Write it Right: Helpful Tips for Creating Clear Copy
By: Dave Clossey / T.J. Tedesco
For: High Volume Printing
Published: February, 2003

Do potential customers know how they can benefit from doing business with your company? A close look at your communications may be quite revealing. You probably have a 30-second “elevator pitch” memorized that effectively describes your unique advantages in case you’re asked. But what if a key prospect sees your company’s ad in a trade publication, or stumbles upon your website? Are you sure that what they read is convincing and informative?

Clear writing is a direct reflection on your company, whether customers realize it or not. Even the first few words of the first sentence can impact whether a customer does business with you or simply moves on. If they can’t immediately discern how your services can make their business lives easier, they’ll look elsewhere.

Whether you’re writing copy for your website, a business letter to a key prospect, or an informational article for a trade publication, it’s important to know what to say and how to say it to hold the attention of the right people. Here are a few tips to get you on the right track:

Plan carefully – To help you think clearly and stay focused while writing, organize all information that you think you’ll use beforehand. No matter how brief your copy needs to be, this little bit of planning will make the writing process much smoother.

Don’t feel the need to say everything – Given the opportunity, most business owners go on and on about what exactly what their company does and how their services benefit key prospects. There’s no way to pack everything you want to say in the forum of an ad, letter, article, or web page. Select only the aspects of your business that offer the greatest advantages to customers, and leave the rest out.

Get right to the point – Fluffy openings may grab attention, but your audience will lose interest if you don’t quickly get to why your services benefit them. Avoid opening paragraphs that are vague or unrelated to your subject matter.

Focus on them, not you – Prospects don’t care that your presses are really fast, or that a troop of customer service reps are waiting to take their call. Speed and service are no longer the little extras that differentiate you from your competitors. They’re taken for granted in today’s business climate. To capture and keep the attention of key prospects, your writing should focus on what prospective customers really care about – that you keep your promises and won’t leave them hanging. Don’t begin sentences with “We can…” and “We do…” Get off on the right foot by starting with “You can expect…” and “Together, we…” as possible.

Recent examples help readers make the connection – Explaining to your audience the benefits your company provides them is good; bringing those benefits to life is even better. You should include at least one brief example of how a recent customer had a positive experience with your company. A high-volume job performed under a tight deadline, or a “they said it couldn’t be done” project helps your key prospects forge a connection between your company and kept promises.

Small sentences and paragraphs work wonders – Pick up a newspaper, and take a close look at any article. Most of the paragraphs are comprised of just one or two concise sentences. Longer ones have a tendency to meander off topic, causing the reader to lose focus. Chop down wordy sentences into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Don’t get too sophisticated – Resist the urge to break out the dictionary and slap some “SAT-type words” into your copy. This can be confusing at best, and insulting at worst. Aim your vocabulary at a general audience to keep them reading.

Call your audience to action – So your customer has finished reading your brief description of your services. You’ve painted an enticing picture in their minds of how much easier their life will be with your company at their side. Is that the end? Absolutely not! This is the perfect opportunity to suggest an action step for the prospect. Phrases like “Call NOW!” may be off-putting. Instead, go with something more subtle and more effective: “Give us a call to see how we can make your life easier.”

Always proofread – Many people want to get the writing process over with as quickly as possible. But mistakes slip through if you treat it as a race to the finish. Once you’ve completed your copy, read it over slowly. Then, read it again out loud. This forces you to concentrate on each word and helps you catch punctuation and grammatical errors you may otherwise miss. As a final check, have at least one other person read your copy.

Hire an expert and get it done right – Although they’re very important, few printers have the time to sit down and write articles, letters, press releases and web site copy. These materials should be going out regularly, but the demands of everyday business come first. When they do go out, they’re often not given the attention they require. If this sounds familiar, it may be a good idea to outsource responsibility for your public writing to a public relations/marketing services company. Letting a writing specialist handle this important function allows you to focus on what’s most important to you – running your business.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.