Microsoft
Business Consultations Concepting Guide
Creative, Copy & Art Direction
June 2021
Contents
03 Objective
12 Copy Guide
04 Sample Creative
22 Art Direction
05 Landing Page 09 Instagram Carousel 10 Linkedln 11 Email
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Beyond the Surface
Objective Let’s humanize our business consultations and show professionals how their business will benefit from a live meeting with a product expert.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Objective
Professionals can easily buy hardware and software all by themselves. So, let’s show what consultations will do for businesses beyond just helping them purchase tablets or cloud services. By focusing on the individualized quality of meetings (without overpromising), we’ll humanize product experts by positioning them as real people who listen, actively assess business needs, and help weigh options in real time.
Sample Creative
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Landing Page
Business consultations Every consultation is as unique as your business. Talk to a Microsoft product expert to find the solutions and tools that will help your business thrive in its own way. We’re here for you. Seriously, just for you. Whether you’re looking for advice about remote work solutions or cloud services, our product experts will always assess your specific business needs before helping you find the right hardware and software for your team. Book a consultation
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Landing Page / Continued
In real time. Chat one-on-one with a product expert to ask questions, have actual conversations, and talk out decisions. On your time. Forget commute times and lineups, and book a virtual appointment that fits your schedule perfectly. We’re available Mon-Fri, 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM PT Sat-Sun, 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM PT For all your needs From hello to setup to deployment, experts are ready to help. Completely free Expert advice doesn’t cost a thing. All you need is a screen and some Wi-Fi.
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Landing Page / Team
Talk to a real person. When you book a consultation, you’ll always meet with an actual human being, every time. Book a consultation
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Landing Page / Testimonial
“My team and I aren’t very tech savvy, so Mike walked us through the entire setup until everything was up and running!” –Arnold, CEO at Rusty Bike Emporium We build solutions that help build your business. Whether you work in the restaurant, insurance, or flower industry, we’ll find products that help elevate your particular business.
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Instagram Carousel
Business solutions are not one-sizefits-all. Talk to a Microsoft product expert to find tools that suit your specific business needs. Book Now
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Book a live meeting and chat in real time with a product expert to find tech solutions that work for your business. We bring life to business consultations Book Now
*Image would show product expert in uniform.
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Microsoft Business Consultations
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Copy Guide
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Microsoft Business Consultations
We’re humans, not bots.
When someone books a Microsoft business consultation, they will always get to talk with a real person, and this sets us apart. So, let’s shout it from the rooftops—well, actually, let’s use our professional inside voices to tell people about it. Whenever possible, we explain why it’s beneficial to book a live meeting: ● ● ●
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Real people can actively listen. Real people can assess. Real people help make decisions.
Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
We listen
We assess
We help decide
We don’t just give you solutions. We listen, ask questions, and help you figure out exactly what your business needs are.
Our product experts will always assess your business needs before helping you find the right hardware and software solutions.
Surface Laptop 4 or Surface Pro 7? What kind of cloud services? Whatever you’re trying to decide, we can help you weigh your options.
Say it without saying it.
When we aren’t explicitly telling customers that they’ll get to meet with real, live product experts, we say it implicitly by referring to business consultations as “live,” “real,” and “face-to-face.”
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Live
Real
Face-to-face
Book a live business consultation.
Discuss different tech solutions with our product experts in real time.
Meet face-to-face with a product expert to find the solutions that work for your business.
Talk the talk.
Telling customers that we’re real people won’t work if we don’t sound human. While our tone should be professional, we steer clear of language that seems stuck-up, automized, or lifeless. We want customers to book a conversation with us, so we should sound, well, conversational. Uncomplicated communication, straightforward statements, contractions, and sentences that start with conjunctions are great. Buzzwords and office lingo? Not so much.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Too robotic
Too casual
Just Right
Whatever your business requires, our product experts are here to assist you.
Our product experts are live—and alive! Chat business with a real person.
Chat one-on-one with a product expert to ask questions, have actual conversations, and talk out decisions.
