My business takes lots of explanation. How do I streamline this?

The concept for our renewables business takes lots of explanation, but I don’t want there to be too much text on our site as I imagine it puts people off. How can I get around this?

Here’s the thing that’s really important to remember when you start a business: you need to deliver a succinct elevator pitch – that is, get the gist of your business across in about 25 seconds; no longer than an elevator ride.

If you can’t do that, you’d better start working out how.

As well as a really good content marketing or social media strategy, you might also need a sales session.

I agree that you don’t want to bombard users with a whole bunch of long-winded articles on your website, talking about all things green and environmental, etc.

What a user wants varies, but often comes down to a well-crafted argument, a couple of facts, testimonials, key reasons why they should buy and, most importantly, why they should buy from you and not from across the road (metaphorically speaking).

Sales prose is different from other forms of content and is difficult to craft if you’re not from that neck of the woods. I’m sure you’ve heard of them – those sharp speaking, well dressed guys who will sell their grandmother to get the next deal closed?

Essentially, sales prose has to sell. If you haven’t worked out what your key selling points are, you’d better wheel out the whiteboard and start some serious brainstorming.

Get the team together, bring ’em in real close and hopefully you’ll see some sparks fly, as well as some clear and concise sales-speak to drive those revenue lines.

But in all seriousness, there is a place for long and detailed content about your organisation, about the marketplace and about your products – they’re called white papers, or digital guides that can be downloaded, and they’re a great source of validation for a potential customer.

Done right, they’ll also deliver results from Google as well.

For your website, do your homework and come up with a clear and concise content strategy around your product, including why you’re so passionate about your business.

Entrepreneurs have an innate way of doing this; the passion almost seeps from their pores. Put this passion into words and you’ll win.

Then start thinking about how you can incorporate your company’s personality – this is called the blog, and it gives you a chance to put some of that sweat into words!

So you really just need some planning, some thinking, some brainstorming and a bit of well-written content that perfectly describes your business.

To recap:

1. Get an elevator pitch.
2. Craft some key phrases that your business will own, and use them in your marketing and sales pitches.
3. Develop a content strategy for your site that revolves around various forms of content, from blogs through to white papers.
4. Be prepared to adapt to the changing landscape of your business environment – if it does change dramatically, revisit the first point.
5. Be consistent – stay front of mind and enjoy the fact that these days, every business can create its own media empire, creating quality content that engages customers and turns your business into something profitable.