Infernal Comms: the Write the Talk blog

It's not the length that counts

How long should a sentence be? Six months? Ten years? Fifteen to life?

So what's the crime? Trying to say that, in certain situations, there is a "correct" number of words for the space between the opening capital letter and full stop of the grammatical unit we call a sentence. And believe me, there are those who would have you think that certain types of writing (let's say website copy) benefit from "sentences of about 20 words."

There is only one thing to remember when it comes to sentence length: variety.

It would not surprise me if it emerged that the CIA has an advanced form of torture involving the reading out of hundreds of sentences that are all the same length and rhythm. Think you could take it? Here's a test.

"I am going to tell you how to be successful in your business. It is a foolproof method that anyone can follow. There's no catch and nothing to pay upfront. In the pages that follow I'm going to explain how it works. You have to read every sentence for the system to succeed. There are about 500 of these sentences and they are all like this. Lose interest once and you will definitely fail. ..."

OK, OK, I'll tell you anything you want to know! Life is just too short to have to put up with that. Much better to keep your reader interested by simply varying the number of words you use. Shorter sentences can be really effective. Longer sentences are useful for developing ideas, building lists or to highlight what follows. Like this. Easy.

However you do it, vary your sentence length to keep your reader active. It'll be good for both of you.

When writing, two's a crowd ...

Now let's not have any confusion; I'm not suggesting that your next newsletter campaign should involve the painstaking construction of one email after another. No, I'm talking about the picture you have in your mind of who you are writing to, whenever you write.

Almost everything you write is for many people to read (if only in your dreams). You may have an email distribution list of 10,000 addresses or be hoping for 50,000 website hits; either way you will be imagining a healthy audience. Let's assume I'm reading an article you've written that contains the following statement:

"Many of you recognise the need for quality writing in your business."

This may well be true of the group you are communicating with, but that's not the point. What you have done is put me, the reader, in a crowd which is being addressed by the literary equivalent of a megaphone. You've made me feel like a punter at Hyde Park Corner listening to you warble on about your favourite topic. So if it's OK with you, I'm going to walk on; you've obviously got a big enough audience already.

If I hang around long enough, I might consider the point you are trying to make: that some of the readers of your piece don't recognise the need for quality writing. Are you trying to make me feel uncomfortable, an outsider in a self-satisfied group of know-it-alls? Well it's working, and I'm really going this time.

The alternative is simple: talk to one imaginary reader and do it directly and personally. Let your voice be inside her head, speaking to her privately. Not only will it be more effective but you will find your writing becomes more focused. You're showing that you are more interested in your reader than you are in listening to your own voice:

"You recognise the need for quality writing in your business."

That's got my attention now. Whether or not you're right, you are talking to me and me alone. In return I'm going to give you the opportunity to finish what you want to tell me.

One thing to remember: if you have trouble getting a clear mental picture of your reader for a particular piece of writing, then face up to the possibility that you have too many segments of your market in mind. Pick one - your writing will benefit, and the message will resonate much more with your readers. That is exactly the effect you want to have; better the relevant words that make some people listen, than the general words that make everybody walk away.

Is your writing killing your business?

There is a simple fact that everyone in business should grasp. Go to marketing seminars and there is one theme that you will hear time after time:

You must write as widely and as frequently as you can. A lack of writing can be fatal.

Perhaps this needs a little explaining.

The visibility of your business is obviously crucial to its success. The rapport you build with customers, partners, staff, and the marketplace as a whole can have an enormous effect on your ability to turn recognition into sales. Writing allows you to build both visibility and rapport and need not cost any money at all.

The problem for many is that this just doesn't come easily: there's a lack of time or writing confidence, uncertainty about what to write or where, or a struggle to turn ideas into words.

I think everyone can write well, given the tools, so on this blog I'm going to share some of what I've learned about the power of language. I've had a career in business and spent some years writing fiction, so hopefully there'll be some different perspectives on some really relevant issues.

I'll cover a number of important areas, from common writing mistakes, through website and article writing, to techniques for writing with personality. Over time I hope some of the readers of these blogs will share their writing experiences and problems. If any particular themes emerge I'll tackle them in a future post.

All I want to get across in this opener is that writing is something that you should be building into your marketing plan (even if that plan is still in your head because you haven't got round to writing it down yet ...).

Here are three things you may not know about the power that writing has to build your business:

• you can boost your search engine rankings by posting articles and blogs on information-hungry sites across the web and linking back to your website;
  

• editors of industry magazines and newspapers are always looking for informative content to attract and keep readers. This is better than advertising (and free);

• people like to buy from experts, and there is no better way to build that perception of expertise than to be seen in print.

For now though, your business needs you to be a writer. Start today and see what you can achieve.