Business is personal. Business content often is not. Because it’s people who buy and sell products and services it’s time to personalize the message. Companies are unique, just like the faces behind the desks and the voices on the phone are.  You may need to dig below the surface to reveal what’s authentic. What is some times allusive for companies may be just what customers respond to most.

Be Emotional

At the FritoLay corporate website visitors engage quickly with the company’s “Happiness Exhibit”. Through trivia questions they invite the viewer to learn more.

Menu options include “Your Health” and “Our Planet”. Both are topics that stir an emotional response.

Stay friendly, but not overly friendly

Think of the difference between these two lines that could be the ending of an email message:

Enjoy your day.

Enjoy the day!

The first line is a cliché’ with no impact. In the second line, the subtleness of “the” averts being too friendly or restrictive in your intended wish. The exclamation point adds emphasis (though this punctuation mark should be used judiciously).

Exhibit Generosity and Stay Ahead of the Curve

At the SupplySide West trade show held in October exhibitors from NP Nutra, a supplier of botanical ingredients and extracts, handed out 2012 calendars. It’s an example of simple, generous foresight. On each page is a beautiful nature photograph taken from around the world and a write up on one of their products including its origin and uses.

Use “We” and “You”

Using the personal pronouns “we” and “you” gives a feeling of someone talking to me, not an audience of Wall Street bankers.

Simplify

Busy people get refreshed seeing simple language that offers them a benefit. From the website of the machine repair Celestino Rodriguez Consulting Corp.

If we can’t fix it, it’s broke.
We are here to fix your machine.
We can also make it work better than before.  Ask.

The iron stays good forever.  Increase your effectiveness
with a retrofitted machine.  All new guts and none of the hassles.

Being friendly, generous, authentic and straightforward are great ways to personalize your business content. Connecting with customers becomes easier and easier.

Enjoy the day!

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