One of the most common things I do when I’m reviewing a piece of copy – whether it’s a proposal, report, media release or any other piece of content – is to cut out the first paragraph entirely. People are so focused on having a good introduction that they over-introduce, and the writing starts to
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Pee Arrs, gather round. You’re not going to like this, but it has to be said. Putting your client’s product and/or service in the introductory paragraph is what has that grumpy hack hitting “delete” faster than a politician authorising a tender for a family member. Products and services aren’t news. And if they are, they
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Most of what I do is invisible. You won’t find it if you google me; it doesn’t bear my name. And so most people don’t have a clue what I really do. I started my working life as a journalist, first on newspapers and then on magazines, and went freelance more than two decades ago.
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I review a great many speeches, reports, media releases and statements, and strategy documents straight from the C-suite at large companies, and the same problem keeps cropping up. Basically, people are too close to the subject at hand, and can’t always see the assumptions they’re making. A CEO’s speech I reviewed recently, for example, contained
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Do you want to write copy that isn’t long and circuitous? Copy that isn’t turgid? Copy that isn’t dull? Let’s try that again … Do you want to write copy that’s short and sharp? That’s energetic? That’s exciting? Do you see what just happened there? So often I see things expressed in terms of what
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If you’ve hired a PR consultant and you’re not getting the coverage you want, have you considered that you might be the problem? I write content for a variety of PR practitioners, and I see it over and over again – a really good release ruined by the client’s input. Because clients don’t understand the
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I’ll write most things – I have written most things. But with apologies to Meat Loaf, there are some writing requests I get, that make me sing: “… but I won’t write that”. Usually these fall into the category of other people wanting me to do the intellectual work they should be doing – I’ve
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In seven seconds you can butter two slices of bread. You can do five push-ups. You can make your bed. You can tie your shoes. Seven seconds. That’s all the time you have to grab the reader, listener or watcher’s attention when it comes to your content. Whether you’re making a video, drafting an email,
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I have bad news for you: your content will never be perfect. It can be excellent. It can better than all of your competitors’ content. It will never be perfect. Why? Because first, writing is a craft, not a science – you can tinker with something almost indefinitely, and you will always be able to
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I have a colleague who’s noticed an interesting thing – his Gen Z kids don’t distinguish between digital and traditional media. To them it’s all media, and those of us in the business of content need to take note. Consumers aren’t worrying about where they read or watch something. They simply consume the content, and
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