No matter what you sell or how, your business needs good copy. Social media posts, company blog entries, mailing content, short ad slogans or sales text on a landing page – wherever writing is involved. However, there is a problem. How to write to a Polish client? What to do and what to absolutely avoid? Are the rules of Polish copywriting distinguished by something special?

We have collected five mistakes often made by copywriters and marketers who want to communicate with clients from Poland. Here they are!

Table of contents:

  1. I am the best
  2. I am so professional
  3. Sales formulas off
  4. Writing for robots
  5. Strengthening your brilliance

1. I am the best

I have 25 years of work behind me. It took me ten years to get to where I am today. I am the best expert in the world. I only work for the most demanding clients. I appreciate professionalism and passion. We are pioneers in the industry.

Do you know that? Polish customers also know.

If we were to identify one feature that Poles appreciate the most (also in business), it would be modesty. It is obviously not the case that it is not worth showing off your experience or sharing the company’s mission. Of course, in texts for the website, mentioning the years on the market or the hours spent on improving the product, would be welcomed.

You just need to know HOW to do it with taste. So that instead of a jerk, you really should seem like a professional who is worth trusting and entrusting money.

What instead?

Suppose you write sales content for your Polish website. Instead of boasting about years of experience or another diploma, choose one or two real examples of situations in which you helped clients and describe them. Avoid building sentences in the first person singular (or plural if you’re communicating on behalf of the entire company). You are definitely better off when you focus on the customer. When you can show something instead of talking about it, do it. Each graph, photo or print screen will always be more welcomed by Polish customers than empty words.

2. I am so professional

Our goal is to make every effort to improve the quality of our outsourcing services and to best serve our clients by constantly expanding our offer.

Sounds like meaningless gibberish?

Because it is.

Unfortunately, countless companies still have such sterile communication with their customers. Of course, you may wonder if the more relaxed American type of sales will work for Polish recipients. Yes and no – it all depends on the industry. However, it is good to be aware that even the most “stiff” industry, such as law, accounting or finance, requires boring, long, meaningless texts. We have imposed such a framework on ourselves.

Remember that if you press long, “professional”- sounding sentences packed with difficult words into your LinkedIn post or “about the company” description, it does not mean that people will perceive you as a professional.

What instead?

Treat customers like people. Just remember that the truly wise are those who can describe difficult issues in simple words. Polish copywriting is not about trying to be smart, but about selling effectively. Each text should always be checked for comprehensibility for an outsider. If you do not have such a person, you can always use ready-made tools, such as a stcript thet will show you at least the minimum education that the recipient would have to have to understand the text.

3. Sales formulas off

Every day she smeared her cellulite with onion juice. You won’t believe what effect she has achieved. Check it out!

If you do not spend time on the Polish Internet on a daily basis, you probably do not realise how great a meme such formulas have become. This means only one thing – old, pseudo-sales formulas do not work for Polish customers. The Internet is full of long lists with ready-made formulas that need to be supplemented with data and included in the content of the advertisement. Take them with a pinch of salt….. something that works in other markets will not necessarily work in Poland.

What instead?

Use formulas. Some of them work.

You just need to know which ones still have a chance to work and under what circumstances. Very effective copywriting formulas in Poland are, among others:

  • calculations – e.g. 5 ways to lose weight that work;
  • sentences pretending to be questions – eg. First, effective way to lose weight?
  • Taking out “suffering” – eg Lose weight quickly without dieting and sweating at the gym!
  • never again – eg you will never have to limit calories again;
  • gives X without Y or / subtracts X without Y – eg our supplement subtracts kilograms without any sacrifice.

We always suggest starting with testing and analysing. After all, not all of them will be successful in absolutely every industry.

4. Writing for robots

Our hairdressing salon Krakow offers the best hairdressing services in Lesser Poland. Our hairdressers in Krakow are real professionals.

Yes. There are still specialists who advise that this type of sentence is a good thing for Google robots. The saturation of the content with keywords, indeed, positioned quite well. A dozen years ago!

Google’s algorithm is getting more and more intelligent. Thanks to the possibility of contextual search, it can amaze us more than once with what accuracy it sometimes “reads” in our minds. Marketers still have doubts about adjusting the algorithm to the meanders of the Polish language: word variations by persons, numbers, types or cases. This is where the advice comes from that in order for the search engine to understand us well, our key phrases should be written only in the denominator. How inconvenient it is that the reader of mankind is of secondary importance…

What instead?

We provided the simplest advice previously. Write to people. Not for robots. Apparently, not everyone knows it, but the algorithm understands Polish and is getting better at dealing with variations of words or phrases. If that was not enough – it even understands synonyms!

What’s more, the position of a page or article in the search engine is influenced by a number of factors, of which the keywords or phrases themselves play an important role. But not only them. The following are also important: relevance of the content to the search term, the degree of exhaustion of the topic (therefore there is no one specific length of text that “works”), linking to trusted sources, and even a footer about the author. SEO rules are the same for all countries. Poland is no exception.

5. Strengthening your brilliance

One of the most prominent copywriters, Claude Hopkins, wrote: The flashy style suggests that we are trying to sell something. And every effort to sell something creates resistance. Strengthening a sense of humour, unnecessary prolongation of the text, getting to the bottom line late, sprinkling over-intellectualised jargon – most of these things get on the nerves of Polish customers. Poles like to joke around, but when it comes to spending their hard-earned money, they definitely prefer a brand’s professional approach to business.

Waffling, long stories (not to be confused with good storytelling!) Or an excessively “sales” style (i.e. a lot of exclamation marks or bold slogans in the style of PROMOTION END IN 2 HOURS) will make a Polish customer simply run away from you.

What instead?

Respect your customers’ time and get to the point quickly. Better to just write the facts and not waste your time. Well, unless you really have something interesting to say. Instead of just the style, it is better to focus on the appropriate design of the text.

A good copywriting text is written with two types of clients in mind: analytical and spontaneous. The former likes to get a lot of information; the second, in turn, prefers to have the most important details clearly marked, as they only scan the text. Regardless of whether you write content for mailing, blog entry or Facebook post – in Polish copywriting your power will be bullets, bolds, calculations, tables and …

The immortal ENTER.

And the style? The more you try to sound brilliant, the more apparent it is how earnestly you want to sell something. Why do you need it?

These were just five main tips for Polish copywriting. We have many more in store! If you are looking for personalised help in better reaching the Polish customer, please contact us for more information.