies notwithstanding. But does the opposite approach—the lonely mental workout of the solitary striver—work better? And, in the group session, does breaking the negativity taboo pay off best of all? Does a withering “Oh, please, you MUST be joking!” really add yeast to the dough?

We put this question to a handful of Content Bureau blog stalwarts (who are, after all, writers and editors and therefore prone to stewing solo, but who have all experienced ample team brainstorming):

Which do you believe is most effective?

1)     The classic brainstorm session where everybody throws out zany ideas and no negative responses are allowed

2)     The solo torment session where you go off to your corner to percolate and produce

3)     The no-holds-barred free-for-all where everybody throws out zany ideas but scathing negativity is liberally indulged.

The answer was “Depends.” As expected, being writers and editors, number 2 was the big winner, but nearly everybody expressed some reverence for number 1. Among the comments:

Depends on personality. For me, 2.  …Um, who said writers are antisocial?

Depends on your group. If extroverts, 1. If introverts (writers), 2. 3? Never!!

Combination of 2 and 1. Go off and think of ideas by myself, then bring them to a group session where everyone is contributing ideas.

Put me down as a 1 and add the different colored dots that we affix to the ideas to indicate which are hot, ‘room temperature’ or cold…. With 3, hilarity and bruised egos ensue. Those were the (corporate) days, huh?

For me, it’s 2, definitely. But given the right project and group of creative people, I can dig 1. As for 3: Been there, done that, and no thanks. I know when my ideas stink!

2 - Being more introverted by nature, info generated in group discussion can certainly stimulate my own process. But ultimately, I like to go back to my corner to “percolate and produce.”

Actually, I think that two people working together can often come up with the best ideas. Larger groups are good at lists of zany stuff, but bad at spotting and refining the best ideas.

Only one battle-hardened groupthink vet had a good word to say for #3, the bombs-away approach:

My tendency is “2” (because I really do have all the best ideas) followed closely by “3” (because who wants to waste time with ridiculous ideas and I have super thick skin).

The academics agree. Those studies? They point to criticism as the friction that sparks the most creative productivity.

What do you think?

All that muttering? Sometimes it’s about the joys of playing “qi” in two directions on a triple-letter score. Just as often, though, it’s about your PowerPoint deck, or that shiny new graphic in your white paper. How to make it not only more attractive, but actually meaningful. How to use visual tools to convey complex information elegantly, honestly, without distortion, and with impact.

Enter Edward Tufte. Political scientist, writer, sculptor. Genius, curmudgeon, man of high standards, patron saint of clear thinking and good design. Tufte’s 1982 book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information laid out the elements of good information design, and the distortions, confusions, and “chartjunk” that stand in its way. It was followed by Envisioning Information (1990), Visual Explanations (1997), and Beautiful Evidence (2006)—all, like Visual Display, beautifully designed books that pull no punches and refuse to talk down to readers.

The New York Times called him “The Leonardo da Vinci of data.” Anyone who works with data should read these books, and anyone who regularly presents business data to an audience should consider taking Tufte’s one-day course on presenting data and information—or at least reading his essay on the reductive evils of PowerPoint and how to design better presentations.

Images courtesy edwardtufte.com.

Our team delivers draft and final marketing assets to our clients almost every day of the month—and often receive delightful comments in return, such as:

This unedited quote received on February 23, 2012: “THANK YOU—THANK YOU—THANK YOU, once again, for making me look so good. You guys are ROCK STARS!”

And this unedited quote received on the very same day: “Thank you all for your great work!! I am a very happy customer, and I will be back.”

And this lovely rave that came in just moments ago, as I was writing this blog post: “The product campaign sheet is receiving very positive early response from sales and I expect we will be looking to do more like it this year. Thank you for your team’s support and quick turn around on it.”

It is the very, very best part of my job, I tell you, to read these raves.

Each month, we collect all the feedback we’ve received in the past 30 (or as our team member Keven Smith so adroitly noted in his perfect Leap Year Day post, 29) days. And then the real fun begins. We sort. We categorize. We ooh and aah. We puff up with pride. And we determine the month’s winner.

For February 2012, I am bestowing the Content Bureau “Rave-of-the-Month Award” to one of our fabulous editors, Christine Kent, who received—from a brand new client, we might add—not just a wonderful rave, but HUGS AND KISSES:

“You are the best! Xoxox”

I must say, I have air-kissed most of our clients at one time or another (maybe even you)? But this is the first time we’ve received “xoxox” in writing—and it happened before any copy had been delivered, no less. That feels like someone just gave our whole team a big fat smooch, like this:

Pink sunshine to you today, Christine, and to all of the Content Bureau team members who work so hard every day to keep our clients feeling the love! xoxoxo

As you’ve noticed, Leap Day happens but once every four years. It’s an “extra” day—a day we may very well forget until it’s nearly upon us. And when it arrives, it seems to throw off the rhythm of the week, and the month.

