FINDING THE TIME
EVERYONE IN business is expert at stringing words together on screen and paper, or so they think, if only they could find the time. They know they can't create the company's advertising campaign, rework the corporate logo, or build a new website. These are mystical, creative vocations best left to experts. However, anybody with a basic appreciation of language can provide the words.
Oh yes? Writing is the most underrated of all communications skills and yet it is the most valuable. Believe it or not, professional writers are trained creatives.
The demand should be for compression, precision, clarity, simplicity, rhythm and appropriate style – grammatically potent, although not necessarily purist.
This is starkly different to the word play that emerges from general business. "I would write it myself, but I'm far too busy” and "Surely we have a staff member who can write that, instead of paying someone from outside?” are familiar-sounding remarks.
ASSEMBLING WORDS
Undoubtedly, business managers spend chunks of their working days assembling words in the form of emails, memos and reports. Secretly, they are likely to be proud of their prose and would be starkly horrified at any suggestion that their output might have been written ineptly.
Nonetheless, to the professional eye, it can be poor – in terms of the assemblage of ideas and worse still in clarity of expression. Very often, it doesn’t work.
That’s because necessary facets of writing professionally include being able to absorb and question a brief; to define the most appropriate interaction strategy; to create the concept; then to execute it in a tone which is compelling, precise, economical and true to the client's culture.
Effective copywriting does not need dressing up. Rather, it needs to be memorable. Then, it becomes powerful because it moves determinants, such as impressions, standpoints or sales activity.
THEIR LANGUAGE
Always, the writer must transpose into the position of his or her readers – to seem to be speaking their language. Irresistible writing concentrates on those who buy the product or service, not those who make or sell it. The pro writer knows how the audience will react to whatever the proposition or suggestion might be.
This applies whether the writer is working on a total package or a single item. Most certainly, it is not a task for part-timers, nor for those whose heads are filled with a plethora of other concerns. It is not a job for the great untrained.
Nobody can get through to an audience when it is bored or restless. Corporate communications programmes will never work at full power, nor deliver value for money, unless they are implemented by craftspeople who understand the business objectives and can help achieve them through the use of energetic, clear and digestible expression.
Profitable publicity depends on more then pretty pictures. It relies on words that establish trust and authority; that build and maintain relationships; that help people to talk, share and buy.
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