Am I not right in thinking – and I hope I am, that almost everyone thinks that their business is the best thing since sliced bread?

Of course they do; and quite rightly too! You should undoubtedly be proud of your labours and take great interest in them, otherwise one suspects you are probably in the wrong business.

However, it is the harsh way of the world that some professions tend to be more… well, interesting than others. For example, if Costa Coffee sends me a mail shot on their new deluxe hot chocolate with extra cream, chances are I’ll be preoccupied for around fifteen minutes reading up and investigating further. But when ‘Taps’n’Bath Plugs’ email me, my attention span is somewhat shorter.

This is the sad truth. No matter how interested you are in your ‘all new’ five bladed pencil sharpener, the next person along may not be so excited. Sadly, this comes across in business writing a lot. The more complex and brain-taxing a subject appears to customers, the more we switch off. You do it, I do it – we all do it! But never fear – there are some simple steps to make your business and marketing writing interesting to almost ANYONE.

• Talk with them

It’s important you both share an experience through the writing: you must talk with them, not at them. This creates a less threatening and hard selling atmosphere (which rarely works) and relaxes them into having the time to listen to what you are saying.

Also, refer to them as ‘you’; in questions, in major points, in everything – they like it! Have you noticed I’ve been doing it all along?

• Don’t overcomplicate things

You’ll want to keep any points you have as simple and concise as possible. A sign of poor writing is LONG writing. It will lose you the attention you deserve – so try and keep is as short as possible. For instance: ‘We make sure to satisfy and care for our customers at all times and always go out of our way to ensure the best possible experience for you.’

Well, that is lovely. But doesn’t it sound better like this? ‘Customer satisfaction is paramount and we promise you the best possible experience.’

Which one would you rather read? Which one seems more professional?

• Ask them what they think

People love to talk about their opinions, no matter what the subject! In your writing you should encourage them to talk about themselves in relation to the topic.

1) It shows you have a personal interest in them.

2) Because it gives you the opportunity to talk back. The more interaction, the better chance you have of promoting your company’s reputation and driving potential business.

3) If they know they are actively involved in the article, they are more likely to read to the end. Which is of course what you want as you can then encourage them to link to your website or call you.

Try and add all of these features into your next piece. There are limitless strategies you can use within your writing, but these are the simplest and most important, and they can make almost anything interesting. There are some tactics that are dependent on topic – for instance, humour. Humour is a great tool but if your business article is, for example, about a new kind of life saving surgery, adding a few jokes in may not be appropriate. Use things like this intuitively, and know your audience well enough to make the right decision on riskier methods of writing.

MAXX can help with all your branding and ad campaigns, and has an in-house Social Media Manager (that’s me) to deal with blog worries, from simple maintenance to writing the whole thing! If you are interested then don’t hesitate to contact us, and don’t forget we are on Facebook and Twitter and can help you with this as well!