Mark Twain - the man behind some of America's best loved books.
Mark Twain has a famous quote about choosing your words correctly.
“The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
Used well, words are among the most powerful tools we have. Used poorly, they can change what we mean to express into something entirely different.
My question is this – if words are so powerful, why don’t businesses take the time to really harness them?
I think it’s because they generally don’t have a good strategy to make words work for them. They know they need to write something (and frequently they dread it) so they just start typing and hope to hit the mark.
That’s like driving blindfolded.
What you need to do to write well is plan. The most important part of writing is the time you spend away from your computer (or pen and paper, if that’s your style).
Here’s a simple 3-step method to getting the right message on paper:
1. Pick Your Idea
When picking your idea, you need to be a bit ruthless with all the ideas that may come flooding into your head. You really need to focus on communicating one idea per piece. Throw out anything that isn’t quite right.
A good way to find your idea is to take a walk and ask yourself what major point you’re trying to convey. Are you trying to convince people that your product is better than your competitors’? Are you trying to show your reader just how much your service can help them? Whatever it is, think it through, find something to hook onto, then stick to it.
2. Outline It
I know, everyone hates to outline. Even when I was working on my degree in writing, I sometimes skipped it.
And every time, the resulting paper was bad.
You don’t need to do a fancy tree outline like they taught you in school. All you need to do is scribble down what points you’d like to make to support your main idea, and then put them in order. What will you say first? What will you finish with?
3. Stick to Your Guns
Writing takes a certain degree of bravery. You’ve got to believe in your idea enough to put your passion behind it.
Take your outline and your idea, take a deep breath, and write.