Writing to be read

23 Mar Writing to be read

No one writes a blog, email or social media post to be ignored, but how do you write to be read? Read our fail-proof plan to ensure what you write gets read, by the right people, at the right time.

Who’s your audience?
First up you need to know who you are trying to target with your content – the more specific the better. Is it teens? Is it teens who are gamers? Is it teens who are gamers who are still at school? Not only does defining your audience help you choose the tone, word choice and style of your writing it also helps to visualise one real person reading what you write to keep you on track, give some meaning to what you are doing and most importantly connect with your audience.

Where are they?
Maybe it is your job to know the channels or platforms you are writing for, or maybe that’s been decided by someone else. Either way, you need to write for a specific person on a specific platform – the way you write a letter (does anyone write these anymore?) differs from a social media post, not only in length but also in style, tone and formality.

What to say
Now you know the who and the where, how do you work out what to say? A good place to start is with the 5Ws and H. Make sure you cover off who, what, why, when, where and how and that will ensure you have the basics covered. Depending on your audience and platform, some of this might be covered visually (think icons and images) and it certainly doesn’t all have to be lengthy sentences and paragraphs, in fact you might not need to write it all, but at some stage your audience will want or need to know it! In fact, when it comes to reading, online in particular, people skim and scan and bounce from post to post and page to page, so it is more essential than ever to write succinctly, layout your content in chunks, use sub headings, imagery, icons and different ways to highlight and draw attention to key words, phrases or points.

Benefits
Think them not me. You know what’s in it for you, but put yourself in the shoes of your reader – what’s in it for them? How will it make their life easier? What is the benefit of them choosing your product or service over your competitors?

The CTA
A what? A call to action (CTA) describes the action you want people to take when they read your words of wisdom. Do you want people to sign up, read more, stay on your site longer, feel a sense of loyalty or buy? Have you given them good reason to take action – are the benefits clear?

Pulling it all together
Use our successful formula to give your writing the best chance of being read and make a difference for your reader.

Audience: Who are they? What are they looking for? Where are they?

Key messages: Cover off via the 5Ws and H.

Benefit: What unique benefit will they get?

Action: What’s the CTA, what action do you want your audience to take?