A Way With Words? Why Writing Still Matters to Your Bottom Line

As a kid, my father would sometimes put on his best British accent and tell me that one of the keys to success in life is mastering the “King’s English.” What he meant is that being able to write clearly, accurately and succinctly is an essential skill. Fast forward 20 years and that simple piece of advice still rings true.

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”

 — Lee Iacocca

image provided by: freedigitalphotos.net

Writing and editing have been a fundamental part of my career since I began as a communications and content marketing professional more than a decade ago. True, in my line of work I’m predisposed to having a more critical editorial eye than most. But let’s be honest, you don’t have to be sitting behind the editor’s desk to see the value in good writing that clearly articulates an idea. Likewise, we can all spot bad writing from a mile away. And, in today’s content-thirsty world, who’s got the time or patience for meaningless jargon, run-on sentences, simple typos, or any of the other hallmarks of poor writing?

Now imagine for a minute that you’ve been charged with finding the best new software vendor to help support your company. You do a little digging around and send off e-mails to two potential vendors. Both vendors promptly reply, ask to set up a meeting, and send along some collateral to check out in the meantime. The only difference is that not only did Vendor A have a couple of typos in his three-line e-mail, you got frustrated trying to make sense of the product described in his brochure.

All other things being equal, Vendor A’s sloppiness almost guarantees that you’ll go with Vendor B. After all, Vendor A isn’t making a great first impression, which is going to make you think twice about entrusting him with your business.

Admittedly this is an oversimplified example, but the point is that words still matter, and more than most of us think. They are the tools for articulating ideas, and they make impressions on people, both positive and negative, that influence business decisions every day.

Of course, high-quality writing is a nice aspiration, but unless you’re a novelist, it’s not going to get you very far. To have real impact — by engaging your prospects and clients and helping to build your brand — it has to be built into an effective content marketing strategy.

This blog will cover a number of topics (including the occasional rant), but my intent is for it to be a resource to help you not only create good content, but also develop the strategies necessary to leverage that content as a powerful business tool. Let me know what you think!