Word Studio

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There has been a major shift in how people buy things and relate to companies in the past 3 years and this trend is brilliant for small business. The trend is away from 'buying a brand" to "buying the person behind the brand".

We have been disillusioned by big business - so now we are looking to know the faces behind the names of the brand. We want to know their personalities, what makes them tick and can we trust them to do what they say they will.

Some indicators of this trend are the shift in ads on TV. Gone are the ads promoting a company "Woolworths the Fresh Food People" to be replaced with ads showing core Woolies employees showing their expertise with fruit by showing weekly information about new seasons fruit and vegies. Bunnings shows their employees talking in their words about their company. Even the banks are cashing in showing their tellers in social settings.

Other indicators are the growth in reality TV programs - love them or loath them they reflect a societal trend towards wanting to know what makes people tick.

This trend has also shifted into writing. Gone are the boring web pages or brochures with "we try harder". People expect more. They want to know more. They want to know what it will be like to work with you.

This means you need to go back through all of your writing ... all of your webpages ... all of your letters and brochures. Do the words you are currently using reflect you and your personality? Do they let your customers a glimpse of the person behind the product? If you read them and had to describe the personality of the business - what would you describe it as?

Here are my top 5 tips to put personality back into your writing.

1. Identify the person behind the brand. You need to work out who is going to be the person profiled behind the brand. Generally it is the Managing Director for small companies ... but not always. Do some digging to find out interesting facts about them, what they think about or what they believe in. Use these facts in your writing to help people identify your brand.

2. Get a warm approachable photo. All stuffy studio shots need to be instantly binned. Look for ones that show the personality of the person.

3. Write as you speak. One of the things good copywriters do when we talk with clients is to listen to how the person talks. We pick up sentence flows, words the clients commonly use, phrasing and common sayings. We weave their way of speaking into the writing - so we are writing with their voice. This means that people get a strong sense of the person and the product and there is no disconnect between the words they read and the words they hear when they go to the business.

4. Tell stories. Parables and stories are some of the most powerful psychological tools available. Many top psychologists through history would only tell stories, or part of stories and allow the mind to work to fill in the blanks as part of their therapeutic approach (Milton Erickson was one of the masters of this strategy).

Learn from psychologists and weave in hero stories, plotlines and metaphors into your words. In small business the story can be as simple as how you first discovered a particular product and why you like it - just tell it as a story.

5. Insert emotion. Personality is messy, complex and full of contrasts. Emotion is a big part of what makes up personality. The old way to write was to wring all of the juice out of your words to make them dry, academic and clinical. Now you need to put the juice back in - you are not "happy to introduce a new product", you are "jumping out of your skin excited to bring this brilliant new product to your customers".

Those of you who have dropped me an email know I never answer "regards, or yours sincerely". Those words don't reflect who I am. My sign off reflects my personality and is an indicator of what I am like to work with.

The best part of writing with personality is it feels like all straight-jackets have been removed. You no longer are stuck trying to fit yourself into a narrow box of "acceptable". Allow your personality to shine through and people will naturally flock to you. Yes, you may also turn away some customers who don't identify with you - but the even better news is that they were usually the customers you had problems with.

By allowing yourself to shine you naturally attract people aligned to you and your message - which is great for you and great for your business.

Ingrid Cliff is passionate about small business ideas ... with a belief there are no small businesses, just small ideas. Ingrid has over 25 years experience as a HR Manager with companies up to 7000 employees in both the private and public sector.

Ingrid is a Brisbane freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - her writing services studio that helps put your business into words. Ingrid writes a free weekly newsletter packed full of small business tips to help both you and your business grow http://www.heartharmony.com.au/index.html

The Sucessful Studio Singer

After singing on countless sessions including commercials, backup for many an artist and for an array of producers, I have come to the conclusion that while singing in the studio might seem glamorous, it is definitely hard work. Even as a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency, I continued and still do, singing in the studio. I have to admit, though, that I absolutely love session work and accomplishing the task at hand no matter how difficult or challenging the particular session might be. Anyone who sings professionally and states otherwise, is either lying, or plain doesn't have enough work or has a bad attitude or both. As founder of ReelMusician.com, I have had the opportunity to work with singers and get them geared up and ready to go into commercial singing work and I believe that I have enjoyed that as about as much as session work if not more. Seeing singers who have a dream and want to make it happen, and then help them make it happen is incredibly rewarding. With that, I would like to take a few minutes and discuss the successful studio singer and how you might take your talent and dream and enter the field.

