Writing As a Marketing Tool

Have you ever thought about how much writing you do each day? It may be a typed email or a grocery list written in pencil, but either way writing is a vital part of our everyday lives.

Being a free-lance writer myself, I write or type thousands of words each day. A lot of what I write is used for promoting my own business. In fact, almost one-third of my working hours are spent communicating in the text boxes of social networking circles, writing articles, press releases, blog posts, tweets, interview scripts, and marketing text or updating the text on my Web site. The rest of those hours are spent writing for clients or editing/proofreading their work before it is viewed by the public. Not only is marketing a big part of running a business, so is writing.

Good writing can boost your credibility in the marketplace and with your current clients. Writing can be used as a marketing tool as it represents you and your company to the world. That’s why it’s important for your writing to be concise, clear, and effective. 1.) Concise, because people are busy and most won’t take the time to read a long blog post or email. 2.) Clear, because no one wants to reread a sentence several times while trying to figure out what you are saying; if people are confused about what you are offering, they will probably delete your email or move on to another Web site for the information they need. 3.) Effective, because you want people to take action such a buy your product or hire you to provide them with a needed service.

The ability to communicate verbally is paramount in the business world, but many intelligent people do not realize that having good written communication is just as important. Do you rush to fire off an email without proofreading what you wrote? Your reputation is on the line every time you hit the send key even if you are forwarding a cartoon! Are you communicating clearly, concisely, and effectively? A typo in a tweet, poor grammar in an email, or glaring mistakes in Web copy can completely defeat your marketing effort. No one is perfect, but a thorough proofread only takes a extra couple of minutes. I have caught many an embarrassing error by simply rereading an email before sending it. That is one reason I don’t have Outlook send my emails immediately. I have set an 8-minute delay on send/receive, which means that if I remember one more thing I needed to say to the recipient, I can go back and edit the email even after I hit the send button. I can’t tell you how many times that has saved me from having to send a second email to correct misinformation or add clarity to the first one.

I hope these tips help you get your message across concisely, clearly, and effectively. If you need help with writing or editing, please call (615) 415-9861. Get more information about my writing services at http://writersinthesky.com/writing-services.html