Here’s what you need to remember before you start writing

When you’ve got a content to-do list the length of your right arm, it can be tempting to dive straight in. In a bid to overcome the curse of the blank screen, you go about writing anything and everything you can on a topic just to get started. But what if we told you that writing is actually one of the last things you should be thinking about?

That’s right. Writing might seem the most important part of creating this month’s newsletter, reports, or batch of social media posts. But it’s actually all the work that comes before you begin typing that matters most.?

The next time you’ve got a project looming over you, hit these four points first to get you in the best position

Why are you writing this?

If it’s something you’ve been doing for a while, it can be easy to forget why you started in the first place. Before long, it just becomes another part of your work to be grinded out like anything else. And when you start writing it for writing’s sake, it hurts the quality. So what do you hope to achieve with whatever it is you’re about to create? How will you add value to your reader? Is your goal to educate, inform, entertain, or some combination of all three?

If you’re not sure what a reader’s going to get from a post you’re writing, it’s a pretty clear warning they’re going to come away with nothing. So ironing this out early on is critical. Getting super clear on the purpose of what you’re writing and and, most importantly, WHY you’re writing it helps to avoid any aimless rambling or unclear communication.

It might help to distil this goal into one single sentence and keep it at the top of your page. That way, you can continue to remind yourself while writing and make sure everything you’re adding contributes to this wider purpose. If something doesn’t, you’ll know it’s something you can remove.

What does your audience want to read?

In all that you write, you want to make sure you’re speaking to your audience’s wants and needs, not your own. And to make this as easy as possible, you want to step into their shoes long before you settle in for the writing session.?

You want to approach those early content planning stages from the perspective of your audience. Who are they? What do they want to know? What problems do they face? How can YOU bring the most value to THEM? Getting into this audience-focused mindset early on will help you centre whatever you write around solving their problems.

Consider the format

Some messages will be suited to different content formats. Just because you can write a LinkedIn post about a particular topic, doesn’t mean you should. There are some subjects that are complex and deserve more time and a higher word count. And some topics won’t need to be drawn out over a full eBook, for example.

So before you write, think about if the message you want to share is suited to the particular format you’re currently writing for. You’ll save yourself a lot of time by making this call before you invest your time.?

Create a rough outline

This is a brilliant hack for overcoming writer’s block. We don’t suffer with writer’s block because we don’t know what to say. It happens because we don’t know where to start. We know what we want to say, and if you don’t that’s a deeper issue. What’s stopping us is that perfectionist voice that believes we have to write the greatest first sentence ever. It doesn’t need to be that way.?

The quicker you can get something onto paper, the better. You can’t sit down to write expecting to go from a blank screen to a work of art in five minutes. So try to take that pressure off. Instead, begin with your one sentence synopsis of the overall piece. Then break this down into smaller sub-sections. If you’re writing a 500-word blog, for example, you’re looking at three smaller points.?

Then, add some loose bullet points about any ideas you have surrounding these three points. They won’t all necessarily be used, but just having this rough outline down will get your creative juices flowing and make sitting down to write a hundred times easier. This little bit of shaping will also make for a much more organised, concise piece of writing in the long-run.

The next time you’re tempted to jump straight into writing for your latest whitepaper, social posts, or email campaign, we want you to slow down and take a breath. There are some critical, non-negotiable stages of creating content that should happen long before the actual writing begins.?

At The Four Pillars, our content writing services help you produce consistent, high-quality content to build awareness, loyalty, and customer retention. Whether you want overflow support or to outsource your content entirely, we’re here to help. To find out more, contact us on 0161 413 8418.