Five Ways to Clean up Sloppy Writing

by Sara Grillo, 1/16/24

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I see advisors spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a month on sloppy writing that nobody reads – useless blogs, newsletters, brochures, and other pieces that bore prospects to death! What’s worse is the time wasted.

Here are five ways to clean up your writing and make it easier for people to read.

Stop the useless modifiers

Financial content is dry and boring. Nobody likes reading about this stuff except advisors.

I feel claustrophobic whenever I read your writing, and it’s because every sentence is cluttered with adjectives and adverbs. You interfere with the natural rhythm of my mind as I’m reading and make me exhausted.

Adjectives and adverbs are modifiers. Their point is to enhance the noun or verb, not to obscure it. Only use adjectives and adverbs when they are necessary.

Example:

When you fail to take an RMD, there are serious, negative consequences.

Instead:

When you fail to take an RMD, there are consequences.

Example:

Is it totally necessary to withdraw the funds today?

Instead:

Is it necessary to withdraw the funds today?

In both cases you are saying the same thing with fewer words. It may seem like a small thing, but it's not.

Reducing words makes your writing clear and easy to understand. It also reduces the energy required on your part to do the writing.

Chop up the run on sentences

Use semi-colons or question marks to chop up your sentences and give the reader a chance to breathe.

Wrong:

A lot of people want to pay down their mortgage as a lump sum but what many of them fail to consider is that you might be getting a mortgage interest tax deduction that reduces the amount of federal income tax you would pay in that calendar year.

(Argh!!!! Pulling my hair out reading this!!!!)

Right:

It may sound appealing to pay off your mortgage in one lump sum; don’t overlook the tax deduction!

Or:

Thinking about paying off your mortgage in one lump sum? Don’t overlook the tax deduction!

Ah, much better.

(sigh of relief)

Get a theme for your newsletter

All advisors have ho-hum newsletters with zero distinction from one to the next. No wonder it’s so hard to prove your value proposition – there’s nothing distinguishing you from the next advisor in the eyes of the prospect.

Consider the difference between these two requests.

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter about financial advisor marketing.

(ho hum!)

Subscribe to Sara’s Daily and receive one actionable marketing tip that you can use to improve your marketing today!

It makes a world of difference.

In the first case, I’m just collecting emails.

In the second case, I’m collecting emails from people who actually want to take action. Their intentions are completely different. If I send them something worthwhile in the newsletter, it increases the likelihood that one of those people is going to be prompted to do business with me.

Lighten the bullet pointed lists

The objective of using bullet pointed lists is to highlight key information in a pithy way that makes it faster for the person to read.

Oh, how my mind cracks when I see your loaded up bullet point lists, advisors!

I’m sick of seeing lengthy bulleted lists with each bullet point having two or three sentences of copy.

Limit your bullets to one phrase instead of multiple sentences.

Lists should be three to four bullet points long.

Include an intro and outro sentence to the list to reinforce its purpose.

See how I did that?

LoL

Increase white space

Just like clutter on your desk makes it harder for you to concentrate, cluttered words on a page make it harder for the person to absorb what you are saying. Increase the amount of white space in your copy by varying the length of sentences.

Look at the difference between these two social media posts:

Wrong:

Right:

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Sara’s upshot

Better to say less, and have it be well-received, than to say more and lose the reader’s attention.

I specialize in writing concise content for advisors – blogs, newsletters, website copy, brochures, and more. If you’d like to discuss how I can help, send me a message.

Subscribe to Sara’s Daily and receive one actionable marketing tip a day, just like the ones I presented in this blog. Sign up here.

Sources

Sara Grillo. [LinkedIn page]. Posted on December 31^st, 2023.

Sara Grillo. [LinkedIn page]. Posted on December 29^th, 2023.

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