ca33i

Help writing an award entry

July 22, 2020 ca33i

Winning an industry award is really great for business. Not only will you enjoy the status and kudos of being best in class, but you’ll also enjoy these added benefits:

Customer loyalty – Everyone likes to be on the winning side. Customers feel validated that they’ve had the good judgement to choose your business. They’re more likely to continue to buy from you and to tell others about you.

Employee engagement – Most people want to work in a dynamic workplace where they can learn from the best. When they see their efforts paying off, their commitment strengthens and productivity increases. You’re also more likely to attract quality candidates.

Publicity – An award win is a great marketing tool. You may be able to use decals on your business premises or award insignia on your website, social media, email signatures and more. Local media may also be interested in your story. Public acclaim provides a great platform for bringing new customers to your company.

Networking – Most award programs culminate in a gala award night. This presents a prized opportunity to meet others in your industry or locality – perhaps opening up new opportunities for sales, collaboration or mentorship. Mixing with the best in the field boosts your personal and business brand.

It’s not easy!

The only problem is, the entry process is rarely easy. It takes a lot of time, effort and commitment to pull together a submission. And for no sure outcome. The trick is to tell a story because that’s what people connect with emotionally and intellectually. But the typical question and answer format can make this problematic.

Each question has specific criteria that the judges want addressed. Therefore, to score well you need to give them what they’re looking for, but you also need to tell your story – what you’ve achieved and what sets you apart. With responses usually having strict word/character limits, it often takes a skilled writer to tell the story in a concise and compelling way within the framework provided.

Get a head start

The secret to success is preparation. It’s worth looking ahead and researching what award programs are available to you over the coming year. Think about your chances of success -and the showcase a particular award program would offer – to decide whether an entry is worth the effort.

Each award entry needs supporting evidence. This could be year-on-year sales increases, customer satisfaction survey results, feedback/testimonials from clients and staff, engagement on social media or many other metrics relevant to your business. Ideally make this type of measurement a part of your regular practice, so you always have the data to hand.

The final tip is to engage a busines copywriter; they will save you time and ensure your entry is as brilliant as it can be. The upside if you win is of course significant, but even coming out as a finalist will earn you many of the same benefits as winning. You may also be able to re-use some of the writer’s words for other marketing purposes, increasing your return on investment.

For help writing award entries, contact Caroline Roberts on 0404 960 908 or caroline@luminous-copy.com

Copywriting, Marketing, White papers

White paper dos and don’ts

July 14, 2020July 14, 2020 ca33i

A white paper is an in-depth form of content that showcases a company’s leadership and expertise in a particular field. It presents research findings and analysis on a point of interest to a firm’s target market.

While white papers can be labour-intensive and costly to produce, they can also be a powerful sales and marketing tool. Here are some dos and don’ts for publishing a successful white paper:

Do your research

White papers present research and analysis to provide their readers insight and understanding. Sometimes this might be curated research, but often it is original quantitative or qualitative findings that may take many months to gather and collate.

Publishing authoritative white papers can differentiate your company as an expert in your industry. Many people will hand over their email address and other key information to access quality content. Therefore, doing your research is imperative; your white paper needs to be original, insightful and add real value.

Do tell a story

A common pitfall for white papers is to become very lengthy and dull to read. Storytelling can be an effective way of mitigating this and engaging an audience. For example, a case study approach can work well, presenting a problem, a solution, and the success story achieved. Introducing real people can also bring colour and interest to a piece. Verbatim quotes add new voices to the content and bring characters to life.

While white papers are information rich, they should not be text heavy. The adage a picture is worth a thousand words is very apt; graphs, diagrams, interactive media and quality graphic design can drive key messages home visually and powerfully.

Do consider how to present your white paper

How will your white paper be distributed? Will it sit on your website and be read online? Is it likely to be accessed via mobile devices? You may, for instance, need to engage a graphic designer and/or a web designer to create a mobile-friendly, interactive and visually appealing experience. Likewise, a copywriter or editor is also a worthwhile investment to ensure your messages come across loud and clear.

Your white paper will need supporting content to publicise it. This may take the form of a landing page, blog articles, customer emails, newsletters, social media posts and more. It’s worth considering how these channels will interact with, and promote, the white paper.

Don’t write without a clear purpose

A white paper is often a significant investment in time and effort; both in collecting data and in writing and designing the piece. Therefore, you need to be very intentional about what you’re writing about. It’s important to target a knowledge and content gap, rather than writing on a topic that has been written about many times before. The content’s primary purpose is to add value for your customers and prospects.

While white papers should not be overt sales pitches, many businesses may choose to indirectly make the case for their products, services or methodologies by exploring a problem that is common in their industry. A well-written introduction or executive summary should clearly present what the white paper is about (its purpose), and the benefit that the reader will get from engaging with it.

Don’t criticise the competition

The tone of your white paper should be neutral and authoritative. You will lose credibility – and look a bit desperate – if you take an opportunity to criticise your competition. The intent of the white paper should be to help the reader make informed decisions, rather than to self-promote; this approach builds trust and positive brand sentiment. From clear, confident communication comes understanding, leading to trust, engagement and ultimately to sales.

For help writing and editing your white papers, contact Caroline Roberts on 0404 960 908 or caroline@luminous-copy.com

Editing, Proofreading

Proofreading before publishing

July 1, 2020July 2, 2020 ca33i

Proofreading is an essential part of the publishing process. It’s not just a matter of fixing up American spellings and correcting ‘it’s versus its’ or ‘affect versus effect’. Although this is super important; I’ve seen these errors in headlines and pull-out quotes, literally showcased in the most glaring and uncomfortable spotlight.

