Don’t write like a spiny cedar!

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The triangular spikes that studded the tree’s bark caught my eye along the Costa Rican trail. They’re the spiny cedar’s protection against sloths who would scale it. When you write, please don’t put spikes on your text. They’ll turn away the time-pressed readers who are your sloths.

What are the spikes in your writing?

In many cases, the spikes in advisors’ writing are ten-dollar words: fancy-schmancy jargon or Latinate words that could easily be replaced by plain English.

For example, I’ve long disliked the word “mitigate,” as I wrote in “Can you make a case for mitigate?” “Financial writers clinic: Getting rid of ‘mitigate,'” and “BNY Mellon: I liked your ‘truth ad’ until you used that word.”

By the way, if you’d like to see a genuine spiny cedar, my husband and I took this photo on the Teak and Canal trail of Hacienda Baru on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

Another reason to proofread: Broker example

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When your letters include typos, you confuse your readers and undercut your image as a professional. One of my Weekly Tip readers shared the following story about some terrible typos. I’d like to credit him, but he told me that he “must remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the media.”

Can you guess the words that the letter’s author was trying to write?

I recall my first sales manager calling a meeting to address a new broker trainee’s remarkable letter to a prospective client. The correspondence highlighted the firm’s extraordinary capabilities in the stick, sock, and bind markets, at various points in the letter.

It was a real letter submitted to a manager for compliance review in a branch out in the hinterlands, and had been photocopied so many times it was almost blurry. Apparently, it was an effective tool for getting the point across to new hires, used by many a manager in the branch system.

 

 

If you have a great communications story you’d like to share, please send it along or share in the Comments below.

Image courtesy of Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Writing: More specific is better until it’s not

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Investment commentary writers often struggle to make their writing more concise. Sometimes being more precise helps.

How to do it

Here’s a before-and-after example:

BEFORE: Value stocks outperformed growth stocks in the last month of the quarter.

AFTER: Value stocks outperformed growth stocks in June.

See the difference? I find many examples like this when I compile and edit fund performance commentary for my asset management clients.

The flip side

On the other hand, commentary writers sometimes go overboard with specificity. One of my pet peeves is excessive references to the quarter under discussion.

If you name the quarter in the beginning of your paragraph, and you don’t change periods, there’s no need to repeat “the third quarter” in every sentence. The repetition is boring. It also uses up space that could be spent on meaningful discussion of the drivers of performance.

What do YOU suggest?

You’ve probably read investment commentary that could benefit from greater specificity. What are your suggestions in this area?

Maintain your draft’s momentum with these tips

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If you’re too busy to complete a draft in one sitting, these tips can help.

When you return to a partly written draft, you may feel as if you’re starting from scratch again. You have lost your momentum because you have no idea what comes next. You can beat this “blank page” feeling by leaving yourself some hints for your next words.

Here are some techniques you can use:

1. Stop after you write the first sentence of your next paragraph. If it is an effective topic sentence, the rest of the paragraph should flow easily.

2. Jot down bullet points outlining what you’ll write after you return. It’s easier to turn bullets into sentences than to pull ideas out of your head in an organized manner.

3. Pull out your mind map, outline, or other notes. If you organized your ideas in writing before you started your draft, you can pull out your notes to ease you back into your draft. For me, this usually means looking at a hand-drawn mind map. You might prefer an outline or some other form of reminder.

YOUR tips?

I’m sure some of you have discovered other tips that make it easy to dive into your incomplete drafts. Please share.

Image courtesy of Zuzzuillo / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Stars aren’t only for Morningstar: How to cut your draft

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Sometimes you have to limit yourself to a specific number of words when you write. This is often true when you write for someone else’s print or online publication. If your draft runs too long, and you have trouble cutting, consider starring your content as Roy Peter  Clark suggests in Help! for Writers in his chapter on “Making it Better.”

Rate each section of your content, considering its importance and interest to your readers. “Strongest sections earn a grade of three stars; the next get two; and the weakest get one star,” says Clark.

Start your cutting with the one-star sections. Depending on how many words you need to lose, you may achieve your goal by eliminating a word here and a sentence there from your one-star sections.

On the other hand, if your piece is way too long, you may need to delete all of your one-star material and start hacking at your two-star material.

Does this approach seem helpful to you? I haven’t used it because I usually cut based on what my gut tells me to do. Still, I can see how it might help writers without this instinct.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

May 2013 presentations: Boost the effectiveness of your writing

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Susan Weiner, ProfNet, #ConnectChat

If you’d like to boost the effectiveness of your financial writing, consider attending one of my May 2013 events in Hartford, Conn., New York City, or Norwood, Mass.

