I create marketing materials for women’s luxury jewelry. My own jewelry collection consists of a wedding ring, which my wife occasionally has to remind me is still on the counter.
Clearly, I’m not the target audience.
That’s why William Zinsser’s advice about audience in On Writing Well made me stop and think. He says it’s important to keep readers interested, but also advises us to write for ourselves. How do you do that when your job is to connect with people whose tastes are nothing like yours?
In chapter 5, Zinsser separates craft from attitude. Our job is to make our writing clear and easy to follow. We don’t have to get everyone to agree with us or share our sense of humor. I get that. Someone can know exactly what I mean and still disagree.
But commercial work makes it complicated.
In video, I’ve had to learn which parts of my style serve the brand and which ones I’m holding onto simply because I like them. Writing copy and emails has pushed me further. What interests me about a piece of jewelry may not matter to the woman choosing it. My perspective still has a place, but it can’t be the only one.
I’ve had to step aside sometimes. Maybe I like a certain song, edit, or phrase, but that doesn’t mean it belongs in the final piece. I have to think about what it adds and if it fits the message.
Zinsser’s chapters on clutter and style help me understand this. Cutting unnecessary language gives your voice room to come through. It doesn’t require stripping out every personal detail. The wedding ring on the counter tells you more about my relationship with jewelry than a formal explanation would.
Still, I can’t always “write for yourself” in everything I do. This blog lets me share my opinions, but a marketing email is different. There, I have to let the audience’s needs shape what I say and how I say it.
What I get from Zinsser is that I can trust my own perspective, but I don’t have to treat every creative choice as sacred. I can put something of myself into the work and still change it for someone else.
Getting out of my own way doesn’t mean I have to disappear. It just means knowing when it’s time to let go of my favorite part.