Has your business gotten trapped in its own innerspeak? Are your communications with clients verbose and full of vague and confusing language? Do your website stats show that visitors are bailing out after 15 seconds? Your company may be suffering from Business Blather. That’s the title of a new book by Jerry McTigue, author, copywriter, screenwriter, and a master of writing simply and clearly. In this podcast, he identifies several issues that limit a company’s ability to reach its audience. Jerry says that businesses fail to recognize how drastically people’s attention spans have shrunk. You need to get your message out immediately or at least get your audience sufficiently intrigued to want to know the message. He has also observed that during the pandemic, many advertisers switched from the “pain point” approach to a more positive mode of expression. His viewpoint is that both approaches are valid and that copywriters should use the one that best fits the product. Consider this important takeaway: Companies should always test-market their major messages and change them based on this feedback. Overall, he recommends following your intuition. If you have any feeling that your copy isn’t communicating, you’re probably right. Don’t be afraid to change it. Don’t be afraid to communicate directly. You have a narrow window of opportunity to communicate with your client or customer. Make the most of it. Join Jerry and I for this episode of Writing to Get Business. • How do business communications become pretentious, verbose, and incomprehensible? • Why must your website message attract interest immediately? • What’s the difference between copywriting and content writing? • Why are stories so important in all forms of advertising and promotion? • What’s the importance of being specific in resumes and LinkedIn Profiles? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices