I wrote a blog post without touching the keyboard. Instead, I used a speech to text tool. The hope was it would improve the flow and clarity of the piece. The end result? I discovered this blog writing strategy solves common challenges for content marketers.
Challenge 1: Writing in a Conversational Tone
When typing content, it’s easy to slip into a more formal email-style of writing. While great for business communications, it’s boring and sometimes difficult to read for your target audience. Speaking your sentences forces you to communicate in an approachable manner. Your piece then becomes more clear and more engaging.
Challenge 2: Writing With Intention
There’s something about physically speaking, instead of simply typing, that forces you to remember to keep your audience in mind. Before you speak, you find yourself asking, “Would anyone care to hear what I am about to say?” This self-edit leads to a piece packed with substance.
Challenge 3: Making the Piece Flow
Sentences that are spoken often flow better than sentences that are written first since they are more conversational. It’s easier to catch lengthy sentences when you speak versus type because you start to run out of breath. It’s also easier to notice when your sentences all follow the same structure since you begin to hear a repetitive cadence in your voice. Plus, the effort to speak clearly into the microphone and correct errors force you to pick your words carefully. Your piece then becomes more concise and readable.
Challenge 4: Maintaining Focus While Writing the Piece
It’s simply easier to be distracted when typing. Speaking aloud forces you to focus on what you’re trying to convey, how to word it, how to speak clearly for the speech-to-text tool, what it sounds like, and whether the tool wrote it correctly. There are more steps in the process and more happening at once, which leads to you being more engaged and harder to distract.
While I was skeptical using a speech-to-text tool would pose any benefit over simply typing a post, the process did result in a quality post. The main advantage was that the process forced me to be more intentional with my writing and made it more difficult to indulge in bad habits (like getting distracted or lacking sentence variety). It may not be an approach for every blog post, but I would advocate for it occasionally. You might be surprised, just like I was, at how this tactic can impact your writing process and end result.
There are also many other applications that the speech-to-text can be effective. Efficiency is always vital. You want to be faster and spend less time doing those everyday tasks. Think about all your brainstorming sessions or dictating all the emails that you have to deal with each day. Try it, and let me know what you think! Check out my blog here for other ideas.