Good writing is essential. Bad writing has closed businesses. Loose lips sink ships. For a business, writing in the form of advertising copy is one of the first touch points for prospects. While it’s a stretch, one might even argue that a business’s name is ad copy. Writing is one way that people dive into, or opt out of, businesses. Writing is how you convert leads into sales & manage your team. With that said, here are a few ideas that I’ve seen work well.
1. Brevity
People are busy. It’s been said 1,000 times, but we’re in the instant info age. So you are competing with untold numbers of distractions, not including your competition, for your customer’s attention. So be concise but, leave no room for misinterpretation.
2. Don’t Take It Lightly
Bad writing is dangerous. How many times have you seen an ad with great design, but terrible copy. Did it leave you confused too? Or how many times have you picked up something, maybe full of important information, but put it down because it was too difficult to read? There’s a story of a PC manufacturer in the 1980s who went out of business because their manuals were too hard to read. And Professor Dorothy Winsor famously said ‘a history of miscommunication ’caused the Challenger space shuttle to crash. Let’s not take shortcuts here.
3. Give the People What They Want
Know your customer’s personality types. How would they like to be spoken to? Are they formal or casual? Build these things into your presentations. You’ll gradually learn these things as you go through your sales cycle. But if you’re going in cold, you can troll their website, talk to their customers or vendors or use a survey. Surveys are a great tool to identify those things. And imagine, we can help design & deploy your survey.
4. Bespoke Marketing
Think about how your product & it’s marketing fits your client’s workflow. Are they more open to product pitches in print, interactive media, live events or face to face? Do they like over the top copywriting or something more subtle. They may use your product with speed in mind. Or maybe your product is synonymous with success. Figure out how they connect the dots & tailor your approach.
5. Lose the Arrogant Tone
I see a lot of marketers struggle with this. I know it’s hard. You’re a successful marketer or business person and probably have sizeable following. But boiling over with cockiness may not go over well with prospects, or anyone. As proud as you may be of your product, most products are really just a means to an end in a customer’s eyes. Doesn’t laying it on too thick give off bad salesman vibes? How do you feel when arrogance is directed towards you? Consider sprinkling in some humility & respect into your message.
6. Your Headline is Crucial
Most people skim advertisements, focusing their attention on the headline. More so, ads like billboards or search engine results offer little room bad writing. Headlines are vital, so test them. If you’ve used a headline to great effect before, expand on it. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Keep the headline short, but not too clever. Not everyone likes or even gets esoteric humor. So when in doubt keep things simple.
7. Awareness
Customers can’t buy something they have no idea exists. Get straight to the point, explain what your product is and what problem it solves. Make sure this is communicated clearly. Customers have a short attention span and if they don’t get it, will pass you over.
Business owners, managers and employees are busy. Especially when business is good, things like business writing can be overlooked. But don’t overlook writing. In a nutshell, writing is how you come across. Good writing skills can help you be perceived positively and enhance credibility.
Hope you enjoyed these facts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Have a fantastic day & woo some prospects with great copy.