Most of us are commemorating this special day by showing up to work and doing our jobs. A handful may be meeting at Shooter’s after work for happy hour. But for the most part, this is just another workday.

And that’s a shame. How often do we get an extra day? (Yes, I know: every four years. It was a rhetorical question.)

Marketing departments should be spending Leap Day doing something creative and inspiring—something that could help shape the direction of the business for at least the next four years. Some ideas:

• Brainstorming. True story: Back in my PeopleSoft days, I was once sequestered for a three-day brainstorm. The Powers That Be weren’t happy with their ad agency, so they pulled a bunch of us out of Creative Services, stuck us in a conference room, and asked us to come up with new concepts. (They even ordered us four kinds of pizza.) We came up with some killer ideas—all of which were rejected. But I think seeing a bunch of concepts that really pushed the envelope helped our executives figure out what our message wasn’t, so they could more easily figure out what it was.
• Spying on the competition. Go ahead—scour their websites. Read any of their printed pieces you can get your hands on. Spend some time on their turf, so you’ll be better prepared to defend your turf. Bonus: You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at how many clunky headlines and broken links their sites contain.
• Team-building. Hey, you work with your marketing colleagues for 40 (read: 50-plus) hours per week. Why not get to know them better? You don’t have to do that fall-backwards-off-a-stepladder-and-hope-someone-catches-you thing, but you can plan activities that encourage people to share tidbits from their extracurricular lives. Have an awards ceremony where everyone gives and receives at least one award. Ask people to bring in their old school photos. Host a Good Karma Lunch. That sort of thing.

Of course, if you’re just now reading this on Leap Day, it’s obviously too late to make any big plans for this year. But what if, in the spirit of Leap Day, you designated one hour per week as Leap Hour? You and your team could spend those 60 minutes trying out some of these ideas.

You could even order four kinds of pizza. It sure beats eating leftovers alone in your cubicle.

Look no further than an interactive PDF (iPDF). No more paging down to wade through content that isn’t of interest. The beauty of an iPDF is that it’s:

• Interactive—Easy-to-navigate tabs help your reader move from page to page in any order or sequence desired—and even link to audio videos or external content at will.
• Sharable—iPDFs are easily distributed as email attachments, since the file size is no larger than a typical PDF. Simply attach the file to an email and your reader can open it and begin reviewing the document immediately.
• Visually compelling—More fun than a traditional white paper or brochure, your iPDF can have stylistic elements that include infographics, tabs, tables, and more. It is a self-contained document that has a style and vibe all its own.
• Content-rich—Unlike other formats that cater to simple or limited copy, iPDFs can make even the most complex topics manageable. Deliver thought leadership in a fun and innovative format, lending credibility to your ability to find new and exciting ways to communicate.

We’ve created dozens of beautiful, high-impact iPDFs for clients ranging from Autodesk to SAP. To learn more about how to create a custom iPDF for your next juicy topic, contact us.

I am speaking here of Etsy, the online craft marketplace where knit coffee-cup cozies, herbal soaps, and things made from vintage spoons run rampant. (For a look at Etsy’s dark side, become a regular reader of the Regretsy blog.) However, the big advantage of ordering instant Valentine’s Day presents from Etsy is that they won’t look like every other Hallmark card in the world.

Many of Etsy’s crafting elves offer cards or prints that can be bought as PDFs, allowing you to print them up at home on high-quality paper and make a good showing during the V-Day gift presentation. (Bonus points if you have time to run to Ikea for a picture frame.)

I very much like this “I’m filled with love for you” 8×10 PDF print, which Etsy artist Missus D will customize in different colors for just $5 (she also helpfully notes that it looks good in the black Ikea “RIBBA” frame):

For Jane Austen fans and the people who love them, you can order a print from Etsy seller JaneAndCompany Design with a typography theme, featuring Mr. Darcy’s outburst of love highlighted in red: “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” (For the moment, we’ll ignore the fact that Elizabeth Bennet stopped just short of bitch-slapping Darcy after this announcement. Anyway, it all ended well.)

I love maps, so this PDF card with a map and the phrase “Home is wherever I’m with you” popped out as a keeper. Etsy seller Jb Artistry will let you pick from five different vintage map backgrounds, like this one:

There’s one other do-it-yourself option if you’re really caught unprepared for Valentine’s-Day gift-giving next year – or in dire need of making amends with your loved one now. Check out Wordle.net, a neat little web tool that creates word clouds out of text and makes them look all prettified. (For details, check out our previous Content Bureau blog post on Wordle.) I dropped in the text from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”), chose some Valentine’s Day colors, and got this:

Create your own V-Day Wordle cloud, print it out nicely, and voilà – another last-minute save for Valentine’s Day, without the rush for gas-station roses or less-than-luxury chocolate. Or indeed, for any day throughout the year when you need to spread a little love, and you’re pressed for time.