You creative boost for January

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                January 11, 2012

            You creative boost for January

            CreativeBoost features exclusive updates for clients and friends of
   thinkit creative. You’re receiving this because you subscribed on
   our website.
====
Your CreativeBoost for January 2012.
Thanks for taking the time to subscribe to CreativeBoost. I’m glad
   you’re here! This monthly update is a quick read and packed with useful
   tips you can use right away to grow your audience and engage people
   better than ever before. Enjoy!
Very best,
Patrick Gant
   thinkit creative
====
Three things to know about how people read today
Readers today have high expectations for great content. As more and
   more marketing shifts to digital formats, readers’ tastes are changing,
   too. Here are three important trends that can help you stay connected
   with your audience and have your readers coming back for more.
Be reader friendly:
   use narrower columns
   Susan Weinschenk illustrates in her [13]report on reader behaviour that
   while research shows people can read faster when you use wide columns
   (more than 100 characters per line), people respond more favourably to
   narrower columns (betwen 45 and 100 characters per line). It’s no
   accident that The Economist and The Guardian–two publishers who have
   been highly successful at switching to online content–continue to opt
   for this narrower column style for their online version (particularly
   for tablets). People come back more often to what they enjoy best.
     Links:
       13. http://www.whatmakesthemclick.net/2009/10/26/100-things-you-should-know-about-people-2-line-length
Bullets go bad quickly
   If you have to use bullets at all, use them sparingly: never more than
   in a group of five. They’re designed to draw the eye to something very
   selective. Use them too often and it will look like work to your
   readers. People read more when it’s enjoyable. They bolt when it starts
   to feel like a task.
Rethink the fold
   When it comes to the written word, no matter what we create–and much
   of that today increasingly is digital–we still think in newspaper
   terms. Don’t be too rigid about what gets placed “above the fold.”
   Digital content doesn’t have a fold quite the way that a newspaper
   does. It cuts in different places depending on screen size,
   particularly on mobile devices. That’s why scrolling and gesture-based
   scanning have come to be integral to the reading experience online.
   Research [14]heatmap activities on your site. Look where people click
   more often. The results can be surprising.
     ____________
     Links:
       14. http://www.squidoo.com/heat-map
Tell me where it hurts…
[15]Reply to this email directly (yup, it goes directly to me). Tell me
   one thing that you’re struggling with right now in your work. Even if
   it’s a minor thing.
   at symbol
     Links:
       15. mailto:pgant@thinkitcreative.com?subject=Re%3A%20Tell%20me%20where%20it%20hurts
====
Client profile
[6]Engage Selling Solutions: Through speaking, training and coaching,
   Colleen Francis and her team at Engage Selling are a vital resource for
   sales executives, providing proven strategies for increasing sales in
   today’s economy. Since 2004, thinkit creative has been a proud partner,
   providing content and writing services, including newsletter articles,
   blog posts, book editing and more. We’ve also been a repeat sponsor of
   their PowerHouse events. Special kudos to Colleen for her [7]recent
   induction into the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers’ Hall
   of Fame!
====
[8]call us (613) 825-3233
====
Blog content drives traffic!
   Companies that blog have 55% more visitors to their website. B2B
   companies who blog report 67% more leads compared to those who do not.
   Great content sells.
   –Source: [9]Hubspot
====
 Links:
   6. http://www.engageselling.com
   7. http://www.engageselling.com/blog/?p=2560
   8. http://thinkitcreative.com/blog
   9. http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/marketing-charts-graphsdataapril2010slideshare

====
What’s the best time to send email?
According to [10]Dan Zarella, most weekday email gets read first thing
   in the morning. His research indicates that email messages with the
   highest click-through rate are sent between 6:00AM and 7:00AM EST.
   quotation marks
     Links:
       10. http://www.amazon.com/Zarrellas-Hierarchy-Contagiousness-Engineering-ebook/dp/B005BP1Y36/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
====
What our clients say
“[11]Patrick is an amazing writer. Deep perspective with a commercial
   twist.”
   —Diane Dufour, President, [12]Accurate Design and Communication
     Links:
       11. http://thinkitcreative.com/about/about-patrick-gant
       12. http://www.accurate.ca
====
Cool fact about the @ symbol
Traditionaly used as a symbol in commerce to denote unit pricing, email
   inventor Ray Tomlinson adopted it as a simpler way to distinguish
   between user and host. Internet pioneer Jon Postel saw the genius in
   this right away, remarking: “Now that’s a nice hack!”
====
From our blog
 * [16]Brand and disruption
 * [17]Rethinking the professional speaker's one-sheet
 * [18]The dangerous invention
 Links:
   16. http://thinkitcreative.com/blog/2011/12/26/brand-disruption
   17. http://thinkitcreative.com/blog/2011/12/08/rethinking-professional-speakers-onesheet
   18. http://thinkitcreative.com/blog/2011/11/29/dangerous-invention

Even more ideas to help you unlock the power of writing that sells is
   waiting for you right now. [19]Read on!
   question mark icon
     Links:
       19. http://thinkitcreative.com/blog
====
Ask a writer…
“Is it farther or further?” It depends on context in your sentence. Use
   “farther” when describing distance in literal terms. Use “further” when
   speaking figuratively. Have a question or tip for us? [20]Submit it
   here.
     Links:
       20. mailto:pgant@thinkitcreative.com?subject=Re%3A%20Question%20or%20tip%20for%20%22Ask%20a%20writer%22%20on%20CreativeBoost
====
Did you know....
The calendar months from September to December were named by the early
   Romans to correspond with their 10-month calendar. They were followed
   each year by an unnamed two-month winter season. Rome’s Numa Pompilius
   assigned months to that season in 713 BCE by introducing January and
   February, named after the god Janus and the feast of purification.
====
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