Company Texts and Hats

Recently I decided to replace my old winter hat and attacked the web. As a tuned-in girl, I was ready to spent an hour (actually 5 or more if required) to look through all that stuff found in the search results. It supposed to be something knitted, slightly decorated to distinguish me from the gray developers’ mass.

Before this moment,
I hardly could count a couple of hat’s types – hat, cap, or panama at the best. Oh, by the way, check how many types you know.

Hah! Imagine, tens of hat types have been happily existing in the world. I have founded at least two tens of them.

“If you want to get ahead, get a hat”. This is an old  advertising slogan, used by Dunn & Co, hatmakers in the UK in 40-s.  In those days the hat was the essential thing to prove the status and well-being of the owner. When selected properly for the occasion, the hat almost guaranteed the success in the business.

I remembered that slogan and thought that  it is still true when applied to the company texts. When comes to corporate writing the rules are the same. Here are some of them:

1. Wear a hat that best matches your face and style. Most of us wear a hat, especially during cold days. It protects our heads from cold and fall-out, matches all pieces of our clothes, looks like most headgears worn by people of your age, class and a profit level.  But who said that you must limit yourself to the trivial hat offered at any store this season? Opt to an ushanka hat, try aviator & trapper hats, or wear a good French beret. The copy of the company web site is like a winter daily hat that is 24 hours in public, being available for everyone. It should match the company’s image, aims, policy, the market niche hunted etc. Let the web site wear an interesting and matching copy.
2. Each hat serves its occasion. You can’t wear a panama in winter and a Kentucky derby hat daily. You can, to be true, and many do, but what’s the point?  Heading for a special occasion, for example a wedding, pick a fascinator. Note it is a pre-requisite for entry to the racecourse. For morning jogging, you’d better pull on a beanie or a knit hat.
   If the company sells the product or service, it doesn’t hide it or depict it in an unfavourable light. Quite the contrary! The company does create a great ad copy to promote it.  If the company has a blog, it is the place to share the knowledge, tips and tricks in a friendly relaxed way without direct advertisement.
3. Wear one hat per time.You may have a felt cloche, a velour fedora, and a cotton bucket hat at your wardrobe. But when going outdoors, you usually select only one of them (unless you are a trend-setter). It’s not a good way to write any of  the marketing documents without a precise understanding of the audience document purpose, and the company aims. “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” Composing  all-inclusive documents for everybody who will be met on the road will result in nothing but unfruitful efforts.
4. Wear your hat with dignity In old times no matter what type of hat you wore, the hat gave you a respectable look. Nowadays a hat is no more than a piece of clothing, and often is misused. T-shirts goes with fascinators, men do not tip (i.e., slightly lifting the hat off your forehead) when meeting a lady, and ladies are rare… Coming back to writing, the times have been changed. On the web “Click and buy” goes better that two sentences. There is no room for descriptive passages and long thought. But whatever the company writes, it should not lose the dignity of good writing and proper style as a hat is good when followed by hat etiquette.

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