Effective business writing

Ever heard it’s not the length, it’s what you do with it that counts?  

It’s true for your copy too.

Length isn’t a performance indicator

You can’t just wave it around and go, ‘Look how long it is, of course I’m great.’ And I say that as the self-appointed copy police because if I catch you doing that, I will come nick you. 

Every piece of writing has a purpose and a placement 

When we write for our business, our purpose is to tell and sell. And we’re doing it on platforms geared towards limited attention spans, accessed through devices we use distractedly.

So, every line in that piece has to further your purpose for it. Tangents, reiteration, and polite filler do not further your purpose.

They do crowd your copy. And the more there are, the longer it takes to read an increasingly confused point.

Saying less is not diminishing your authority 

It’s giving your message room to breathe.

Top tips:

If you can sum it up in one line when you speak it, don’t use three to write it. I've heard so many people speak succinctly, only to check their copy and, no.

If it doesn’t further your point directly, cut it. It’s that simple. Tangents are for conversations, not copy. You can redirect a conversation. You’re in it real time. Copy is asynchronous communication. You can’t influence it the same way.

I’ll reiterate reiteration. When you want something emphasised, repetition is effective. In moderation. A very Spartan kind of moderation. Most things should be said once and said well.

Check how many words you actually need to make your sentence make sense. It’s less than you think. Imagine it’s an ad and you’re paying per character. Strip it. Then rebuild.

Brevity = Clarity.

Clarity sells.

I'm going to keep saying it until you're bored.

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