Creating content takes work and a good amount of time — especially if you want stories that engage and convert people to your business or you. I’ve been writing for so long now that I ‘just do it’.

I’m often asked how I go about writing, so I thought I’d share how I approach any writing I’m asked/contracted to do.  I am focusing on business writing as this is my particular skill set.

1. I get personal

I meet my potential clients, talk to them, get an understanding of who they are as a person, their role in the business, the objectives they want to achieve and their thoughts on how they want to achieve these objectives. By talking to my potential clients I learn more about them, their business, clients/audiences and can bring my knowledge and insight to the potential project.

Don’t underestimate the value and knowledge you might be able to offer in an initial discussion. If you’re listening properly you’ll pick up very quickly whether you have something more to offer than just delivering X amount of words.

2. Get a formal, written brief

No matter how well I know a client I ALWAYS get a written brief and sometimes I write it. I never assume I know what the client wants. This brief covers the key areas such as:

The audience;

The key messages and themes;

Writing style – formal, academic, journalistic, commentary, informative, chatty, humorous, intelligent;

Word length: (there might be several versions of the one piece required and /or the client might want your opinion on word length, be prepared to share your knowledge);

Deadline: there may be several, none or an absolute 'mission critical' one;

Review and approval process: (how many drafts/versions you will be required to submit. I’ve had the best of experiences where what I’ve submitted has been accepted immediately and the worst where, after 4 rewrites, I was still reworking. I’ve learnt the most from the latter experience);

Copyright and moral rights assignmentacross countries, print, electronic, intranet and other platforms etc;

Payment. I require some payment up front, some on delivery of the first draft and final payment on delivery. This is different or content such as Blogs and Facebook/social media posts. Usually, I would be contracted to deliver a number of posts/Blogs over a specific period of time with agreed periodic payments.

This may look daunting, but a standard brief for me would be one, maybe two, pages.

3. Do your research

Take the time and research what it is you are going to be writing about. This may sound obvious, but by research I don’t mean a quick half-hour on Google. You need to gather information about the company and the industry sector you are going to be writing about, not just the specific product or service you might have been engaged to write about.

Ask for additional information about the area/product/service you’re being engaged for, who their clients/customers are, demographics and information about their socio-economic status, key branding and visual messaging. Understand your client’s customers and clients, as well as the requirements of the company, means what you right will be relevant.

There’s no shortcut to this. You can’t charge for the hours this will take . . . but what you write, deliver and get paid for will, over time, reflect the quality of your research and insight.

4. Start writing

This is, at the same time, the most exciting and terrifying moment.

Creating a new document on your computer, typing in the heading and then . . . you have to start. Or you can do any one of those jobs that ‘just need to be done’ like the washing, gardening, fixing the tap that’s been leaking for 6 months, anything other than looking at the blank computer page. Eventually, you’ll run out of excuses.

A deadline is always a great motivator, but it you’ve worked through the first three items on this blog, you’ll be ok.

For me, I literally can’t start writing unless I’ve got the first sentence/the title of the Blog/post/whatever in my head. I actually don’t sit down and create the document until I’ve got this in my head. What could be more debilitating that to stare at athe empty white space with the header Document 1 or Document 2 for more than say five minutes?

As long as I have the heading or first sentence ‘in my head’ I’m set to go.

The challenge then is to write less, not more. That is a terrific discipline.

I simply just start writing. Then, I go back and review and edit, leave it for an hour/day/week depending on the task, review, edit, have a coffee or walk, and review and edit again.

I can write ‘on demand’, and it's a good skill to have, but I prefer not to. My clients, pay for quality not quantity. Quality takes time.

So, there you have it. And, I haven’t even mentioned punctuation, my favourite subject.