Your Business, In Writing

I’m a big believer in the power of properly crafted words. So many business owners excel at telling their friends, family and total strangers about what they do and why they do it, but that doesn’t always translate into the written word.

Writing is just not the same as speaking, and this is true of short form writing, like social media posts, as well as long form writing, like blog posts.

When you speak, you can correct yourself as you go along. The person listening to you can ask questions or show confusion, so you know when you need to clarify or change your description. You can use slang, repeat yourself, leave sentences unfinished and even make a grammatical mistake or two.

But writing is a whole different ball game. Expectations are higher. Grammar needs to be perfect, words must be spelled correctly and you need to be extremely clear. Attention spans being what they are these days, you need to grab the reader and keep him or her interested from the beginning to the end.

A good piece of marketing writing isn’t about what you want to tell people about your business, it’s about what they want to know. Unlike in speaking, you have no verbal feedback or facial clues to go by. You have to figure out what your audience wants to read about before you start writing. You need an angle that will grip them and language that will keep them hooked.

At the end of the day, content marketing (whether digital or print) markets you as the smartest and best solution to your client’s problem. A successful piece of content tells your readers who you are and why they should care. It gives them a reason to stay connected to your brand, work with you and/or recommend you to others.