by Chloe M Bennet

Create effective written content for your business that stands out from the crowd and helps achieve the goals you’ve set out, whether that’s converting readers into paying customers or encouraging staff to work harder or more efficiently. There are some great tips you can immediately implement into your writing that will increase the impact it has, helping you achieve your goal even faster.

Know Your Audience

You must know your audience in order to properly target what you’re writing to cater to what they’re looking for. There are any number of ways to express the same message but depending on what your audience wants to see there will be a specific way it should be written.

Understand the Message

Of course it seems obvious that you won’t be able to create content for your message without first knowing and understanding it. But, you’ve got to know first what you’re trying to achieve with the message and how you’ll be able to do that. Perhaps there’s a larger goal in mind, but with this communication you’re only looking to achieve one step towards the larger goal. For instance, your end goal is to attract more loyal customers but with the communication in question, you’re looking to have potential customers sign up for a trial of your product. The end goal is still on the horizon, but you have to focus on the message of the moment in order to keep moving towards the end goal.

Remember the Facts

You might get so entangles in formulating an enticing message that you entirely forget the basics. Think like a reporter and remember to include the basic five W’s and the H (who, what, where, why, when, how) in order to help answer most of the questions your readers will be looking for. Sometimes when you’re deeply involved in a topic and want to share information about it, it’s easy to overlook the most basic facts that people want to know. It’s a good idea to have someone outside of your direct circle proofread your content to see if there’s anything that’s confusing or information they’re still looking for.

Ditch the Clichés

If you’re writing something for your business, look it over to see if it makes sense, sans clichés and buzzwords. Of course your business is ‘results-driven’ because what else would it be? Skip these clichés that add nothing of value to your content and give your readers nothing more in terms information. Just like people don’t want to attend workshops about things they already know and add little value, they don’t want to read things that don’t contribute to their growth either.

Be as Clear and as Simple as Possible

Along with giving readers more substantive material, you’ve got to be direct and to the point in your writing. No one wants to have to hunt for information they’re looking for they want to be able to quickly and easily find it and understand it. There are a few ways to make it easier to find information in your content.

First, be clear in your subject line or heading as to what is included in the content of the text. Then, within the content, add subheadings to make pertinent subjects easier to find. Any vital information should be bolded or in bulleted lists. Make sure the most important information is at the top.

Use Online Writing Tools

Everyone has a different set of skillsets and for many, writing and editing is not at the top of that list. Even for those who have great writing skills, it’s always a good idea to have someone else glance over it for a second opinion.

There are also fantastic online resources to help improve your business writing:

UKWritings and BoomEssays – if you’re looking for some of the best online editing tools, many websites have reviewed and ranked these among their most recommended

These are just a few tips to help get you on your way towards creating the most effective content that will help drive your readers, customers or staff to be more engaged and interested in what you’ve got to say.

Photo Credit Jessica To’oto’o Unsplash