Last week, I started to talk about voice and how I was doing a bit of a deep dive into the intricacies of writing in other people's voices.
(I know, I know, last week feels like forever ago, but it was the one with the Mrs Doubtfire GIF. Remember? No? Ok, it’s here if you want to refresh your memory)
Next to price, the biggest blocker to someone hiring a copywriter to work on their behalf is the fear that it will sound...wrong.
That someone else has written it and not them.
So how do you know if you're writing in your client's voice and not your own?
Well, that's where it gets a little tricky...but it's fascinating, so bear with me!
As I said last week, your voice is made up of three things - your vocabulary, your tone and your cadence.
Or (because I love music), your lyrics, your tone, and your tempo.
Let's start with the Lyrics.
In popular music, I can barely name half a dozen instrumental songs.
The words add the depth, the power and the drive to the music.
Song lyrics can cut you down and stop you in your tracks or lift you up and fill you full of confidence.
Sure there are some terrible lyrics out there (this being a prime example), but a lyricist has an awesome weapon at their disposal.
Take my all-time favourite band, Fleetwood Mac, as an example.
During the recording of their iconic 1977 Rumours album, Christine and John McVie (of Mac fame) were getting a divorce.
At the same time, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were breaking up, too.
This angst and emotion fuelled some of the best songs they've ever recorded, but there are some not so subtle blows being traded when you look at the lyrics.
Take Buckingham's Go Your Own Way, for example:
Loving you
Isn't the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel
and
Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you want to do
Clearly a thinly-veiled swipe at his ex, Stevie.
Not to be outdone, she countered with Dreams:
Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully
To the sound of your loneliness
Brutal.
So the words you use are important, sure, but how do you know if you're using the right ones?
Well, that will always depend on the topic at hand, but in general, you need to make sure you're writing at the correct level (which you can measure using the great Hemingway app).
This email, for example, is written at a 7th Grade level, which is higher than I normally write, but I've got words like cadence and vocabulary skewing things).
Do you want to write using simple and straightforward words or long and complicated?
Passive voice is a great way to soften your message, or you can write in the active voice for a more direct, action-orientated message.
Adding in hedge words, such as just, like, maybe or filling your writing with adverbs such as quickly, simply, bravely will soften your impact but could make you sound vague and unsure.
Where you're from can make a huge impact, too.
I'm originally from Newcastle, and the Geordie slang and dialect is a million miles apart from that of London, where I now call home (well, Surrey, but close enough).
So when I'm writing for other people or even a brand, be it an email or a blog, a social post or a website, I need to make sure I use my client's vocabulary and style and not my own.
Or else it just sounds...well, wrong.
I'll be back next week to talk tone!