Copywriting is critical for the growth of your business whether you’re at the head of a startup or leading a company that’s been around for decades. However, copywriting may be an aspect of your business that you have been ignoring. Here are three reasons to take notice and put energy into making sure your business copywriting is effectual:

Copywriting can make or break communication

Whenever you communicate with your colleagues or the general public, you will have someone writing copy in order to do so. This is the case whether someone is writing a speech, blog post, employee manual, commercial script, or business contract.

In the office:

Clear copy is critical for ensuring employees understand their jobs, including compensation, benefits, responsibilities, and possible reprimands. Business partners also need to clearly understand what their role is in relation to the business, what they can expect from your company, and what your company will be expecting from them.

When you aren’t clear in the copy you produce for these entities, you run the risk of minor misunderstandings and even catastrophic lawsuits due to breaches of contracts.

With the public:

When you are producing contracts, agreements, service descriptions, or product descriptions to the public, your copy needs to be clear in order to prevent customers from feeling used or tricked.

If you say that a length of fabric is 3 yards wide instead of 3 feet wide, you will have some very unhappy customers who will want refunds or the rest of their fabric. They will also be quite likely to relay their sloppy, unprofessional experience with your company to others, decreasing the likelihood of you gaining further business through word-of-mouth and damaging your reputation.

Copywriting matters both inside and outside of the office. Paying attention to it keeps your business running smoothly and your customers satisfied.

Bad copywriting looks irresponsible and lazy

When you use copy that is littered with misspelled or missing words, and improper grammar, you make your company look bad by seeming irresponsible. A company that a potential customer can trust takes the time to vet their writers, and their copy, so that the copy suits the voice, mission, and purpose of the piece. There is nothing I find more irritating than visiting a website of a potential business partner and finding these horrible grammar mistakes; I won’t even acknowledge the business if I see this.

When you don’t take the time to make sure that your copy is on point, it becomes harder to trust that you will do the same with your customer service. When you don’t show that you care enough about something as public and influential as your company’s reputation, it can make it difficult for customers to believe that you’ll work to offer them high-quality products and services for their personal and business needs.

Copywriting permeates everything you do

Even businesses that conduct all their transactions online cannot escape the need for strong copywriting. Unfortunately, doing business online makes the need for good copywriting even more important.

In face-to-face interactions, people have more to go on when a message is given. Body language, such as the rolling of eyes or fidgeting, gives a deeper meaning to any messages that are given. Tone of voice, word inflection, and the amount of personal space given to people all can affect the way in which people perceive the message they are being sent and the company sending it.

When people are socially awkward, online-only interactions can be a lifesaver. People only have to deal with the person’s ideas and don’t get caught up in why they don’t make more eye contact or that they chose to wear a particularly garish shirt to a business meeting.

However, even this benefit can become a problem if the person doing the writing isn’t able to do so in an effective manner. Then the brilliant business plans and wonderful vision for how products will be used by consumers are lost in a haze of poor copywriting.

A focus on copywriting savvy can help save your business from issues that can undermine all the hard work you’ve put into bringing the company together. Hire talented copywriters, learn to write well yourself, or delegate copywriting tasks to someone on your team you can trust to do a great job.

* Maria L. Novak Dugan is president of Marketing Solutions & Business Development, a firm in West Chester, PA, offering creative marketing services and goal implementation for small & medium sized businesses. For more information, contact Maria at 610-405-0633 or MariaNovak001@yahoo.com or visit www.Maria-L-Novak.com