By Tom Whitfield

Brand writing that sounds wooden fails one simple test: stand up, read the draft aloud as your narrator or spokesperson, and see whether it survives the performance. That exercise comes from David Quiñones, founder of All Points West, one of four communicators sharing editing methods ahead of Ragan and PR Daily's Writing & Content Strategy Virtual Conference on Dec. 3, running 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.

Quiñones will appear alongside Brenda Duran, director of external affairs for Los Angeles County; Jyoti Sharma, director of communications at Genmab; and Daniel Paulling, senior director of corporate communications at U.S. Masters Swimming. Their shared target: copy that reads as if a person wrote it.

Why does customer vocabulary matter?

Paulling starts where the audience does. "The most important thing in producing brand-aligned content is having a clear understanding of the language your customers and employees use," he writes. "If what you're saying to them isn't resonating with them, your content isn't going to stand out."

His prescription is structural: open the brief with the words and questions real audiences use, not a list of brand adjectives. The brief becomes something sturdier for the writer to work from.

Duran reinforces the point with process. An editorial style guide is indispensable, she said, because "it establishes a consistent voice, tone and language while giving writers the flexibility to tell compelling stories across different platforms." Consistency without rigidity is the takeaway.

Which stories deserve resources?

Paulling and Sharma propose a three-question grilling before any assignment:

• What does the audience care about?
• What does the organization uniquely know?
• Which strategic goal can the story advance?

"I look for the intersection of business priorities, audience needs and what's happening in the industry," Sharma said. "A story earns investment when we can clearly explain why it matters to the organization, why the audience should care and why now is the right time."

Paulling frames the same filter in his own words: "The stories that deserve my company's time and resources are at the intersection of what our audience cares about, what my company uniquely knows, and what advances my company's strategic goals. You need to offer a fresh perspective, answer a meaningful question and inspire action."

Duran adds a values test. She prioritizes stories that elevate voices that might otherwise go unheard and that carry potential for meaningful impact.

How do you win leadership buy-in?

Skip the strategy deck. Put a finished example on the table.

"Cut to the good part," Quiñones writes. "As much as modern brand leaders claim they are data-driven and focused on hard KPIs and ROI, what they really want is for you to show them how a finished product would look. Game out your strategy to its conclusion and lead with that."

Then tie the example to outcomes. "Translate content performance into organizational outcomes by showing leadership how storytelling builds trust, influences behavior, increases engagement and advances strategic priorities," Duran said.

Volume is not the metric. "The strongest case connects content to outcomes leadership cares about, beyond the volume of material produced," Sharma advised. Paulling tells teams to "tell the story behind the numbers, so leadership understands why what you're doing matters."

What fixes 'slop' in a draft?

Surveys, timeouts and careful AI supervision all make the list.

Quiñones uses surveys to expose perception gaps. "It's so useful to get a glimpse into what people on the inside of a brand and people who patronize it already think the brand is about, whether they're right or (oftentimes) wrong," he said. Comparing those responses with the intended voice shows where audience perception and team intent have diverged.

Sharma allows AI into the first stages only. "They help me explore angles and develop first drafts, but getting a useful result takes thoughtful prompting and very careful editing," she said. "Their value is in creating more room for strategy and judgment, with people accountable for the final work."

Paulling's best editing tool is time. Step away, return with fresh eyes, and the second pass exposes missing information and unanswered questions. "We can easily be victims of the curse of knowledge if we rush something, so be sure to take the time to make sure your audience understands what you're trying to say," he said.

Would the line survive being read aloud on video?

Quiñones's read-aloud test doubles as a video filter. Listen for the sentence that doesn't flow, the phrase that sounds wooden, the corporate-speak no actual person would say. Cut it or recast it.

"The days of snarky faceless online brand personas are as dead as flash mobs, so stop trying to sound like @Wendys and instead write with a face in mind," he writes.

He pushes the discipline further: "Make it a regular practice to imagine everything you write existing in that 1080×1920 pixel box." Even teams producing no video should assume their words may end up in the mouths of reporters or creators. Writing that survives the vertical frame, the argument runs, is writing that has already been stripped of its slop.