Five ways to sharpen your writing
Communicate clearly, write with authenticity and support for your project will come.
It sounds simple – but it can be very easy to overcomplicate and cloud your meaning.
Whether you want to illustrate what you do, incite interest or illicit a positive response, nailing your core message is crucial.
So how can you do this?
Our five tips will help your words make the right impact
#1 Focus on one key message
There is often a lot to share about a project, but for any piece of writing, be it a press release, social post or website blog, there should be one point that you really want to make. And this should also be something your audience really wants to hear (see point 2).
Referring to your strategy and working with your comms teams will help define this. Our work with Business West shows this in practice.
Your primary point should be made clearly and early. Sometimes this may mean writing the introduction last, a technique we often use.
#2 Remember who you are writing for
Think about the needs and desires of your target audience.
Ask yourself these questions:
- How does your business provide a solution?
- Why should your reader be interested in hearing about your project, or work with you?
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of writing content that is written for those in your business, rather than those who will benefit from your business. Unless your team is also the audience, you’re writing for the wrong people if you do this.
Think about the terminology you are using. Is it accessible to your audience? Terms that are familiar to your team may mean very little to those you wish to engage.
#3 Put people at the heart of your story
Feature the real people who are benefitting from your work and bring their stories to life. It helps to demonstrate the impact of your work and will help you land key media.
We recently worked with Reef Group, and partners Kier, to celebrate the young apprentices working on The Forum site in Gloucester. The story highlights the importance of a project worth more than £100m to the local area, socially and economically, in a way that merely listing the stats can’t. It received great coverage and engagement on social media.
#4 Write for people, rather than search engines
Content written with the express purpose of boosting your search engine rankings (SEO) will not serve you well if you forget your reader entirely. Google has made this point very clear, with their people-first ‘helpful content’ update.
Consider why people come to your website, and endeavour to give them the answers they want and need. If you would like some help to plan and execute this, speak to us.
#5 Fresh eyes
None of us is perfect, and Chat GPT proves that even machines make mistakes. Whatever you write, and however expert you are, get someone to take a look before you hit send. If this isn’t possible, printing it out and reading aloud is a good substitute.
Talk to us
We love highlighting what our clients do, with creativity and clarity. Get in touch to discuss your content aims.
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