Why you should and shouldn’t write your own content

Sometimes the closer you are to something, the less you are able to see it.

The tourist in a Parisian art gallery standing six inches from a painting sees the ripples of a canvas, not a masterpiece by Monet. The reader too close to the page sees a blurred jumble of letters, not the majestic imagery of Dickens. The fashion designer with his face pressed against the fabric sees a tangle of fibres, not the sharply-cut lapels that are going to make his new range of jackets next season’s must-have.   

You get the picture. Or maybe you don’t.

Because the same is true of writing about your business. Sometimes you can be too close to your nine-to-five to pick out the nuances; to focus on the bits that matter and forget the rest. One of the fundamental tenets of good copywriting is brevity. That’s difficult when you know so much about your business, when you live and breathe it day after day, week after week.

You know too much. You lack perspective. You are too close.