Ipex is an international print show – a once-every-four-years occasion that attracts all the industry big-hitters. Multi-million dollar marketing budgets are flexed as exhibitors jostle for the limelight amidst a fanfare of new launches.

Clearly, many months of planning had gone into some of the booth designs.  The sheer scale of many stands was impressive.  And yet, all too often, the on-stand messaging delivered nothing but bold, bland claims – ‘we do this; we do that; and oh, we do it very well!’ Yes – you and the rest of the hall. 

One exhibitor chose another route. Their stand featured larger-than-life cut-outs of their customers. Onto each cut-out was printed a quote explaining how the exhibitor had helped improve each of the customers’ operations.

Amidst all the corporate power-plays and self-eulogising how refreshing to see a company with the confidence to let their customers do the talking.

Content isn’t just about words on the page or on screen. Businesses must take care to find the right messages at every point of contact with customers or prospects.

What you say might be very similar to competitors. How you say it can give you the edge.

I booked a well-deserved holiday this month and conducted all of my destination research online. How antiquated the thought of browsing through dog-eared brochures in a High St. travel agency now feels. Online I was able to search on price and location, view videos of possible accommodation, read reviews from other travellers – everything but dip a toe in the pool.

However, one common niggle kept distracting me like a persistent Mediterranean mosquito. Too many websites offered inadequate translations.

The language choice would be given – click the union jack for an English version. But once clicked, the resulting text read as if written by a Spanish waiter who’d learned English from touring stag parties. And that was just the French websites!

I have no doubt that many UK holiday companies are just as poor in this respect as their European counterparts. In fact, I wonder how many even offer a translation? And yet, in a world made smaller by faster, cheaper travel, what price this fudging of the language issue? How much lost business results?

Badly written English certainly made me feel less confident about spending my money with the holiday operators in question. I imagine foreign tourists feel the same about the English equivalents. At a time when every business is fighting tooth and nail for market share, surely it’s not too much trouble to find a native-language speaker to check and double-check text?

Once again, it all comes down to content. You might have the finest product known to man. But if the words you use to describe it are poor, your sales will undoubtedly suffer.

Now, where did I put those Speedos…

The trend has already started with companies turning to everyday employees to promote the brand rather than expensive famous faces. High street banks are an obvious example (although, ironically, the gurning Halifax Howard has now become a minor celebrity in his own right).

Then, of course, there have been the major brand embarrassments. Tiger Woods, John Terry, Ashley Cole – all previously lending their name and face to at least one product in between their extra-curricular activities.

Surely, any clear-thinking marketing managers will now think twice about the relative benefits of celebrity endorsement. Perhaps there will be a swing back to true creativity – where it’s the message and the image that sells, rather than the face.

Matt is one of Lindsell’s ace copywriters with a real talent for transforming client messages into copy that speaks the customer’s language. A brief stint in horse-racing journalism (despite barely knowing port from starboard on a horse) honed Matt’s eye for dissecting jargon and spotting a story at a thousand paces.