Get Inspired

Monthly Quote
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
 –Anne Frank

BRIAN recommends:
Brass Goggles

Head Home
By O’Death

I Feel Sick
By Jhonen Vasquez

CHRISTINA recommends:
Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium
By Thomas T. K. Zung

The Way of Woman: Awakening the Perennial Feminine
By Helen M. Luke

COLLIN recommends:
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
By Malcolm Gladwell

GQ: The 50 Most Stylish Men of the Last 50 Years

Web 2.0 Trend Map 2007

DOUG recommends:
Good Night, and Good Luck
Directed by George Clooney

The Bourne Identity
Directed by Doug Liman

The Bourne Supremacy
Directed by Paul Greengrass

JAN recommends:
A Dance to the Music of Time: Vol. 1-4
By Anthony Powell

LUKASZ recommends:
The Decalogue
Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski

I Am Legend
By Richard Matheson

STEVE recommends:
Rock My Soul
By The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet

Canright Communications designs and distributes custom email newsletters that reinforce an organization’s brand, demonstrate its value proposition, and present its services and skills.

Contact Christina Canright by email or by telephone, +1 773 248-8935

What’s Inside

Reinforce Your Next Presentation
with a White Paper
Consider the usefulness of this marketing approach, especially as a handout or take-away from a conference or trade show. READ MORE>

Businesslike Email is Safe Email
Collin Canright recently reminded an audience that there’s still a kind of “Wild, Wild West” attitude on the Internet. He had a great handout, and I urge you to take a look at it. I thought I would also write to remind you to be careful about what you put into your email messages and relay some of Collin’s tips. READ MORE>

Milestones
Capital Asset direct-response ad campaign launches. READ MORE>

Reinforce Your Next Presentation with a White Paper

By Collin Canright

Today’s business world is relentlessly focused on the customer. The logic is that it’s not as hard to keep a customer as it is to find new customers.

But to grow your company’s income, you’re either going to have to sell more business to current customers or attract new customers.

To attract new customers, a good reputation is a must, especially as the fall and winter convention season draws near. Enter the “white paper,” a ubiquitous and sometimes abused tool for you to establish your reputation in your market. We’ve written about them before in this newsletter. But we return to the topic to stress the usefulness of this marketing approach, especially as a handout or take-away from a conference or trade show.

White papers can enhance your company’s credibility, educate prospects about your services, inform potential customers about ways to improve their business and profitability, and even change the world to make it a better place for your business, friends, and family.

Married to an aggressive marketing plan, white papers can create a huge positive change for your organization, attracting scores of new prospects and making the investment of time and money worthwhile. A well-written white paper indicates that you and your organization are on the cutting edge and that you are a thought leader in your field.

The term “white paper” originated in the British government as a means to describe an extensive written statement of government policy. Although business uses of white papers vary, we think white papers in business share many characteristics with their older cousins in government.

• White papers are persuasive. They provide the background to justify ideas for change. Businesses can use white papers to advocate for or defend against proposals to change government policy, corporate policy, or industry standards. Technology or engineering companies use white papers to introduce new advancements.


• White papers are short. Can you read your white paper in one sitting? If an ordinary desk stapler will hold your white paper’s pages together comfortably and securely, then you have the right size document for a white paper. Typically, white papers are six to twelve pages long, but as long as one ordinary staple can bind the pages together, you’re probably OK, especially if an executive summary of no more than five pages is presented up front.


• White papers seek to influence the greater good. The “white paper” label on a document implies that you are looking out for more than your own self-interest (though it will surprise few readers that your own self interest is part of the greater good the paper advocates). White papers that advocate change that appears to be counter to your self-interest are even more fascinating because they imply you are a visionary thinking beyond today’s circumstances.


• White papers strike a tone somewhere between the formality of an academic paper and the accessibility of a magazine article. It is not a glib sales pitch. It is not an advertisement. But it is indeed a marketing piece, and it speaks to your reputation.


• White papers cover a field of circumstances. A case study is not a white paper.

The ability of white papers to convey information and enhance your company’s credibility is helping companies across all industries generate quality sales leads. Businesses often generate leads by offering white papers on web sites. When a person signs up to receive a white paper, his or her email is immediately captured and can be added to the company’s list. Even better, follow up with a phone call a few days later to ask how the prospect regarded the white paper.

