Author: Michelle Troutman

Michelle Troutman has spent more than a decade crafting attention-getting newsletters and other content for service providers. She specializes in creating standout e-newsletters for law firms and economic development organizations. Her marketing and business administration background and education enhance clear and persuasive copy that speaks to the right clients. Through features in publications like "Attorney at Work" and "Law Fuel," and her e-newsletter and YouTube channel, she inspires service professionals to create engaging content. She enjoys helping businesses that sell their expertise reach their ideal customers.

branding, language, language usage, language use, messages, writing advice

5 Steps to Consistent Brand Messaging, Language, and Style

1. Check your mission statement – Ask yourself some questions to explore your brand messaging, language, and style: Why are you in business? What are your core values? What’s your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? If you have one, borrow keywords from your mission statement. Otherwise, follow the next step and create one through finding your “why” to keep your brand messaging, language, and style consistent.

2. Make it personal – Who do you want to reach? Think of the people you want to appeal to when you write your content, their problems, or what might keep them awake. In the process, you could have a story to tell. Add keywords and descriptions from it to your tagline, your website or blog copy, social media, press releases, and other marketing materials.

3. Find your voice – What kind of tone or mood do you want to convey in your marketing? What voice will you use to speak to your ideal customers? What kind of personality do you want to project? And does it align with your mission statement and values? Thinking about these aspects can help you arrive at more specific wording that can increase your brand recognition and form your overall messaging.

Example: In a brief video, Michael Monteforte, Jr. of Monteforte Law P.C. tells potential clients what motivated him to pursue estate planning, how he works with clients, and helps them. Also on their “About Us” page, the firm effectively explains what separates it from others; many firms don’t differentiate themselves from their competitors well. Michael comes across as a plain-spoken, clear communicator who cares about finding the right solutions for his clients.

4. Create a company style guide – It can help you clarify your wording, punctuation, email formatting, and other content, which can guide you or any employees. It may also set your design standards, from the logos and fonts to the colors you use. Update it regularly.

5. Enforce company communication policies – Once your style guide is in place, include it as part of an overall communications policy to ensure all your messaging stays on brand. Don’t stray from your talking points, which form the image you want to project. Do regular content or messaging audits. Your communications policy may also outline strategies for responding to a crisis.

Need help with your messaging to build your image and boost your success? Consider a free business writing coaching consultation.

BOOK A COACHING SESSION

How do *you* keep your brand messaging consistent? Feel free to comment below.

Quotes

“Define what your brand stands for, its core values and tone of voice, and then communicate consistently in those terms.” ~ Simon Mainwaring

“If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.” ~ David Brier

Published Feb. 7, 2023

business blogging, business communication, business writing, tone, writing better, writing well, writing with clarity

5 Ways to Boost Your Writing Style and Tone for Business

1. Know the purpose of your document. Let it determine the appropriate writing style and tone.

Emails: People often write them like they speak, with relaxed language, using contractions and slang (“Let’s talk soon.”). Depending on company culture, internal memos may use more formal wording, forgoing humor and emojis. It may use neutral pronouns to remove potential bias.
Articles, web pages, newsletters, social media, and blog posts: Those that inform can include more neutral wording than those that entertain. If you want to interest people in buying a product or a service or to support something, you may use persuasive wording with psychological triggers, like emails warning of a sale that will end soon.
Crisis communications: When an emergency strikes on a mass scale, consider the gravity of the situation. Serious topics, such as widespread layoffs, a mass killing, or a harmful virus need care and sensitivity. Depending on the circumstances, it’s more empathetic to deliver the news by phone, video, or in person.

2. Simplify. Large blocks of text can be hard to read online, especially without proper formatting. Shorter words, sentences, and paragraphs free of jargon are easier to read. Add a list or bullet points to reduce blocks of text to improve scannability. Write in an active, rather than a passive voice, which fosters complex words and phrases.

3. Clarify. Explain complex concepts. Use examples. Add links to boost comprehension and save words. Insert images if they will enhance your explanation.

4. Show empathy, respect, and sincerity. Think about who your reader is, where they’re at, and what they struggle with.

End your email with a greeting.
Use the words “please” and “thank you” as appropriate.
Consider writing for inclusivity: different races, ethnicities, and people with disabilities.
Consider how readers from another culture may interpret your message.

5. Proofread. As a Forbes article declared, typos, especially lots of them, can make you look sloppy or “kill your brand.” Spell-checking software maker Grammarly reported in their study of 100 LinkedIn profiles of native English speakers that it can affect a professional’s ability to be promoted. They found that the profiles of people who weren’t promoted to a director-level position in the first ten years of their careers had 2.5 more errors than those who advanced.

Need to improve the tone or other parts of your writing to boost your image and your success? Consider a business writing coaching session.

BOOK A COACHING SESSION

What kind of tone works for you in your writing? Feel free to comment below.

Quotes

“Don’t you type at me in that tone of voice.” ~ Anonymous

“A writer doesn’t have a soundtrack or a strobe light to build the effect she wants. She has conflict, surprise, imagery, details, the words she chooses, and the way she arranges them in sentences.” ~ Adair Lara

writing for accessibility, writing for readability

5 Ways to Write for Accessibility and Readability

1. Images – Create clear descriptions or “alternative text” for them in web pages, blog and social media posts, and e-newsletters to aid the visually or cognitively impaired. Add as much detail as possible within any limits on the number of characters. Alt text, however, isn’t the place for a link, a source citation, or more information irrelevant to the graphic featured. Write for accessibility — remove phrases like “image of” or “picture of” and get to the description in a complete sentence. MailChimp suggests avoiding images entirely if you can convey the same information in writing.

