Understanding why content - writing, strategy, marketing, and good communication matters to a startup. You know what they say about first impressions. What and how we speak is largely dependent upon our own personalities. Verbal communication is largely dependent upon our past reading, practice, and experience and feedback.
The problem
With writing, it is a little different. A question on Quora reveals text-content-communication related peeves in over a dozen answers to "What advice do VCs want to give founders during pitches, but refrain from?"
Responses related to written communication range from “Too much text in the pitch deck” to “Rambling intro on the market” to “Extremely long e-mail answers to brief investor questions, when a few-sentence answer will suffice.”
Presentations, blogs, proposals, website content, reports (especially for investors), brochures, exhibition pamphlets, posters, and so on are all collateral that help you communicate with your customers - whether B2B or B2C.
The impression
We don’t have to tell you this - whether funding institutions, venture capitalists or angel investors, all these potential ‘money lenders’ sit on a lot of money, and are answerable to their boards in turn.
These are some common errors they may observe in your communication:
Long-winded rants that make no sense
Long answers to precise questions
Communication replete with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage-related howlers
Communication that is heavy on jargon
Such errors are perceived as arrogant, taking the opportunity for granted, and not valuing their experience and position.
Even for businesses that do not depend upon funding agencies, and where revenue is the focus, imagine someone coming to your website, or picking up your brochure at an exhibition, or just the packaging of your product, and seeing errors galore.
You put your extraordinary product at peril for not having invested in communicating it accurately.
Then, there are prospective employees. Well-drafted job descriptions, leadership profiles, and professional networking pages on social media need not only to speak well, but also speak consistently. It is this consistency that reinforced key messaging so that the right candidates for you aspires to reserve a seat for themselves in your organisation.
In addition, it’s also important to craft a compelling and genuine narrative about your enterprise that strikes a chord.
The solutions
Refine your communication with each dialogue and deliver it with as much energy and gusto as the first time.
While your email communication is your prerogative alone, don’t shy away from seeking help on it. Whether editing, writing or training, even before we founded Content Conspiracy, we’ve helped account manager colleagues refine pitch emails in the past, and assisted bosses writing scathing stinkers to agencies or third parties.
While some clients find it easier to chastise vendors with three-question-mark-follow-ups, or reams of text in full-caps emails, these aren’t as efficient as succinct arguments that put the case to rest and yet keep the window for dialogue open.
The investment
So, why invest in content? Investments work on a pretty simple logic - the sooner you start, the more you stand to reap in the long term. We’d add another layer to this - the more you invest in content and communication, the better you’re likely to reap.
And by more we don’t even mean money. How about time, for starters? And may be even better quality writers?
Hiring isn’t always the right or only solution. Outsourcing can prove to be an inexpensive option without having to compromise on quality. Content Conspiracy understand your mortal fear of freelancers and their unpredictability.
A communication agency that is also communicative, is key to solving your content and communication needs without the burden of having to retrain less experienced or fresh-out-of-college candidates, while delivering a more accurate first draft to meet your deadlines.
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