How to write like a human

Start by defining your values

Good writing connects people. There’s an emotional exchange that happens. It doesn’t matter if you want your business copy to inspire, motivate, amuse or educate but the key thing is that you have to make people feel something.

As Maya Angelou said:

“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

As a freelance writer for brands, I’m constantly looking for the story behind dull company statements and uninspiring business objectives; the nugget of information that will make people stop and listen.

It’s a technique I had to learn as a business journalist. I had to constantly ask myself: “Why is this story important, who cares, how will people feel about it?”

The good news is there’s always a story behind every business. And defining your values can help spark that story.

What do I mean by values?

Your values are the guiding principles by which you live. They’re often quite deeply held beliefs about how you work, how you behave, and how you want to be seen.

They can be values you live by personally, or if you run a bigger business, they can be values that your company embraces.

Your values will influence your company culture and help you focus on what’s important. Business plans might change, and you might scale up or down, but your core values should stay the same.

What has this got to do with writing copy?

Having strong beliefs and integrity makes you or your brand sound more human. It makes you relatable. It gives you a voice, and it makes you stand out. Being clear about your values will help you show up consistently. And we all know that consistency generates trust.

Your values are the foundations of your business and are a reflection of your purpose - or your “big audacious meaning”, to quote Dan Salva.

Think of your values as underlying themes from which you can craft interesting, human, real stories about your business.

If you’re struggling to figure out what to say or how to say it, ask yourself if you’ve put enough time and effort into creating the foundations of your brand.

Brand marketer Shope Delano separates this brand-building process into three “buckets”, or stages, which she labels as “foundation”, “identity” and “expression”.

“Your brand foundation (the heart of your brand, what Simon Sinek refers to as the ‘why’) will inform your brand identity (who you uniquely are in the market), which will, in turn, inform your brand expression (how you ‘show up’ in the market).

Each bucket is dependent on the one before it — so it’s hard to meaningfully shape your identity without knowing your foundations, and hard to meaningfully express your brand without knowing who you uniquely are.” - Shope Delano

The message here is clear: you can’t market your business without a strong message.

Doing this deep work takes time. But it’s worth it. Once you’ve established what you stand for, keep those values close. You’ll need to constantly refer to them when making difficult decisions.

Mine are on post-it notes on the wall behind my desk, reminding me daily to be creative, consistent and curious in everything I do.

Say no to bland. Let’s celebrate the quirky, the different, the real.

Photo by Rock'n Roll Monkey on Unsplash