On writing engagingly for business clients

Two weeks ago, I delivered a ‘Lunch and Learn’ session to the leadership team at Rickard Luckin; a firm of accountants and tax advisors with branches across Essex.

I’ve been there before, delivering a business blogging workshop in 2019 BC (Before Covid), so the fact that I was asked back must mean I did a good job then.  Well, either that, or the chaos of the pandemic erased any bad memories of it.

This session was all about writing engagingly for clients, and how businesses who do this well can really stand out.

Writing keeps me and my cats housed, fed, and entertained.  I’ve been writing professionally (and hopefully engagingly!) for over 10 years now, which means the advice I planned to offer the team felt so obvious as to be irrelevant.  Rickard Luckin is a successful and well-thought of firm, after all.

But as it turned out, what’s obvious to me as a professional writer wasn’t so obvious to a leadership team in an accountancy and tax advice firm.  Why would it?  We naturally focus on what we do for a living, whether that’s writing engaging articles or calculating intricate taxes.

It’s for this reason I’m sharing some of that session-advice here.  If you’d like me to present the whole lot in person to your leadership team, all you have to do is ask.

“What keeps YOU reading a business article online?”

I opened with this question.  The team’s answers – stories, interesting facts, relevance to personal circumstances, simple language – were no surprise (luckily!), because the rules of engaging writing are near-universal.  You just have to know how and when to use them.

When businesses write engagingly (I’d say “write engaging content” but anyone who knows me knows I hate the word “content” in this context) they essentially welcome clients into their world and make them comfortable.  That’s how a great article can convert a casual website browser into someone who thinks, “I HAVE to work with this firm!”.

(Not to mention the fact that articles can be snipped up into social-media posts.  They can also be used to explain a common term or topic clients often ask about, thus saving precious time and breath).

“I’m listening to someone pour their heart out, and I’m thinking: ‘Good for you.  Now tell me something about me.”  (Noel Gallagher)

Noel said this to a journalist in an interview with The Times a few years back.  He might have been talking about songwriting, but his words work just as well when applied to business articles.

(Note: I did not imitate Noel’s Mancunian accent when I repeated his quote out loud, which was a wise decision from a middle-aged, somewhat genteel Essex woman).

In short, you won’t engage anyone if all you do is talk about your own expertise.  Your clients need to see themselves when they read, which is a point underlined by Stephen King in On Writing.  Every book he writes is for just one Imagined Reader, so try writing for just one Imagined Client.  Who are they, and what do they need?

What else?  Write as you speak, and paint pictures with your words.  Stories and facts help readers visualise what you’re saying, which means they’re more likely to remember.

A good example is an article by Marks and Spencer’s (M&S), written to celebrate their 100-year anniversary.  Among other ‘tales from the shop floor’ it talked about M&S being the first British retailer to sell avocados, in the 1970s.  Back then, they called them “avocado pears”, which led to customers serving them for dessert with custard.

(You’re now picturing an avocado with custard.  Because of that, you’re more likely to remember that M&S were the first British retailer to sell avocados!  It’s a bit like magic).

As well as presenting illuminating and deceptively simple sessions like these, I can write for or as you in a wide range of situations. 

One of my clients in particular says that their readers can’t “see the join” between their own writing and mine, which is my ultimate aim. 

My writing services also have the potential to save you huge amounts of time.

(Just saying).