“How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read” in Hartford, Conn., and New York City

  •  I will speak to the CFA Society Hartford on May 2. This is a classic presentation that I’ve delivered to CFA societies across the U.S. and Canada. The lunch meeting runs from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Hartford Club. Please register in advance.

 

“Writing Emails and Letters People Will Read”

On May 16 I’ll present “Writing Emails and Letters People Will Read” to the Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts. It’s part of the association’s all-day annual meeting. You can register online for this event.

“The Four Secrets of Must-Read Communications”

I’ll present “The Four Secrets of Must-Read Communications,” an interactive program on investment-related communications at the PAICR RFP Symposium in New York City on May 20.  

Mistake Monday

To improve your proofreading skills, be sure to “like” the Investment Writing Facebook page and visit on Mistake Mondays. It’ll raise your awareness of common mistakes that we all make. You’ll also find links focusing on blogging, writing, and marketing.

Yes, that’s really my photo on a Times Square billboard

At 3 p.m. on March 5, I was the featured guest on ProfNet’s #ConnectChat Twitter chat moderated by Maria Perez (@ProfNet). I tweeted for journalists who’d like to shift into corporate writing. One cool thing was that my picture was posted in the Reuters billboard in Times Square as part of the chat promotion (see photo above). My recent Twitter chat for journalists trying to break into the corporate market was summarized on the ProfNet blog.

Got Metaphor?

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Metaphors can make your communications stand out from the crowd. Anne Miller’s perspective on using metaphors was well received when she spoke on a corporate writing panel that I organized for the American Society of Journalists and Authors. I’m delighted to share her thoughts on this topic.

 

Got Metaphor?

By Anne Miller, @annemillerny

 

I’m a big fan of Pimco’s Bill Gross, not just for his obvious investment acumen, but for his communication savvy. He repeatedly uses a writing technique that every financial blog, tweet, column, or book writer would do well to emulate. He uses visual language to seduce his readers before he presents his arguments. Consciously or unconsciously, he knows that without that initial seduction, there is little hope for getting undivided attention to what he has to say.

What is visual language? Metaphors and analogies that create mental images and instantly resonate with listeners.

Here are some examples from Pimco “Investment Outlooks”:

Feb. 2013. “Credit Supernova!” complete with a beautiful photo of the universe and T.S. Eliot’s quote “This is the way the world ends…Not with a bang but a whimper.”

He carries through on this image to frame his argument: “…And too, the advancing entropy in the physical universe may in fact portend a similar decline of “energy” and “heat” within the credit markets. If so, then the legitimate response of creditors, debtors and investors inextricably intertwined within it, should logically be to ask about the economic and investment implications of its ongoing transition.”

December, 2012. “Strawberry Fields – Forever?” This title is followed by a riff on John Lennon’s song, which ultimately leads to the subject of his newsletter: “But whoever succeeds President Obama, the next four years will likely face structural economic headwinds that will frustrate the American public.”

And one example from Twitter…

March 6. “Rule Britannia? Nah. Maybe the waves once upon a time but their economy is now a lifeboat. Sell the pound-Aggressive QE ahead.”

All of these are immediate attention grabbers. Why? Because they speak to the way our brains work. We are wired to respond to images. We notice images, particularly when they are used unexpectedly (Credit Supernova!). We remember images (where were you when JFK was shot, or when you attended your first rock concert?). We react emotionally to images (Hurricane Sandy’s devastation).

From cave drawings to advertising (Prudential’s rock, Nike’s swoosh) to the internet (files, desktop, trash cans) to Wall Street (bulls, bears, white knights), to current events (fiscal cliff), mankind’s communications have reflected this primal reach for images to communicate. Even Einstein acknowledged the centrality images play in how we process information: “If I can’t see it, I don’t understand it.”

As a financial advisor in a world of too much, and often complex, information, too many similar sounding competitors, and increasingly shorter and shorter attentions spans, skill at using visual language is increasingly necessary to stand out. Visual language is the fuel that drives your ideas forward. Without it, it’s like driving a Ferrari on an empty tank. You won’t get very far on the road and you won’t get very far with your readers.

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Anne Miller, business communication specialist, helps professional service providers increase business by sharpening their sales and presentation skills. She combines best practices with client psychology and the latest brain research to ensure her clients have maximum impact on their clients.

