No matter what your profession is, chances are that you are going to have to do at least some writing as part of it. Just like any other specialized skill, the ability to write well is highly marketable and valuable to any professional. Writing is a very powerful tool in shaping ideas, building support and generating understanding. The great thing about writing is that it is a skill that anyone can learn and improve with practice and a little patience. For this issue of our blog, we’d like to share 10 important tips that can help you improve your professional writing skills and create the best possible content.
1. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
While this might sound a bit dramatic at first, it’s a saying you should keep in mind when starting on a big writing project (such as a feature article or legal brief). You can easily become overwhelmed with work if you try to do everything at the same time. To prevent this and make new projects more manageable, you should break down what you have to do into smaller pieces. Start by doing your research. Then, list out the key points you want to make. Next, make an outline. After that, organize all your thoughts into each section of the outline. Once all your thoughts are in order, you should start writing your first draft. It is important to note that you don’t have to try for perfection on this initial draft. Just focus on writing. Once this first draft is finished, you should go back and refine it until you are happy with the final product.
2. Write just like you speak.
No one uses words like “malagrugrous” or “brabble” in their daily language, and most people don’t even know what they mean. Therefore, these uncommon words and others like them don’t belong in your press release, memo or brochure text. The same goes for using industry-specific “insider” language such as medical jargon (unless you are communicating with others in the profession). When you write, you want people to understand what you are trying to say. The best way to go about this is crafting your sentences so they mirror how you would explain a particular point out loud to your target audience.
3. Learn to be concise.
Have you ever come up with a string of adjectives that are so great that you just have to use every single one in the same sentence? Well, resist that temptation for the sake of clarity and conciseness. To put it simply: Why say something in 500 words when you can say it in 50? Particularly in these days of texts, social posts and short videos, people have limited attention spans. No matter how masterfully written, a 10-paragraph email pitch to your local newspaper is not going to be as effective and eye-catching as a three-paragraph version.
4. Do fun things outside of work that improve your vocabulary and writing style.
When it comes to media relations, reading articles written by journalists on your “most wanted” list can really help connect you with their style of writing and broaden your understanding of the skill. Even outside of work, there are numerous fun activities you can do from crossword puzzles, to playing “Words with Friends” online, to trying some creative writing to help keep your creative juices flowing and improve your vocabulary.
5. Vary your word usage.
It is always better to describe things in a variety of ways (particularly if you must describe the same thing repeatedly) to keep things interesting and fresh for the reader. In these situations, synonyms are your best friend. While a reader might grow tired of hearing the word “verdant” repeated four times in an article, swapping out some of those instances for similar words like “lush”, “rich”, or “teeming” can do wonders for the flow of your writing. The best part? You don’t even need to know these words off the top of your head. Various tools exist online to help you find similar words quickly such as the Microsoft Word thesaurus, or even a quick Google search for “Synonyms of [word].” This rule holds true for transitions as well (i.e. an “also” followed by another “also”). A good rule of thumb is making a point to never use the same transition more than once in the same paragraph.
6. Make your most important points first.
We already covered the fact that people have short attention spans. Unfortunately, no matter how compelling your topic may be, not everyone is going to read farther down the page. To combat this, you must make sure all your main points are made in the first paragraph or two of your document. You can then go back and expand on each point in the succeeding paragraphs. This is similar to the rule of thumb for news stories and press releases: Always include the five W’s (who, what, where, when, why) in the lead paragraph.
7. Invest time in developing your conclusion.
When you get to the end of what you are writing, slow down and try not to rush through the conclusion. If you don’t give as much attention to the ending of your piece as you do to its beginning, you’re missing the final opportunity to pull together all the key points in your writing into one impactful statement. A good rule of thumb is to reiterate the ideas in your lead and then close with a call to action.
8. Follow the appropriate writing style for your industry.
Many large hospitals, corporations and universities have their own unique set of style guidelines for written communications. As public relations professionals, we follow the guidelines set forth in The Associated Press Stylebook, the same set of guidelines all print journalists follow. If you are communicating with the media, I highly suggest you invest in a copy. You can also sign up for an online subscription (for a fee).
9. Try the 24-hour rule.
If you ever feel like you are having a really tough time with a piece, try to put it away for the day and work on other things. Like magic, when you pull it up the next morning, the words will flow much more easily. You should also use the 24-hour rule once you are completely finished with a document. So long as time permits, try waiting a full day and reading the piece one last time before submitting it. Without fail, you will always find some little way to improve upon your writing. Choppy or unclear sentences are also a lot easier to spot with a pair of fresh eyes.
10. Don’t underestimate the importance of the editing process.
Imagine you go through all the effort of creating an effective and engaging writing piece following every tip on this page, but because you are in a rush to send it out, you end up sending it with a serious error like an incorrect phone number or misprinted date. This is not a good feeling, but you can stop errors like that from happening by carefully proofreading it. No matter how much of a rush you are in, print out what you have written (you will never catch all the mistakes by viewing it on a computer screen) and thoroughly read through it at least twice. Then, have at least one other person with solid editing skills carefully proofread your work. A new set of eyes might make all the difference.
Good luck on your writing journey! Writing can be very rewarding, especially when the work you’ve done generates great results for your organization and business and builds your personal portfolio of experiences. Through this blog, you’ve learned how to manage your writing workload, write naturally like you speak, keep your pieces concise, do outside activities to build your skills, vary your word usage, put your most important points first, invest in developing your conclusion, follow your industry’s writing style, try the 24-hour rule, and not underestimate the importance of the editing process. By following all these guidelines, you will be able to create better content more effectively. For more PR and communications tips, check out our other blog posts!