You heard me correct. You take your dream and enter the field as a valid and credible studio singing source for multiple producers and session work. Just how will you go about that? - Great question. Let's spend a few minutes looking at some ideas and concepts to get you on the road to success and get you into the studio as a professional studio singer.

Singing talent is obviously at the top of the list, but let's spend a few minutes talking about vocal qualities. There are a number of different types of singers - the blender who sings on a variety of session work, but doesn't sing on that many lead spots. Those are usually reserved for more gritty and husky singers who can carry the lead. Then you have the husky or gritty singer who is asked on occasion to sing in a group sing to give the group a little more bite. This singer usually sings on quite a few leads that are up in your face commercials and backup vocals that require a big sound. There are also a core of what I call specialty singers who don't fit either just discussed and tend to be very unique and used on very specific spots and background vocals. Neither of the singers I've just described is any better than the other in terms of work, they are just called on for different session work. Where do you fit in? You need to get that figured out along with your degree of giftedness. Just be honest - studio singing isn't for everyone, no matter how much they want it. But I would guess that there is more opportunity out there for a lot of singers if they chose to go after their dream.

In order to attempt to get into studio singing you are going to have to have a few key items in place - namely a good deal of practice, an incredible demo, and a follow up with great people skills. Most artistic individuals I know usually have fairly good people skills counting out those who either know it all or those with a bad attitude. I'm guessing you have fairly good people skills, will probably need a little help in being consistent with your follow up and will need an incredible demo tape. At ReelMusician.com we specialize in singer's demos and specifically those wishing to enter the jingle singing market. You'd be surprised at the demos we receive on a regular basis that are not up to par. I've stated in other articles, that your demo has to sound like you've already arrived on the singing scene with numerous credits. It is our experience that most don't have a real clue as to how to write and market their voice to compile a singing demo tape that will actually get listened to and if it does, won't garnish the work that they are looking for. There are a number of reasons for this, but in the simplest of terms, there is too much competition out there to be dealing with fairly good or even pretty good demos - they have to say the word "Incredible." For any questions on this at all, please don't hesitate to contact us at ReelMusician.com for further advice, articles or just to just plain ask us a question. We're more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Our goal is to help singers make their singing dreams and careers come true.

Now starting with the assumption that you have credible singing talent, are practicing everyday, are either working on or are preparing to have an incredible jingle or session singer reel written specifically for your voice, and are ready to take the plunge into the session singing world, I will give you some ideas and tips to get you motivated and hopefully moving towards a rewarding career as a successful studio singer.

Once you have your incredible jingle reel in hand, marketing will be key. You will want to submit your reel to jingle producers in your area, various industrial music houses, and general music production companies. You will want to get to know other jingle and session singers in your area and genuinely get to know them and hand off a reel - keeping in mind that you will want to hand off reels to other singers that you are not in direct competition with. Your follow up with these individuals will be key. Stay in touch with email, letters, birthday notes, etc and keep all of your potential singing clients in the fold. Make sure that you have a follow up reel within a short period of time. You will want to cross the desk of certain producers a couple of times to reacquaint yourself to them. Keep detailed records of who you talk to, when, contact numbers and any misc information. In time, with the right singing reel and follow up, you should start bringing home some singing work. As time grows, so should your reputation and work. In closing, if you will stay focused with a great attitude and voice supported by an incredible jingle reel, you should be well on your way to a successful studio singing career!

About the Author

Mr Gauger is a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and founder of http://www.ReelMusician.com. You may contact the author at tgauger@reelmusician.com. Free e-books "The Jingle Singer's Guide," and "Secrets To Great Song Demos," may be downloaded at http://www.ReelMusician.com.

can any1 make 5 sentences with different usages of the word 'studio' ???

The sculptor is bust working in his studio.
As no play is possible in the rain,we're returning to Joe Bloggs in the studio.
The TV comedy is recorded before a live studio audience.
This studio flat is suitable for a single person.
Tne studio's crew is very busy setting the scenery for the next double.

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