Excellent Marketing Writing

Mountain Air Marketing (MAM) has a lot of conversations every day with small businesses and customers who are building websites, trying to improve their SEO, or hoping to gain social media followers with great content and engagement. And one of the questions we get a lot is the question around the value of investing in excellent marketing writing.

A lot of small business owners have a hard time really understanding how important it can be to have great writing along with a great web design or a great SEO plan, so we thought we’d share a little from our perspective on the necessity of making sure your writing for your website (or blog posts, too) is really on point along with these other online marketing services.

To do this, we made up a fun example below to illustrate the point. So keep reading!

The Value of Good Marketing Writing

Good writing is an undervalued asset in this day and age. Anyone can get online, write a blog post, and say they’re a writer. The internet is filled with poorly written memes, graphics, articles, etc. And oftentimes, people may think that writing is fairly easy…until they have to sit down and do it.

Some people just can’t seem to write at all. The words just don’t come, or they seem awkward even when in your head you knew exactly what you thought you were saying. Even if you are able to put a few sentences down about your business, it can often feel pretty dry and forced. (Not to mention the grammatical errors you probably don’t even realize you might be making and that make you seem unprofessional to discerning customers!)

But those sentences you’re putting down for the front of your website or a blog post actually matter because those sentences are the first things that potential customers are going to be reading when it comes to your business. Sure, great visuals and web design help, but you’re still communicating with your customer primarily through what you’re saying through the written word.

Why is Marketing Writing Difficult?

Marketing writing—capturing your story, your passion, what you offer, how you’re different from other companies in a clear, concise, engaging matter—is a lot harder than it may sound.

So why is this? Marketing writing is not about simply stringing together facts about your business. It’s about capturing the voice of your business and conveying the company’s heart through the written word for the benefit of the potential customer.

This is easier said than done. While you as a business owner may be able to talk and talk with passion and excitement about your business and what it offers to customers, you can still have trouble capturing that verbal passion into a precise, easy-to-understand, written way for a potential customer.

But writing matters. Consider the following differences in writing from a made up company in Colorado Springs that we’ll call Joe’s Automotive. This would appear on the homepage of their site…

Joe’s Automotive Marketing Writing Example #1:

We are automotive mechanics in downtown Colorado Springs. We can fix your car however you need it fixed, and we’re extremely honest too. And we have a range of special services like our car shuttle service for your convenience. We’ll pick you up or drop you off as you get that car looked at. We love serving our clients, and you’ll see the difference when you come to our shop.

And our customers love us. You don’t have to take our word. Just ask them. We have a lot of reviews on Google that show that we are a trusted place of business in, Colorado Springs, and we have even gotten on Gazette’s Best of Springs for Car Shop 3 years in a row from 2016-2018. We offer oil changes, tire rotations, engine checks, brakes, etc.

Come by and we’ll help you out with all your car repairs!

Joe’s Automotive  Marketing Writing Example #2:

Joe’s Automotive is an award-winning car repair shop located in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs. As a family owned and operated business, we’ve been serving our beloved neighborhood for over 20 years—and this shows in the amount of loyal customers and great reviews we have all on the top review sites like Yelp.com, Google, and more.

We are straight talkers who are known for being honest with our evaluations of the damage and cost of what really went wrong with your car. We won’t treat you like you’re stupid or talk you into unneeded repairs with overhyped situations, but we will also be sure to alert you to important issues when assessing your vehicle.

At Joe’s Automotive, we go beyond a normal mechanic shop by offering unique perks to our customers—such as our free shuttle service to and from the shop. We get how challenging it can be for you when your car is being repaired, and we want to make your life the easiest it can be for you while you wait for your vehicle. Check out the details here.

At Joe’s Automotive, be assured that you’re in safe and honest hands. Contact us today!

…

While our made up example of the fictional Joe’s Automotive is a bit of a silly example, we hope it can offer you some insight into good marketing writing versus writing that talks about your business but isn’t capturing a customer’s attention in any real way or conveying your business’s true heart.

Ask yourself, if you were a potential customer checking out a website for the first time, which writing would you be more drawn to? Because ultimately, your writing must speak the language of the customers you’re trying to seek. It must be able to clearly articulate what you offer, how you’re different, and why they should feel safe entrusting their lives and money to you.

While grammar is important, it’s also about developing a great voice and helping your company find that voice for their online presence. This is a skill that is honed in by a talented marketing writer who helps translate your business onto the page, and it’s just as important as any other component of your online presence.

If you have any questions, MAM is here to help! Contact us and let us know your thoughts today.