Hey, Client, This Is Me! Sell With Your Writing Vo

Hey, Client, This Is Me! Sell With Your Writing Voice.

by: Cathy Goodwin

In a crowded market, clients will be seeking personality as they read what youกve written theyกll click right past pages that feel กbeen there, read that.ก They’re looking for a voice that says, กHey, client, this is me!ก

They want to know not just what you deliver but how. Will you be funny or serious? A perky cheerleader or a sardonic commentator? Will your view of life be based on กbelieve and it happensก or กwhat you see is what you get?ก

Here are some tips to add your own voice to your writing.

1. Write from the heart.

Too excited, passionate or angry to sit still? Best time to connect with your voice. Grab a pencil and scribble ideas as you jump around the room.

2. Say something new.

After forty articles on time management, your readers know about cutting projects into manageable chunks and setting priorities. Ho hum. Try กbetter than zeroก or ‘turn your life into a time warp.ก

3. Tape yourself talking to a good friend about a product.

Do your words sound different when you speak than when you write? Transcribe the tape into an article for easy reading.

4. Picture your ideal client (you do have one, don’t you?). Imagine that she is gushing about your service to a friend highly recommending you. What words does she use to describe your services? What emotions come through?

5. Cut. Then cut again. When you have to trim your piece to meet a word count requirement, notice that you’re left with the most essential words all yours.

6. Write fast. Get the words down before your inner critic has a chance to participate. Edit later.

7. Reveal yourself: family, mistakes, secret dreams. When you feel just a bit embarrassed, or feel your private persona has become more public, youกve probably just touched your audienceกs heart.

8. Be concrete not abstract.

As writing guru Natalie Goldberg would say, กItกs a geranium, not a flower.ก

9. If youกve had voice training, be especially alert to creating the bland and the blah.

Julia Roberts could hold an audience while she reads the telephone directory. Your copy has to stand alone, without dramatic oratory. Exercise 3 may not work for you.

10. Don’t be afraid to break the rules: use slang and contractions. And itกs okay to begin a sentence with กandก or กbut.ก

Just tread carefully on the rules of grammar and spelling. กYour about to head off for you’re great adventureก can be a credibilitybuster.

About The Author

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, editor, and consultant. She helps clients who want to use writing to sell and sell what they write.

Visit http://www.makewritingpay.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 31, 2003

by Cathy Goodwin