Yesterday, we had a really interesting conversation with the wonderful Daniela Cavalletti from Cavalletti Communications. Daniela is a copywriting and business communication expert with a considerable amount of experience. We’re stoked to have her as one of the speakers at our next Short Takes event , this Thursday, 10 November 2011.  

Communications – Without Trust You Have Nothing.

  Writing is an often overlooked and undervalued part of business and brand communication – yet most of what we know and learn is being conveyed through language. Therefore, written content is the crucial ingredient that holds your other brand and communication elements together, explains them, and enables you to connect with your customers and readers. So, it seems almost superfluous to ask the question:

Why Does Writing Matter?

Daniela offered the following reasons to think twice before you press ‘post’ or ‘send’:

• Connection. Written content gives you the opportunity to connect with your customer’s needs and emotive side. It’s important to get the tone and message right to be able to properly connect with your target audience.

 

• Trust: Building trust is about detail; if you don’t take care of the details of your own communication, your target audience will likely make the assumption that you may also sloppy in other areas of your business. Will your business take care of me, your customer? Without trust, you have nothing.

 

• We’re Not 100% Rational. People make their business and buying decisions based on a mix of ratio and emotions. Writing enables you to tap into shared believes, values and desired outcomes. Content sets the tone of your overall communication. It’s vital in starting a conversation and building a solid connection.

   

How to Avoid Common Communications Mistakes

  Daniela explains how to not fall into three common business communication traps:

• Perspective. Businesses tend to talk too much about their product and not enough about how it’s beneficial to their clients. Remember to offer a solution, not sell an attribute. To communicate this well, we really need to understand the needs and pain points of our target audience – and then adapt our communication to those needs.

 

• Jargon. Using jargon can really build barriers. It may sound smart to use jargon, but most of your clients aren’t interested in that; they want a clear solution to their problem, and need clear communication in language that is easy to understand.

 

• Think about how Apple sells their iPad; Thinner, Faster, Lighter. Not ‘i7 floating point processor and 25000 MIPS plus 128 MB graphics accelerator hardware’.

 

• Spin. Your target audience is smart. Your customers sense what’s authentic and what is spin. Don’t end up on the wrong side of that equation: be honest and authentic about what you offer. And own up to mistakes. Admit them, rectify them, and you will come up smelling like roses.

 

Over to Daniela!

http://vimeo.com/31711185/