Words About Words

1. Read every sentence and ask, “What’s a faster way to say that?”
2. If you’ve written two sentences to explain one idea, your first sentence wasn’t clear enough.
3. If a phrase sounds familiar, eliminate it.
4. Make sure your first sentence compels people to read your next.
5. If you prove it, you needn’t say it. If you don’t prove it, there’s no point in saying it.
6. Well-chosen words suggest well-thought ideas.
7. Never show off. The word “utilize,” for example, is the word “use” with a loud tie. And no one knows what “paradigms” are. (Some people guess that they’re two coins.)
8. Readers don’t care how good you are. They care how good you can help them be.

Harry Beckwith (http://www.harrybeckwith.com/) has written several small, easy-to-read books compiling those “duh, of course” marketing insights that so often seem to elude the grasp of practitioners and small business afficionados alike. Since I’ve been lost in wonder word land lately, his latest newsletter (which included the above list) really spoke to me. I hope you find these insights useful and consider picking up his books.