You have a message. You want your customers to hear it. You want potential customers to hear it. You want that message to reflect your values, your expertise and your professionalism. There’s just one problem…
…you are busy running your business and your expertise isn’t based around the written word.
Coherent Message
This is a problem faced by many businesses. You may be an award-winning accountant, restaurateur, hairdresser, whatever, that doesn’t mean you have the time or the ability to write text that presents a coherent message across all platforms.
Copywriting is no longer restricted to magazine articles and annual reports. Your message is also being disseminated through social media, websites, blogs and other channels. That message must carry the same tone and ethos on all platforms.
A coherent message can only be circulated if the parameters have been decided. The more people you have writing your copy, the greater the chance that the tone will differing in every message. This could subconsciously be taken by readers as a sign of inconsistency, and that is not an attractive idea for a potential customer. However, an experienced copywriter or team of copywriters will be able to present your message with a single tone or ‘voice’ across all platforms.
Five Rules for Copywriting
Having said that copywriting now covers a variety of media, there are some basic rules that good copywriting should always follow.
Be positive – consumers engage with positivity. No one wants to read negative text and they won’t want to buy from a company that comes across as negative. Remember, however tempting it may be to write disparaging comments about your competitors, don’t. How you appear on the page is how your customers will imagine you
Grab the reader – a strong headline or an engaging first sentence will get the attention of your audience. If you start with a long and boring sentence, they will disengage and not bother to read what you have to say
Be respectful – your readers aren’t thick. They are intelligent people and so don’t promise the Earth if you can’t deliver it. If you do, they will see through it and decide you are someone who can’t be trusted and who they don’t want to do business with
Provide detail, but not too much – no one has the time to read a long and dull article. At the same time, if you don’t write an article that is long enough to contain useful information, they also won’t bother reading your article. The members of your audience are not a homogenous group. Try to pitch your writing in the middle: give them enough to engage and intrigue, but don’t bore
Don’t oversell – people like to make up their own minds. If you give them the hard sell from the start, they will go elsewhere. Instead, write copy that makes it clear you are an expert. They will then naturally decide you are the company they want to do business with
You see, you’ve read all five points and you now have an overview of how you should approach good copywriting. You will also notice that at no point did I mention the fact that Blueberry PR has considerable experience in creating a coherent copywriting style for businesses of all types. Whether you are engaging with fellow academics or hoping to gain a foothold in a new market, we will set a tone and style that matches your aspirations to the expectations of your audience. This allows you to focus on what you do best, running your business, in the safe knowledge that you are making the right impression across all platforms.
To discuss your copywriting needs, contact Suzi on 01323 449744 or e-mail suzi@blueberry-pr.co.uk.
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