Example: NASA won praise for its 126-word alt text in a Twitter post featuring a photo of the early universe taken with the James Webb telescope. It begins: “The background of space is black. Thousands of galaxies appear all across the view. Their shapes and colors vary.” Yours don’t have to be that long, but they should be long enough to create a picture in someone’s mind.

2. Hashtags – Perkins Access suggests you capitalize the first letter in each word in a hashtag to help screen reading software pronounce it correctly.

Example: #EmailMarketing instead of #emailmarketing

3. Email headlines – Subject lines with specific wording can reveal the reason for and the topic of your message.

Example: Picked for you: light wash jeans (Levis®)

4. Links – Avoid the phrases “click here” or “learn more” in favor of words that describe the purpose of the link. Adding a benefit can influence clicks.

Example: Read more about planting healthy petunias.

5. Overall – When you write for accessibility, consider the entire language and structure of your piece. Is the wording clear and easy to understand, free of jargon and slang? If someone can’t see colors, images, or video, is the message still clear? Can someone skim the document and absorb everything?

Depending on their settings, some screen readers might not interpret punctuation correctly. For clearer sentences, punctuate properly. An “Oxford” or “serial” comma distinguishes items in a series (example: grapes, apples, and bananas).

Need help improving your content? A “makeover” can boost your engagement and help you get the right leads.

POLISH YOUR WRITING FOR BETTER RESULTS

How do you write for accessibility? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“I do not care much about speaking in some jargon that perpetuates inaccessibility.” ~ Malebo Sephodi

“You might ‘know’ the person you’re writing to is not disabled. But you cannot guarantee your email will not be sent on to someone who is. Being inclusive from the start removes the risk.” ~ Elisabeth Ward

Published November 1, 2022

subheadings, titles, writing, writing advice, writing better, writing well, writing with clarity

5 Ways to Hook Readers With Your Subheadings

1. Move from the general to the specific. As one whiskey maker put it, “Don’t be vague — ask for Haig.”

Example: Scenarios for Changing Trusts
Revised: How to Divide Trust Assets Fairly

Another way to clarify your subheadings (and improve SEO) is to use questions people ask from Google’s Instant or Answer box or Answer the Public.

Example: When Should You Decant a Trust?

Several subheadings in a long article can form a table of contents.

2. Keep count – In a study of 100 million article headlines by digital marketing experts BuzzSumo, the top two most engaging headlines began with a number.

Example: 7 Ways NOT to Win an Argument

Numbers in headings can also help your SEO. For instance, many top-ranked pages have numbers in the titles and subheadings. They’re timeless attention-getters in ads and on magazine covers.

3. Add benefits – Think of subheadings as part of the content that helps promote your piece throughout. Feature a different benefit in each subsection.

Example: Sharpening Your Subheads to Build Engagement

4. Get active – Through action verbs and persuasive wording, subheads can lead into a call-to-action.

Example: “Listen to music ad-free and offline, free until December 6, 2022. Cancel anytime.” (Spotify)

5. Use moderation – Explain, but not too much. Leave some mystery with simplicity.

Example: How Sears Keeps its Promise

Interested in repurposing or re-posting your existing content? Consider a makeover to help increase impressions.

BOOST YOUR ENGAGEMENT

How have you used subheadings effectively? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“Subheadings are like signposts for your readers.” ~ Cinden Lester

“Write subheads that reveal, rather than conceal, your contents.” ~ Ann Wylie, Wylie Communications

Comments? Suggestions? Need help with your communications? Contact me.

business communication, business newsletters, business writing, newsletter advice, newsletter tips, newsletter writing

5 Ways to Improve Your Business E-Newsletter Headlines

1. Test some emojis in e-newsletter headlines – Depending on your audience and the context, one per subject line is fine to help your readers understand the content. They’re more common in business-to-consumer than business-to-business newsletters. Certain companies and industries, such as the legal field, which have strict advertising guidelines, may frown ☹️ upon them.

2. Stay error-free – Don’t make typos — not even intentionally. Some marketers make mistakes (or pretend to) to give them an excuse to send an update later. As I’ve discovered through trial and error, a correction email often gets more opens than the original. But it’s better to be honest.

3. Write it well – As SaaS content writer Masooma Memon suggests, “Keep subject lines short, clear, and simple.” She also advises that power words, such as “insider” and “secret” can entice clicks.

4. Keep to one subject (per line) – Describing more than one topic in an email headline doesn’t always work when attention spans tend to be short. If you have more to say, save it for the preview text, where you can expand on the meaning if it makes sense to do so.

Example:

Subject: See How Knowledge College Can Secure Your Future at Our Open House
Preview text: And get the secret recipe for career success.

5. Avoid click-bait – For example, if you’re promoting a breakfast seminar, it’s better to describe the subject of the talk rather than writing, “Bacon, Bacon, and More Bacon!”. When readers discover the true nature of the email, they can feel like you’ve conned them, and you may lose credibility with them.

Based on a #ContentChat hosted by Erika Heald.

Does your e-newsletter fail to get clicks? Find out what you should tweak to help your content connect with readers and gain the right leads.

GET A FREE E-NEWS AUDIT

What are some other ways to polish your e-newsletter headlines? Feel free to comment further below.

Quotes

“When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what’s inside, and the worst subject lines sell what’s inside.” ~ MailChimp

“A subject line is like a newspaper headline, a title on a book’s spine, or the key slogan of a print media ad. It tells the user that this is all about. And it should do so in sparkling style — seamlessly channeling your brand.” ~ Win Goodbody, Senior Product Manager, Sitka Technology Group