Delete the Extras; Leave the Facts
In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, the protagonist (9-year old Scout) reflects on some of the reading and writing wisdom that her father instilled in her: “[He] told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.”
Similarly, effective copy should engage the reader, but it should relay the facts as clearly and concisely as possible. “Adjectives” (and other descriptive devices) are useful in their own right, but there is a delicate balance between copy that engages the reader and copy that tries too hard. Readers will quickly see through a façade of shallow, vague story-telling — and not only will they lose interest, but they will also lose confidence in your company.
Your branding should be clear, and your copy should reflect the same directness — readers on your business' site don’t have time for more. If you write too much, you won’t get your message to the people who need to hear it most. Be honest — you’re only 181 words into this post, and you’ve already started scanning.
So, what makes good copy “good”?
The Writing Process
According to Purdue University, “Writing can’t be done [well] without going through certain stages.” These stages of the writing process are:
- Brainstorm – create a list of ideas
- Outline – establish the topic and structure of your paper
- Rough Draft – compose the initial draft of copy
- Revision – re-organize your copy in a way that readers can better understand
While this is the basic sequence of the writing process, Purdue mentions that each writer’s process will be slightly different depending on the individual and the writing project itself. These variations allow for creative license and unique project requirements.
At KLMC, we craft good copy by starting with proven writing and marketing frameworks — and then carefully aligning the voice and messaging with your brand. Our process is similar to that of Purdue’s, but we have optimized it for a B2B environment.
- Brainstorm – create a list of ideas to match your goals
- Research – establish background on each of the ideas
- Outline – establish the topic and structure of each idea
- Rough Draft – compose the initial draft of copy
- Technical Review – review the document for technical accuracy
- Revision – re-organize your copy to clarify the meaning, improve accuracy, and hone impact
You Need to Tell Your Story — Learn How to Tell it Best
Before we begin writing, we need to know you and your customers. The better we understand your customers’ needs, and how your expertise, products, and offerings serve them, the better we will be able to write copy to match your presence in the industry. Before you write, make sure you have the right background information.
Use your goals to brainstorming your content.
Strategy matters, so we recommend that your initial brainstorming meetings start at a high level. Cover your company’s pain points and business goals:
- Company Culture – Who are you?
- Business Model – What do you do?
- New Products and Services Rollouts – How are you growing?
- Rebranding Initiatives – Who are you becoming?
- Partnerships and Collaborations – Who do you work with?
- Community Outreach and Charity Opportunities – Who do you support?
From there, collaborate with your sales and marketing teams to establish a schedule of written copy to meet their needs — by creating an editorial calendar.
- Web and Landing Pages (along with appropriate SEO research)
- Technical Blogs
- Whitepapers, eBooks, and Datasheets
- Flyers
- Social Media Posts
With the copy forms and topics established for the quarter, gather the specific information you’ll need for each piece.
Find the story with outlines and interviews.
With a content calendar in hand, coordinate with your company’s internal experts to assign Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to each topic. You’ll need to do preliminary research, establish a series of pertinent questions, and draw a loose outline to help keep the interview focused.
Then, schedule one-on-one interviews with each SME. During these interviews, take detailed notes in real-time, recording the SMEs’ answers and explanations.
Note: In addition to typed/written notes, an audio recording works wonders here. If you possibly can, record the conversation via Zoom or with a personal recorder. Being able to fall back on a recording for a quote or a particularly complex explanation allows you to stay present during your interview, and avoid missing important information.
With the information gathered from the interviews, you’ll next build an outline for the copy — beginning the process of synthesizing the facts into a compelling, story-driven message. At this stage, you may determine that there are holes in the data. That’s okay! Reach back out to SME to fill in the gaps. But try not to do this more than once per topic. And, where possible, combine interviews to minimize the interruption to your SME’s primary job responsibilities (which probably isn’t answering all of your questions!)
Bring the story to life with sentences and paragraphs.
Everyone writes a little differently. Maybe your writing processes needs Red Bull and hard rock, and a good text editor. (I minimize distractions, get some coffee/tea, and turn on something like lofi beats to occupy my lizard brain just enough. –KM) Get comfortable and pull up your outline. It’s time to start writing.
Use your prepared outlines to fleshed out compelling, long-form copy in your company’s voice that clearly tells the story and reinforces your objectives. With both the written notes and the recorded interview at your disposal, draft your initial copy. Carefully align with the data that you’ve gathered during the research phase. Strategically incorporate your SEO keywords in a natural way to keep both Google and your readers happy.
Write directly to your target buyer persona and pay special attention to the technical aspects of your draft. Inaccurate technical information, like errors in grammar or spelling, distract your informed readers and break the connection that you’re working hard to establish.
Review the draft for technical inaccuracies and make the writing clearer.
Note: Depending on your team, you may pass the draft along to an editor, or you may have to change out your writer’s hat for an editor’s one. Revising your work alone can be tricky. If you are writer/editor, take a break to clear your head before moving on to the editing phase.
As a general rule, the original writer of the project will do a preliminary edit on the rough draft before submitting it for editing. Following this, your editor should read over the draft, comparing the included data to the original interview notes and recordings. In addition to fact-checking and SEO optimization, you should edit to make the reading easy, the ideas clear, and the style consistent with your company’s branding guidelines.
Depending on the complexity of the topic, your draft should be reviewed by technical experts — these could mean your editorial team or the original SME. Based on their feedback, make the requested revisions and submit the final draft to the company’s Marketing Ops or PR Team for posting.
Note: Posting and promotion matter — your company blog is not the field of dreams (sorry). So you, or someone on your team, need to build a promotion plan with marketing channels for each piece of writing you do.
Following Through on the Writing Process by Writing to Someone.
Generic copy is a waste of your time and the time of your readers’. Write to someone specific.
Your goal is to provide concise, engaging, and effective marketing copy that showcases your offerings and connects with the intended audience. Use this process as a foundation, but take the time to step back and establish a compelling, story-driven message.
