Less is more.
We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information, and the way that people read has changed as we are all ‘time poor’. - Or are we?
The last part of that is probably a good title for another blog post, but for the purposes of this blog the fact remains that we are inundated with news, social chat, social media, reports and other work communication. Some of it is good, some entertaining and some a dangerous waste of time, but that is the point, it all eats up time to read. There aren’t enough hours in the day to get through everything, most is looked at on screen and readers have changed the way that they read. There is a lot more scan reading and skimming.
Furthermore people’s attention spans seem to be getting shorter, so that is another reason for ‘writing short’. - Messages need to be punchy. - You need to get to the point quicker when writing.
Writing short has always been a necessary skill for Twitter or where there has been a tight space, but increasingly it is a skill needed for everyday communication.
So what are examples of writing short?
I’ve already mentioned tweets, but the same should apply for Facebook and LinkedIn - the fact that those platforms and / or your website offers you more space doesn’t mean that you should use it. You need to get to the point.
Know your topic, know the purpose of the post / article and understand the outcome that you want - get to the punchline and promote your ‘call to action’.
Writing short is important in emails. No-one wants to read a ‘War and Peace’ message, and if what you write is too long then there’s a chance that none of it will get read. - Use your subject line well - set the tone, lure the reader in and then get to the point.
Writing short is necessary for flyers, for classified ads, for straplines, for slogans, for other marketing material and for messages on products / packaging.
Part of the success of writing short is the selection of the right words coupled with good punctuation to press the points.
Enough said.
Good luck!