Boost Brand Awareness with These Four Writing Tips

Whether you are composing a brief, a letter of interest to a funder, an opinion essay or a letter to your board, your writing is important.  Solid writing makes your grant applications, your organizational reports, and your internal and external communication stronger. That’s why we want to increase the likelihood that people see, engage with and take action based on what you write. Here are four tips to boost brand awareness by making your writing stronger.

Eliminate unnecessary words.

One of the easiest ways to improve your writing is to cut unnecessary words. As Stephen King said in his memoir “On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft,” never use five words when one word will do. Readability decreases when sentences are longer than 20 words. When editing your writing, ask yourself which words you can cut without undermining understanding. 

Use relevant examples.

Strong writing takes readers on a journey. It uses vivid descriptors and relevant examples. Examples reinforce the message. For instance, offering an example about teachers when you are writing to doctors may be ineffective. As such, ensure your writing has examples that are relevant to your audience. 

Avoid long paragraphs and lengthy text.

Some people are naturally verbose. This comes through in their written and oral communication. But media consumers tend to have short attention spans. Most people read a headline and try to ascertain the gist of the article. Once they feel they have the basic premise, many will stop reading. As such, try to make your point as quickly as possible. Longer doesn’t necessarily mean better. One way to shorten your articles, blogs or press releases is to ensure you have a mix of short paragraphs and pithy one liners.

This is important as “15% of U.S. adults are “smartphone-only” internet users – meaning they own a smartphone but say they do not subscribe to a home broadband service,” according to Pew Research Center. Additionally, the average person spends 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone daily. Mobile-friendly text is not only a nice-to-have, it’s an imperative. 

Allow someone else to review your writing before publication.

It’s really hard to edit our own work. That’s why it’s helpful to ask a colleague or two to review your work prior to publication. There is a caveat however. Don’t involve too many people. Try to include just one or two people. If that isn’t feasible, give specific instructions to reviewers detailing what they should contribute to an article or which aspect they should review. For instance, some reviewers could check for accuracy while others could look for data to support your point.

Not every reviewer needs to wordsmith the text. This will slow the editing process and possibly, lengthen the article or release. You want a second set of eyes, but you don’t need too many chefs in the kitchen.

Jennifer R. Farmer, aka The PR Whisperer,^® is the principal of Spotlight PR LLC. Be sure to check out other blogs and subscribe for regular communications updates.