Memorable stories engage readers. When writers default to marketing speak, their work seems designed to disengage the audience. But clear, precise language compels and propels the reader. The writer’s ultimate goal is to make an impression on the reader. Ideally, this impression is meaningful enough to compel your reader to click the next link.
Clean, clear, bold copy ensures that your writing and your brand make a strong impression.
The requirements of marketing have a way of dampening a story’s spark. The stories we want to tell about a brand often feel predetermined or hemmed in. SEO requirements or sales angles may dictate what sentences and vocabulary are available to writers. But when given the freedom to choose language and make bold choices, writers create. And creativity is an antidote to dull marketing jargon that fails to engage audiences.
If you want your audience to remember your content and remain curious about your organisation, evoke the power of language. Here are a few tips to put the spark back into your writing.
Know your audience.
For every piece of marketing copy you write, you should envision your audience—or the audience you aspire to reach. Think carefully about the need this audience is seeking to meet. Are they gathering information? Are they looking for data? Are they at the beginning or final stages of purchasing or closing a deal?
Meet the reader’s needs using their own language. Tailor your vocabulary and word choice to the audience you seek to convince.
For example, someone researching products or services like yours likely knows little about your industry. They don’t possess the insider knowledge and vocabulary you and your colleagues use daily. By contrast, someone in your industry familiar with your organisation’s offerings likely possesses a deeper understanding and a more specialised vocabulary. These differences should inform the tone, content, and word choice in your writing.
Writing specifically designed to connect with the audience—down to the letter—is memorable. When a blog post makes an industry insider feel like an expert learning from a peer, they’ll remember it. And they’re likely to speak highly of the organisation. When a website enables junior-level employees to educate themselves about products and services in a language they understand, they can easily relay it to their colleagues and supervisors. Customising language to the audience yields impactful, effective marketing content.
Quick tips to connect with your audience:
- Identify your reader’s needs and meet them.
- Use vocabulary appropriate to your audience’s level of understanding of your industry.
- Avoid industry jargon and acronyms, unless your audience loves them.
Avoid clichés like the plague.
Clichés drain otherwise good writing of specificity and power.
If you describe your firm’s product as a diamond in the rough, it’s only a diamond. Your description pre-empts other descriptions that might be more precise, and that might appeal more effectively to your audience.
Clichés create inexact analogies. Is your product really a diamond in the rough? Or is it a standout product in a crowded industry? Or does its specific functionalities make it unique in the market? Will it help your reader solve a complex problem? When you describe your product–what it is and what it offers–you provide compelling, useful information. When you use a cliché, you make an imprecise comparison that your reader is unlikely to remember.
Don’t generalise. Give your reader specifics. Perhaps your product is:
- Highly effective at accomplishing a particular goal
- Easier to use or more convenient than your competitors’ products
- A better return on investment than other products on the market
- Designed to meet a specific need
Collaborate.
Every writer has their bad habits. Some overuse the semicolon. Others get twisted up in long sentences or commit the sin of splitting the infinitive. Getting other people’s eyes on your work helps identify and correct these habits.
However, impactful writing demands more than editing and revision. Writers have access to online resources that can identify grammar mistakes. We can utilise AI to help us generate error-free content. But it’s up to the writer to get the language just right. To do so, writers need the perspectives of knowledgeable people in the field. Creating content for a specific organisation, may mean interviewing subject matter experts to nail the tone and vocabulary. Asking for quick feedback from an expert in your own organisation can help you make the minor tweaks that elevate your content.
Partnering with a copywriting agency grants access to content creation experts who can help elevate your content into memorable, compelling arguments in favor of your firm’s products or services. These agencies typically benefit from a deep bench of expert writers who can help you and your team discover opportunities where precise, powerful writing can turn prospective clients into customers.
Copywriting and SEO agencies’ powerful insight into the relevant algorithms put your content in front of the right audience. By implementing an effective SEO strategy, you create an opportunity for more potential clients to benefit from memorable, informative content. The content creator’s job is to make this content bold and precise.
Excellent collaborators:
- Expert colleagues (especially when the writer isn’t an expert)
- Copywriting agency partners
- SEO agency partners
- Fellow writers
Give them the facts
When you can illustrate the arguments you’ve made in your writing with data and bullet points, do it. Audiences love easily digestible information. The content of these lists will vary among industries, but it’s worth the effort to give the reader quick visual confirmation that the writer has checked the facts.
Think of a bulleted list as putting an exclamation point after the claims you’ve made in the written copy. Or, for the more scientifically minded, bullet points can serve as hard proof in brand storytelling.
For employees tasked with providing information to their team, data and statistics can be a compelling “way in” to your content. Bullet lists of compelling statistics or proof points also confirm your organisation’s authority. Potential clients can absorb your compelling story and point to data points affirming that your content is truthful.
Writing is craft
Writing is, first and foremost, a craft. Writers must make decisions about every detail. In marketing content, these details can compel an audience to engage with the words on the page (or the screen). When you know your audience, avoid clichéd language, collaborate with others, and give your reader the facts, you prioritise clarity and precision in your writing. Additionally, if you’re a writer planning to create a book, tools like an AI book generator can further streamline your creative process. It helps you produce compelling, high-quality content with precision and ease.
By intentionally focusing on the small details, you ensure that your content makes an outsized impression.
