I edit a lot of advertorial/sponsored content, and for the most part, it’s awful. The mistake most people make, is to use a tone and style that belongs in a sales brochure – it’s over-hyped, hard sell type stuff, and it’s offputting in the extreme. The trick, to write great advertorial, first, is to think
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Next time you’re poised to hit ‘send’ on that email, stop for just one moment. You’ve said what you want to say, but that’s only one half of the communication transaction. Have you considered what the reader needs to get out of your email? What is the purpose of the email? Do you just need
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Remove unnecessary capital letters: You don’t need to use capital letters when talking about your company, its board, the group or even job titles. The company’s managing director isn’t made any more important if you put their title in capital letters, I promise. And managing directors and chief executive officers are common nouns – you
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So, you’ve designed your website, app or platform to have a great user experience. Everything feels natural and easy. Everything flows and works seamlessly… but wait. What about the writing? So often the writing on companies’ digital offerings is neglected and you land up on a site, app or platform where the language feels stiff,
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One of the commonest misconceptions I come across is that in good writing, you can’t – or shouldn’t – repeat words. Sometimes, the word you’re using simply is the best word for the job: repeat it if it bears repeating. Sometimes, the repetition creates a kind of rhythm. Sometimes it just works. Engaging in lexical
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Here’s a quick tip that can instantly improve your writing: try to avoid starting sentences with “There is” or “There are”. Why? Because you’re dithering. You’re not getting to the point. Weak sentences frequently start with these two phrases, and if you can cull them, you’ll get something far more punchy. Example: There was strong
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In his 1991 book, ‘The Miracle of Language’, Richard Lederer writes: “When you speak and write, there is no law that says you have to use big words. Short words are as good as long ones, and short, old words – like sun and grass and home – are best of all. A lot of
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If you’re writing a complex business document, it can be difficult to know where to start – so you don’t. And then you end up writing in a panic. So here are three tips to help you to get cracking: 1. Organise your information into categories and give those categories headings. 2. Use the headings
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People are often amazed at how fast I write, but the truth is that it’s not the writing that takes the time – it’s the other 80% of the equation. It helps to think of writing as a 50:20:30 ratio. To write well, you need to think well, and that means time to plan, to
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