Busting the 7 Biggest Myths of Business Writing

Business writing is one of the most lucrative forms of freelance writing out there. Yet, many writers avoid this niche.

In my experience, that’s often due to a misconception of what it’s like to do business writing. There’s a lot of confusion out there about what it really takes to land business clients and successfully write these assignments.

I know, because once a few years back I was a journalist — and I thought agreeing to do copywriting was equivalent to joining the Dark Side of the Force.

Then, I accidentally did some business writing. I just sort of fell into it.

When I left a staff-writing job, a CEO at a local startup I’d reported on asked if I would ghost his blog. Maybe write a few advertorial articles for his website.

At the time I didn’t honestly know what a blog was, but I said, “Sure, I can do that.”

Then a funny thing happened.

I enjoyed myself. It was fun and challenging, trying to talk in another person’s voice.

The articles weren’t much different from reported stories I’d done in the past, except that the company gave me the topic and pointed me toward experts who knew their company and would say flattering things about their type of solution.

It was all pretty delightful, interesting, challenging work — and I felt no need to take a shower afterwards.

I went on to write for global, $1 billion consultancies, and Fortune 500 retail chains.

It was all pretty delightful, interesting, challenging work — and I felt no need to take a shower afterwards.

Recently, I taught a class on breaking into business writing, and discovered many writers are intimidated by this niche.

Writers also have many misconceptions about this writing niche. So I thought I’d pull back the curtain and bust a few myths about the world of business writing.

Here are the seven myths I hear most:

1. I don’t know anything about business

Unless you have been living in a cave somewhere off the grid, you know a lot about business. Even if you have never held a job in your life.

What do you know?

You shop. You probably shop at some locally owned stores, too.

There are products and services you use and enjoy. You’ve learned something about those companies and what they do.

For instance, if you’re an avid gardener, I’m betting you know the local plant nursery. They probably have a newsletter that needs writing, too.

You help people, too. Maybe you took a relative or friend for doctor visits while they battled cancer, and learned about the medical field as a result.

While you were there you might have read the hospital’s magazine for patients. Those magazine articles are a business-writing assignment, too.

The secret is, that little bit is all you need to know. Many companies won’t want you to know much more.

If you’ve held a few jobs, all the better. Maybe you learned a bit about finance while you worked as a bank teller, or picked up some restaurant lingo as a waitress. Maybe your dad owned a hardware store and you sort of grew up around retailing.

The secret is, that little bit is all you need to know. Many companies won’t want you to know much more.

Hiring someone from inside the industry would only mean they’d speak the same jargon, which the company is desperately trying to iron out of its copy.

You can pitch them if you know a bit about what they do, and you’re a freelance writer. You’ll be surprised how often that gets you in the door.

Personally, I’ve leveraged the fact that my dad sold insurance to land tens of thousands of dollars of work writing about insurance topics. The companies were so grateful I knew what insurance was and how it basically works, that it got me right in the door.

2. Businesses only use pros

Yes, every business would like to hire Bob Bly or Nick Usborne or another brand-name copywriter to write their copy.

But guess what? Most of them can’t afford top copywriters.

That’s where you come in.

No matter where you are at in your writing career, there is a business at a similar stage — just starting out, or maybe growing a bit, or big-time success. You can find those prospects and get gigs.

3. Staff writers do all the copywriting

While bigger businesses may have a marketing department, those staff writers don’t necessarily know how to write everything that company needs.

Managers begin to realize staffers are drinking the Kool-Aid, speaking their jargon mumbo-jumbo.

They may not know spit about blogging, for instance. Or how to run a good Facebook campaign that gets the business hundreds of likes.

Companies sometimes need outside eyes. Managers begin to realize staffers are drinking the Kool-Aid, speaking their jargon mumbo-jumbo. Then they need an outsider to come and translate it back into English so regular customers can understand why it’s cool.

Another issue in this age of down-staffing and right-sizing is that often, the remaining staff of the shrinking in-house marketing department are overwhelmed.

