Part 1: 12 things I’ve learned about content (in 12 years of running a content agency)

To celebrate 12 years of Crocstar 🥳 I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned along the way. Mostly about copy and content but there are a few things that can be applied to other areas too. 

Here is the first post in a series of four. You’ll find the link to the next post at the bottom of this one (this is known in the industry as a tease and I hope it works).

1. Forget grammar ‘rules’ – concentrate on being understood. 

We’re all nervous about making mistakes. People regularly tell me they didn’t learn grammar at school (neither did I) and they’re worried I’ll proofread their emails when they message me (I won’t).

As human beings we’re remarkably clever at instinctively using language. In fact, we’re proper well good at it. Getting in a tangle over whether you can split an infinitive or not isn’t worth it. Write down what you want to say and read it out loud to someone else to check it makes sense. If it does – you’re good to go. Self-styled ‘grammar nazis’ that jump on perceived errors aren’t cool.

To quote one of my idols on this subject, former Guardian production editor (and style guide editor) David Marsh says in his book For Who the Bell Tolls: 

“Such complaints are closely related to the ‘rules’ about split infinitives or propositions that were cooked up in the 18th century and taught by English teachers in thrall to Latin.”

2. Clear language helps everybody. 

There’s a piece of research that changed my life. It was done in 2012 by a chap called Professor Christopher Trudeau and it looked into people’s preferences for using clear language. 

He found that people – no matter their education or literacy level – prefer to read clear language. 

Boom! Proof that long and jargon-filled sentences are hard to read. For everyone. 

Some of the questions he wanted to know the answer to included:

• To what degree does the public prefer plain language over traditional legal language? 

• How do people react when they see complicated legal language that they do not understand? 

• Have they ever been so frustrated by such language that they quit reading a document?

Read: The Public Speaks: An Empirical Study of Legal Communication

I got in touch with Prof Trudeau to talk about the study, and how much it was helping with a piece of work I was doing at the time – training thousands of people working in central government to write for the new GOV.UK website. 

Prof is an amazing chap and after a few months kicking around ideas we decided to run a second study – internationally this time – and see if the results held up and to see what else we could learn. 

The results? No matter the country, people overwhelmingly preferred plain language when given the choice between alternatives.

This study is also the first to measure the impact that traditional legal communication has on the workplace. The results show that no matter the sector – government, business, healthcare, or law – both lawyers and non-lawyers frequently have to interpret legal information to do their jobs. Yet they often struggle to do so, which hurts productivity.

In short, using plain language is not only what people want – it's what workplaces need so they can be more productive.

Read: The Public Speaks, Again: An International Study of Legal Communication

Accessibility is part of communication too 

There is a great way to think about accessibility that I learned from Paul McGarvey, a content designer at the Office for National Statistics. It goes something like this: a dropped kerb is an accessibility feature that’s good for everybody. It’s good for the driver getting into their driveway. It’s good for wheelchair users, for people with prams, those using mobility scooters and also pedestrians. By the same token, accessible websites are also faster and easier to use for everybody, not just a section of those needing to use it. 

3. Everyone has their own stylistic quirks.

Having trained lots of people over the years, I’ve seen lots of people express themselves in writing. You can tell a lot about a person and how they’re feeling by how they write. It’s fascinating and beautiful.

One of the things people worry about when they’re writing is ‘sounding silly’. There’s nothing silly about sounding like you. Relax. Go for it. No one is judging you. 

For the record, I hate sentences that start with so. So? So you’ll never see me doing it. 

I’d love to know what you’ve learned about content over the years… and if you’ve enjoyed reading this post, you’ll find part two in the series here.