Author: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com
About Author: Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.
Published articles: 47
by Philip Yaffe Anyone who has travelled outside his own country is aware of the thrill—and frustration—of dealing with foreign languages. The thrill comes from the fact that the languages are foreign. When you hear people speaking differently from you, and see newspapers, magazines, posters and other written materials that look different …
by Philip Yaffe “I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, I don’t know which half.” This succinct resume of the advertiser’s dilemma is often attributed to John Wanamaker, the department store pioneer. Some people prefer to give the credit to Henry Ford, the …
by Philip Yaffe What you are about to read will probably sound familiar. Indeed, it has been said many times before. However, I believe this formulation is original and may help you better apply it in your marketing communication. I immodestly call it Yaffe’s Law. Yaffe’s Law If you …
by Philip Yaffe Recommending that you stop writing press releases and start writing news releases is not a play on words. It is sound advice. In common parlance, “press release” and “news release” mean the same thing. However, the terminology people use often betrays a fundamental difference in how they put …
by Philip Yaffe Native English-speakers are increasingly exhorted to learn foreign languages to play a more effective role in globalisation. However, we tend not to learn foreign languages for three very valid reasons. 1. Many other peoples in the world are not just exhorted to learn English, they are required to do so. …
by Philip Yaffe You may not have thought about it, but newspapers provide the best examples of clear, concise, dense (factual) writing you can find anywhere. Otherwise people wouldn’t read them. Journalists not only write superbly well, they do so extremely rapidly. When a news event occurs, they don’t have the luxury of …
by Philip Yaffe At first glance mathematics and persuasive communication – writing, and particularly public speaking – public speaking would seem to have little in common. After all, mathematics is an objective science, whilst public speaking involves voice quality, inflection, eye contact, personality, body language, and other subjective components. However, under the surface they are …