Writing Well
Anyone can learn to write well.
The reason why we don't immediately believe that is because of our misguided premise.
We tend to give writing more mystery than it deserves. On the surface, being a good writer appears as a gift granted to few and elusive to most.
In my long and evolving exposure to writing, I've come to realize that good writing is a process. It's a skill that is developed, just like anything worth pursuing.
When I talk about developing your skill, it's not on writing. Writing is a medium of communication. Writing is not the first skill to acquire.
You first need to learn to think clearly.
My favorite source for learning to write by first learning to think is Julian Shapiro's guide to Writing Well.
I've read and re-read that guide many times over. Each time I come back, I get deeper insight and additional application.
During this current iteration of reading his guide, I decided to finally publicize my insights.
The following are my notes (zettels) on what I am learning and how I am implementing it in my role as an Email Marketer.
Initial Work and Getting Consensus
I turned Julian's guide into steps that are part of a copywriting process I'm developing.
Choose a topic.
Make the topic interesting by deciding on your writing objective and motivation.
Your writing objective is the goal you want your writing to achieve. It is what you want the reader to walk away with.
Your motivation is your self-interested reason for writing.
Ask questions about the topic. If you are asking these questions, others are too.
Turn your questions into hooks, half-baked answers. They are the “half-told story”.
Write an intro from your hooks. Be sure to include ideas that combat skepticism.
Ask for feedback. Ask them to rate your introduction on a scale of 1 to 10. Ask them for honesty. Ask them what questions they have on your topic that they would want you to address.
Re-write your intro until your average feedback score is 8.
Context
Where I work, we move through projects and initiatives quickly. Delivering often is a hallmark of being in a SaaS company.
Every long-term business attributes its success to staying competitive through innovation.
If you can iterate and glean actionable insights faster, then you stay ahead.
We move, sometimes week-to-week, through big marketing projects.
Our staff is distributed across the globe, and especially more so during the time of COVID-19.
Only small groups meet at headquarters to film. Other than that, the staff works remotely.
We're a highly nimble crowd, and so we adjusted to asynchronous communication very quickly.
On the flip side, there is room for improving our workflow.
- We could adopt a longer runway for marketing projects to have the proper buy-ins
- We could be more efficient with the time we spend on each project and reduce last-minute changes
- We could have a more granular focus on our messaging for each of our marketing channels
Effective change requires process, adoption, practice, iterative progress.
One of the aspects that need changing is our copywriting process. This is not to say that the problem is with the copy department. Far from it. The issue lies in the current ways of working.
We could stick with the status quo. That would keep us where we are. And we can mostly agree that we're at near capacity to produce better and more.
Change is inevitable if we want to stay innovative and keep a secure footing on our market share.
Your writing objective and motivation
There is no getting around the fact that we do things well when there is an internal force that drives us.
Whether you are writing a Pay Per Click ad or technical documentation or a travel article, you have to be self-interested in the topic and the writing angle.
Good word choices are a result of internal conviction and expert-level confidence in the topic.
Note, though, that you don't have to be the best.
However, you first have to be clear.
Your writing needs to be understood by your readers, both beginners and advanced.
When you can clearly articulate a complex or not well-understood topic and deduce it simply without losing substance, then you have written a good piece.
Buy-in
No subject matter expert works in a bubble.
One eventually needs peer review and approval for the published piece to be accepted and acclaimed.
Work output has to be defensible.
As an email marketer, when I create an audience segment to send an email campaign to, I have to be able to explain why that audience is the right cohort to receive that message.
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