Misinformation and misconceptions can be caused by a lot of different factors, but the main one that I’ve seen throughout the news, and from the communications that companies are releasing to their audiences, is the lack of clear, concise copy.

Distributing clear, concise copy is always important, of course, but during unprecedented times like these, it’s more crucial than ever before – literally. The news is an entirely different animal to tackle, but right now, companies have a duty to communicate with their audience in a transparent, actionable way. Every company, no matter what industry they’re in, has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s imperative they develop a message detailing that impact so everyone, from their employees to stakeholders to consumers, can understand it. 

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As a copywriter, it’s my job to create copy that clearly communicates what my clients want to say to their audience, and I strive to write these messages in a way that eliminates the chance of there being any misinterpretations. When there are lapses of communication distributed by businesses during this time, I see a wasted opportunity to get ahead of this crisis in order to better understand and serve consumers. Additionally, there’s a possibility that the company could lose the trust and loyalty it’s spent years building with its customer base.

Right now, it’s important to clearly define your message in order to reach your audience in a meaningful way. Below are my top tips on how to streamline your copy so your company can relay the most effective message possible in the shortest amount of time.

Address the Elephant in the Room

One of the first things a company needs to do during this time is to directly and visibly address the pandemic. Next, they need to be transparent about how it’s affecting them and how it’s going to affect their consumers. If there was ever a time to shout a message from the rooftops, it’s right now. 

The goal of writing clear copy is to give peace of mind to your audience, while also trying to show them that you are fully on top of this situation so they’ll continue to trust you. These may be unprecedented times, but at the end of the day, your audience is looking to you because they want to know if you are still going to deliver what they need, and if you’re not, they need reassurance that you have a plan in place to navigate this new normal.

So, address the pandemic head-on in your messaging. If you haven’t already, sit down with all of your stakeholders and board members to adapt your crisis management strategy to fit with the pandemic. Then develop direct, consistent messages that will address the issues at hand, answer any immediate questions and, most importantly, keep your audience’s well being at the center of it. 

Broadcast Your Message Consistently On All of Your Platforms

Another way for your company to practice clear concise communication is to broadcast your message methodically on all of your platforms and channels. In a widespread situation like the coronavirus pandemic, you can’t solely rely on a single communication or channel to get your point across. Because of the media’s oversaturation of this topic, it’s easy for people to miss something important. Your company needs to go above and beyond to make sure that your message is accessible to everyone at all times. 

Some companies are doing this better than others. Take two popular home essentials brands, Charmin and Bounty, for example. There has been an unprecedented shortage of toilet paper and paper towels over the past several weeks, and many people around the world are having to go without these products. While Charmin has taken steps to keep consumers informed, Bounty’s messaging has left something to be desired. 

Charmin changed its homepage to the message below and pinned a tweet about it as well. To add to the message’s effectiveness, the Charmin team kept their communications virtually identical:

Bounty on the other hand, which is in the same group as Charmin, didn’t follow suit with its homepage. Though it did tweet a message on March 16. (And to be fair, they are donating to people who are have been affected by the pandemic.):

Bounty missed a huge opportunity to give their customers the peace of mind they need during this time. As a company that is most likely getting inundated with questions, ensuring that a cohesive message is immediately accessible on their sites is a must. And because there isn’t much communication around the coronavirus from Bounty, it could affect how their customers see them during and after the crisis.

So, take a page out of Charmin’s book and develop direct copy that can be displayed across multiple channels, like your website, social media, print materials, and other forms of media, so that you can meet every member of your audience where they are and relay your message to them. 

Trust in Your Writers

When in doubt, trust in the writers you have on staff. Writers are trained to convey messages in the most effective way possible. So, if you find yourself in over your head when you’re developing a message, have your writers take a stab at it. You’ll be amazed at how they are able to consolidate the ideas in your head into one well-written statement. On top of them being excellent writers, they are also trained to be excellent editors, so they can take copy that is too complicated and significantly pare it down. The end result will be a refined, transparent piece of communication that you can use consistently throughout the pandemic.

During this time, we all have to do our part to cut through the noise that is being flung at us from all angles. One thing your company can do right now is develop a clear communication strategy to share with your community. In the end, your audience will thank you and you’ll find that their trust in your company will grow.

What is your company doing to spread the word? Let me know in the comments below!

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Clear Communication is More Important Than Ever is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

I would characterize myself as a naturally empathetic person – for instance, anytime I know that something embarrassing is going to happen on a TV show, I have to fast-forward through it or it will ruin my night – and that extends into my professional life as well. Professional empathy centers around getting into the mindset of your audience and understanding their needs to develop and deliver a message they find meaningful.

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Professional empathy doesn’t come naturally to some people, and that can affect how they convey a message when they are writing website copy. So, here are five strategies writers and marketers can use to practice empathy in their writing. Keep reading to learn more!

1. Create Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are basic profiles of the people who would reasonably need your company’s services or products. To develop buyer personas, you need to research your customers and prospects to look for trends, like pain points, job titles, and demographic information, that can be combined to create a single representative entity. I like to give each persona a name, job title, and brief backstory to give them more substance. I’ll give you an example.

