5 techniques you learnt in school you should be using in your content

Before needing to write content for your business, when was the last time you wrote stuff in any kind of professional capacity? It could be in your corporate job - yawn-inducing reports - or as far back as your school days. Usually, that doesn’t help because school essay writing suppresses creativity. But there are a few techniques they teach you at school that come in handy when it comes to content writing. 

Now I can’t guarantee that you actually learnt these techniques at school. I don’t know what was on your curriculum. I mean I studied Creative Writing at A Level and University so these kinds of techniques are burned into my mind. 

That being said, I’d say these are easy-to-understand writing techniques you can use in your content to spruce it up a bit i.e. make it flow and sound better. 

Show don’t tell 

Examples:

Instead of “She was so angry at dinner”, “She couldn’t even look at him. She stared at her knuckles turning white as she gripped her fork with force”

Instead of “This service really works!”, “The clients I work with in this way enjoy less stress, more time and better results. At least an extra 2 clients every month.”

Explanation:

Telling your audience something in your content isn’t as effective as showing them. It’s more engaging and more believable. So instead of telling your audience how great your service is, show them by sharing your expertise, experience and results from testimonials. 

Power of three

Examples:

Instead of “It was windy”, “The air was biting. The trees were bending at the will of the wind. The clouds were threatening to release a torrent of rain.”

Instead of “If you’re stressed, let’s talk”, “If your to-do list is neverending, the work day runs away from you, and you feel like packing it all in and moving to a remote island, we need to talk.”

Explanation:

I don’t know why but a list of three things just sounds good. It flows well and allows you to get into enough detail to paint a picture but not too much detail that the reader gets bored. I find that the power of three works even better when the final of the three is the longest and/or the funny outlier. Finish strong. 

Alliteration 

Examples:

Instead of “They were noisy”, “They were rowdy and rambunctious.”

Instead of “This is my technique for getting better results”, “Here’s my Get to your Goals Gameplan”

Explanation: 

Now it’s very easy to overdo alliteration and make your content sound like a nursery rhyme. But a bit of alliteration here and there works nicely. Not just because of the flow it creates. It can draw attention to that part of the sentence. So use it with purpose and intention. 

Simile/Metaphor

Examples:

Instead of “It was sad”, “The news hit him like a brick”

Instead of “It’s really hard”, “You are a juggler in the circus of life”

Explanation:

I’m all about emotive and empathetic storytelling. Similes (it’s like) and metaphors (it is) add beautifully to the imagery. Use them to describe your ideal client’s experience in terms of where they are now, where they want to be, how it feels and what it practically looks like. It hits deeper than basic adjectives.

Variety of long and short sentences

Examples:

Instead of “It was sunny. She loved it”, “It was sunny. She spent all her time outside basking in sunbeams.”

Instead of “You feel so alone. You want more”, “You feel so alone. If only you could figure out how to hack it.”

Explanation:

My top tip for making a piece of content flow better is to vary your sentence length and sentence structure. A whole paragraph of short sentences or a whole paragraph of long sentences just doesn’t sound quite right. Switch it up. Of course, you can have a few long or short sentences in a row. Just vary it throughout the post. 

Try out these 5 writing techniques and see what effect they have on your content writing. Get creative with it to bring your content to life. As well as making your content more engaging, they could make your content more fun to write. At least I enjoy crafting content! 

If you’re struggling with a period of low engagement, take my quiz on what to write next to up your content engagement. Your result is based on your responses to questions about your business, your ideal client and your content writing experience. 

See, content writing doesn’t have to be that complicated.