When you want to shake up the market or reinforce your message, a white paper is a great approach.

View samples of our articles.
View our samples of our white papers.
View our samples of our research reports.
View our samples of our case studies.

Need Help Putting Together Your Conference Materials?

Do you need a white paper to hand out following a presentation at a conference this fall or winter? Do you need a case study to emphasize your company's results? Do you need a report to solidify your thought leadership and expertise?

Contact Collin Canright at +1 773 248-8935 (office), +1 773 426-7000 (mobile), or collin@canrightcommunications.com. We'll take care of it right now.

Businesslike Email is Safe Email

EMAIL
TO: "Canright Communicates" Readers
FROM: Doug Davidoff
DATE: September 2007

Collin Canright recently reminded an audience that there’s still a kind of “Wild, Wild West” attitude on the Internet. He had a great handout, and I urge you to take a look at it. I thought I would also write to remind you to be careful about what you put into your email messages and relay some of Collin’s tips.

I think it’s a good idea to write your email messages as if they will be posted on the office bulletin board – in your competitor’s office. You don’t want to embarrass yourself by how you write, and you don’t want to use email to divulge confidential information.

Email etiquette is still evolving, but much of it still reflects the first days of the Internet in the 1980s. Back then, the Internet was seen as an open book, and it’s surprising how many people still operate under that assumption. This is not a place to be naïve.

An example: People are far more likely to forward an email from you to many other people than they are likely to photocopy a letter you write and send it out. Someone would probably ask permission to copy a letter from you, but few people ask permission to forward an email from you to many other people, including people you do not know. So when you write an email, assume it will be widely read.

By the way, sending your original email to a large group of people enhances the likelihood that your message will simply enter the widest of public domains. If that’s what you want, then you’re fine. You’re using “viral marketing.” But if you don’t want your message forwarded, it’s wise to say so. One nationally known writer puts a note – “Please consider this message private and do not forward it,” or something like that – on emails she sends to friends.

You are well advised to keep your prose businesslike. Don’t use Internet abbreviations like “LOL” (“Laugh Out Loud”) or “IMHO” (“In My Humble Opinion”). Don’t use “emoticons” such as :-) the smiley face. Don’t convey confidential or proprietary news, or bad news, or disciplinary news, unless you want people everywhere to read it. It’s almost commonplace for business leaders to get caught on that point.

Emails deserve the respect that letters and memorandums received, say, 25 years ago. The advantages to an Internet electronic mail message are its immediacy and the ability to deliver it to many people at one time. Take advantage of those strengths, but don’t diminish them by failing to write a message that wouldn’t bother you if it were hung on the bulletin board in the kitchen or became the topic of chatter around the water cooler.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or reactions. Please send me an email at doug@canrightcommunications.com. Don’t forget to look at the handout!

Milestones

Capital Asset Direct-Response Ad Campaign

Working with our client, Oasys Network, Canright Communications launched a direct-response ad campaign for Capital Asset. The firm trades world wide, around the clock on every trading day. It simplifies metals trading by financing the purchase of physical commodities rather than complex investments in metals futures and options.

For the campaign, Oasys Network and Canright Communications created two ads, one to investors who are not familiar with commodities investing in metals and another for more experienced investors. Readers of the Daily Telegraph of London see an ad designed to bring the profit potential of metals investing to the attention of general investors. This approach features the headline, "What Smart Investors Know about the Profit Potential of Metals Trading". Click this link to view the London Telegraph print ad.

For readers of MoneyWeek, a British publication designed for more serious investors, the ad features the headline "Metals Trading Simplified". This ad focuses on the ease of trading metals through Capital Asset as opposed to buying futures or options on the commodities. The language assumes that readers understand commodities and investments and flows from the magazine's regular articles on the benefits of gold as an investment choice. Click these link to view the MoneyWeek print ad. Or visit the MoneyWeek website and you just might see the ad.

Both ads feature a call-in number and a an offer for a free copy of "Capital Asset Market Analysis", a publication prepared for clients.

The ads run in print and online for the next month.