The 4 Types of Writing Styles You Need to Know
Ok, so you may be a sensitive and profound human being like me, poetic and stuff. Or you may be somebody very pragmatic and stronghearted; I wouldn’t say shallow;)
And that may influence your natural way of writing or speaking. But when you’re writing a blog post or a landing page, or an ebook, you can mold your writing style according to what works best for your target audience and your brand.
So let’s learn about the key writing styles that you can use to make your branded content more interesting and engaging.
1. Vivid or Descriptive
Have you ever used real-life examples to convey a critical message to your target audience? The following snippet from the famous poet Robert Frost is an excellent example of a writing style that’s visual and graphic in nature:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Visual imagery makes writing entertaining to the audience. It transports them to a new world. The best part is that as a writer, you enjoy creating content that describes a situation that is real and human. It’s what makes your writing a lot more personal and relatable to the target audience.
When you’re creating a visual experience for your audience, you’re offering something more lifelike and emotional. This form of descriptive writing style is most common in poems and song lyrics. In business writing, you can use the descriptive style to break the monotony and make your writing juicier.
2. Educational or Expository
This writing style works well when you wish to explain a concept to your readers. Educational content decodes a topic for the audience to learn and use the knowledge to solve a problem or to achieve a goal.
Most B2B companies use this writing style to communicate complex topics in a simple way. Sometimes they also use the style to create tutorials and guides to offer in-depth information to their readers.
Educational writing styles can come across as bland. That’s why, to make your content interesting to your readers, it’s vital to use it in combination with other writing styles.
3. Persuasive
A piece of writing that sells an idea falls under persuasive writing. Why do businesses need persuasive writing? Simply because they need to communicate why their products and services are better than those of the competition.
What are some of the key applications of persuasive writing? You can use persuasive writing on website landing pages and social media advertisements, product video scripts, call-to-actions, etc. Take a look at this example of intelligent use of persuasive writing by Slack, a popular team communication tool:
Can you tell how the line Slack is your digital HQ persuades remote team managers about the effectiveness of this product?
In this world with many online platforms and content consumption choices, persuasive writing can help marketers to grab the audience’s attention and convince them of the benefits of their products and services.
4. Anecdotal or Narrative
This type of writing is more about sharing an experience. For instance, you can share a story about how you achieved your goals. In your anecdote, you can talk about your struggles and some of the major obstacles you had to face in your journey. The narrative writing style makes use of characters and a plot to convey a message to the audience. Many business owners use this writing style to inspire and educate their audience.
The narrative writing style is commonly used for writing novels and short stories. However, it can be an effective style for writing story-driven blog posts as well.
Applying Writing Styles to Branded Content
Whether you’re writing a blog post or a LinkedIn update, or a video script, the knowledge of different writing styles can create magic for your content piece. The best way to start is to document the content objective and the targeted audience persona. It will give you a clear idea of applying the different styles to that piece of writing.
Writing styles give you a deeper understanding of the impact you will create in the target audience’s minds.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you’re looking to hire a freelance writer for your business, you can get in touch with me with your requirements.
Originally published at https://prolificcontentmarketing.club on April 26, 2022.
