Did you know, when you started your own business, that marketing involved so much writing? Maybe you don’t mind writing. Maybe you even enjoy it. But I know what it’s like. When work gets busy, blogging, writing newsletters or your own web copy are tasks that tend to slide right to the bottom on your to-do list. And yet, writing for your business is fundamental. It’s a key component that contributes to the success of your brand. Your writing needs to be good. Better than good. It needs to be the best it can possibly be. And here’s why.

If you don’t write, you simply won’t be found

To give you an idea of how important good writing is, let me tell you a little something about the Google algorithm. Like everyone else, you probably resort to Google a million times a day to look for information. But have you ever gone past the first page of results? Let’s face it – most of us don’t even go past the first couple of results, let alone checking what comes up in the following pages.

And you know what you won’t find in those top results? Content with grammatical errors, for example. Because the Google algorithm was updated (and that’s back in 2011) to prevent content with obvious grammatical errors to show up in the search results. If your text is badly written, you won’t be found. And if your brand is not worthy of being found, how are people going to know about the great stuff you have to offer?

Your writing represents your brand

Your brand is about the words you use just as much as it’s about how you use them. What does a piece of writing that’s full of grammatical errors or spelling mistakes say about your brand? What does it say about your products and services? And ultimately, what does it say about you?

As much as we’d like to think that we’re not judgemental, the truth is that we all judge. We make assumptions and jump to conclusions based on the information we have available to us at that point in time, and we’re particularly careful when it comes to deciding who deserves our hard-earned cash and who doesn’t. If a potential client or customer comes across your web copy, and it’s really poorly written, chances are that they will walk away and move to the next result in the search. If it takes at least 7 interactions with your brand for someone to make a decision to buy from you, isn’t it in your best interests to make any of these touch points count?

First impressions count

Now, I’m a writer and an author, so good writing matters to me. The online world is quite crowded these days, and first impressions are still made through the words you share on social media and your website. If your writing is cluttered with mistakes, here are some of the subconscious assumptions I’m immediately going to make about you and your brand (sorry, but it’s true, and I’m not alone):

• You don’t care. If you don’t take the time (or invest money) into making the writing you share for your business the best it can be, my assumption is that you don’t care enough about what you do. Or about your prospective clients and customers.
• Your products and services aren’t going to be any good. If this is the level of attention you pay to your web copy or content marketing, how are your products or services going to be? It goes without saying that the reason why your copy may not be as good as what you otherwise offer in your business is precisely that writing isn’t your forte. Your skills are best used in running your business. So perhaps your copy simply reflects the fact that you pay less attention to your writing and much more to actually running your business. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But, unless I know you personally, how would I know that?
• I don’t know how you can help me. If your writing isn’t successful at telling me exactly what you can do for me – how you can help and what type of transformation you can offer – I may miss the opportunity to work with you. And you, with me.

Of course, these assumptions may be total nonsense! You know what they say about assumptions after all! But these are the kind of rushed (and potentially subconscious) conclusions your potential clients and customers can jump to.

Always ensure any writing you share for your business is the best it can be

Plan your writing

To make sure you’re creating the best writing you possibly can, you’ve got to plan. It’s not just about knowing what you want to communicate. It’s about knowing what your audience needs to know, how they need that information to be delivered to them, and when. I say this to all my clients. If you sit at the laptop on a Friday afternoon at 4 pm because that’s the window you’ve allocated to blogging, you’re just not going to produce your best content. Plan first. Then outline. Then draft.

If you want to know more about how you can do this, consider taking my free 7-day email course – sign up here, and you’ll get my best tips straight into your inbox.

Edit your work

Unfortunately, a lot of business owners don’t do this enough. When you do take the time to edit your writing, you’ll automatically jump ahead of the competition. You’ll avoid having potential clients and customers make unfair assumptions about you and your brand. Here are my top tips for editing your own work – in my opinion, you shouldn’t publish any content without having followed these steps first!

Invest in personal development

We’re not all born writers. I certainly wasn’t. The fact I have a passion for, alone, doesn’t make me a great writer. But every day, and with every piece I write and publish, I know I can get better. The only way to improve is to practise the craft. Maybe you don’t have a degree in journalism (I don’t either), but it doesn’t mean that you can’t improve. You can take courses (online, in person, or a mixture), you can read books, spend time on blogs, forums or YouTube. You can listen to podcasts or hire a mentor. Or just be really honest with your audience and ask for feedback as you practise and improve. You have so many possibilities open to you that there are no excuses for not taking action and responsibility for your own improvement.

Ask for help

Sometimes doing it all yourself isn’t the answer. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your business right now is to ask for help. To delegate and outsource your writing, so that your web copy can be the best it can be. So that your blog posts hit that sweet spot with your potential clients and customers. And so that you can connect with your audience in an authentic way. Communicate your story and your message efficiently. So you’re able to tell your prospective clients and customers exactly what you do. But also how you help, and what kind of transformation your products or services allow people to achieve.

If you are going to ask for help and have someone take care of your writing, make sure it’s the right person. Remember, you’re the expert in your topic or niche. Whoever you choose to write for you needs to be someone who’s competent in your niche and understands your brand values and ‘voice’. Because the writing, as we said earlier, reflects on you and your business, not on them.

If you’re a smart and successful entrepreneur and feel you’re at the stage in your business where you’re ready to outsource your writing, get in touch and let’s talk about how I can help you. 

Do you give your business writing the time and attention it needs? 

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