5 Solid Business Copywriting Tips for Non-writers

Writing is something all businesses have to deal with, regardless of size. Some businesses will need to do it less often. But no matter how much copy you need to churn out, its quality will add to the impression you give your customers. It’s not fair, but then again it’s just how people are.

Here are 5 simple but proven tips that will give even the most word-challenged entrepreneur’s marketing copy a fighting chance in an oversaturated market.

1. Consider your medium

Often small businesses use one design for several different products. This isn’t always a bad thing. For example, sometimes you can safely use a poster design for a banner. But sometimes they try to use a business card layout for a brochure or booklet.

Each medium is intended to be used in a particular way, which is why you hardly find posters printed on both sides, as opposed to brochures, for example. It should follow that the length and style of the copy should be suited to whatever you’re printing on.

Same thing goes for web design. Your copy needs to address the subtle differences between the way people go through text on print and on screen. You can’t always write the same way.

Web writers tend to like lists and favour more breaks. Writers for more traditional media, like books and newspapers, can get away with the dreaded “wall of text” younger generations avoid. It’s no accident. We read stuff on books, newspapers, desktops, tablets and smart phones differently. It’s a difference that matters, as far as reader comfort is concerned.

2. Make it as short as you could get away with

Get to the point as clearly as possible. But keep it interesting.

3. Beware of Muphry’s Law

It’s hard to overstate the value of good writers and editors. But perfect adherence to grammatical rules is not only impossible, it’s something that will slow down your writing.

A deliberate misspelling of Murphy’s Law says, if you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be an error in what you have written.

Variants of Muphry’s Law also say, flaws in a printed or published work will only be found after it is printed and not during proofreading. Kind of like how you find out you messed up an email through your sent box or when you find typos after you publish something online.

If you have no access to an editor, it helps to take your time to let drafts incubate a bit before editing them for grammar and logic errors. You will never get all of them. That’s fine, up to a certain point. Just re-read and edit your piece until you can safely say you’re getting your real point across without insulting anyone’s intelligence.

4. Know what you’re talking about but don’t always explain everything

One mistake many entrepreneurs make when creating marketing copy is explaining every single little detail about their business off the bat.

There are a few reasons why you shouldn’t do this. First, no one has the time to read everything. Second, giving unsolicited information to someone who might not be interested can be a huge turn off. You’ve got to reel them in, first. Lastly, if you hit customers who aren’t looking for anything with a wall of text, you’ve already lost them. Probably forever.

Make sure your main point is readily apparent at a glance but make sure additional details are readily accessible, if anyone wants to dig a bit deeper. Take this post, for example. All you need to do is read through subheadings and you already know what it’s about. Everything else is gravy.

5. Always have a call-to-action

Marketing copy is worthless without a specific purpose. What do you want your audience to do for you? Well, they won’t know for sure unless you tell them.

SOURCE: You The Entrepreneur