At a previous job, I helped create several buyer personas for a software company – two of them were named Bill and Linda.

Bill is the Chief Technology Officer at his company, and his current software systems aren’t equipped to provide security protocols that can protect sensitive client and company information, so he’s looking for a new solution that can. Linda is a social worker at Bill’s company and was tasked by her manager to find a few software solutions that will create a digital archive of important case notes. In this example, my company’s software is capable of swiftly alleviating both pain points, so both personas are likely to evaluate it. So, it was important to understand their specific needs so I could write content that would answer the vastly different questions that each persona, along with others, had about the software.

Creating buyer personas allowed me to get into the headspace of my specific audience to really understand their pain points and motivations, which helped me market to them more effectively. I highly recommend taking the time to do this for your company to boost your professional empathy as it relates to your audience.

2. Avoid Using Complicated Copy

One of the biggest red flags I see in website copy is the use of overly-complicated, jargon-heavy language. Not only is it distracting, but it will also likely drive away your audience. No one wants to sift through buzzwords and platitudes to find your point, and they won’t try to; they’ll simply go to a competitor’s site. So, look at your website through the lens of professional empathy to tailor your language for the benefit of your audience.

The cornerstone of good content is to make it accessible to everyone who reads it. My most tried and true piece of advice to clients is to take a step back and read their website copy as if they’ve never encountered anything like their product or service before. Once they do that, they inevitably go back through to simplify their messaging. 

3. Place a Summary of Your Service Offering Above the Fold

When web designers say “above the fold”, they are referring to the portion of the webpage that’s seen when the page first loads. It’s the first impression that your audience will get from your website, so it’s important to make the impression a good one. One way to do that is to include a headline above the fold that briefly summarizes your company’s main service offering. So, if your company sells enterprise software for government agencies, that should be the first thing someone learns from your website.

A surprising number of companies neglect to summarize their service offerings above the fold, and it all comes down to a lack of professional empathy. A lot of web writers want to create headlines that are attention-grabbing, but that often means sacrificing effective messaging and disregarding your audience’s time.

This does two things – it increases the chances of people bouncing from your website and significantly reduces the number of people who are willing to engage with your services. 

So, resist the urge to lead with a clever page header and make sure that the one you write clearly demonstrates what your company provides to your customers, even if you’re writing for a well-known brand. It’s a simple fix, but trust me, it makes a world of difference in the mind of the user.

4. Hire a Third-Party Editor 

One way to make sure that your copy is accessible is to hire someone that is outside your organization to edit it. Third-party editors are trained to provide feedback and changes that will help you create better content for your users while also keeping your tone, voice, and goals at the forefront of the copy. They are also much more likely to find communication gaps that internal writers and stakeholders can miss because they provide a fresh set of eyes.

An added bonus of this service is that you can review their feedback to learn how you can better connect with your audience through your copy. This will not only provide even more bang for your buck, but it will also deepen your understanding of what first-time visitors of your website will see and interact with. These insights are great to have in your back pocket for any future website copy projects.  

A great way to find independent editors is to look at Upwork. This website is a chock-full of talented writers and editors who offer their services at reasonable prices. If you need ongoing copy support, however, I highly recommend partnering with an agency. Either way, this is an incredibly valuable service that is worth the investment.

5. Monitor Social Media to Find Trends

One simple way to learn what pain points your audience is experiencing is to monitor social media for their comments. Nowadays, people are quick to air their satisfaction and grievances on social platforms, and companies should take advantage of these insights. I like to think of these comments as free business advice that can make your service and website better.

To set up social media monitoring, you can use tools, like Sprout Social or Buzzsumo, to set up searches pertaining to your brand and any keywords that you’d like to keep an eye on. So, if your audience tags you directly, you’ll see it instantly. Or, if they mention a keyword that you’re interested in, you’ll be able to take note of it right away. You can then change your website’s language to reflect those pain points and how your product improves upon them. Talk about a win-win!

What other ways have you used to build up your professional empathy? I’d love to hear them! Feel free to leave me a comment below.

5 Ways to Use Professional Empathy to Boost Website Copy is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

We wanted to get insight into how our copywriting team actually goes about creating blog posts for our clients. We sat down with LaRhonda Sparrow, Associate Copywriter, and asked her 5 quick questions to learn more.

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What is your writing process?

When I sit down to write a blog, I begin by finding out all of the specifications of the client, including their overall goals and how they write to their audience. Then, I just start writing to get all of my initial ideas down on paper. I then go back through the copy to refine the overall message. Lastly, I continue editing the copy to ensure that it’s exactly what the client is looking for.

So, generally, my written process includes getting any requirements from the client, putting my ideas down on paper, refining my message, and then copy editing the piece to make sure it fits in with the client’s goals.

How do you come up with blog ideas?

When brainstorming topics for client blogs, I like to lean on my experience as a consumer to take a step back and think about what type of content would make my interaction with a website better. So, I spend some time on the client’s website to find questions that I would want answers to if I were interested in buying their products. 

For instance, I was writing a blog for my furniture retail client one day, and I looked through their products for inspiration. I found a sofa that I was personally interested in and I immediately asked myself how this sofa would look in my home, how I could style it for different times of the year, and how I could keep it clean. Those are all questions the average consumer is asking themselves as well, so it’s completely worth it to develop them out into blogs. When I look at brainstorming in that way, the ideas start flooding in.

What is the ideal blog length?

In my opinion, there is no ideal blog length. The only requirement is that you get your point across in a clear, concise way so you won’t lose your reader. One blog I wrote had less than 300 words, but it ended up being really successful because it relied on graphical components to convey its message. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently wrote a post that was around 2,000 words, but it faired well because it was written for a highly-technical audience who generally expects to read more robust pieces.

My advice is to research your audience to know what they want out of a blog post and to use your discretion when coming up with a word count. 

Why should a writer use formatting in their blog posts?

Proper formatting really can be the difference between your blog looking intimidating, and not getting any traction, and it going viral. If you open a blog and there’s a huge block of text, there’s a very low chance that someone is going to read through it.

I recommend breaking up your copy with headings, bullet points, and images throughout so it looks as user-friendly as possible. An example of a perfectly formatted blog is a piece by my colleague, Ally Mickler, who wrote an article detailing how to set up an A/B test on the Go Fish website. Even though the subject matter is relatively specialized, it’s broken up nicely with different headings, helpful images, and numerical lists, which makes it much more approachable visually.

With good formatting, a reader won’t be intimidated by your content and they’ll be much more inclined to read it, which is exactly what we want!

What word processor would you recommend using when writing blogs?

I prefer to use Google Docs when I’m writing for clients. Google Docs is a great tool because it allows you to share and collaborate easily with both your project team and your client. Through a single link, you can see each version of a document, comment on things you want more clarity on, and even get quick answers through the built-in chat function. You really can’t go wrong with it.

To learn more about our Copywriting service and how it can help your company, reach out to us today!

How a Professional Copywriter Writes Blog Posts is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

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Editing is the key that unlocks good writing. Knowing how to edit is a testament to your ability to look at copy objectively in order to make it the best it can be. Anyone can put words together, but editors know how to elevate phrases and make them powerful.

Great editing takes time, patience, and perseverance to even get a basic understanding. I want to help guide you over the initial hurdles of your new editing journey with a few things that I’ve learned in my career that have made me a better editor which, in turn, made me a much better writer.

Learn How to Edit Your Own Writing

This fundamental skill is the hardest to master, but it’s the most invaluable one to have in your arsenal. Self-editing makes you take a step back and look at your words objectively and that’s difficult to do for many people. After all, that’s why people pay others to edit their work for them. But, by reading through your own work, you’ll have so much more insight into your writing. You’ll find the things you like about your writing style, your flaws, and your most common mistakes. Understanding these aspects of your writing will inevitably help you get better.

As you’re beginning the self-editing process, my advice would be to stick with the 30-30 rule. Once you’ve got your first draft, cut 30% of your copy. Then, go back through and cut 30% of the remainder. Yes, it’s as hard as, or maybe even harder than, it sounds.

The 30-30 rule forces you to look at your copy in a different way and tighten it up. You’re going to write sentences that you will absolutely love. In my opinion, those should be the first to go because they are most likely only there for style. Because you love them, however, you’ll try to incorporate them into your copy, even if they start detracting from your argument. Let them, and your ego, go.

The key is to know what you want to say and make it as efficient and accessible as possible. Look for any place your copy can be simplified. If you have a long sentence, consider splitting it into two. Or if you included a long, fancy word, replace it with a simple word that a wide range of audiences can understand. Above all else, don’t ever waste your readers’ time.  

Use Unconventional Editing Tools to Find Your Mistakes

As you’re going through the editing process, it’s always a good idea to have extra help. I highly recommend using a dictation tool and a text-to-speech tool, regardless of whether you let other people read your writing. My favorite ones to use are Google Translate, the dictation tool that is already installed on most Mac models, and Grammarly for checking grammar and spelling mistakes.

These tools help you find any mistakes you didn’t catch, and they allow you to hear how your piece flows. Often when people are writing, they know what they want to say, but they aren’t always effective in how they execute the final product. Even after rounds of self-edits, writers can miss critical mistakes.

Editing tools are objective and unforgiving, and you’ll quickly find that weird sentences or misplaced punctuation stick out like sore thumbs. It will be weird at first, but stick with it and you’ll find that your writing and editing skills will get better with each piece.

Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More

My last piece of advice is to continue practicing your editing skills and to not get discouraged. Even though I write professionally, I am constantly improving and developing my style. And if you are committed to getting better, you need to do the same thing. 

Improving at anything takes a lot of hard work, but if it’s worth it to you, keep at it. Remember, even the most accomplished writers had to start somewhere, and they still never get it right on the first draft. You’re going to have to put in the work to get better, but if you do, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you see improvement in your writing.

Eventually, you’ll be able to quickly catch grammatical or word-choice mistakes that will make you pause and grimace. You’ll experience that incredible a-ha feeling that comes with progress. Lean into it and be proud. Then, file it away and soldier on.

To Be a Good Writer, You Need to Be a Great Editor is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.