Easy-to-make errors

Other common errors are digits in years transposed, making the date far in the future or past. For example, 2091 rather than 2019. Numbers can often be problematic: decimal points missing in prices, or commas omitted in large numbers making them very hard to read. Likewise, small typos can often fly under the spell-check radar. This means that ‘managers’ can unwittingly and unfortunately become ‘mangers’!

A close read by a professional – someone with sharp attention to detail, grit and tenacity – is essential. Let’s face it, reading an 80 plus page annual report and financial statements is not everyone’s cup of tea. Proofreading can be slow and painful, but a professional will read – every. single. word – like their life depends on it (professional one anyway).

Style and formatting

A large part of the job is ensuring consistency in style and formatting. Typically, in longer documents like annual reports, a number of individuals will input content. This means that there will often be significant variation in the use of acronyms and whether words are spelt out in full or not – such as Million, million, M, Mn. Also bulleted lists may or may not be punctuated. This lack of consistency looks sloppy and can cause confusion.

Similarly, discrepancies may be introduced at the graphic design stage. Sometimes headings will need to be in specific fonts and colours to link up sections of the document. Other times, labels and titles may fall off graphs and diagrams. With small text edits, the pagination can change, throwing out the table of contents and any cross-references in the publication. A professional proofreader is on the look-out for all these potential pitfalls.

Correct word choice

While proofreading is not a copy edit, if a word is used incorrectly or repeated when a synonym would work better, a proofreader will suggest a change. Overall, they will ensure a polished, professional, error-free publication. Commissioning a professional is a very wise investment for peace-of-mind.

For help proofreading your professional documents and marketing materials, contact Caroline Roberts on 0404 960 908 or caroline@luminous-copy.com

Copywriting, Marketing, Web copy

Writing content for your website

June 26, 2020July 1, 2020 ca33i

Many business owners find writing content for their websites difficult; they are unsure how to present their product or service in a persuasive way to drive sales. Here are some tips:

Picture your audience

To write effective sales copy, you have to have a clear idea about who you’re writing for. Think about:

Who your target market is,
What they do for a living,
What they care about,
What their pain points are.

This will help you identify the right messages to use in your content. It’s fine to have both a primary and secondary target market, but you’ll be aiming the bulk of your copy at your main market.

Consider your pages

Think about what pages you’re going to need on your site. Each page should have a clear purpose and deliver on that as users seek out specific information when they browse online.

It’s a good idea to also consider search engine optimisation (SEO) as you write. This means making it easy for humans and bots to find and read through your content. You could consider including some long-tail keywords – queries people type into search engines – as headings to ensure your content is as targeted as possible.

Writing for SEO means short sentences, short paragraphs, white space, use of bullet points, some (but not too much) bolding, and a plain English style.

Connect with your customers

Storytelling is a good way to engage customers and build an emotional connection with your brand. A good way to do this is to tell your story, explaining your motivation for setting up your business. You’ll gain attention if your ‘why’ aligns with your customers’ thoughts, feelings or pain points.

Your aim is to story-tell in the most succinct and powerful way possible. By doing so effectively, you’ll connect with your target market, build engagement and hopefully achieve sales.

Build your brand

Be genuine and be yourself. That way, your brand will be authentic and consistent. By doing so and having content that’s focused on the customer, you’ll be able to build a strong brand identity and a value proposition that differentiates you from your competitors.

A copy editor will be able to help you with your writing and messaging while maintaining your authorial voice and style. As well as a platform for your brand, your website is a very valuable sales tool so getting your copy pitch-perfect is a worthwhile investment.

For help with your web copy, contact Caroline Roberts on caroline@luminous-copy.com or 0404 960 908.

Copywriting, technical writing

How to write technical content in plain English

June 18, 2020July 1, 2020 ca33i

One of the most important principles of writing is to know your reader. If you think carefully about who you’re targeting, you’ll know how much context to give and how much detail to go into.

Whether your audience are subject matter experts or not, readers appreciate content that is communicated in plain English. This means writing explicitly; the reader should not need to fill in gaps and make connections themselves to understand your work.

Clear communication is about owning the message and making sure your words deliver it. You want to avoid ‘loose’ writing and the mindset of ‘they’ll know what I’m getting at’. On the other hand, by keeping your reader in mind you also won’t over-explain and risk condescending them.

With complex subject matter, strong writing becomes all the more important so that key messages stand out. Here are some tips to achieve this:

Minimise jargon – Industry terminology may be OK if your reader is in the same industry as you, but perhaps you’re pitching your services to a company in another industry? Readers quickly abandon content they don’t understand, so make it as straightforward for them as possible.

Cut out unnecessary words – Unnecessary words can make sentences long, complex and harder to understand. They also add no value. Here are some common wordy phrases that can be shortened to make your copy more direct:

As a consequence of (because)
In order to (to)
At a later date (later)
In the month of June (in June)

Avoid the passive tense – The passive tense places the subject at the end of the sentence or omits it altogether. Writing can appear very vague if who is doing what is not articulated – and your reader may not have the context to work this out themselves. Any perceived ambiguity can make the reader feel confused or uneasy.

Use metaphors and analogies – When you truly understand a subject you can typically explain it in fairly simple terms and language. Metaphors and analogies can work well to present technical concepts in a tangible way. By being as straightforward as possible in your content, you’re likely to gain trust and ultimately achieve the results you’re looking for.

For help making your technical content more accessible, contact Caroline Roberts on 0404 960 908 or caroline@luminous-copy.com