Three Shortcuts to Simple Copy

Simple copy. It’s something that everyone wants their brand to have.

Not a single brand we work with has ever come to us and said:

‘I want this content to sound really complicated.’

Yet, everywhere you look, you see copy that is far more complicated than it needs to be.

Why?

Because simplicity is surprisingly challenging to achieve.

It can take just as much work, if not more, to distil words down to their most simple, than it is to create a long, verbose piece of content. In fact, much of the time a copywriter spends on any piece of content is in the whittling; honing and simplifying, bit by bit

But there are a few shortcuts to achieving simplicity.

Here are three shortcuts to simple copy

1. Say the most important thing first.

This is an old journalism trick. Here’s the essence of it.

Imagine you’re walking down the street. It’s a beautiful evening, and you’re enjoying a lovely stroll.

All of a sudden, you see a two-headed dinosaur stomping down the street. He’s huge, and he’s terrifying.

You run for safety, into the closest shelter. It’s a noisy bar, and you want to get everyone’s attention.

What do you say?

I guarantee you, you say:

‘There’s a two-headed dinosaur outside!’

You don’t say:

‘I was just walking down the street. It’s such a beautiful evening out there, and I was enjoying a lovely stroll.

And all of a sudden, I saw a two-headed dinosaur!’

Want to get your message across simply? Say the most important thing first.

2. When in doubt, take it out

Sometimes we spend a lot of time trying to unclunk a clunky phrase. We writhe with it and wrangle it, to no avail. It still doesn’t land right. There’s something that’s just off.

This is particularly the case when a client has given some feedback that’s thrown us a bit off-piste. In trying to address the feedback, we start to overcomplicate things. It’s like pulling at a loose thread and watching the whole jumper unravel.

The best solution? Often, it’s to remove it all together. Often, by removing the clunky phrase (or word, or sentence), we actually make the content so much more powerful.

3. Kill your darlings

An oldie, but a goodie.

As writers, we get attached to a perfectly crafted quip, or a meaningful metaphor. But if it makes the piece of writing unnecessarily longer, if it goes even slightly off track or adds even the slightest bit of confusion, you have to get rid of it.

You have to kill your darlings.

What’s the common thread to all of this?

Less is more. Be ruthless. The skill is in the whittling.