WRITERS: REPURPOSE CONTENT,
USE TEMPLATES TO SAVE TIME

As you compose a document (doc), think about how you might be able to use it again. Chunks can be recycled for:

> Future communication

> Newsletter content

> Website copy

> Special interest blogs

Today’s business world calls for strong writers who can churn out easy to understand copy. People have no time to muddle through dribble. If the main info isn’t up front, readers lose interest.

Think with the end in mind. Time spent on an original document can serve you well down the road, if you can lift well-written chunks from the original. Then, all you need is a new intro paragraph and specific content to meet your new reader’s needs, and voila—document done!

Construct documents like a house:

> Build a strong foundation
* outline, lead, first sentences

> Create a solid framework
* paragraphs

> Add personality and interest with exquisite interior design
* headings, interviews, charts, graphs, photos

In order to streamline copy and make it useful in multiple formats:

> Make sure your original reader understands what’s required of them and takes action, if necessary

> If you repurpose, reuse or recycle the content, then only a quick edit is needed

> Use simple declarative sentences

> Stay in the active voice

If you’re using one important email again and again (say you’re in sales), then spend the time to create a compelling sales instrument—a clear doc that answers a customer’s questions and points out your company’s attributes. Once you have the framework, you can set it up in a “swiss cheese” format, inserting paragraphs with detail specific to the company you’re trying to close.

To recycle document content, set up a useable, digitized system with easy to retrieve folders and document names. In addition to being “filed” for an international audience via this blog post, it’s a Microsoft Word document, in my Millynneum Insight folder, individual tag:

Repurpose_Content_Templates_012608

This makes it easy for collaborators or colleagues to store attachments on their PC. Use a descriptor for the file name that provides info about the content. Dates are also valuable tracking tools. If you can’t remember where you put it, or when it was created, then what good is your system? Nothing’s more frustrating than being unable to find a critical piece of data when a manager is breathing down your neck.