by David Tandet Manatt, Phelps is a law firm that provides personalized care for integrated legal services. After an old friend told me about a presentation she’d made to some attorneys there, I went to their website to find out more. The narrative I immediately became engaged in was about what it takes to succeed [...]

by David Tandet Philanthropy and public relations have a long history together. When 19th century tycoons were attacked as robber barons, several set up foundations to contribute to good causes — in part to fend off the verbal assaults. Sometimes the infusion of capital into new works was so great that foundations had to set [...]

by David Tandet • “Bullets are nice.” Got that from a client before he clicked off the phone after delivering marching orders for his next newsletter. Very key. Whether it’s bullets or numbers, more paragraphs or subheadings, organization makes the copy readable. It also keeps you on track. Make the points you want to make. [...]

by David Tandet Jerry Lynch quoted former Olympic volleyball player Lori Endicott in his  sports psychology classic Thinking Body, Dancing Mind: “There are six people on the volleyball court. We all have different strengths, weaknesses, personalities. It creates a dynamic that’s more exhilarating than an individual sport.” In Right Before You Write, Jonathan O’Brien has [...]

by David Tandet What do well-written screenplays and successful grant proposals have in common? A lot, it turns out. Jonathan O’Brien explains all about it in his book Right Before You Write. O’Brien’s “Almost World Famous Seven Cs” can be applied to both disciplines. If it sounds like a gimmick, well yours truly is for [...]

by David Tandet Increasing  social media has the same effect on good writing that the size of a parking structure has on nice cars: not much. Some networkers babble on in disjointed streams of consciousness. Others? Wordsmiths to the max. But when it comes to the need for effective writing in all this, there’s no [...]

by David Tandet Got a call from a colleague recently who had a big problem. As in big bio. My friend was willing to put in all the information the executive wanted, of course. But she wanted to make sure her client realized most readers were going to stop reading after the first paragraph. It’s [...]

by David Tandet Came across a terrific item by Emily (Emily’s World) on how non-profits can use the social web to spread the word. Believe it or not, the whole concept of simply “getting the message out” is not as much of a no-brainer as it might first appear. That’s because a lot of people [...]

by David Tandet 11. Lists force you to write better sentences. Most peoples’ sentences are too long. Structure your points into a list and every point has to be concise. 12. Search Engine Guide likes lists. Three of the top pieces on a recent Search Engine Guide: • “28 Resources for Paid Search Strategies” by [...]

by David Tandet A Hollywood Tale There once was a Hollywood talent agency where all the top honchos drove the same make of luxury vehicle. One time they hired this ten percenter from just down the road a piece (that would put the L.A. distance at about twenty billion dollars worth of L.A. real estate [...]