The Copywriter’s #1 Secret…Revealed

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The basic lessons of copywriting deserve repeating. Krista Magidson, whom I met through one of my favorite LinkedIn Groups, reminds us of the importance of plain English.

 

The Copywriter’s #1 Secret…Revealed

By Krista Magidson

You may be a financial planner extraordinaire or a wealth management wizard, but if you’re writing blog posts, emails, or internal newsletters then you are also a copywriter and probably a marketer too.

Copywriters spend most of their time either reading about writing copy or they’re writing copy.

In fact the really good ones are obsessed. But you don’t have to be obsessed with writing copy in order to impress your readers and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

The secret that I’m going to share with you will make your writing easier to read and make the process of writing easier for you…

…it’s called, “learning to write like you talk.”

It sounds crazy I know, and it will probably make your English teacher cringe a little. But writing like you talk will create the one thing that writing in a more formal tone doesn’t, and that’s establishing intimacy with your reader.

People want to work with professionals that they trust. As a copywriter you establish trust with the reader by:

1. Thoroughly understanding your reader’s needs.

2. Making the reader feel that you’re writing only to her and not to a mass of nameless faceless people.

Writing like you talk doesn’t mean that you break every rule of good grammar, although you will break the rules occasionally (like I have by starting a few sentences with the word “but”).

However, you’ll still be able to demonstrate your knowledge and professionalism without being stuffy and rigid. You just have to write like you are having a conversation with an actual person. But don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself.

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Krista Magidson is Chief Content Creator for Boutique Marketing Group.  Krista helps businesses generate equity in their company and brand through writing original and persuasive copy for their websites, newsletters, email campaigns and more.

How advisor Rick Kahler uses an editor

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As a financial advisor or investment professional, writing is not your focus. However, you can boost the reach and effectiveness of your writing with savvy use of an editor. I’m delighted that Rick Kahler of Kahler Financial was willing to discuss with me his experience with Kathleen Fox, the editor who helps with his books and columns.

By the way, unfortunately Kathleen doesn’t have the capacity to take on additional clients. If you decide to look for an editor, Rick says, “It certainly makes things easier if the editor has some background in your area of expertise.” 


Q. What prompted you to hire an editor?
A. My editor and I were both members of a civic group that often had coffee on Saturday mornings. One day I mentioned how I wanted to write a book and how difficult it was to get started. While I was accustomed to writing a 1200-word column once a week, writing a book seemed daunting. She helped another professional write a book by interviewing him. She suggested we do the same to get the book started. That sounded great to me, so we set aside Fridays each week to talk.  Soon she was sending me copy and it was easy for me to take that “primer” and expound upon it.  Kathleen ended up becoming my coauthor on that first book, Conscious Finance.

Kathleen then edited two of my other three books and continues today as my personal editor. She helps with my weekly online and print column as well as articles and white papers. We’re also looking forward to finding the time to coauthor another book.

Q. How do you work with your editor?
A. I talk with my editor once a week and bounce ideas off her. We’ve worked together now for almost 10 years.  She says she can hear my voice speaking to her or recall conversations from the past on topics that makes it easy for her to do my editing.

My editor often can start a column by putting my words on paper and sending them to me.  That saves me a lot of time, as I work fast off of something on a page.  Getting that initial kernel on the page takes a little longer for me.  Starting from scratch, I can write a column in one to two hours.  If I have 200 to 400 words already started, I can usually finish it off in 15 to 20 minutes.

Q. What’s the biggest benefit of this relationship?
A. This saves me time that I can be spending with clients, my family, or reading additional research for column ideas.

Bust the clutter in your writing!

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My writing is better organized than my personal possessions, so I sometimes read books about organizing. But I unexpectedly found an insight for writers in Julie Morgenstern’s SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life.

Here’s the quote that caught my eye:

Something doesn’t have to be disorganized to be clutter. A perfectly arranged dresser filled with clothes you haven’t worn in years is still clutter.

The same goes for writing. Perfectly punctuated, grammatically correct content that is irrelevant to your readers is useless. Toss it.

For example, let’s assume you’ve written a compelling, plain-English blog post about the need to use low-cost mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This post won’t benefit from a long, technical explanation of the origin of ETFs. You may be intrigued by the topic, but your readers won’t give a darn.

Yes, I know you may be emotionally attached to that content. After all, you probably slaved over it. But it’s not doing anyone any good. Not you, nor your readers.

Of course this is easier said than done. I’ve been reading books about clutter for years, and I’m only slowly seeing improvements at home. However, every little bit helps.

Image courtesy of Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net