Michael J. Katz hates boring business communications. He’s devised a scoring system to check your writing. Based on his pet mascot the Blue Penguin (His company is named Blue Penguin Development and he calls himself Chief Penguin), it’s easy to remember. Next time you write an email, a newsletter, prepare a power point presentation, check your PENGUINscore™.

  Enter the PENGUINscore™. Inspired by the APGAR score — the universally accepted system for assessing the general physical condition of a newborn baby — the PENGUINscore™ assesses the effectiveness of your business communications. It’s equally simple to use and in terms of the "health" of your message, equally critical.

P = Position:  Did you take a position, say something that will make others take notice?

E = Easy: Did you make it easy for people to understand?

N = Narrow: Did you focus on a few simple ideas, or try to explain the universe?

G = Genuine: Is it genuine, does it sound like it comes from you; does it touch people on the human level they crave?

U = Useful: Is it useful, does it shed light on something, have you given them something of value?

I = Infectious: Did you give them something to think about, talk about, disagree with, something to spark a conversation?

uN = Unexpected: Is it unexpected? Did you break a pattern, flaunt convention, get their attention?

I agree with Michael. Quite frankly, I don’t know any other Chief Penguins, but this one’s not boring. He writes a great newsletter about writing newsletters.

Dear readers, what are you’re cues for not boring your readers? Got any tips?

Simple but profound words from Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion.com. He posts about "The Secret Sauce of Corporate Blogs." What’s the secret to getting read and creating a large following of readers? Good content. That goes for blogs, newsletters and website copy. Here’s an excerpt of Steve’s post:

The Secret Sauce for Any Corporate Blog

The question comes up at every event or pitch – “how will our blog get noticed among the throngs of millions?” Good question. There are millions of corporate web sites. However, this surely hasn’t stopped companies from investing in new ones every day. So I don’t see why this should inhibit blogging. Still, in this era of marketing ROI, I recognize that this is a key hurdle to overcome before someone green-lights a budget.

The short answer is, your blog won’t get noticed unless you nurture it. This means – in an ideal situation – weekly or even daily someone is pumping the weblog with fresh compelling content. But any old content won’t do. Corporations interested in blogging need to add value to people’s lives. That’s the biggest key to a successful corporate blog that keeps people coming back.

So what do I mean by add value? I mean give us a reason to read your blog. Give us something we can’t find anywhere else. Provide information that your customers, partners and prospects care about, not necessarily what you care about. Be a resource and a connector.