Writing for the client to read aloud

Most marketing copy fails the simplest test, which is to read it aloud and listen to whether it sounds like a person speaking.

This is not a clever test. Junior copywriters are taught it. Senior copywriters use it as the last edit before sending. Most marketing copy on most small-business websites has not been through the test, and it shows. The copy reads as if it were translated from a marketing strategy document by a committee, which is, more or less, what it is.

The shape of copy that has not been read aloud:

Sentences that are technically correct and impossible to say without stumbling. Three-clause constructions with embedded subordinate clauses. Verbs nominalised into abstract nouns (“our utilisation of cutting-edge technologies enables…”). Hedging adverbs piled in front of every claim. The copy reads as if the writer was paid by the syllable and trying to discharge their contract.

The shape of copy that has been read aloud:

Short sentences. Concrete verbs. Specific nouns. Speaks directly to the reader. Will, at moments, sound informal in a way the writer was originally uncomfortable with. Has rhythm.

The exercise, on every project the studio works on:

Once the copy is in something like its final shape, sit in a quiet room. Read each page aloud, slowly, paying attention to the places where you stumble. Mark each stumble. Rewrite the marked places. Read the page aloud again. Repeat until the page reads cleanly.

The first time a designer or a copywriter does this, the experience is uncomfortable. The copy that looked fine on the page sounds wrong out loud. This is not a problem with the exercise. It is a problem with the copy.

A few books that have helped me develop the ear for this.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser. The most-recommended book on non-fiction writing for a reason. Read it once a year.

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg. The most useful book about sentence rhythm I have come across. Short. Strange. Worth the strangeness.

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker. The chapter on the curse of knowledge alone is worth the cover price. Most marketing copy is bad because the writer has forgotten what it is like not to know what they know.

A practical recommendation. The next page of marketing copy you write, read it aloud before sending it. If it does not sound like something a person would say, edit until it does. The page will be substantially better and the work, including the design, will be easier to do.