Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle

Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle: "“Keep it Simple Stupid” The mantra all good writers should remember. Whether you’re producing a piece of marketing material, a sales prop..."

Business Writing: The Kiss Principle

“Keep it Simple Stupid”

The mantra all good writers should remember.

Whether you’re producing a piece of marketing material, a sales proposal or perhaps an educational presentation, there are a number of key questions to bear in mind when trying to keep writing simple.

  What is your angle? 

Any piece of writing exists to communicate a message to your readers. This message needs to be clear in your mind from the very beginning. It is the driving force behind your text. It should also drive the processes that produce that text as well.

  What is the appropriate structure for communicating this message? 

Note that this structure should be as simple as possible.

What background material should I include? It is now, and only now that you should evaluate any research material you might have. Most importantly , if there isn’t  a compelling reason to include some information within your structure, just cut it out.

  How long should each topic be? 

When writing each section of your piece, be extremely realistic about your planned word counts. Only say as much as is absolutely necessary to get your point across.

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As you can imagine, writing generated according to the Kiss Principle tends to be produced very efficiently. The great thing is that it also improves the quality of your writing.This is because, in general, the simpler your structureand the clearer your proposition, the better.The process of writing that eventually follows is,

after all, far more fluid and enjoyable. What’s more, the message tends to be clearer because it has been better defined and the structure tends to be more robust which, in turn, will help your readers enormously.

Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle

Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle: "“Keep it Simple Stupid” The mantra all good writers should remember. Whether you’re producing a piece of marketing material, a sales proposa..."