All leaders need to write in a compelling persuasive way. Some great tips for being a suburb writer.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was very fortunate that I had an attorney who taught me how to write. The most important single lesson he taught me was to critically read everything I write. Along the way, I have developed a few additional rules that help me generate several thousand words of copy each week.
- Reread then reread again.
- Aggressively edit and rewrite.
- If what you wrote is garbage don’t be afraid to discard and start over.
- Have someone who is good at editing and writing read your stuff and mark it up. – Don’t you dare beat them up for all their mark-ups!
While on vacation last week I came across one of the best articles on how to write well I have ever read. In this article by David Newman at Executive Street, he offers “17 Rough Rules for Marketing Copy that Sells.” Whether you struggle with writing or are a natural, I think you will find value in what he has to say. Here are a few of his rules but you should check-out the whole article.
- Write like you speak.
- Speak like a person not a marketing moron or sales robot.
- Use short paragraphs.
Read the rest of “17 Rough Rules for Marketing Copy that Sells”
Thank you, Steve, for pointing us to a great article on copy.
My mother, an english teacher, taught me to write. This has been both good and bad: good, that I have written at a grad school level since I was in high school. Bad, that I see every typo/misspelling in everything I read. An example from this blog, in the 2nd paragraph it should be ‘lesson’ not ‘lessen’. 🙂
Argh . . . you are for sure right about that. Fixed now though. Thanks for the catch.
I think you mean “the single, most important lesson,” not “lessen.”
Could also definitely benefit from some punctuation. Might be worth another reread?
sigh . . . I really botched up this article on how to write well, didn’t I? I guess I could say it was badly written as a test, but no. It was just carelessness.