In the last blog we talked about storytelling and how your charity website might not be doing as great a job at that as it could be. Here’s the ‘bonfire of the buzzwords’ that I mentioned. It won’t help you figure out what your story is, but it will help you tell it better once you have.
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Does your website, newsletter or marketing copy contain an abundance of the following words or phrases? Grab a pen and let’s play buzzword bingo:
- Capacity building
- Self-sufficient
- Stakeholders
- Beneficiaries
- Advocacy
- Marginalised
- Social exclusion
- Psycho-social
- Socio-economic
- Interventions
- Peer education
- Holistic
- Infant/child mortality (are you sure that your readers know the difference between the two?)
- Empowerment
- Sustainability
- Patient-centric
- Child protection
- Giving someone a ‘brighter future’ (I wrote that so many times at Comic Relief that it’s become a bit of a cliche.)
NGOs, like lawyers and doctors have invented a language all of their own so that people with PhDs and Masters degrees can talk to each other in a way that baffles the man in the street. And ‘baffled’ people don’t make for a great donor base.
A word on passion
I was ambivalent about including passionate in the above list. Of course passion is a good thing, but for charities it’s surely a given. It brings to mind that line from Margaret Thatcher: “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t”. If you have to tell people that you’re passionate then is that because that passion isn’t shining through elsewhere? Show, don’t tell.
I’m not talking about ‘dumbing down’ your content because your readers are stupid. I’m talking about talking to people in an everyday language they understand and can relate to. Your supporters lead busy lives and you’re asking for 0.00001% of their time and attention. Remember – you want them to do something for you, not the other way round.
Your target audience for your website isn’t your Programmes/Policy team. Put that on a Post-It note and stick it to your monitor. Sit down with them to try and translate their words into plain English – they’re usually very open and cooperative to that. But don’t let them write, edit or sign-off your web copy!
I’m also not saying that you should never use these words, but just be aware that you’re probably being a bit lazy if you use a lot of them! Is it that you just can’t be bothered trying to find a way of better explaining what your charity does?
Why don’t those words work?
The reasons that these words don’t work so well for your storytelling is that they’re all very abstract. Visual/tangible nouns and verbs are much better for painting a picture and helping people understand what it is you do. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself ‘could someone take a photo of this?’. I bet if you asked 100 people to take a photo of ‘capacity building’ you’d get 100 very different responses. If people can’t easily visualise your work then you can’t expect them to relate to, or empathise with it.
Is it politically incorrect talk about poor people, homeless people, people living on benefits or the streets? Maybe. Talking about ‘socially excluded’ or ‘marginalised’ people is never going to offend anyone, but it’s very unlikely to inspire or excite them either.
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Brevity vs Bafflement
As a rule, brevity is best when it comes to web copy (a rule I need to learn for some of my blog posts!). And ‘marginalised’ has a much shorter word count than giving some concrete examples of the people you’re referring to.
That’s why this stuff is hard and requires a fair bit of effort. As Mark Twain said “I didn’t have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one instead”. Writing/editing something into 200 hard-working words takes longer than writing 800 scattergun ones.
Words you should use more of:
- You
There, that was easy. There’s no sound sweeter to someone than their own name. Remember from the previous post that your supporters are supposed to be the heroes of your story. Why not start making them feel like it…
There is simply no denying it – Buzz Bingo would be nothing without its members. We love the connection we share with every single one of you and are always working to give you the best possible experiences.
This is why we are always open to collaboration on a range of issues, including one of the most important of all – safety.
Safer Gambling Week
Staying safe online is so vital and it is rightly the focus of an important campaign taking place this month.
From November 19th to 25th, we are joining the rest of our industry in marking Safer Gambling Week. The aim? To help everyone understand what the industry is doing to keep its players safe, whether that is through the use of tools or the availability of advice and support.
Considering the relationship we have with our players, we’re keen to bring them in on this conversation and work with them to keep the online bingo environment fun, exciting and – above all else – safe. Here are just a few ways we are trying to do that.
1. Creating community
Bingo has always been a social game and we have been proud to continue that tradition online with our chat function. This allows our players to have a good natter as the action unfolds, while chat stars may also pop up to offer advice and even a prize or two.
Of course, proper use of the chat function is vital to ensure everyone stays safe, so we have rules in place on that front. We would urge all of our players to follow the required etiquette so that our chat stars and customer service team do not have to intervene.
2. Know your limit
Our efforts to support our customers have led to the creation of a range of tools designed to ensure that they always have a fun experience on our games.
Deposit limits allow you to set a budget across a day, week or month, while you can also summon your inner-basketball coach and call “time out!” to freeze your account for any period up to six weeks. If time really is of the essence, game play reminders will let you know how long you’ve been going for, while self-exclusion may be something to consider if you want to take a longer step back from the site.
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3. Remember rules
Finally, we always want our players to know the score when it comes to our gaming selection and that is why we have provided a host of information on rules and gameplay across the site.
We would encourage players to have a read of the general rules of play, while any queries on specific elements of gameplay may be found within some games themselves. Having a proper understanding of games will help you get more from them, which in turn means there is more fun to be had.
Get the best from your bingo
Safety is the secret ingredient to a great gaming experience, as we think players who feel safe are more likely to get the best out of their time on Buzz Bingo.
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We’ve taken a range of steps to make safety a priority and hope these go some way to ensuring your time with us is a happy one.
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