Imagine everything you wrote was clear and straight to the point.
Readers could engage with your ideas. You could express your opinions.
With clarity of thought, comes conviction. And that translates into a passion that bounces off the (web) page.
It’s not always easy, though. We go off on tangents; points get lost along the way.
Fear not.
There’s hope for us all.
I’ve pulled together proven tactics to communicate points with confidence.
These are methods you can start using today.
The importance of writing clearly in digital content
Let’s be honest. If you’re working in any kind of professional setting, chances are you’ve rambled, waffled, took several detours on the winding road towards your point.
It happens in meetings, emails, and just everyday memos.
Don’t despair: you’re not alone.
Here’s a reminder from The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White:
“Writing is hard, even for authors who do it all the time. Less frequent practitioners…often get stuck in an awkward passage or find a muddle on their screens, and then blame themselves. What should be easy and flowing looks tangled or feeble or overblown — not what was meant at all. What’s wrong with me, each one thinks. Why can’t I get this right?”
The problem is if you’re writing online content, you don’t have tons of time to get to the point. A study showed blog readers take just 15 seconds to decide whether or they’re going to read your post.
And then there’s the fact that writing concisely plays a big role in convincing your audience.
Let’s discover the techniques that help you get the job done. And, though, the focus is on blogs, you can apply these techniques to any communication, e.g., emails, social media posts.
Decide on your point
“Writing is thinking on paper. If you can think clearly, you can write clearly”
That’s a lesson from William Zinsser, in On Writing Well.
So, why is that sometimes when we try to express our ideas, we end up with a mess of words: awkward phrases grasping at a point that’s just out of reach. Where meaning should be clear, it’s muddled.
You look back at your work and think, “That’s not what I’m trying to say.”
A perfect example is this article from the Harvard Business Review. Here, a manager goes through several rounds of edits to refine his message. As he revises his writing, his message becomes more focussed. His approach changes during the editing process. The outcome? A clear memo that cuts through the confusion that comes with corporate documents.
The trick here is to figure out exactly what it is you want to say.
In the Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking online course, you learn about your thesis statement: a single sentence that expresses your main idea.
If you have a thesis statement before you start writing, you will find it easier to focus your blog.
Firm up your point
Andrew Gilman had an unusual hobby: he was an international competitive public speaker.
In this Grammar Girl episode, Gilman, shares the strategy he uses to determine whether or not this argument had a clear point:
Put the point you’re trying to make after, “I believe…”
If it’s a clear, complete sentence, you’re on your way to making a point.
As an example, here’s one that doesn’t work:
“I believe writing better.”
Now, have a look at this:
“I believe clear writing is the key to better writing.”
Stories as vehicles for your point
Stories are all around us.
They’re in the brand posts that pop up in our newsfeeds: hooks that grab us and demand further reading.
Humans are natural storytellers, and these narratives have helped us evolve. That’s the main idea in Jonathan Gottschall’s book, “The Storytelling Animal, writes Adam Gopnik.
“Gottschall’s encouraging thesis is that human beings are natural storytellers—that they can’t help telling stories, and that they turn things that aren’t really stories into stories because they like narratives so much. Everything—faith, science, love—needs a story for people to find it plausible. No story, no sale.”
That’s never been more true.
Our brains respond differently to stories, too, according to this article in the HBR.
It’s why marketers, or anyone trying to get a point across, have embraced storytelling.
Gilman said we need to remember that stories are a vehicle for your point.
So, he suggests the following tips:
- Keep you story short and relevant to the point
- Connect the story and the point, .i.e., the story illustrates the importance of XXX (your key point)
Writing compelling content isn’t easy. But if your work is clear, you’ve already made it easier for your audience to understand your message. And with understanding, comes deeper connection.
This is the secret to better writing. This is the secret to memorable writing.
Image credit: Photo by Damian Zaleski on Unsplash
