 |
Call us on 01733 891 860 (UK) or use this contact form |
 |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Moving communication campaigns into action |
|
|||
|
|
|
Tackling big writing tasks: where do you start? Here is a back issue of Marketing Booster, the email newsletter that Richard Groom writes and sends free every fortnight to subscribers. You can subscribe here or read over 60 back issues using the back issues index page. Yesterday a marketing manager told me that she wouldn't know where to start if she had to write a large item such as a brochure. Many people have also said they feel this way, so I thought I'd share with you three of the techniques I use when I face a big and daunting writing task. (In fact, they can work when writing shorter documents too.) Here are the three techniques: 1. Do the easy bits first. I know that a much-used time management technique is 'worst first' to get the difficult jobs out of the way. But when it comes to writing, I often like to begin with the easy stuff. This gets me started and often helps me to decide what to write next. The easy bits could be those subjects that you are most familiar with, information that is largely a reprint of existing material or 'admin' stuff such as lists of products or personnel. Sometimes I will begin with a simple headline and introductory paragraph for each section (they will be edited later to improve them). As well as getting me started this also helps me to work out the structure for the document. 2. Cut and paste. Sometimes most of the content (ie subject matter) you need already exists: your task is largely to bring it together, arrange it in a logical sequence and then re-write it to make it your own. So I might start by pasting text from a variety of sources into my blank document. I'll use internal sources, ie text already written by or for the company I'm working for. Often, a large amount of documents have been written, including web pages, sales letters, internal reports, tenders and proposals. I'll then look at external sources, which naturally means the internet in most cases. So when I recently had to write a definition of 'customer relationship management' I didn't start from scratch. Instead I cut and pasted a few definitions from various websites and edited them into one new definition. Now I can start to rewrite all the pasted text and add new bits as required. Of course, there is a risk that you end up including something someone else has written in your finished document. This would be unethical or even illegal. (You might think that the 'dodgy dossier' case here in the UK confirmed the risk of cutting and pasting without great care.) So how can I guarantee that I never directly publish text from another source? The technique I use is to first turn all 'cut and pasted' text in my work-in-progress document into red. Now I know that anything in red must NOT end up in the final document. Then, once I rewrite each bit of red text so that it really does become my own I turn it into green text. So I know that green text will be safe to publish and that I cannot be accused of theft or plagiarism. It's a simple technique, but I am confident it means that everything I write is in my own words, even if I originally used someone else's content to get started. 3. Break it down. Sometimes I know that a document will take a certain amount of time to write. And sometimes this can indeed be a daunting prospect. Facing a 60-hour writing task is enough to put anyone off. In such cases, I will usually create a realistic schedule. For example, I might decide that I can spend four hours per day on the particular item. Then I will draw up a schedule on a piece of paper, with four little squares on each writing day. As I complete each hour I tick a square, often taking a short break at the end of each hour. This works for me as writing for an hour is rarely a chore, whereas writing for 60 hours certainly would be. In summary, I'm not saying that I ALWAYS use any of these techniques. In fact, most of what I write really does start from scratch rather than cutting and pasting. But when I find it hard to get started on a new document I will often use one or more of these techniques, along with others than I cover on my copywriting workshop. Copyright 2005 Richard Groom |