I consider it my job to help my clients understand their audience. I like to challenge them with thought provokers that I hope will forever change the way they communicate — or even think about communicating — with their audience.

Here’s the question I ask and the one I hope you’ll start asking yourself or your corporate writers:

“Is this what you want to say or is this what your audience wants to hear?”

Remember, it’s not their job to hear you, it’s your job to reach and connect with them.

Possibly related posts

• Short and sweet (0)
• Writing as a process (0)
• Writing advice from Dr.Seuss (0)

Are you guilty or innocent of complicating your message and thereby making it less clear? Let’s find out.

Do you favor big words over small ones? If you say “utilize” instead of “use,” you’re guilty.

Have you created your own language by turning a noun into a verb? Really now, if you say “bulletize,” give yourself another guilty.

You’re guilty again if you craft sentences that rival those of Charles Dickens. Learn to self-edit (delete words and condense phrases) and to chop sentences into two or more thoughts.

Are you driven by your organization’s lexicon, throwing buzzwords and acronyms into every (or even a single) sentence? Guilty again. Save the jargon for emails to your boss. Instead, talk to your customers about what matters most to them in a way they (or even your own grandmother) can understand.

Post your worst sentences here and I’ll give a few of them a before-and-after makeover.

Possibly related posts

• How to make your everyday email more effective (0)
• Find some new words (1)
• “We just don’t have the budget for it …” (0)

Stuck when writing your blog, ezine or web site content? Don’t know how to write? Don’t like the way you write? Or simply hate to write?

Learn my copywriting shortcuts in a free, one-hour teleseminar. During the call, Meredith Liepelt of Rich Life Marketing and I will discuss common copywriting mistakes and 10 Secrets to Great Web Copy.

Participants will leave this call armed with ideas and tactics for writing concisely, clearly and conversationally — without tearing their hair out.

This session includes time for questions and answers, and is geared toward solopreneurs who need to write as part of marketing their business.

No registration required.
Conference Dial-in Number: (218) 844-8230
Participant Access Code: 801756#

Possibly related posts

• Common writing mistakes (almost) everyone makes (1)
• You know you need a professional writer when … (0)
• Writing as a process (0)

This post was was inspired by two things …

• the negative experience of a colleague whose integrity was called into question as a result of a poorly written newsletter article; and
• a tweet from @ProBlogger who created 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers.

Following are my links and fast-read tips to improve both written and spoken communication. Please note that while I may reference “writing” or “interactive copy” in some of these tips, you can easily substitute “communication” (the word and the concept) for each.

Read on … I promise you’ll learn something new or at least be reminded of something important.

1. A friendly reminder about good communication
2. Know who you’re talking to. Ask yourself these questions: Who is my audience? What do they expect to hear? What do they need to hear? What kinds of words will they respond to?
3. Simple tip for audience insight
4. Get to the point. Say what you have to say clearly and concisely. If it helps, pretend you’re talking to a child or explaining something to your grandmother.
5. Common writing mistakes (almost) everyone makes
6. Stop communicating to impress. Ditch the name-dropping, jargon-popping speak that characterizes much of American conversation.
7. Lose the unnecessary words
8. Do not repeat yourself or go on and on and on by saying the same thing multiple ways. In other words, lose the redundancies (like this one!).
9. Find some new words
10. Pause. It gives the reader or listener time to process what you’re saying. Hint: Punctuation is your natural pause in the written word.
11. How to make your everyday email more effective
12. Choose your words carefully. “He stepped down as CEO” sounds like the person quit or was fired; whereas “He completed his three-year term” sounds like the person achieved something.
13. Such a post a this should be made more clear via editing
14. Get personal, when appropriate. Speak “to” people; not “at” them.
15. Why good writing is a lot like being in love
16. Think before you communicate. Write your copy, set it aside and go back to it before sending or posting. In conversation, simply pause before continuing.
17. Short and sweet
18. Clarify vs. defend what you write or speak.
19. How to write conversationally
20. Skew toward the positive. Negativity rarely prospers.
21. Become a storyteller
22. Avoid clichés, jargon and buzzwords.
23. How to replace blah, blah, blah language
24. Keep the “who, what, when, where, why and how” in mind. Always.
25. Stop sleepwalking through your copywriting
26. Listen, listen, listen. ’Nuff said.

Want more? Sign up for monthly tips, insights and shortcuts or ask about 1:1 coaching

Possibly related posts

• Why you should rework "fine" copy (0)
• What great web copy is NOT (0)
• Common writing mistakes (almost) everyone makes (1)