How compelling is your writing? Writing is a critical business skill. When you think about it, writing impacts every part of your business from marketing and advertising to client service, employee communications and contract negotiations. If your writing isn’t getting the message across in the right way you are either wasting your time, your money, your reputation or all three.

Even the most educated people tend to have lower reading levels. so unless you’re writing for an audience of English literature PhD.s a good rule of thumb is to write for an 8th grade reader. This doesn’t mean you should “dumb it down”; what it does mean is to keep your writing real; especially your marketing material.

Compelling content is generally written in the active voice. Compare these sentences:

“You will create an action strategy for success.”

to

“An action strategy for success will be created.”

Which sentence has the energy? Which has the action?

Compelling content is also short and concise and generally written for about an 8th grade reading level. Winston Churchill was known for his inspiring and compelling speeches, right? It is said that his speeches rated at a 5th or 6th grade level. Compare these sentences:

“War is hell.” - Winston Churchill

to

“Numerous horrific situations rage on in the combat overseas.” -I made this up.

You “get it” in Churchill’s 3-word sentence; concise, compelling. The second sentence sounds like it came from someone more interested in impressing the reader with their words that they are in communicating a message.

So, now for the cool thing: Microsoft Word has a readability tool that can help you improve the readability of your copy. In Word go to Tools - Options – Spelling & Grammar; Select “Check Grammar with Spelling box and check “Show Readability Statistics”. Now every time you run spell check a grammar box will come up with statistics. At the bottom of the box you’ll see the percentage of passive sentences and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. For most marketing material the lower the percentage of passive sentences the better and a grade level, on average, somewhere between a 7 and 9.

Ways to improve your marketing is just one success topic we cover in our Ocular Forum groups. If you’re a small business owner and are tired of going it alone, get support on your road to success. We business owners don’t have the luxury of taking the summer off so the next Ocular Forum begins July 17th. For more information on the Ocular Forum or Bold Vision’s other programs go to www.ocularforum.com or call me at 207-221-3492. There are many Ocular Forum participants who would love to tell you their success stories!

Compel and be Be BOLD!

FYI – this article has 12% passive sentences and a grade level of 7.6.

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