Get to the point. Avoiding flowery language
“Look – I’m a technician. I haven’t a clue about words. It’s your job to come up with all the flowery language.”
These were the words of Bob, my lovely new client from a few years ago.
You'll appreciate I've had to let Bob down gently. I quickly reminded him that, of the many services offered by Copywriter Pro, being the purveyor of ‘flowery language’ isn’t one.
Bob was suffering from a common misconception – that for words to engage, they need to be written in the style of a best-selling novelist - with striking similes and manufactured metaphors.
Here’s an example – an extract from a recent newsletter by a famous and successful Sales Coach –
“The walk from my car to the revolving door front entrance in the Burlington Marriott Hotel couldn’t have been more than 50 yards, yet my cheeks and chin felt like sharp-edged ice pressed against them and my eyes stung. To the south-east, yellowish watery-thin sunlit gaps between horizon-wide grey cloud streaks, brightening the tops of snowbanks piled high on either side of the sidewalk.”
Now is not the time to debate whether this qualifies as ‘good writing’. The sad fact is that the immediate reaction (certainly of this reader) was, ‘for goodness sake - get on with it!’. The florid, convoluted writing style has nothing to do with the message. It’s as though the writer is waving a big flag and shouting through a megaphone, “Hey guys! Listen to me! Aren’t I clever? I can write!”
His message about the importance of using trusted advisors was great but, boy - getting there was one hell of a tortuous road!
So – what have we learned? It’s simple.
Effective writing needs to be
Clear
Concise
Compelling
and ...
... on message.
This applies whether your writing Website Content, Sales Letters, Press Releases, White Papers, Blogs or whatever.
Remember this and your readers will soon learn to love you. They really will.
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Till the next time ...
