Highlight your differences. Why are you better, faster, cheaper or stronger than your competitors?

Work out your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and then advertise it. Tell your customers why you’re better than the other guy.

A freelance copywriter can help identify the thing that makes your business special. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes will see something new – something your customers will want to know about.

If the economy continues to make running a profitable business more challenging, differentiating yourself in a crowded market will become even more important.

Stand out from the herd and your customers will notice you.

(picture courtesy of Floppylion)

Smart business people recognise the value of good communicators.

If your organisation doesn’t value communication, you may be wondering why people don’t get what you do.

Poor communication at all levels of an organisation can be the cause of:

• Confused customers
• Disillusioned staff
• Unclear goals
• Bad products/services.

If your team doesn’t include any talented writers, consider using a freelance copywriter to boost the quality of your organisation’s communications.

(picture courtesy of Sascha on Flickr)

If your copy is a load of balls your bounce rate* will be sky-high. Bad copy can affect your bounce rate in a number of ways:

1. Your visitors may have been expecting something different to what you are offering. Unclear copy can attract the wrong kind of visitor.
2. Poor grammar or spelling tells people that you’re lazy and stupid. Correct your copy and people might stick around.
3. Copy that doesn’t offer clear benefits will not persuade customers to buy or read on. Make your selling proposition obvious and stress your offering’s benefits.
4. Verbose copy bores visitors. If your visitors get bored they may bounce off to a competitor who doesn’t waffle.

Copywriters understand the reasons why web users bounce off websites. If your website is suffering from a high bounce rate ask a copywriter to assess your site for flaws.

Identify weak spots and change them. Changing a website is simple so this process is quick and cheap.

Don’t let your copy let you down!

*Bounce rate = the rate at which people “bounce” away from your website. A bounce occurs when a visitor leaves your website without visiting any other pages. It’s a clear sign that they didn’t want to be there in the first place or don’t like something about your site.

(Picture courtesy of Tom Barnett)

Writers don’t have to read every classic. You can read anything, but you must read something.

If you don’t read you will never understand how writing works, or how it can fail.

Be adventurous with your reading. Avoid re-reading the same few books.

Reading a variety of styles and sources will strengthen your writing, improve your vocabulary and fill you with ideas.

Blogging has revolutionised the way organisations communicate with their clients and peers.

CEOs are blogging about their work. Organisations are opening up, creating greater transparency in their dealings with customers.

Anyone in business that wants to blog must understand that the key to a blog’s appeal is honesty.

Readers accept that the CEO may need an editor, but they won’t accept ghost-written posts from an office junior. Blog content must always be high-quality, pertinent material, direct from the boss.

Copywriters make perfect editors – leaving your voice and your message intact while weeding out errors and improving readability.

Don’t hide behind your website. Too many businesses barricade themselves behind a chunky website, giving visitors no easy way to get in touch.

What are they afraid of?

Whenever I struggle to find a telephone number, postal address or email address on a website, I immediately begin to think the owners have something to hide.

If your business has great products and efficient customer services, you should have no reason to deny your users the opportunity to contact you.

When writing copy for the web, I always advise clients to be bold in displaying contact details. It’s a great way to gain the trust of your visitors.

Your imagination will not feed itself.

If you want to write, you’ll need ideas to fuel your writing.

If you fill your brain with lots of interesting stuff, interesting stuff will come spilling out.

Consider your inputs as imagination fuel. What kind of things are you exposed to? Do you have a life filled with routine? If you’ve had the same job for a long time, take the same route to work, have the same old friends, re-read favourite books, only read a static selection of magazines and only ever watch the same shows on TV, you’re not giving yourself much chance of having a great idea.

Expand your circle of influences. Change things in your life. Do something you don’t normally do. Accept an invitation that you wouldn’t normally. Be adventurous. Watch a film that doesn’t naturally appeal to you.

New experiences, outside of your usual range, can trigger new thoughts.

The more you put into your brain, the more you can expect to get out.

(Picture courtesy of Sekator)

Premasagar Rose, Brighton-based web worker with Dharmafly, has submitted a brilliant idea to Social Innovation Camp ahead of the conference in April.

If you rue the waste of perfectly good vegetable peelings, but have neither garden nor compost bin, Premasagar’s idea may change the way you recycle!

As Premasagar writes on sicamp.org:

‘Social Compost’ [working title] would be a drop-dead simple website, based around an interactive map. There would be an option to add yourself to the map and to offer either kitchen peelings or mature compost. You could use the map to find others who are offering either peelings or compost.

So with Social Compost, those without gardens can find a loving home for their compostable waste.

As someone who religiously cleans, sorts and recycles rubbish, I hate to chuck out so much good fodder.

Visit Social Innovation Camp to register your support for this idea. One day Social Compost could be a reality.

“If you want to be seen as a cool place to work, then you need to have a blog. And it’s not just about being cool; it shows that you believe in being open and transparent. Customers also prefer to deal with a company that is not just a faceless entity.”

- Debbie Weil, as quoted in the Guardian article “Why CEOs should learn to love the blog”

Now this article is a couple of years old, but it’s still very relevant. I like the idea of smaller companies using blogs as a way to connect to customers in a cost-effective manner.

But, given the enormous number of blogs in existence, only quality blogs (regular, interesting and informative) will find an audience.

One point not mentioned in the article is the significant Search Engine Optimisation value of blogging. Take a look at my free white paper if you want more information: Free White Paper – Blogging for Business

James Wragg’s Planet BNM website collects blog posts from Brighton’s new media bloggers.

Anyone interested in what’s happening in Brighton’s digital scene should take a look. And if you’re blogging new media in Brighton, join the list!