“Professional” Does NOT Mean “Longwinded Gobbledygook!”

Tale of the Law School Professor

I used to teach a writing course to first-semester law students. I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. But this brilliant little law school where I worked decided it wanted “real” writers to teach its student how not to write like stereotypical lawyers.

As a professional copywriter and creative writer, I had a blast. I championed the use of contractions, conversational tones, and first person viewpoints. Of course, the problem is that the legal profession has certain standards and expectations. The rules of formal writing prevail when it comes to writing legal briefs and contracts. You can’t use contractions in your wills or contracts, and no one cares about “me” or “you” in legal briefs–you need to write them in third person. Still, I think students got the point we were trying to make: don’t make your writing overly complicated.

The KISS Rule: Keep It Simple Stupid.

This is something I stress with clients. “Keep it simple and conversational,” I tell them. The problem is too many people think that “simple” means “unsophisticated” and that “conversational” and “professional” are mutually exclusive. But that’s not necessarily  true.

It’s imperative that you make your website copy conversational, readable, and even–dare I say it–“simple.” Why?

Well, stop and consider your own surfing habits. You don’t read websites. You skim them. We all have so much white noise in the background and so much communication vying for our attention that the simpler you make the message, the better chance you have at the message getting through and sticking to someone’s gray matter.

But it never fails that I’ll get the client who doesn’t get this. Just the other day, I got an email with this comment:  “The style of the website is more casual than we were looking for – We would like to come across as more sophisticated and professional. The relaxed conversation styled dialogue [sic], I believe, does not fit with the image we are trying to project.”

Which begs the question: what image would that be? Stuffy and boring? Long-winded and meandering?

What’s interesting is that this client runs a nursing home–a place that’s all about warmth, compassion, and quality care. Or at least should be. Remember, know thy audience. Who would be looking at a nursing home’s website? Let’s see, I can think of two audiences: Family members thinking of putting a loved one in a nursing home and perhaps people who are searching for one themselves. What do you think these audiences want? Professional, yet distanced copy, or professional, yet conversational copy? My money’s on the latter. Of all sites that should have a professional, yet conversational style, this one is it.

Styles of Professionalism: Which One Will Your Company Convey?

And see, that’s the key. It’s not about whether a website is professional or not–I’d like to think any copywriter crafting copy for a client wants the copy to be “professional,” and I’d like to think most companies and businesses believe in being “professional.” But there is a difference in the styles of professionalism.

We’ve all encountered “professional” people dressed in suits, sporting dour expressions and limp-fish handshakes. They’re on time, they do their jobs well, and they pay their taxes. They’re professionals, right? Sure.

And we’ve all met people dressed in suits, sporting smiles and warm handshakes. They’re on time, they do their jobs well, and they pay their taxes. They’re professionals, too, yes? Absolutely.

The difference is in the style of professionalism. I’ll take warm and conversational over distanced and cold any day, for any client, in any industry. I don’t care what you’re selling. If you have a website, I’m going to champion a professional style that’s warm and conversational over any other (yes, even for a law firm website that has those attorneys who need to write briefs in legalese and especially for a nursing home website).

Warmth sells. It sells politicians. It sells diamond rings. It sells vacation packages and hotel rooms.

Cold doesn’t sell. When you think cold, you might think of your cranky English teacher from eighth grade, your local DMV (which always get bad raps–even when they’ve improved their image…see that’s the thing, once you’re labeled “cold,” it’s hard to reinvent yourself as warm), or that person who broke your heart when he told you he didn’t love you anymore and refused to take your calls.

I think many people are scared of warmth–at least in writing, where it can live in infamy. Warmth is not a sign of weakness, people! It’s a sign that we’re human. But wait–if you’re running a business, you need to be firm and unfeeling and even cutthroat, right? I mean it’s BUSINESS, after all. That’s a bunch of baloney.

The Society of Professional Conversational Copywriters: Won’t You Join Me?

Okay, I just made that up. But maybe I should start a group like this. I understand corporate offices have style guides in place, and I understand that many of us copywriters have an uphill battle when trying to convince the old school types that it’s okay to be conversational–that it’s possible to be professional and conversational at the same time.

But I know many of our readers are e-commerce owners, developers, writers, and designers. We have influence, and we can help change perception. Don’t let anyone tell you that a conversational style isn’t “sophisticated” or “professional.” Ever. And do your best to educate those around you.