Skip to main content

6 Tips For Natural Sounding Marketing Writing

You may have a solid business, but it can be tough to write the messaging for your marketing materials without sounding either boring or pushy. Here are a few ways to relax your messaging to help customers complete their journey toward a purchase.

Formality Isn’t Necessary Quit Being So Formal

People like other people, not robots and definitely not salesmen. When you write too formal and too proper, it sounds like you’re either inhuman or overselling.

Take a look at these two sentences. Which one sounds more appealing?

“Our socks have increased elasticity strength and ultra-comfortable cotton. In addition to a quality product, our website designing program allows any user to create their own personalized socks.”

Or

“Our socks have stronger elastic and softer cotton. You can even make your own design right on our website. Pretty cool, right?”

Write like you’re explaining your product to a friend at a bar. Use fewer and shorter words to make your message easier to take in. You’re not writing for the Queen on England—you’re writing for Joe and Emily and Micah.

Use First And Second Person Point-Of-Views

When you talk about customers, use “you” and “your.” When you talk about your company, use “we” and “our.” This makes your message more personal and conversational. Remember, people like people.

This is also a great way to build trust. Customers find it easier to trust an entity that speaks directly to them (“repairing your parts”) instead of to the general audience (“repairing our customers’ parts”).

Drop The Exclamation Marks

Decades ago, shouting was a tool used for selling. The thought behind it was that yelling gets the attention of customers and shows urgency to buy. But today, buyers find loud, pushy selling downright annoying.

To avoid irritating potential customers, stop using exclamation marks when writing for your business. Think of them as the parachute pants of the punctuation world—they used to be in style, but now you look silly if you use them in public.

You are, however, free to use an exclamation mark when you’re not trying to get someone to take action, like on a thank-you page after a sale has been made. There’s nothing pushy or deceiving about saying “thank you!”

You can also generally use exclamation marks (though sparingly) when targeting children or in humor (but writing with humor in your brand voice is tricky, so be careful).

Be Wary Of Grammar Rules

Remember the rules you learned in grammar class? Many of them have since changed. Go ahead, end with a preposition if you want to. Or start with a conjunction. Fragments? Sure.

Grammar officials alter the rules almost yearly. The word email used to have a hyphen but now you’re outdated if you use one. Double spaces after punctuation were common but now look incorrect. Keep a grammar website bookmarked and check it occasionally to keep up on the changes.

Drop The Overused Lingo

Many business’ websites and marketing materials are rife with terms that have been heavily used for decades. And when things are repeated too much, they lose their effect. (When was the last time you laughed at “Why’d the chicken cross the road”?)

Here are some common overused words and phrases to avoid:

  • Knowledgeable
  • Trusted
  • Expertise
  • Reliable
  • Hands-on
  • Convenient
  • We strive to
  • Solutions
  • Meet your needs
  • Proven
  • World-class
  • State-of-the-art
  • Superior
  • High-quality
  • A wide range of
  • Our selection of
  • Count on us
  • Ensure
  • Utilize
  • One-stop-shop
  • Your home/source for

Hire Some Creativity

When you really want to use a well-crafted, creative message, shell out the cash for a professional. Copywriters can create a perfect line or body of text that’s effective and unique to you and your products.

Think about a sock company. The obvious line is often dry and boring:

We sell high-quality socks.

But if you massage the benefit:

We’ll keep your feet warm.

Or give it some flavor:

Toasty toes? Sock it to me.

You'll be more approachable and customers will like you more.

Better writing = Better sales. Fill out the form for a free quote.

Get a Quote

Tell us as much as you can. We'll help fill in the rest.

 

 

You may also like:

It's hard to write marketing content without sounding boring or pushy. Here are a few ways to relax your message to help increase your conversion rates...

While small business owners like you are busy running their businesses, we handle their marketing through our Marketing Mentor program, which includes digital marketing, graphic design, printing, direct mail and more. Here’s how.

Not all keys on your keyboard are meant to be used as often as you’d think. Here are 6 keyboard keys to avoid if you want a tighter, more effective message.