When it comes to business storytelling, I have a lot of tips and tricks. But here’s the rule that leads all of them: Your content has one purpose to highlight your business’ value and separate you from the heavy crowd.
Other objectives are then mixed into the equation, such as fostering reliability and rapport; highlighting the company’s execs as thought leaders; fostering trust in the brand; proving the innovation level of your services, of course, this list goes on and on.
For the sake of including B2C in this list, a famous objective nowadays tends to be the triggering of the you-can-easily-do-it-if-you-follow-me incentive (no better way to write it) which is famous among financial and fitness influencers.
To keep this simple, let’s stick to the one common goal, to persuade your audience of your brand/service/product’s value:
Here’s the equation:
1 message + proof of trust – reading effort = persuasive writing
Simple right?
Your business content will have persuasive power when you’re able to prove your competence in a clear and simple way, while keeping the reader engaged.
Now let’s break it down:
1- One message per content piece: The moment you try to communicate several points per copy, they will cancel each other out. Confused people don’t easily make buying decisions and tend not to trust those who confuse them.
The only exception may be corporate reports. However, they aren’t in the same category of copy and have a clear end goal: position the business as an industry leader.
2-Proof of Trust: Why should the reader trust you? This can be achieved in a number of ways.
- A combination of studies and expert opinion to back up your point (my favorite as an editor)
- Case studies and success stories from your clients
- Figures and testimonials from clients: Company XYZ saved 31% of its marketing budget after integrating with our SaaS solutions
- Borrow from someone else’s credibility. A recommendation from a respected figure in your industry or community can go a long way to support both the point of your copy and your brand as a while
- Highlight what hasn’t worked and what has. Transparency increases trust
3- Complexity of content = high reading effort: This is an easy trap to fall into, especially if you have a lot of experience in the matter.
This is where I recommend you follow the 111 Rule, a concept coined by Michael Hyatt, a content expert in his book “The 111 Rule: Creating Content that Connects”.
Per piece speak to one client, address one problem, and have one solution.
A few other pitfalls I see:
- Intentionally increasing complexity and the technicality of a copy to give the impression of expertise. This is hands-down the clearest sign of a lack of expertise.
- Using several highly-technical terms, since your primary audience is technical. You can’t guarantee the knowledge of the person making the decision. Keep it simple, leave the technicality of technical meetings.
- This isn’t a detailed report, you don’t have to include every eventuality or exception to the point you are making, do you know how many exceptions exist to the points I wrote above? many, yet I only included one exception in this entire post.
And there you go, persuasive copy to highlight what your business can do better than anyone else.
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