Effective writing

Writing text to promote an event or activity is easy. Writing EFFECTIVE text to promote an event or activity can be harder than you thought!

If you need to write a new leaflet promoting your group, update your webpage or put something in the local press, following these very simple but effective steps will greatly improve your chances of getting your message across.

1.     Before you start ........

We are all busy and can be guilty of just sitting down and getting on with writing our text without giving it much thought, but at least it’s off the ‘To Do’ list!

Just take five minutes to ask yourself three simple questions:

• What is the purpose of this document, what am I hoping to achieve?
• Who is my audience? (tone, language, benefits to them)
• What am I expecting them to do with the information?

2.     Inverted pyramid writing style

You will have only one chance to make an impact with the text you are writing. The inverted pyramid style is useful in many circumstances such as writing leaflets, articles, web pages, updates to members of the group.

The benefit of this style is very simple: if the reader only reads the first paragraph of your text you have told them everything they need to know.

Most
important information:
What, where, when, why and how

Additional information

Background/ other information / nice to have but not essential

3.   It will be scanned – so write with that in mind

Research has proved that when reading online the majority of us have fallen into the habit of scanning the text, searching for and picking out the information most relevant to us. Opinion on why is varied, but tired eyes, busy lives and screen flicker are thought to be part of the reason.

Elements that improve your text to facilitate scanning include:

• Conversational style (no jargon and abbreviations)
  • Inverted Pyramid style of writing
  • Headings
  • Large type
  • Bold text
  • Highlighted text
  • Bulleted lists
  • Graphics
  • Captions
  • Topic sentences
  • Tables of contents

4.     Review

Lastly take five minutes to review what you have written. Revisit the questions you asked yourself at the beginning of the process.

• Did I achieve what I wanted to achieve?
• Have I used the appropriate style and language for my audience?
• Is it clear what I expect the reader to do – call to action?

We have outlined a very effective method of writing style but obviously the content is also important. We have put together a resource outlining the importance of including the benefits of your service / project and not just the features.

For further support, or if you would like to draw on our experience to facilitate a session with your group on the above, then please contact Wiltshire Council’s ECO team on 0300 456 0100 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it