As a web copywriting specialist, you will have many occasions to take your client's "salesy" copy and transform it into corporate-speak. Sales copy generally gives the feeling that whoever is behind the words is trying to mentally connect and have a conversation with you. It will also have that sense of dramatic pacing that builds up to a climactic, can't-miss offer. While both of these techniques serve their purpose in the salesy world of internet marketing, neither is appropriate when you're writing copy for a corporate audience. Unlike sales copy, writing that is geared to the corporate reader embodies what I'm going to call the "voice of the organization". The "voice" I speak of reflects one defining characteristic; it is the most cool and detached of any copywriting style. The tone is a very authoritative one. Just think of any CEO opening his mouth to address the company or issue some kind of public statement, and you'll have an idea of how this copy is supposed to "sound" when written out. So, what do you do when your client asks you to "turn this sales letter into web copy," and give the impression that there is a mighty and powerful corporation behind the whole effort? Or, suppose you're trying to attract the attention of higher-paying, corporate clients. How will you inspire confidence that you are indeed of the corporate caliber, and worth sticking around for? 1. Make a list of corporate-speak and jargon. You will often hear famous web copywriters preaching to their students to "remove all the jargon." I do not subscribe to this theory and think that most people who advise this are probably loading their copy with jargon anyway and probably don't even realize it. Every social group communicates in jargon; words and expressions that are used exclusively within their group, and define them as belonging to that group. So, go surf a few corporate websites, and take a look at the buzzwords they use to separate themselves from the common people. Words and phrases like "Innovative." "Breakthrough." "Best in breed." "Turnkey solutions." You don't need to use every word that you write down; just save a pile of them to pick and choose as you need, and get you into the frame of mind that will have you producing corporate-sounding web copy on autopilot. 2. Rewrite the existing copy from scratch. Read the old copy, and then read it again. Study a few resources or competitor sites that your client wishes to emulate. Finally, close the document and start working with what you have: your brain and your keyboard. I say this because if you keep the original draft in front of you, it's far too tempting to just start borrowing phrases and even whole sections from what's already there. This is exactly the kind of plagiarism that you NEVER want to give your clients... and if the old copy was excessively "salesy," you're going to need much more than "a few tweaks" to remold it into corporate-speak. So as I said: take this copywriting job on by working from scratch. Believe it or not, it takes less time to just create from nothing, than to stare at pages of copy and try to rewrite each one so that it sounds totally different. 3. Change every "I" and "me" to "us" and "we." Sales copy and direct marketing pieces incorporate what I'm going to call the "from me to you" point of view. As you read sales copy, you get the distinct sense that there is a single person behind the words, talking to you, trying to read your thoughts and sway your decision-making process. You'll even get to hear a very "personal story" unfold: "I was once in your shoes, but thanks to this comprehensive training program, I was able to turn my life around in a single month. You can, too!" This is what some may refer to as an evangelistic style. Just think of Jimmy Swaggart, standing in front of an audience trying to move them with personal stories. Sales copy does the exact same thing, replacing religion with marketing (and isn't marketing sort of a religion anyway?). Corporations might try to evangelize, but it's done in an entirely different way. When you write from the corporate perspective, you have to imagine a massive organization full of people, and one individual speaking on their behalf. "We" is far more intimidating than "I." "We" easily commands respect, where "I" tells your audience, "Hey, it's just little old me here, so don't try to pull a fast one, OK??" So, comb through the rough draft you carved out in Step 2, and take care to turn every instance of "I and me" to "us and we." Remember, we are speaking on behalf of the mighty and practically omniscient Corporate Authority. There is no single person behind this copy. And there is certainly no impassioned personal tale about to unfold. Trust me on this. 4. Remove the emotion from the benefits copy. Yes, corporate leaders have feelings like anybody else, but the difference is, we (I mean, they) don't discuss them in public. You might say that corporate copy is the most "masculine" style of copy that can be written. If you want a CEO or even a corporate hiring manager to take action based on what you're saying, then don't ever tell him you can "eliminate his worries or pain," because he's in too much denial to ever admit there is any pain or worry. Better to talk to him on the level, "problem solver to problem solver" - you'll get that much farther for your effort. Pick up that list of corporate buzzwords you created back in Point 1, and use it to create "solutions-oriented" benefits of your corporate-audience-geared product or service. What types of "benefits" are leaders of large companies looking for? They want increased return on investment, greater productivity, driven leaders and other such inflated and important-sounding yet meaningless promises. Am I trying to sound callous or blithe as I refer to this as "meaningless"? No, not at all. The truth is that corporate copy is usually full of concept but completely lacking in substance, and there is a very good reason for this. When you're the CEO of a large company, you don't want anyone coming along and accusing you of not living up to your expectations. And thankfully, corporate copy is designed so that will never happen. Now that I have covered the basic points of changing sales copy to corporate-speak, the time has come for your first copywriting assignment. Got a website? Try rewriting your copy for a Fortune 500 audience instead of a small business owner. Publish the new content, wait a few months, and tell me what type of clientele you've managed to attract. And if that doesn't work, get in touch with Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing, and she'll do it for you. Sign up for the Copywriting and Marketing Ezine from Dina at Wordfeeder.com and learn to write search engine-friendly Web copy and market your Web based business for free.