Minimise Quantity, Maximise Quality

As most people who write content will tell you, writing short copy is hard. If your business is utilising the entire marketing mix, you won’t just be producing long-form content. Your strategy could include everything from 20-page brochures and 800-word blog posts to 280-character tweets. For many, the latter is the real challenge – when you have to create a headline for a Facebook Ad campaign or a company summary, you don’t have the luxury of being wordy. So, here’s some tips for writing short form copy – as they say, sometimes less, is more.

Drop Unnecessary Words

The point of being brief is to be both effective and concise. Think of it as lean copy – not necessarily short copy.

This can be tricky – but focus on prioritising the key message/s you want to get across to your target audience. Ask yourself what the main purpose of the content is – and then whittle away the dead wood. Edit and edit again until the key message is clear – challenge yourself to cut your copy by a third – or even a half.

Use Design

If you don’t have much space (or many characters) to work with, you don’t have to exclusively rely on copy. Incorporating a cool design can also help you get your point across successfully — without adding to the word count.

A well-selected, engaging design (or image) to accompany several lines of copy can draw people in and make your message much more effective.

Use Full Stops

Long sentences can often look messy and can confuse the reader – with the core message often being lost. Full stops can help you to package up a message concisely.  Aim for no more than 15-20 words in your sentence and vary the length from sentence to sentence.

Many reputable Content Management Systems (CMSs) will often have a built in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) plugin, such as Yoast SEO, to help analyse the optimal paragraph and sentence length of your web page’s copy. Other platforms, such as Grammarly offer a similar functionality, providing you with a ‘readability score’ – a number that tells you how easy it will be for someone to read your text.

Use Lists

Utilising bullet points is an effective way to present information in a clear and concise manner – allowing the reader to digest what is being said quickly.

Numbered lists are also a great way for presenting chronological steps.

Keep in mind – it’s just one piece of copy

Assuming you need to pack in as much information as possible into a piece of content is a common mistake. If you’re executing an effective integrated marketing campaign, there will be other opportunities (or touch points) in which your target audience will come in to contact with you. Each piece of communication, whether it is a social media post, blog, or physical conversation with one of your sales team, forms part of the wider story.

Understanding this will free you from coercing every possible piece of information into your copy, and rather, help you focus on its individual purpose.

Looking for more tips on writing effective copy across a mix of marketing mediums? Check out Candy PR’s blog.