Three Simple Steps to Better Writing
What separates a beginner from the pros? Amateur writers write just to write. While this may create tons of negligible content, (or offer them private enjoyment), it does nothing to help them get noticed, increase business, or move their audience to take action.
So what is the goal of great writing? Professional writers have one main goal in mind with their writing: to change their audience. Great writers try hard to help their audience see through different eyes, act differently, and change the way they interact with the world.
Just about anyone who’s made it past the 4th grade can slap a few words together and a complete sentence. (Need proof? Look at most blogs out there.) If you really want to have power in your writing, you have to write for impact. This is what separates educational from influential. Powerful writing can be had in three easy steps: 1) writing for a specific audience, 2) using the right medium, and 3) choosing the correct conversion.
Targeted Audience
Getting in touch with your target audience is vital. See things from their perspective and not your point of view. Every article I write starts with identifying my target reader: What is his age? What are her hobbies and interests? Education? Income level? Purchasing habits? Etc.
As soon as I’ve identified whom it is I’m talking to, I create a custom message for that audience. If I’m writing for a younger audience, say 18-25, I will use words like fresh, cutting-edge and innovative. Words like that have far less impact on the 60+ crowd, who are more interested in whats proven, safe and effective.
Right Location
By location I mean the medium used to communicate your message. This includes things like magazines, newspapers, journals, books, radio and TV ads, as well as blogs, websites, and other online means. Your audience, in large part, determines the venue you choose.
As an example, if I’m targeting economists and writing an article on economic policy, most online methods would fail, whereas an academic journal would have much credibility. An article of that nature requires huge blocks of detailed text; something most people cannot read on a computer screen.
And I probably won’t have enough space to make my case in a magazines or newspaper. Alternatively, if my content is concise, uncomplicated, and intended for a broader audience, possibly a newspaper article makes sense.
All of us are exposed to writing that we skim or ignore. Yet if that same message is accessible in a venue more pleasing to us, we’re much more likely to spend time reading it. Writing for change requires using the best location for our topic and audience.
Appropriate Conversion
The three main types of conversion are know, feel, and do. When you write a know piece, you’re seeking to inform the reader with new facts, or possible old facts arranged in a new light. You’re trying to help them learn. With a feel article, then point is to develop a strong emotional reaction from the reader. And with a do piece, you’re trying to get them to do something, to take some form of action.
Amateurs look at this and try to do all three (When they even recognize it at all.) Professionals focus on only one, because doing so affects the others. How do you want the readers life to change because they read your message? What do you want to see occur in them? Do you primarily want them to know, feel, or do something? Pick one – yes, just one – and carry it out well, and the others will take care of themselves.
If you want your message to actually have impact, you must learn to write for change. Know whom you’re writing to, use the right location to reach them, and choose the right conversion and execute it well. After all, writing that changes you is the only writing worth reading.
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