Has your copy lost its zing? Find out how to put it right.
1. The silence is deafening
You put together your latest e.newsletter or magazine, write a new webpage or post on Facebook and then… nothing. Oh, it’s half term, you tell yourself; it’s the summer; it’s Christmas, it’s Friday. That’s why no-one is responding. Even criticism is better than silence.
Sorry, the hard truth is no-one is responding to your writing because it’s not engaging your target audience and contains nothing of interest to them.
My remedy: Create an email or mailing that is wholly, totally and completely focussed on your target reader. Just this time, it’s not about you or your charity. What are your readers’ needs? What are they interested in? Offer them free information or advice that will be useful to them, without asking for anything in return.
Offer an action that is focussed wholly on your reader. Perhaps a free download that will be useful for them, an opportunity to have their say or just an entertaining YouTube clip to watch and enjoy.
You’ll see engagement with your material lift and will learn an important lesson. For your charity copy to be effective, you have to write about your readers and their needs, not just about your organisation.
2. Even you won’t read your work
You know the feeling when you’ve put together your an article, leaflet or web page. You can’t be bothered to print it and read it over again. You’re supposed to proof it, but you skim read. You know what it contains: the same phrases you always use and the same calls to action. You’ve used that case study again, surely no-one will notice. And those figures from five years ago, they’re still relevant. Just about.
If even you are bored of your writing, your work is in desperate need of a refresh. If you’re jaded by your copy, chances are your readers will be too. Boring to write means boring to read.
My remedy: Make a thorough list of your charity’s clichés and stock phrases. What are the facts and examples you always use? What are the statistics you roll out again and again?
For every one, spend time writing something completely new.
Reach for the thesaurus (or even a rhyming dictionary) and play about with your clichés until you create something fresh. Consider whether those figures can be expressed in a different way (weight of buses, number of school classes, cost of hospitals) that are more engaging. Impose a ban on recycling case studies and quotes. Make a plan to generate some new ones.
3. Your features are formulaic
You start with a broad introduction, perhaps with a topical slant. Then there’s a few official quotes, perhaps a case study, followed by a rounding up conclusion.
Yawn.
It may contain lots of worthy information, but if no-one reads it you’ll fail to get your message across.
My Remedy: Look at the Sunday supplements and you’ll find a dozen ways of structuring features in a more accessible way. Consider writing your feature as a Question and Answer or FAQ; offer Ten Things You Didn’t Know… or 5 Ways To… Write a longer case study, full of personal quotes and anecdotes.
Give as much attention to how you’ll get your message across as what you want to say.
4. You don’t know what to write about
When you put your magazine or e.newsletter together, you have to send an email round asking if anyone has any stories. You sometimes fill space with congratulations to Julie on the new baby, or re-run a short news-in-brief from last time that hasn’t quite gone out of date. Or maybe you’ll just make that picture ever so slightly bigger.
My Remedy: You need to get out more. Sitting at your desk isn’t going to generate interesting, engaging copy that illustrates the great work your organisation does. Your charity is jam-packed full of stories, you just need to get out there to hear them.
Get out of the office for a whole day every month or so. Visit a project to interview staff and service users, find out what their highs and lows are, their hopes, challenges and successes. Make it a habit to talk to service staff about their work, to senior staff about how their vision is rolling out ‘on the ground’. Call your supporters and ask them what stories from your organisation have most interested them, and what they’d like to see more of.
Only by consistently talking to people, seeing your organisation in action and asking questions will you develop a nose for finding great stories, and have the opportunity to show others what to look for too.
5. It’s not great, but it’ll do
Usually said with a sigh. You’re not delighted with the piece, but well it says everything you need to say. It’s a bit clunky in places, and well you probably wouldn’t read it yourself, but then again you’re not your target reader. At least it’s written, and you can get on with something else.
My Remedy: The nuclear option. Any writing that leads you to conclude ‘well, that’ll do I suppose’ shouldn’t make it out of your office. Read it one last time, take a break, and then hit delete.
Now write it again, this time without looking at your notes or your previous version. The work you’ve already will have laid the foundations for creating something really good this time. Don’t stop to check facts or quotes, just keep writing.
You can always edit later.
You’ll find this version comes much quicker and easier, and you’ll be far more satisfied with the result. By far the best of my own writing has come about thanks to the nuclear option.
It hurts, but the rewards are great.
Conclusion
Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised regularly.
Don’t see writing as a chore that has to be added on to the rest of your job. Without good copy in your newsletter, emails and on your website, much of the rest of your communications work will suffer.
Make time (and space) to write, get excited and passionate about it. Read all the time, steal ideas, get some coaching or training, accept criticism willingly and write. Write a lot.
The more you flex your writing muscle, the fitter it will be.
