Who are you more likely to listen to: a scholarly lecturer giving a ponderous speech, or a close friend animatedly telling a story? Naturally, you’d prefer the person who talks more conversationally; that same principle applies to marketing and business writing. People pay extra attention to a message written in a conversational tone. In fact, […]

Ernest Hemingway wasn’t a fan of fluff writing. Legend has it that when the author was challenged to write a story using only six words, Hemingway responded with “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.” Hemingway’s six word story proves you don’t need wordiness, redundancy or filler to write descriptive copy that invokes an emotional response. […]

Being a good writer isn’t just about conveying as much information as possible–it’s about making every word count. A truly articulate writer can use concise business writing to pack a wealth of meaning into only a few words. It doesn’t matter if you’re renowned for your verbose, eloquent style-at some point you’re going to be […]

Writing is primarily thought of as a process involving letters and words, so when print marketers are tasked to write numbers and quantities, they might spell out the number (like “twelve” or “five percent”) instead of using a numeral (“12,” “5%”). The thought process is easy to understand–numerals are commonly associated with math and science, […]

How do you stop your audience from scanning and start making them focus on every word you’ve painstakingly crafted into your copywriting? The answer is: you don’t. Instead, you embrace your audience’s tendency to gloss over the finer details and make your printed marketing as easy to scan as possible. According to a study conducted […]

In school, we’re taught never to write in sentence fragments because they represent incomplete thoughts. But that’s not exactly true, as some fragments can relay just as much information as a full sentence but in a shorter amount of time. Sentence fragments are acceptable to use when your intentions are clear. That’s because good marketing […]

When it comes to business writing, the length of your ads can either help or hinder your ability to connect with your audience. Write copy that is too short, and your customer might not have enough information to make a purchasing decision. If your writing is too long, you run the risk of losing your […]

When communicating with other people through business writing, your message is made up of two factors: what you say and how you say it. Even the most basic of messages can be muddled if you deliver them with the wrong tone. Ask anyone in a long-term relationship; who hasn’t gotten into an argument because their […]

Using humor in your print advertising campaign is a trap that’s tempted many of us from time to time. After all, who doesn’t enjoy funny Super Bowl commercials or outrageous magazine ads? Some of the most famous ad campaigns of all time have been funny, such as the “Budweiser frogs,” “Geico gecko” or “Taco Bell […]

Emotional appeals are quite powerful in advertising because we often let our “gut” feelings trump our logical thoughts when it comes to making purchases. Consider the impulse candy rack at the supermarket–you didn’t come into the store looking to purchase a pack of gum and you probably didn’t think too much about it when you […]