What would it feel like to sit down at your laptop on a crisp morning, mug and pen rearing to go, and have words pour from your fingertips like the coffee did into your cup?

Instagram captions describing your latest wedding stationery suite …

Client communication to the brand new bride you just booked …

Email marketing for your photography business …

That’d be the communications jackpot , right?

Guess WHAT: That’s possible for you.

Sometimes, ya just need a bit of CPR on your communications skills!

Keep reading to learn how to revive and bring the heartbeat back into your writing and speaking.

Well, of course you’re tired. Here’s why.

It’s dizzying world, this communicating in 2016 thing, isn’t it? The modern entrepreneur needs to fill word gaps in a slew of different forms:

• Website Copy

• Proposal Emails

• Customer Service Emails

• Team Emails

• Ok, ALL Emails

• Webinars

• Blog Copy

• Headlines

• Product Descriptions

• Social Media Posts

• Email Marketing

• Handwritten Thank You Notes

You’re a communicating machine!

But … if we can cure the exhausted, flatlined communicator in you that just wants to lay on the couch and #NetflixandChill with wine and The Crown, we’ll bring boring words to life and have you walking into your call: making the impact on your little corner of the world you were born to make.

All we need? CPR.

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Clarity

Clarity trumps cleverness. Let it sink in.

Our brilliantly-crafted brains are wired for survival, so it’s innate nature for us to flock to what is simple, unfussed, and easy to understand.

When something is clear, you don’t have to think twice about what you’ve read or heard. You’re ready to make the decision.

How can you nix the clutter?

First, be a ruthless editor. My friend and client Jenna is a fellow creativepreneur, and recently told me nothing goes out the door of her small business the day it’s written or recorded.Make a habit of reviewing something the next day, with “fresh eyes,” so you can whip out that red pen and doctor it up, slicing out unnecessary phrases.

Secondly, use contractions! Write you like you talk and cut to the chase. Finally, ignore your thesaurus. Stephen King’s On Writing teaches this so well: Yes, you could use a big, frilly word … or, you could clean out the junk drawer of writing and use short words.

Use, not utilize.

Get, not attain.

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Personality

People buy from people. You’ve heard that a time or two (or three), right? Plus, even the bookworms of us have read enough dry, academic articles and textbooks to last us another decade.

Spice it up! Professional communication CAN show personality. Your spelling and grammar must be pristine, sure, but back to the “write like you talk” point: there’s no need to constantly sound like a member of Parliament or grad school thesis in your business communication.

Resonance

Good communication strikes a chord. Makes our hearts speed up. Our heads nod. The most effective way to communicate resonance? It’s to get inside your audience’s head — and outta yours.

Using your target’s verbiage is valuable, sure, but spend time “empathy hacking” as one of my favorite copywriters Ry Schwartz says. What do they:

SAY about this issue?

THINK about this problem?

DO when it comes to this?

Get unstuck from self-centered communication by focusing on your audience and showing resonance.

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So there you have it: inject a little CPR into your small business communications and rev things up a bit and have you feeling …

via GIPHY

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