Last night, I watched a documentary about the making of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “Rear Window.” In it, one of the director’s admirers spoke of how Hitchcock always had a specific reason for putting the camera where he put it. There was never a shot just for a shot's sake. Every angle, every framing provided information the viewer needed to know or moved the story forward in some other way.

If you create marketing copy for your company, I encourage you to write with that same type of purpose in mind.

As a marketer, you never know how much time your audience will grant you. So, if you waste their time with words that don’t deliver value quickly or move your story forward, that audience may cut short the time you have together.

Try this test: After writing your copy, show the first line or two to a few people who are unfamiliar with your project; preferably people who are members of your target audience. If they can’t tell you what’s in it for them right away or they don’t express an interest in reading the rest of the copy, you may need to start over.

The Internet is a great tool for information, but is it the road to inspiration?

I've used the World Wide Web to wander the virtual aisles in search of ideas when I'm coming up empty. Sometimes I'm focused, and other times it's just a random trip from this site to that one. Time passes quickly when you're traveling the information superhighway, but are you getting anywhere?

Here's an alternative: just be bored for a while. It might do wonders for your creative powers. That's what Peter Bregman discovered when he returned his new iPad after just one week of use. The management consultant said it wasn't that the tablet computer didn't work well. The problem was it worked too well:

The brilliance of the iPad is that it's the anytime-anywhere computer. On the subway. In the hall waiting for the elevator. In a car on the way to the airport. Any free moment becomes a potential iPad moment.

So why is this a problem? It sounds like I was super-productive. Every extra minute, I was either producing or consuming. But something is lost in the busyness. Something too valuable to lose. Boredom. Being bored is a precious thing; a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that's where creativity arises.

My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These "wasted" moments - moments not filled with anything in particular - are vital. They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They're the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen. To lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What's worse is that we don't just lose them. We actively throw them away.

Let's be clear, I'm no technological Luddite. I'm an early adopter with laptops and desktops and iPods. (Oh my!) But I'm going to give this a try. Bregman's suggestion to shut it all down, in order to open up your mind, is food for thought that doesn't need any electronic seasoning.

If you deal with business-to-business marketing and worry about having the time to generate lots of original content, here's some good news: readers don't care. Give them useful information with your own touch and it'll do just fine.

By the way, I'm demonstrating that point with this blog post. This topic was first covered by marketing writer Bob Schier in his What Works, What Doesn't blog. Schier recounts a survey that he conducted of B2B readers in which he asked whether they preferred staff-written content to articles picked up somewhere else and summarized. The answer:

Nobody even knew what we were talking about. They don’t care where a story comes from, or even if they’ve seen the basic facts elsewhere. If your take on it tells them something useful, they like it.

This is not simply "cut-and-paste" writing; you need to provide context and value along with your own style. Think of it this way: if you found the information useful, your audience probably will too.

Now feel free to take this topic and re-write it for your blog.

Those of us who write for a living are faced with grammatical challenges every day, and we all have our pet peeves about common mistakes that we see - usually in "other" people's work. The scribe who goes by the pen name Johnny Truant has compiled a handful of these in 5 Grammar Mistakes That Make You Sound Like A Chimp on Copyblogger.Com. You should read them all, but here are two of my favorites from Johnny: First, the use of "an" before the word "historic."

If you’re bristling at this one, ask yourself if you’d say, “an horse” or “an house.” What would people think if you went into the store and said, “I’ll have an half gallon of milk, please”? You can and should use “an” if the H is silent and the word starts with a phonetic vowel, like “an hour.” Otherwise, go with “a” as the article.
And a violation that occurs regularly in print and in everyday speaking - the misuse of the word "literally."  He says:

I collect “literally” mentions. Britney Spears has been “literally on a roller coaster to hell.” Crowds have “literally turned the city upside down.” And in a particularly grisly turn of events, a mall Santa reported that needy, sad children “literally tear his heart out.” Whenever you use “literally,” stop and think about whether or not what you’re saying is actually true, in those exact words. If it’s not, use “practically,” “essentially,” or (ideally) “metaphorically” instead.

Okay, that's a good start. Now what are some of your favorite grammar faux pas?

Between email, text messaging, blog comments, and other forms of social media, the rules of the English language have taken a serious beating over the last few years. Punctuation is out, abbreviations are in, and many Americans, including some marketers, are having a hard time putting together a decent sentence.

What's the big deal? Stick with me. There's a larger point.

I've read in several places that, when engaging in social media, we needn't be as concerned with the formalities of the language. Maybe. But I lean toward the belief that, when presenting your company to the public through your marketing copy, it's always important to make sure you're using the language properly.

That brings me back to one of my pet peeves: the improper use of the adjective "everyday" and the phrase "every day." (Read my first post on this subject here.) I know I should take up a more exciting hobby, but over the last few years I've collected several examples of this misuse. One is pictured above ("59 cents everyday").

Here's the rule: "Everyday" (one word) is an adjective. Example: These are my everyday shoes. "Every day" (two words) is an adverbial phrase. Example: I go to work every day.

And here's the larger point I promised. True, many people won't notice if you've made the error, but many people may. Those who do might wonder, "If this company is careless about the messages it puts in front of the public, what other details do they ignore when no one is looking?" Is that really the question you want prospective customers asking themselves after reading your marketing copy?

Is it your job is to create marketing copy? Then you'll like this great tip from the weekly newsletter of Daphne Gray-Grant, a writing coach and one of my favorite wordsmiths.

When you're having trouble starting a writing project, begin by reading someone else's work. And before you think I'm advocating theft, here's what she means:

The main idea is to find a piece of writing that provides a suitable model on which you can base your own work. Not only is this not procrastinating, it's not even plagiarism provided you're not looking for content. Instead you should be looking for style and writing architecture.

Gray-Grant suggests building a "swipe file" - a collection of some of the best work of other writers - to use as inspiration when you're starting a project. If it's true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, any author would be proud to have you base your next ad or sales letter on their style.

So, I got your attention with a compelling subject line, eh? That's what some people are getting right, as documented by email marketing specialist Josh Nason in Man Bites Giraffe: Some Awesome (and Awful) Email Subject Lines.

Nason offers some examples of great emails, and some that are truly cringe-worthy. Among his do's and dont's:

Don't discount the importance of the From name. Keep it your company name and not an individual's name or drawn-out term. In addition, keep your company name out of the subject line: It's redundant - a waste of valuable real estate.

And this nugget of wisdom on subject lines:

Write a compelling subject line that won't deceive people. If people aren't opening it, that's okay, as you'll have many more campaigns to intrigue them. If you break the receiver's trust early, you'll have to work twice as hard to get it back. Never forget the Golden Rule.

You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll learn from this two-part examination of what works - and what doesn't - when you have just a few seconds to catch someone's attention with your email marketing campaign.

How many times have you said, "I'd like to start a blog," or, "I should get with this Twitter thing," only to be intimidated by the fear of not being able to do it well enough?

True story: I've owned my own domain name for years but never used it to create a web presence. It's the perfectionist in me; the voice inside my head that says, "It has to be the best." I guess I'm not alone, because blogger Mark Ivey had the same problem. His advice? Try The Seven Habits Of  The "Just Good Enough" Marketer.

Ivey's list is based on a simple premise - the explosion of social media has changed the rules about how we should craft our communications with customers and prospects. He says:

Every day I see companies that make these mistakes: they want to launch the perfect blog, create the polished video, craft the right message. They often find out the hard way that this is not what blogging and social media is about. It's more about conveying compelling ideas and connecting with audiences in authentic ways, not just writing beautiful prose or top-down marketing approaches. Speed is more critical too. There's not enough time to go through two rounds of approvals on every blog. Slick videos are meanwhile seen as advertising - they don't ring true. The new style - conversational, open, engaging, and fluid - just doesn't mix with traditional marketing and communications.

Ivey admits that these are hard habits to break, but doing this can get you off the sidelines and into social media faster, and that's the whole idea.

Roberto Ramos of The Vox Collective is asking you to blow the dust off your old history books and take another look. In a recent Adweek column, Ramos puts forth four key lessons from FDR's New Deal, with additional ideas on how they apply to marketing in today's economy:

In this era, where past headlines seem taken straight out of this morning's paper, it's good to know that FDR can teach marketers a lesson. And why shouldn't we at least pay some attention? Having served four terms in the White House, he is the granddaddy of longevity, a core objective for most brands today.

Want to make your customers happy when things go wrong? Add more mea culpas to your conversations. Software developer Joel Spolsky has this advice for remarkable customer service: admit that it's your fault. Spolsky admits that's not easy for many of us:

It's completely natural to have trouble saying "It's my fault." That's human. But those three words are going to make your angry customers much happier. So you're going to have to say them. And you're going to have to sound like you mean it. So start practicing.

Say "It's my fault" a hundred times one morning in the shower, until it starts to sound like syllabic nonsense. Then you'll be able to say it on demand.

In fact, Spolsky recommends that you memorize a number of phrases, including, "I'm sorry, it's my fault," and "That's terrible. Please tell me what happened so I can make sure it never happens again." In this age of generally awful customer service, you'll be amazed at how fast this approach can defuse a tense situation, providing an opportunity to solve a problem and prove that you're better than the competition.