Make an appointment now.
We go above but not too far beyond.
Anyone who truly knows their stuff doesn’t have to prove it with big, fancy words. That’s why we use short sentences, avoid convoluted business terms, and never overpromise. We give amazing tech advice for businesses. It’s as simple—and as great—as that. We don’t need to overestimate our abilities.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
We’re not
We are
Business consultants.
Product experts.
Ready to give business advice.
Ready to give tech advice for businesses.
Able to advise on remote work.
Able to advise on tech solutions for remote work.
Call it what it is—sometimes.
We talk, chat, or meet with business customers, rather than consult with them. And we try to avoid overusing the terms, “consultation” and “business consultation,” opting to say, “In our meetings...” or “Let’s talk business...” But, of course, we should feel free to use the term “business consultations” when we need to be clear. Moderation is key. In terms of CTAs, we always say “Book a consultation” when we want business customers to schedule.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Too much
Just right
In our business consultations, we’ll consult with you come up with the right solutions.
When you meet one-on-one with our product experts, we’ll come up with the right solutions for your business.
Book a consultation
Book a consultation
We’re a team.
When we talk about product experts, we talk about them collectively, not individually. We don’t call them by name or mention their individual strengths—no product expert is more savvy than another in any specific area. Instead, we talk about ourselves as a team, focusing on saying, “we” and “ours.”
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Too focused on individuals
Focused on our team
Chat with a product expert who specializes in helping businesses with remote work solutions.
Our product experts are pros at helping businesses find tech solutions for remote work.
It’s not all about us.
When people see themselves in a description, it immediately humanizes the content. That’s why we reference specific business categories, like healthcare, bike shops, and restaurants, so professionals can see themselves among our wide variety of customers. We also feature specific business owners, but when we choose quotes, we pick ones that aren’t too specific. While a bit of specificity makes something more relatable, too much isolates the reader.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Not relatable
Relatable
Originally, I wanted a Surface 4 for remote work. But after talking about it with Sandra, I realized that since my daughter sometimes takes my laptop to school, I should get a Surface Pro 7 because it’s more portable.
My team and I aren’t very tech savvy, so Mike walked us through the entire setup until everything was up and running!
All work and no wordplay makes copy dull.
We’re talking about work and business, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be playful with our headlines. While we avoid silly or cheesy jokes, a little personality goes a long way. Basically, we want to be the friendly coworker, not the “as per my last email…” coworker.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Too dry
Too cheesy
Just Right
Business consultations help your business reach its true potential.
We mean business when it comes to your business.
We’re here for you. Seriously, just for you.
It’s all in the timing.
Even when the world goes back to in-person meetings, we still need people to book and see value in our virtual meetings. So, wherever we can, we focus on the time-saving convenience of business consultations: ●
●
●
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Conveniently fit virtual consultations between meetings at work. Find a time that works for your schedule. Virtual meetings minimize commute times.
Microsoft Business Consultations / Copy Guide
Convenient
Easy to schedule
Saves time
Meet with us on your coffee break, between meetings, or whenever works for you.
Whatever your schedule looks like, you can find a virtual appointment that suits your timeline.
Forget commute times and lineups, and book.
Art Direction
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Microsoft Business Consultations
Featuring the product expert.
A window into the call To bring warmth and humanity, showcase bright, friendly product experts, actively listening or engaging in discussion. Photography and lighting Lenses and angles should be chosen to mimic a laptop or desktop camera. We shoot very close to the subject and from a slightly upward angle (laptop) or slightly downward angle (desktop). Lighting should be warm and inviting. And a slight haze with areas of overexposure helps create a natural feeling, one that’s un-staged and slightly imperfect.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Art Direction
Posing and action Feature product experts using their hands, smiling, waving, and greeting. To bring product into the shots, show comparisons and have the associates point out product details and features (figure 4, 5).
Figure 1 .
Product experts should be dressed in their uniform. Composition considerations For landing page banners (figure 1), we’ll need lots of “negative space” to the left of the subject for the copy block.
