Every business owner I’ve ever worked with has the same instinct when they sit down to write about their business. They shift into a formal register. The language becomes corporate. The sentences get longer and more complicated. The personality disappears.
It’s the brochure voice. And it kills the connection that marketing is supposed to create.
Here’s why this happens and what to do about it.
The brochure voice emerges from a desire to sound professional and credible. There’s an implicit assumption that casual language signals amateurism, that personal voice is inappropriate for business communication, that the way to be taken seriously is to sound like a company rather than a person.
This assumption is wrong — and increasingly wrong as the internet has made personal, authentic communication the norm rather than the exception.
The businesses that generate the most genuine connection and the highest conversion rates from their marketing are almost never the ones with the most polished, professional-sounding copy. They’re the ones that sound like a real person who knows a lot about a specific thing and is talking directly to you about it.
Here’s how to write that way.
Write like you talk. Not exactly — speech has filler words and incomplete sentences that don’t work in writing. But the rhythm, the vocabulary, the level of formality should be close to how you’d explain this to a smart friend over coffee. Read your copy out loud. If it doesn’t sound like you, rewrite it until it does.
Use specific details. The brochure voice defaults to generalities. “We provide comprehensive marketing solutions” tells the reader nothing. “I build landing pages that convert — written for your specific audience, designed to your brand, delivered in 48 hours” tells them something specific and real. Specific details are the antidote to brochure language.
Let your opinion show. The brochure voice is neutral to the point of meaninglessness. Real writing has a point of view. If you think most landing pages are built wrong, say so. If you think the conventional wisdom on email marketing is misguided, say why. Opinion creates engagement because it invites agreement, disagreement, and conversation.
Use first person throughout. The brochure voice favors we and our company even when there’s only one person. I is more honest and more connecting. Use it.
The goal is not to sound casual. The goal is to sound like yourself. Those are different things and the distinction is worth holding onto.