Business Writing That Sells. Part 15

I’ve been a professional writer since 1998 and as Editor for The Business Show and Business Startup, I have worked with literally thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs to improve their content marketing. As a freelance copywriter specialising in content marketing, I meet and talk with many entrepreneurs, start-up founders and owners of SMEs on a regular basis. I will share some of my secrets and tricks of the trade with you here. Today, I explain why less really is more.

 

It’s 2015. We have the internet, RSS feeds, forums, broadcast TV, on demand viewing, YouTube and the appropriately named Twitch. Forget everything you thought you knew about constructing copy with cadence and a crescendo; your audience struggles to absorb a 30-second ad.

Consumers in the 21^st Century are bombarded from all sides with marketing messages – or more accurately, cries for their attention. These people would rather think about what they want for dinner, how their relationship’s going, or who will win this weekend’s big game. They didn’t ask you to market at them. So how do you get their attention?

Get to the point!

Don’t fuck about. If you have something to say, get it said! It’s a sad truth for a lover of words like me, but long copy is seldom read. If you have game-changing research, or a truly compelling personal story, then go for your life; long copy still has its place. But for most of us, brevity is not only the soul of wit, it’s also where the sharp marketing money goes. This isn’t an essay that needs to reach a word count to keep ‘Teach’ happy. If you can convey the same message in fewer words, do it. It’ll probably be more powerful anyway; four words good, two words better.

Content marketing is poetry

Pretentious? Moi? Sure! I’m a published poet you’ll find in the national library, but like poetry, copywriting is about using as few words as possible to say as much as possible. It’s a zen approach to writing that rewards minimum effort with maximum results – less is more! It’s a skill I learned with the early mobile internet’s WAP and one that holds just as true today with Twitter.

Practical advice?

• Keep it as short as possible
• Write for skimming
• Use links

To sum up:

Get in, get out, get sales.

 

If you find the series – or any of the articles in it – useful, please share them via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or your own blog. I’d really appreciate it, thanks. If you need professional copywriting for anything from your new web copy to marketing collateral and press releases, I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today to find out how I could help your business.