Journalists churn out hundreds of engaging words every day. Why not borrow some of their techniques?
Whether you’re a manager trying to make her company newsletter more engaging, or a scientist explaining his work to non-scientists, good writing skills are an asset. To benefit from your written work, readers must find it easy to understand, which is why it pays to look at the methods of a group of people who write every day: journalists.
As professionals who often communicate about complex topics under tight deadlines, journalists follow a process that can help business writers.
1. Pyramid Pointers
The “inverted pyramid” is a pillar of journalism and can be applied to many other types of writing. In this approach, you begin by telling as much of the story as possible in the first paragraphs. Details follow once the basic story has been communicated. This method ensures readers have the background information to understand your topic from the beginning -- before you get into the nitty-gritty. So, readers are less likely to be confused. And even if they click away, they will understand the key events.
The inverted pyramid is especially important if you are writing to an audience that is not familiar with your topic. Experts may be able to understand an article that gets right to the details, but if there is any question about the knowledge your readers bring to the table, you’ll want to provide background first.
2. Research and Expert Inputs
Journalists expect to conduct and interpret research. Whenever they write on a topic for which expertise is necessary, they identify individuals and publications most likely to provide solid background information. Conducting interviews with industry experts or thought leaders can also provide valuable perspectives.
Journalists also stay alert to bias an expert may bring to a subject. To make a balanced presentation, they often tap a range of expert opinions.
3. Questions Count
When conducting interviews and research, journalists have a clear sense of what questions to ask. They begin with the basics — Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? — and move from there to unearth more details. By preparing their questions carefully, they minimize the chances they will overlook crucial information. If you adopt careful questioning in your own writing, you're likely to gather enough raw material to succeed with any assignment.
4. Storytelling
Journalists often use stories to engage their readers. Business writers can create compelling narratives around their company’s products and services by incorporating anecdotes, case studies and people to make the content more relatable and memorable.
5. A Strong Start
Journalists often craft catchy headlines and attention-grabbing openings to hook their readers. Business writers can learn from this approach by doing the same. A captivating start can grab readers and convince them to read to the end.
6. Engaged Editing
Every time a journalist submits an article, an editor scrutinizes it to strengthen the writing before publication. As a result, journalists learn to appreciate feedback and strive to deliver copy that does not need a lot of editing. They also train themselves to anticipate an editor's reactions, identifying writing mistakes and omissions before turning their work over to an editor.
Even if your writing is not scrubbed by an editor, you can still learn to anticipate editorial problems. Whenever you complete a writing assignment, read it out loud. This will help you identify weak areas and clear up awkward phrasing.
7. Deadline Diligence
As the name implies, news must be delivered promptly or it’s no longer news. Journalists meet strict deadlines for many of their assignments. Dealing with a deadline is difficult when you’re gathering and evaluating a large amount of information, which is why most journalists develop strong time-management skills. While you may have more flexible deadlines for your work, you can still establish delivery dates to improve the efficiency of your research and writing. Try to complete each assignment quickly without sacrificing quality. You will likely find yourself capable of writing far more than you thought possible in a short period.
Business writers usually deal with a much smaller readership than the one served by their local newspaper. However, there's a lot to be said for thinking like a reporter when it's time to communicate with your company's internal and external audiences.
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