What separates a beginner from the pros? Amateur writers write just to write. While this may create tons of negligible content, (or offer them private enjoyment), it does nothing to help them get noticed, increase business, or move their audience to take action.
So what is the goal of great writing? Professional writers have one main goal in mind with their writing: to change their audience. Great writers try hard to help their audience see through different eyes, act differently, and change the way they interact with the world.
Anyone can throw a few words together to make a complete sentence (case in point: most of the blogging world), but if you want to have real power throughout your writing, you must learn to write for impact. It’s the difference between being merely educational and being influential. There are three simple steps to powerful writing: 1) writing for a particular audience, 2) using the right location, and 3) choosing and executing the right type of conversion.
Targeted Audience
If you want to get in touch with your audience, it’s absolutely crucial you understand them. Get out of your own viewpoint, and write from their perspective. One of the first things I do with everything I write is identify my target audience. Consider things like age, gender, location, income level, purchasing habits, hobbies, talents, interests, etc.
As soon as I’ve identified whom it is I’m talking to, I create a custom message for that audience. If I’m writing for a younger audience, say 18-25, I will use words like fresh, cutting-edge and innovative. Words like that have far less impact on the 60+ crowd, who are more interested in whats proven, safe and effective.
Correct Medium
By location I mean the medium used to communicate your message. This includes things like magazines, newspapers, journals, books, radio and TV ads, as well as blogs, websites, and other online means. Your audience, in large part, determines the venue you choose.
For instance, if I’m writing an article on monetary policy (my intended audience might be economists), the best venue is probably an academic journal rather than an online method. Few people can stand to read long blocks of important text on a computer screen without eye fatigue.
And I probably won’t have enough space to make my case in a magazines or newspaper. Alternatively, if my content is concise, uncomplicated, and intended for a broader audience, possibly a newspaper article makes sense.
Most people skim when they read (especially online.) But if you publish your message in a forum that is more suitable for what you reader expects, they’re much more likely to read it. You must consider the best medium for both your topic and readers.
Appropriate Conversion
There are three types of conversion: know, feel, and do. A know article seeks to give the readers fresh information, or old information arranged in a different way, to help them to learn and know things they didn’t know before. A feel piece clearly seeks to suggest strong emotion in the audience. And a do conversion is intended to get an audience to take very specific, immediate, and concrete action.
An amateur, when they realize there are three forms, tries to cover all three in the same article. Big mistake. A pro will concentrate on only one outcome, because he or she knows that it will affect the other two. You should ask: How does the readers life change as a result of reading this article? What do I as the writer want to see happen to them? Do I want them to know, to feel, or to do something? Know that if you pick only one focus, and you write well, the rest will take care of itself.
If you want your message to actually have impact, you must learn to write for change. Know whom you’re writing to, use the right location to reach them, and choose the right conversion and execute it well. After all, writing that changes you is the only writing worth reading.
Related posts:
