“Writing is an unnatural act. As Charles Darwin observed, “Man has an instinctive tendency to speak, as we see in the babble of our young children, whereas no child has an instinctive tendency to bake, brew, or write.” The spoken word is older than our species, and the instinct for language allows children to engage in articulate conversation years before they enter a schoolhouse. But the written word is a recent invention that has left no trace in our genome and must be laboriously acquired throughout childhood and beyond.”
Stephen Pinker, Sense of Style
What comes to mind when you think of “style”? (Besides Taylor Swift)
WHAT IS STYLE?
This is a nuanced conversation because there are two significant kinds of style we need to talk about:
Style as in the relationship between words and culture including class, taste, social currency, a balance of traditional and modern reference points.
- I.e. You can tell if something was written in 1800 or 2020 in a glance
Style as in your personal writing style as a writer, integral to creating work or art with your own voice.
- I.e. You could tell me if a sentence was written by Stephen King or Elizabeth Gilbert with a glance.
Another way to feel out the difference could be style as in your craftsmanship and what you can build on behalf of someone else.
- I.e. I want to hire you because you helped someone else express their thoughts well.
Style as in your art and how you communicate your vision and essence through words.
- I.e. I want to hire you because you have a unique vision of the world and I want to be associated with you
You can see how these worlds blend: some craftspeople are hired to bring someone else’s vision to life (faceless architecture group); some are hired to express themselves (Frank Lloyd Wright, Madonna).
In B2B, we are signing up to bring someone else’s vision to life, so we want to fill our tool belt with techniques and ideas and inspirations that can help us find the right combination for a client. You have to read to do this!
“Biographers of great authors always try to track down the books their subjects read when they were young, because they know these sources hold the key to their development as writers.”
- Steven Pinker, Sense of Style
Read the authors and business books your clients are reading:
- Seth Godin
- James Clear
- Clayton Christensen
- Adam Grant
- Steven Covey
- Jim Collins
Read the publications your clients are reading:
- Harvard Business Review
- Wall Street Journal
- Forbes
- Industry Dive
ADVANCED STYLE RUBRIC
Life is so much easier when we can apply a rubric to it! But please know, all rubrics are made up. Some are helpful, some are not. Take what is helpful and adapt to what you want!
When I observe how I evaluate a piece of writing in B2B, here’s what I am looking for:
Click here to see the most updated version of the Advanced Style Rubric!
ADVANCED STYLE EXERCISE
We’re going to take time to read two great B2B pieces and talk about them. Reading and evaluating it is the best way to become a stronger writer yourself — because when you can decode how they did it, you start to see how you might do it, too.
READING #1
 | “Your Work Is Trash” by Nathan Kontny, Census Software Engineer |
READING #2
 | “ How growth marketers can pivot from acquisition to retention for sustainable growth”By Charlie Windschill, Director of Growth Marketing @ Ortto |
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Better Than a Bot” Writing Workshop (B2BWI Circle)