Engage people in a dialog – in your own voice.

Yes, today I have been liberated. – I am changing my writing style. And, Just this once I will apologize to my high school and college English teachers. But I can no longer sacrifice my unique voice for acceptable sentence structure.

When writing content in email, or on the web, I often find myself fighting with both behavior, grammar and writing styles that I would never use in conversation.

I frequently find myself losing my rhythm and my voice. I struggle with losing my voice to grammar.

I have been writing a book, and instead of focusing on great grammar – while writing it – I chose to write it as if I was having a conversation with the reader – and figured I would leave the good grammar to the experts. I told them the story that I wanted them to hear. When one of my former employees (and friend) read it – he commented “The grammar and sentence structure is horrible, but I heard your voice IN IT as I read it.”

Today, as I write this, that one comment makes me very proud. It is an accomplishment. Here is why.

When reading a chapter from the book “Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production” by Jonathan Kern – I discovered a secret to the personal and distinctive style of NPR.

What’s more, I realized that this secret would help me write much better content for the web and in my interpersonal communications.

The NPR Secret is “Talk to THE person who is listening, not just yourself, or the entire audience but “ONE LISTENER”. Engage them in a personal conversation, that makes both of you feel comfortable and rewarded.”

While you may discover problems with your writing that might make your former English teachers have a stroke, they are probably not grading your work any more either. Your content may contain bad grammar, short sentences, or sentences that start with words like “But” or “And”, but often that is how we speak, and how we communicate. The process of converting your message into a personal intimate conversation will help you regain your own unique voice, and connect with your audience.

Because that voice, your voice – for all its faults is personal, and IT MATTERS.

When it comes to sharing your content – it is both your WORDS and your style that tells your story!
It is your words, your phrases, your voice that will make YOUR communication personal.

That personal connection will help you connect with others in new real and personal ways.

I got an email today from someone who called me out on the issue of my sometimes-dry impersonal email that is part of my working style. I had called her yesterday, because she had not acknowledged my last email. After my call she looked for the email at issue, and composed a wonderful email that identified why she had not responded. – I realized that I had completely screwed up. But, I had not sent a letter, I simply forwarded my notes. I had only communicated in my own mental style – I shared only what I had identified as the requested task list, and what I had done about each item on that list.

She pointed out so politely that I had not addressed her in a personal way. I had completely failed to request any action on her part, and had failed to thank her for time in including me in the process. All of these things would have come naturally on the phone or if we were in the same room.

If I had thought about the needs of the recipient, I would not have simply broken her request into a to-do list of action items, and identified which ones had been completed, I would have sent an email back to her letting her know what items I had identified, and what I had done to address each item, and what she should do as the next step in the process. Where had I taken the time to address and respect that PERSON on the other end of the phone?

The web has something in common with this email communication exchange and the radio. The audience matters with every exchange. The needs and expectations of your recipients need to be considered, and addressed.

On the radio there is no rewind, and a listener can join the conversation at any moment. The same is true of the web. Visitors “link or jump” to pages and may not have ever followed your path to this paragraph, this sentence or this idea. But if they are reading it now, they need to have or be able to quickly get context.

On every page, and with every idea, your visitors need to continuously engage in a personal dialog that gives the overall experience value to them. People will hear a voice in their head when they read what you have written. Make that voice YOURS, make it PERSONAL, and make it convincing.

Re-read your content, OUT LOUD! How does it SOUND? How should it make them FEEL? What does it really communicate? Does it speak to the person who is hearing YOUR voice in their head? Does it sound like your are talking AT THEM or TOO THEM? Does it use words they are expecting to hear,
and that you would use with them on the telephone or in person? Does it assume vocabulary? Do you make that vocabulary accessible and explain it to them?

In the process of writing or converting your message into a conversation you can regain your own unique voice and enrich the overall experience for those who share your communications.

The facts are often insufficient to get the job done, people need to be educated, entertained, respected and rewarded for investing their time. If you have not invested in your interactions by using your voice to do all four of those, you and your audience with both lose in the long run.

G.