Are you all Show and no Substance?

We all love great design and in many ways it’s what draws us to a product, brand or company. I personally love branding but I’m sadly seeing a growing trend of content that is all show and no substance.

What do I mean?

As an estate agent you have a large number of materials from which potential clients can discover you. Whether it’s your website, company brochure, newsletters, property details or even newspaper advertising or blog. You may spend thousands on their design, layout and functionality, creating something that is exceptional and sure to attract potential clients. But how much investment do you assign to the words used within them?

Are you damaging your business?

I have recently started to run, this has been cursed with strange little injuries that have slowed my progress. My trainer realised that how I was running was the source of the problem and has taught me how to run in a completely different way.

The same goes for writing for your business, you know how to write, you know your estate agency, your area and your clients, but are you the writer? Is your writing hindering the progress of your business without you knowing?

Grab attention!

How many times have you started reading an article or even a book and after the first few lines or chapter have put it aside and never picked it up again, no matter how wonderful it looks, or how many rave reviews it has had? As estate agents you are in a highly competitive market so if your content does not engage the reader they too may put it aside and contact your competitor.

So how do you grab the attention of potential clients through your content?

Here are my Top 5 Tips!

1. Speak directly to your clients
We are so used to writing in a corporate style that anything different feels alien. Write in more of a conversational tone, just because it is relaxed doesn’t mean it isn’t professional.

2. Talk to them and not at them
This one word will break down the barrier between you and the reader and make them feel that you are writing just for them. What is this incredible and magical word? It simply is – You. For example, change ‘we can provide this service for our clients’ – to – ‘this is the service we provide you.’

3. Show your personality
You and your business are unique, your agency may provide the same services as many others but I can assure your no two agencies are the same. Celebrate your differences in your content, this is not just about your services, this is about you and your team.

4. Share your expertise
Share your expertise, but be careful of not fall into the trap of using jargon and too many facts, as this will again make the reader switch off.

5. Be honest
Never over deliver, in other words never over sell the services that you actually provide as you will always get caught out. Be honest, trust comes from honesty and to gain instructions you need potential vendors to trust you.

Don’t worry about failing first time

All writers suffer from writers block from time to time, and we all write something more than once before we are happy. I really like this quote from Anne Lamott as I think it describes this perfectly.

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts you need to start somewhere.”

Starting can be really difficult so write down all your ideas and the key messages you want to include. Don’t worry about the headings or titles as these often come later. So next time you’re creating a piece of content, make sure it is full of show and substance in equal measures.

Call with Citrus Content today to discover how we can help your business 01633 415304 or Andrea 07872 329151