How to find (and trust!) your writing style
We’re entrepreneurs, not writers. Well, not writers first & foremost.
As business folks we need to *do* a lot of writing: emails, proposals, web pages, posts…
But it’s not our core expertise.
(Unless you’re a copywriter, then it literally is… but right now I’m speaking on behalf of all you coaches, consultants, startups, realtors, shop owners, etc. who are pouring your heart into your business and showing up online so clients can find you.)
Running a business, you have to write. And you’ll want to write with personality. Ideally, brand personality.
Whether you employ one person or one jillion people, your business is a brand, and that brand has its own personality; that personality shows up in your writing as style.
Side Note: Content vs Style
Content is the stuff you’re talking about. Your points of view, your ideas, your tips and tricks, hacks and how tos, and insights. It’s created out of all that knowledge inside your head, wisdom inside your heart, and knowing inside your gut that you decide to share.
Style is the language you use to express, communicate, convey, get across all that meaty content.
Whether you know it or not, you already have a writing style.
As a copywriter, I get hired to mimic clients’ natural writing style. When I write the words for their website, those words need to sound like they’re coming from them, not from me. Otherwise, people would visit their site, read all those words, get a cheeky, word-nerdy, introvert vibe and then it would be shocking to meet the bubbly, bold, extroverted business owner. Or the sophisticated, intuitive, wise business owner. Or the ethereal, intuitive, soul-healing business owner. I think you get the picture.
You want people to read your web and email copy, then talk to you in person, and think, Yup, that’s what I came here for.
When you’re not a copywriter, you don’t need to figure out how to adopt someone else’s style. You’ll convey your business’s brand (aka your business’s personality) through your own distinct writing style.
So congratulations! There’s no *right* way to sound or to write. You get to write the way you want!
Where is your writing style hiding?
Most copywriters agree the main elements of brand voice that show up in writing are…
1. Word choice,
2. Sentence length,
3. And attitude.
Word choice (diction, vocabulary)
Sometimes word ‘choice’ is subconscious, but you and I will express things differently. I’ll say “running shoes,” you might say “sneakers,” your cousin calls them “kicks.” I’m “thrilled” when I get a new client, you might be “stoked,” and your cousin is “pumped.” I have to be careful when I write for other people not to use phrases like “super-delicious” (I say “super” instead of “very” all the time) and “loads of chocolate chips” (I says “loads” instead of “lots” or “tons” and often need to catch myself). I also love obscure words like pernicious, inimitable, devastatingly and obsequious… I drop those gems into day-to-day conversations. But I also get feedback sometimes like “yeah, I looked it up and that’s a good word, Kate, but I’m not an 18th century haunted spinster, thanks.”
So, IF you’re reviewing something you just wrote, and you’ve used words you’ve never said out loud in your actual life…. Then go back to more comfortable, natural, you-sounding word choices.
Sentence length (rhythm, tempo, cadence)
You speak in certain rhythms; you write in them too. I tend to write in longer sentences, stringing together phrases that need a lot of commas. Some people have a punchier style. They just naturally write short. Short words. Short sentences. You’ll notice you use a combo of both, which is good because too much long is exhausting and too much short is jarring. But you probably have a go-to tempo. My favourite examples are extreme: the never-ending, stream-of-consciousness, run-on sentences of Jenny Lawson, and the short, staccato, in-your-face assertions of Copyhackers emails:
Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess, part of a Facebook post
So I have this recurring nightmare where I’m running away from some unseen dread but I’m always moving in slow motion because my feet are stuck in quicksand, but I recently discovered that in my dream I can grab onto bushes or trees beside me and pull myself forward so that I can run away slightly less slowly and I was telling Victor about this and he looked at me like I was insane because basically I was just proud of finding a way to prolong my nightmare and he was like, “Why don’t you just fight the monster?” and I looked at him like he was insane because 1. there is no monster…there is some unseen terribleness that I’ve never actually looked at because I’m too busy running away from it, and 2. WHAT THE FUCK, VICTOR.
Copyhackers email
Writing badass posts month after month can take 100s of hours... not to mention the sugary, caffeine-y fuel of ten thousand triple-shot mochas.
Which is why you may have thought of monetizing your blog.
(aka makin' some moola for all those keystrokes of genius)
BUT! You may have also immediately shied away from that idea.
Because "monetizing" sounds a lot like "adding ads to your site," doesn't it?
And you do NOT want to do that.
So what can you do instead... to start generating some solid ROI from all that hand-cramping writing?
Bloggers are using these blog monetization strategies
What if you could join their ranks... and turn your zero-figure blog into a six-figure blog?
~jo
So, IF you’re reviewing something you just wrote, read it out loud and listen to where you naturally want to stop and take a breath. Put a period there. Put a hard return there. Add in an incomplete, half-sentence there, or a super-long-with-loads-of-explainy-made-up-words-connected-by-hyphens there. Read it again and see if it sounds more like you.
Attitude (tone, energy, emotion)
This is a little harder to put your cursor on, but you can definitely hear it, feel it and sense when it’s off. Attitude will inform your word choice and your sentence length, but it’s also a one-plus-one-equals-three thing. Your attitude, or energy, is your brand’s vibe. Think about brands that are “radical.” They’ll sound assertive, opinionated, self-assured, rebellious, irreverent. They’re likely to write short; they’re likely to use slang; they’re likely to make bold statements rather than ask open-ended questions… Think about brands that are “intuitive.” They’re likely to write longer, likely to use more adjectives, and likely to use more inclusive pronouns like ‘we’ and ‘us’.
But not always.
My best advice here is, if you’re feeling it, really feeling it, while you’re writing, it will come through pretty naturally. If you want a brand voice that’s optimistic, empowering, hopeful and light…you’ll struggle to stay on-tone if you’re pissed off, tired, anxious and discouraged while you’re writing.
So, IF you’re reviewing something you just wrote, ask yourself, How do I want my brand to show up as its best self? Dig down past “friendly” and “professional” to really personal, human characteristics like “serene,” “unhinged,” “triumphant,” or “gal-pal-ly.”
Trust your style
Remember up top where I said, “You want people to read your web and email copy, then talk to you in person, and think, Yup, that’s what I came here for.”? That’s why you can embrace your own, natural sentence flow, your go-to words and phrases, your inimitable energy, attitude, points of view and heartfelt beliefs.
You don’t want to sound like that aggressive bro who invented the fast-five-minute marketing funnel. You don’t want to sound like all-up-in-your-face jersey girl who spray-tanned her way into 8-figures. You don’t want to sound like that earnest, humourless, triple-word-score librarian with a PhD in time-management… EVEN IF THAT WORKS FOR THEM.
Even if those words, that email, or that elevator-pitch formula was the secret sauce in their 12-figure business growth last year.
When you’re writing, don’t back away from what you really want to say, and how you really want to say it. Nothing beats your own ideas, put in your very own way.