Make Your Business Writing More Powerful

If you are a business owner, you may not be able to outsource your copywriting. Your marketing plan should include a lot of content and much of it may be self-written. Whether it is your company newsletter, a blog, direct mail pieces or sales letters, you know you must be continually reaching out to your customers to stay on top of the competition. Making your writing more powerful is one way to do this.

Be brief, especially in headlines and greetings. Tell your reader, up front, what you are writing about. Robert Bly and Michael Masterson, expert copywriters recommend that your headlines be useful, unique, ultra specific and urgent.

Avoid the passive tense!!! Not only does the passive tense break the “be brief” rule, it also is, well, passive-not powerful! For example the PASSIVE: “The bar exam was failed by nearly half of the candidates” is not as good as the ACTIVE: “Nearly half of the candidates failed the bar exam.”

Important points should be repeated in your writing. Rewrite it so you are not saying the exact same thing repeatedly. But do rewrite and repeat special items you want to draw attention to like features, special promotions or guarantees.

Emotional words are powerful. If you need inspiration while writing, Google “emotional words” and you will find several lists to draw from. If you are an office supply store, consider the difference between these questions: “Are you overwhelmed and exhausted at the big box supply stores trying to find what you need with no help?” versus “Do you wish your store offered better customer service?”. One is clearly more compelling.

Use storytelling. There are whole books about how storytelling is impacting business marketing these days. Examine your business for YOUR story and integrate it whenever you can. The above plumbing contractor is much more intriguing when you find that they also play country music on the weekends or are a fourth generation plumber! Let readers know who you are.

Use bullets, bold type, italics, indents, borders, white space, color, and other graphic effects to break up your writing. Long paragraphs of text bore readers whose attention spans are shorter than ever. Set off important points with these features.

The more powerful your writing, the more compelling your content is for readers. It doesn’t take much to improve this skill. You can easily make small changes to make your marketing materials more unique and more likely to attract attention.

With 30+ years consulting experience, Steven Schlagel provides training and coaching for startups, entrepreneurs and small business owners. Check his site for more articles to increase your success!