How to write the best content for a brand - no copywriting tips, hacks, or tricks involved

I love reading those endless copywriting tips on my social media feeds - I genuinely do. 

While every tip can be applied in some way or the other - the only things you need to remember is who the customer is and what the brand's tone of voice is. 

The rest is a matter of fine tuning your craft. And writing is a craft. 

Ultimately, every individual has…uhh…a specific voice and..um…personality, and so does like every brand. 

In person, we modify our style a little depending on who we're talking to or what we're talking about, but it all comes from our essence. Therefore, a brand should also be treated as having its own personality.

So that infamous tip - write like you speak - is fine if the brand speaks like you. This advice started as a way to stop people from trying so hard to sound clever and posh. But then edit, edit, edit. 

If you’re trying to improve your writing, or you’re writing for heavyweights like NASA, or if the brand has a pedantic persona like Harvard, then writing like you speak is a big mistake. 

Speech has intonations. It has facial expressions. In writing, we compensate for these by finding a better way to communicate our thoughts - that’s where copywriting tips and genius would kick in. 

In the business world, we have to become the brand and write like “it” would speak. 

For example, Canon's tone of voice is visionary, innovative, and bold. They keep the reader in mind when writing because they know there's no point in sharing a vision that can't be understood. So they crop out the jargon and write clear language using short and medium sentences. Words are power, and if they can find a simpler word over a big word without dumbing it down, they will. And they don't shy away from inventive analogies to keep it memorable.

Let's also consider one of our favorite brands in the Middle East - Emirates Airlines. 

Airlines company, right? 

Wrong. 

It's a global lifestyle brand. Their tone of voice is inspiring and gives way to 'higher thought.' Their content invites you to an experience - whether it's a destination or something greater than you imagined. They don't use fragmented sentences or ambiguous phrases that leave readers confused. 

Both - completely different brands and brand voice - welcome a casual, confident tone, and still speak it differently. 

Get to know who your customers are, what they will benefit from you, and understand the brand's tone, then write it. 

Don't assume you can't be clear, concise, and clever toward your target market with higher language. Your readers are smarter than you think. 

Here's the thing - excellent writing and copywriting isn't a list of endless tips that should be followed, laid out by amazing freelancers who are making 6-figures a year.

While you're thinking about the reader and what's in it for them, use your craft to make them understand. How else will we avoid becoming cookie-cutter copywriters?

Have a clear voice that's moving. That kind of writing is hard to ignore -unlike just writing like you speak.