Figure 2 .
Figure 3 .
Figure 4 .
Figure 5 .
*These reference focus on the product expert. Refer to page 26 for specific direction on the background/environment.
Featuring the product expert.
Ready for you For placements with less context, like advertisements on other platforms, take a step back from the product expert’s computer camera and show them at their workspace. Posing and action Product experts should be posed as if they’re ready to take a call, but they’re not on one. Show them looking at the camera, smiling and approachable – genuine smiles are key, try not to overdo it. Treat it like a documentary moment. We catch a glimpse of their work day, and we’re breaking the fourth wall. Or we’re meeting this person for coffee, and they’re greeting us as we sit down at the table.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Art Direction
Composition considerations For ad placements, these images may be required in multiple aspect ratios, from wide-width banners to square social posts.
Featuring the expert.
Our Team For the Business Consultations page, we’d like to produce a team photo showcasing the multiplicity of products experts available to help. Our product experts will be dressed in their black uniform. Posing should be friendly and approachable. At the same time, we need to maintain a level of professionalism, so experts should appear attentive, leaning in, and looking engaged. Some experts should hold devices to let customers know that virtual consultations can include product demos.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Art Direction
Considerations Figure 1 is the best reference for the overall style and composition. We like the incorporation of technology, the simple styling of the chairs and lineup of the product experts.
Overall style and composition
Be sure to represent diversity as much as possible in our image – size, shape, age, ethnicity, etc. Focus on getting genuine smiles (or just pleasant faces) and relaxed poses. To avoid getting stiff, keep shifting weight and changing poses to find what’s natural and comfortable.
Figure 1 .
Diversity & posing
Featuring the expert.
The environment Shoot in a warm and friendly office space or a place that’s ambiguous, somewhere between home and work. Spaces with lots of natural light, plants, and touches of colour are ideal. Use a shallow depth of field to focus on the product expert and blur the background. We don’t want anything too corporate: nothing sterile, cold, or anything that could resemble a call-centre. Avoid showing lots of people, desks in the background, or fluorescent lighting. We also want to avoid anything that looks like it’s targeting consumers. That’s why we show a designated workspace, not a coffee shop or a person’s home.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Art Direction
Too corporate
Too consumer
Just Right – Referencing the background only
Featuring the SMB.
A day in the life These images show an SMB at work. They should be candid and shot in a realistic setting. Work areas shouldn’t be overly clean or staged, and the subject shouldn’t be overly styled. Keep things natural. Include enough of the environment to show what kind of job or industry is being featured. And it’s important to show diverse industries and business sizes (health care, retail, food & grocery, studios and firms etc.). Some professionals may be working from home as well.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Art Direction
Technology As much as possible, technology should be present in the photo. But, the subjects don’t need to be engaging with the tech if it doesn’t seem natural, so don’t force it. Composition considerations For ad placements, these images may be required in multiple aspect ratios, from wide-width banners to square social posts.
Featuring the SMB.
Featured Testimonials
On a call
To accompany a testimonial quote from a business owner or employee, we’ll use images like in figures 1-3. Feature owners and employees in a realistic, naturally-styled environment. But unlike the images that show SMBs at work, in these images, we see a connection to the camera. Testimonials show a momentary pause in their work day. As if we’ve caught them walking by or looking up from a task, owners and employees should be at their desk or in their work environment, not posed at a blank wall or isolated from their workspace.
Like in figures 4-6, make sure to show a few calls on a mobile device, too. Since we are constantly seeing higher engagement on mobile, we want to emphasize the appeal of on-the-go meetings. Also, consider showing a few coworkers together. In all instances, the scene should appear relaxed, pleasant, and the subject should be engaged.
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Microsoft Business Consultations / Art Direction
Composition considerations For ad placements, these images may be required in multiple aspect ratios, from wide-width banners to square social posts.
Figure 1 .
Figure 2 .
Figure 3 .
Figure 4 .
Figure 5 .
Figure 6 .
Thank you.
