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1954 was Benjy Stone’s favorite year, as Benjy (Mark Linn-Baker) informs us in the opening narration of this film. A rookie writer for King Kaiser’s live comedy/variety show, he gets an assignment to watch over the latest weekly guest, former big-screen swashbuckler and ladies’ man Alan Swann (Peter O’Toole), to ensure that the besotted star can make it through the week of rehearsals sober enough to manage the live broadcast.

This is easier said than done, but not entirely for the expected reasons. Of course Alan Swann misbehaves predictably, leading Benjy through a boozy roller-coaster week, but underneath the bravado lurk crippling fears and insecurities. For one thing, he isn’t “Alan Swann” at all — he’s Clarence Duffy, a working-class boy who got a few lucky breaks and assumed a persona to perpetuate the hoax into fame and fortune. The glittering lifestyle swept him away, alienating him from his family to the point where he’s afraid to even speak to his daughter.

In light of this character crisis, we shouldn’t be too surprised when he begs off the performance. He can’t be Alan Swann to those millions of viewers watching live. He can’t make the lie work away from the forgiving atmosphere of a movie studio. “I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star!” he screams in terror.

But he’s forgotten something. To those millions of people who idolized him on those movie screens for so many years, he is Alan Swann, whether he himself believes it or not. Actor or not, he has created a living, breathing character, literally giving the performance of a lifetime in the process. As Benjy reminds him, “Nobody’s that good an actor!”

So when paid ruffians interrupt the live performance to beat up King Kaiser in mid-skit, who should come to the rescue but Alan Swann, swinging in on a cable like the movie swashbuckler of old. Perception hasn’t become reality, because it always was the reality, as Swann now understands.

That’s true you and your brand as well. Your audience knows only what it perceives. When you create a brand and project it to a mass audience, you open a window into a new little sliver of reality. Never mind that you’re secretly sweating bullets about whether your latest product will tank — as far as your readers are concerned, it’s the most exciting thing since the proverbial sliced bread.

But perception can also work against you. If you communicate your marketing message like an amateur, then that’s the persona you’ve created for all the world to see. If your website is slapdash, your marketing copy dry or weak, your brand identity confusing or nonexistent, then you’ve identified yourself as Clarence Duffy, not Alan Swann. And there’s no virtue in that level of “truth,” because you’re Alan Swann too!

Put your best self into your marketing — and have your own favorite year.

Lights up. The scene is a plush office in a bustling metropolis. A large man in a silk suit buzzes a younger, leaner, more nervous-looking man into his office. They greet each other and exchange a few minutes of small talk about the national industry trends, the latest headlines, the word on the street. The bigger man asks the smaller man to have a seat, then perches on the edge of his desk and speaks in apologetic tones to the smaller man about the company’s current challenges before dropping the reason he’s called the fellow in.

The smaller man yells, “What do you mean, I’m fired?”

Curtain. End of scene — or is it the beginning?

Yes, the opening paragraph sets a tone — it prepares the audience for a looming crisis in the conversation, gives us background information, and so on. A playwright or novelist could, in fact, draw that scene out for several minutes or pages to build suspense, especially if the audience has an idea of what’s coming to the poor dope in the chair.

Or we could do this:

Lights up. “What do you mean, I’m fired?”

Which opening gets our attention faster and propels us into the scene more forcefully?

One of the most useful things my playwriting instructors used to harp about was to “start in the middle.” Atmosphere and exposition have their uses, but the story doesn’t start until something happens.

Marketing writing sometimes suffers from this kind of foot dragging. I think we have it drilled into us when we’re writing those five-paragraph essays in school: “I will now talk about this, and I will support my thesis with these paragraphs, and in summary here’s my conclusion.” It’s linear, it’s clear, and it’s easy to grade. But it’s also predictable, and if you always know what’s coming next in a marketing piece, you might as well stop reading it and get back to work.

It’s fun to tease readers that something big is coming soon if they’ll just be patient and bear with you, but they may not feel like waiting for the drum roll. If your readers or website visitors aren’t sticking around for the exciting part, try dropping them right into the exciting part instead. Save the boring part for — well, nothing, actually. Boring doesn’t belong in marketing, so throw the boring part out. Fill your audience in on the details after you’ve hooked them, because without the hook, I guarantee you the details won’t matter.

Curtain.

And now another entry in the annals of writing gone wrong — things we shouldn’t do but somehow manage to do anyway, even those of us who know better. Let me add my usual disclaimer that the words themselves don’t necessarily leave me shaking my head, just the way they’re used (and abused).

Without further ado, here are my latest candidates for the Hall of Shame:

“In order to” — Only two of the letters in this phrase matter. Can you find them?

“You should,” “Be sure to,” “Make sure you,” etc. — The imperative that isn’t. If you want to tell the reader to do something, just tell them to do it.

“Very” — This word is like a volume knob with no indicator markings. How much is “very?” Let’s say you want to communicate that a film conveys a powerful message. Does “very powerful” really make the point any better than “powerful?”

“Great,” “Terrific,” “Fabulous,” etc. — More garbage words (see “Very”). “This movie is great!” What the heck does that mean? How is it great? Is it deeply mournful, crackling with dramatic tension, sweet-natured and amiable, refreshingly silly? “Great” means whatever the reader wants it to mean. State what you mean.

End of harangue. Go back to writing. Have fun. And as they used to say on Hill Street Blues, “Let’s be careful out there.”

Well, here we are. 2010 has arrived, and many business owners will take great delight in kicking 2009 to the curb. Of course it’s just a number, not a magic spell for success. But perception is a form of magic, isn’t it? Or rather, let’s call it a self-fulfilling prophecy — businesses want and expect better things, so they grow more confident, take more chances, and invest new energy into their branding and marketing strategies. Their competitors resolve to keep up, so they turbo-charge their business efforts to match. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Just as fear and negativity can make a bad market even worse, so may positive energy and ambition spark good developments. A new year tends to reset the clock, psychologically speaking. That’s why I’m determined to create new products and services and grow my writing business this year.

How about you?

Take a moment to reflect on the following questions:

Is your brand still relevant? Are you still saying what your customers need and want to hear? Has your business model or philosophy changed in the past year, or do you want to change it going forward?

Are you taking full advantage of your opportunities? Have you constructed a sound online brand presence? Are you using the many tools available to businesses nowadays such as Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, and other social media applications?

Do you refresh your marketing content regularly? Staying in front of your target market on a regular basis means putting out a constant stream of new and useful information.

Are you networked? Do you interact with other businesspeople regularly in chambers, networking groups, mixers, and association meetings? Have you developed mutually beneficial relationships with potential clients and referral partners, and if so, do you have a consistent plan for maintaining them?

We all need to remind ourselves of these basic marketing practices from time to time, and I can think of no better time than right now. Let’s make the new year something really new!