Writing effective copy for your school’s marketing isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s easier to brief out to a copywriter than to do it yourself. But sometimes time doesn’t allow for that.
That’s why we wanted to share five simple tips to help you improve your writing. Whether you’re writing the copy for your new prospectus, an email, a job description or a birthday card, these quick tips will instantly make you sound more professional.
#1 Write with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs
This is the best piece of writing advice I’ve ever received, it can instantly Improve your writing. It’s best illustrated using an example, take a look at the sentence below:
“The old, rusty car drove quickly and awkwardly down the road.”
On the face of it, there’s nothing too wrong with this sentence. Say it out loud, though, and you’ll find it’s really difficult to get your tongue around. This is a sign that the flow of your sentence is poor. Compare it to this rewrite:
“The jalopy bumbled down the street.”
It’s equally descriptive, yet sharp and compact. The imagery is the same and yet we’ve instantly improved the flow.
#2 Put the most important thing first
Because it’s the thing that people will remember the most. This tip might seem like it’s best suited for adverts or warning signs but it applies just as well to any other forms of copy and will instantly improve your writing
A good way to remember this is to imagine that every message you have to tell someone else is a code-red emergency. You would never burst into a room and tell someone:
“I went into the kitchen and put the kettle on and there was smoke coming out of the oven so I looked inside and there was a fire!”
You would simply say:
“Fire! Run!”
#3 Question every word
You’ll notice that brevity is an ongoing theme in our top five tips. That’s because great writing seeks to get out of the way of meaning, rather than clutter it with a weighty description. Give the bare minimum you need to get your message across and you’ll achieve something that often lacks in amateur writing – clarity.
So, whenever you next write for an audience, read it back through word-by-word and ask yourself – ‘does this have to be here’? If it doesn’t help, dump it.
#4 Try not to repeat yourself
This is much more difficult than people realise. When we write, we often default to vocabulary or phrases that come easily to us. Seeing the same words used in different places – especially placed close together – can disorient and bore your reader at the same time. Try to vary your language to maintain a healthy flow.
#5 Don’t be a hero
No matter how ‘detail-oriented’ your LinkedIn profile claims you are, everyone makes mistakes. And I mean everyone. That’s ok. It’s simply part of writing. However, just because it’s ok to make mistakes doesn’t mean it’s ok to submit them. There are plenty of tools out there that can help you make sure your writing is on point every time.
Whenever I write, I use three different spelling and grammar checkers. Grammarly is the go-to spelling and grammar checker for the digital generation. Whenever you write online, which you should, it will constantly scan your writing for errors.
I also always copy my work into Google Docs to run their grammar checker – it’s just useful to have a second opinion on what you think is an error-free piece.
Final thoughts
Writing effective marketing copy for your school isn’t always the easiest task but it doesn’t have to be one of those tasks you dread.
Just remember, copy is so important when persuading prospective families to join your school, or even just getting them to sign up for an open day or download a prospectus. It isn’t something that should be rushed or composed with little thought.
We hope our top tips have helped, let us know below if you have any simple writing tips to share!