Now it's time to get into the actual nitty-gritty of creating great content.
I'm going to be developing this section as simply and straightforwardly as I can because, frankly, there's way too much potential information for me to realistically stuff into this book.
To maintain continuity, I'll be discussing content creation from the standpoint of writing something because, with very few exceptions, some sort of scripting or outline is necessary even for non-written content.
Understand, however, that the basic principles discussed in the next few chapters apply equally well to creating videos, audio recordings, podcasts, and (with minor variations) visual content as well.
The first thing to consider is the manner in which you write your content. Your tone, and your unique voice.
“Write like you speak” is an age-old mantra among direct mail copywriters, but it translates equally well into nearly every other form of writing outside of some fiction.
It seems like a really simple tip to put into practice, but it’s not always as easy as it seems.
Why do you do it?
From a very young age, we are taught that when we write words down, they have to be perfect. Every grammar rule must be perfectly measured, every T crossed and every I dotted. We scored extra points for longer words, and got to learn very quickly how to write fancy enough to impress our English teachers.
The problem is, with very few exceptions, our intended reader is not our English teacher!
So living, breathing copy that really reaches the heart of our audience is going to sound far more like an informal conversation than a textbook essay. Even if the purpose is strictly informational, and the subject is potentially dry, if we write it the way we would discuss it sitting on the couch in our friend’s living room, we’ll make the words come alive for our reader.
How do you do it?
The easiest way to accomplish this (at least until it becomes second nature) is to make some brief notes about the points you want to cover in your content piece, perhaps in an outline form, then move away from the paper or keyboard and just review the outline.
Imagine you've been asked to speak to a small group about this subject and these are your notes.
Or, if that intimidates you, imagine your best friend asked you a question and these are the points that are going to make up your reply.
Then, simply talk it out.
Once you've spent a few minutes forming your verbal argument, you'll start to get a sense of the kinds of words and transitional phrases you're naturally using to make the points understandable and to keep the “conversation” flowing.
If you can anticipate questions that your audience may naturally have as you speak, all the better: these give you an opportunity to add clarifying information without overwhelming the piece by trying to stuff too much into it.
And if some humor weaves its way into the content because that's your natural personality, so much the better. Few things draw an audience to you like a natural, funny voice.
When you've contemplated your verbal version of the content for a few minutes, return to the keyboard or paper and try to duplicate, as best you can, the exact words and phrasing you were using when you spoke.
It will probably be a little rough around the edges when you first get it all down on paper, but the rough draft you have to work with at that point will be far closer to your ideal final draft than the 10th grade English essay you were going to write.
A caveat:
Now, this tip does need to be taken with a grain of salt.
For instance, if you tend to have a foul mouth, or a racy sense of humor, you’ll need to rein them in for the sake of decency and professionalism.
If the subject matter you're discussing is particularly charged, controversial, or in some other way requires a higher level of decorum than your normal speaking manner may convey, you'll want to keep that in mind as you draft and complete your content piece. (Remember, it's still the audience and the goal of the content that finally determines its format and tone, this is just a guideline.)
But, as you’ve probably noticed throughout this book, a liberal sprinkling of contractions (you’ve, we’ll, etc.) makes the text far easier to read because it sounds less formal.
You may have also noticed that the text isn’t dumbed down at all, but it is written simply, without all the 50-cent words I used to impress my English teacher all those years ago!
And the result, hopefully, is that the theory and practical suggestions found in the book sound accessible and understandable. (At least, that's my goal.)
It may take some practice, but eventually, writing like you speak will become second nature.
Exercise #20 – Write Like You Speak
1. Using the plans you made in the previous two exercises, start tackling the creation of your next piece of content. For simplicity sake, let's make this a written piece, perhaps a blog post or short article for placement in an online article bank or for social media.
2. Follow the “write like you speak” method of outlining your points, then talking them out for a few minutes before attempting to duplicate those phrases on paper.
3. Don't be too concerned with how good or bad it turns out, this is just a first draft and we'll be sprucing it up as we move along.
4. Read the next chapter.