They find themselves in a crunch and realize on-site resources will never get that white paper or company magazine written by deadline.

Then, they call a freelancer.

4. You need special skills and a degree

If you have written articles, you can do the vast majority of business writing assignments right now. Here are the basic skills you need:

• Curiosity
• Storytelling
• Interview skills
• Ability to boil down materials
• Detail orientation
• Ability to work with people
• Basic ability to write concisely and clearly

In other words, basic good reporting and writing experience. Your journalism skills are highly transferable into this field.

The degree requirement is obviously false, since degrees in writing haven’t even been around all that long. However, did ads and brochures get written before the rise of communications schools in universities?

Most of the great copywriters of the Mad Men era learned on the job. They started as junior copywriters and learned the ropes from the old hands.

I also know this one is false because I lack a degree myself. I have yet to have a single business owner ask me if I have one.

In writing, education is not what’s at issue. If you can create a strong set of writing samples, you will impress the heck out of business prospects and you will get gigs.

5. It’s all hard-sell copywriting

I can testify this is wrong, because I have yet to write any sales copy for a business client, and yet I’ve earned tens of thousands from businesses over the years.

Fact is, there is a ton of business writing that is informational rather than persuasive copy. Types of writing that don’t tend to be hard-sell include:

• Blogging
• Web content
• Newsletters
• Social-media posts
• Company magazines
• White papers
• Case studies
• Special reports

While a website might have a few sales pages, they need other pages, too — History and Bio pages, a Home page that introduces the company to newcomers.

Many companies are increasingly steering away from the hard-sell, because customers are pretty sick of that grind. There’s more and more content marketing out there, where you’re just offering valuable information and building your brand authority.

And that means more opportunity for writers who don’t feel like writing “Buy now!” in red, 60-point type all day.

6. I will be helping companies do evil

I hear this from writers a lot. Business writing makes you part of the problem, part of the Big Corporate Conspiracy that’s destroying America. You’ll be helping murder babies and destroy the planet.

Well, woah, hold up there a minute.

The thing is, you pick and choose your clients as a freelancer. And no matter what your political bent or personal philosophy, there are companies out there you like.

All you have to do to keep out of trouble is target businesses where the value system aligns with yours.

There are companies that sell organic food, or use only recycled materials. Businesses that hand-craft all their products with local labor, to which they pay fair wages.

If you think the pharmaceutical industry is poisoning us all, for instance, don’t write for Big Pharma.

All you have to do to keep out of trouble is target businesses where the value system aligns with yours. Don’t ever work for a company where what they do makes you feel uneasy. Trust me, there are plenty of companies in this big world, and you can find ones that you’ll love to write for.

7. It will be boring

This is the one I really thought would be true. I mean, how interesting can that little camera store down on the corner be?

And yet, behind every successful small business there is a fascinating story. I’ve never seen it fail.

The story is different each time. But there is always an interesting tale there, at any business that has beaten the competition and survived the crushing odds against startups.

There might be a personal story of triumph over adversity lurking behind that customer-service counter. I recently wrote website copy, for instance, for a man who’d been hidden from the Nazis in Poland as a child and miraculously reunited with his family after World War II.

After following his father’s wishes and becoming a dentist, he tired of that, broke with family tradition, and bootstrapped his way into a lucrative new career in commercial property management. With his Old World charm and dedication to his clients, he became the preeminent mall manager in his entire region — and he dedicates all his business endeavors to his gratitude at his rescue.

Am I boring you here?

The business world simply bursts with tales of cutthroat competition, astonishing comebacks, new ideas, innovative products, amazing technologies, reinventions, and personal heartbreaks. Find that story, and trust me, you won’t be bored.

If you think business writing isn’t for you, find a local business you love and see if you might do a little writing for them. I think you’ll discover it’s just another type of writing challenge and adventure — and a chance to tell a great story.

As a bonus, the pay’s often great, too.

Have you written for business? Tell us how you broke into business writing.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by phakimata.