If you’re a solopreneur like me, you have your hands in #allthethings in your business. Business foundations, marketing and advertising, social media, product or service deliverables, copywriting, customer service and happiness, troubleshooting, and future growth plans.
It is a lot. And in the midst of all of it, you have to maintain a personable business that your audience is attracted to, share what you’re all about, and ultimately deliver on promises.
It is easy to let your business writing fall by the wayside. It is easy to allow writing to take the backseat or play second fiddle to other elements of business that either feel more important or more urgently require your attention.
Writing is important, but it is quiet.
You know the saying, “the squeaky wheel gets greased”?
Writing is so seldom the squeaky wheel.
This is why taking a proactive approach to writing for your business will serve you well in the long run!
Here are 4 things you can do to sound more like YOU when you write.
Find topics of interest between you and your audience. Speak to topics that relate to your business but also relate to your audience’s triumphs and pain points. If it speaks to their personal life, that will help them relate to your business even more too.
Tell your brand story. Your audience will come to know, like, and trust you as a personal and as a business by getting to know your story.(However, it’s important to note that you should keep stories in context. Always consider how any particular chapter of your brand or personal story relates to your audience or continues that audience-to-paying-customer journey).
Talk it out. If you’re unsure if your copy or writing sounds forced, fake, or just plain awkward, talk it out. Read your copy out loud to see if your ear catches mistakes that your eye missed, or if your ear can fill in the missing pieces that your eye couldn’t figure out as you were writing.
Remember that different spaces have different guidelines. In life, you write differently when you text than when you’re writing an email or writing a letter to the editor. The same way is true in business writing. You can write differently (more formally vs less formally) for social media than you would necessarily write for the pages of your website, your blog, or industry-specific writing, like formal proposals or pitches.
With these four things, your writing will grow to sound more like a person and less like a machine. It doesn’t matter if you have a very personal brand or if your business brand is more corporate, all-encompassing in nature. You will more effectively reach the heart of your audience with these tips.
