3 Tips for Writing Reader-Friendly Marketing Messages

I've borrowed these 3 tips directly from Harvard Business Review that recommended them as 3 Tips for Writing Reader-Friendly Memos. The exact same advice works excellently for marketing messages.

1. Avoid complex phrasing. Writing elegantly is not important; delivering smart content is. Let the message stand out more than your language. (perfectly said)

2. Be concise. Many memo (marketing) writers get hung up on "flow." But flowing sentences tend to be long and dense. You don't need choppy sentences, just hardworking ones that deliver content concisely.

3. Skip the jargon. Jargon can be a useful way to communicate among experts, but you should never use jargon if it's meaningless, if you don't understand it, or when your audience isn't familiar with it. (Hint: be sure you understand your audience.)

My advice: Too many people think for marketing you need to write to impress people. Really you should be aiming to write in a way that persuades people. Keep it simple enough for your audience to easily understand - and be sure to include a clear call to action. Let them know what they should do next if they want to move forward.

How to Connect With Your Audience

Over the last few days I've had a number of discussions with clients along the theme of recognizing who your clients are... and using the right tone of voice (language, terminology, jargon) to suit them.

That is, to make sure you get the right connection to be effective. You want them to listen, and then to act.

Remember, your objective in any marketing communication is to achieve some action.

In this helpful article titled The Write Tone of Voice copy writing expert John Pattison of UK based The Writing Agency makes similar comments. It really is worth taking a few minutes to read the article.

In summary:

1. Understand the level of language used by your target audience.
2. Try writing like you would talk to them.
3. Being an expert doesn't mean you have to sound boring.
4. Make people smile - but you don't have to be a full-blown comedian.
5. Don't take it too far. Stay within the bounds of what your audience will accept from your type of business.

Do Big Words Make You Important... or Lost?

I was reading this post by Gerry McGovern that says:

There seems to be a desire among organizations to not quite tell it as it is. These organizations create classifications and content on their websites that either use soft, fuzzy words like “low fares,” or official-sounding words like “pandemic influenza.” There is often a logic to doing this. It is a logic of experts and bureaucrats, and of old school marketing and advertising executives.

I commented on Gerry's blog that it reminds me of the old days when using big fluffy words was done to make you sound important. Gerry says the same sort of thing.

Now the web is here. Everyone wants to get to the heart of their interest. Straight away. No delay. They don't want to have to learn new words, or go to Dictionary.com just to figure out what someone is saying.

Do you make it easy for your readers, listeners, or prospects to easily understand what you are saying?

Too often I see confusion created by:

• Using industry jargon or acronyms.
• Using too many words, when fewer words will get the message across.
• Using too many ideas, which just gets confusing.
• Using bad examples to explain a key point.
• Rushing to write material before the main ideas are fully understood and developed. This results in too many words, saying too little.

This is bad enough when talking or writing directly to an individual.

On your web site it can be disastrous. Your clients will get lost. You will lose out.

If people can't get the picture straight away, or if they cannot understand what you are getting at. They will leave. Click away. They don't want to figure it out. They just want answers to their questions. And clear steps they can take to get what they want, in language they can understand.

TIP: make sure you are using the best words to maximise understanding... and action.

Direct Mail Tips and Advice

The other day I was asked via email to provide an estimate for doing some copy writing work on a few direct mail letters. That is, paper letters, not e-mail. However, all I was sent was a brief statement with the draft letters attached. It prompted me to suggest a few things to that prospect to ensure the final letters were suitable for the job - see the key points below.

If you are asking for help from any professional it pays to give them enough information (often called a 'brief') so they can accurately understand what you require.

Tips for Developing Direct Mail Letters

* Have you defined the target audience for each service? (Having an 'ideal profile' helps to focus the writing.)

* Is the list of recipients in this target audience? (Make sure you are reaching to the right people.)

* What else are you mailing with the letter? (Just sending a letter on its own wont get the best result.)

* What can you offer to get some 'action' apart from asking the reader to call a phone number? (A strong and time-sensitive call-to-action is required to get immediate response.)

* Focus the information on one problem or opportunity the recipient may be facing. Don't try and cover 'everything'. (If you give too much info at the same time it can be confusing as you haven't really targeted any one problem/opportunity strongly enough.)

* Have you done this before? If so, what were the results? (Learn from your previous efforts. Or learn from others in a similar field. Test and test again.)

* Do you have a website for the business or product? (Many expensive direct mail letters and 'packs' can stand on their own in terms of delivering information. However for cost-effectiveness reasons, especially for smaller businesses, your website should be an integral part of your direct mail program.)

* What is your timing? (Have you identified the best, or most likely, time you should be mailing?)

And here are 3 tactics to use on the envelope to increase your open rate. Courtesy of Target Marketing.

1. Use a handwritten teaser on the envelope. But don't make it too long.

2. Use a compelling graphic as well as the teaser copy. Integrate the copy with the graphic.

3. Use 2 windows on the envelope - one for the address and one to show the offer.