Is your brand seen but not heard?

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We banish the blah, bull and bunkum from business writing.

We give organisations the hands-on help they need to ditch corporate speak and write with real personality.
Here’s how.

Big Ideas

Big Ideas

Business writing can be complex.
We’ll make it simple.

Writing Training

Writing Training

Say ‘writing training’ and most people think of a back to school grammar lesson.
Not ours.

Expert Writing

Expert Writing

Our clients think of our writers as part of their team.
And that’s exactly how you’ll feel.

“The First Word has been a fantastic partner, helping us get our tone of voice out globally across our business.”

Leisa Stewart-Sharpe, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)
Aegon
Allianz
AstraZeneca
Barclays
Barclaycard
Britisjh Gas
Co-Operative Energy
EDF Energy
IHG
Macmillan Science and Education
RBS
Sainsburys Bank
Spark
Tesco Finest
Yorkshire Water

What we’re thinking

Latest blog post

Tweety words

RT @ReadMeLKP: Simple but effective writing in this ad for @WWF: 'The last 55 Maui's Dolphins'. Agency: Ogilvy, New Zealand https://t.co/DM…

11:16 AM Jun 22

The real or robot test

Is your writing animated or automated?
Take our quiz to find out (it only takes a minute).

This has been actioned. What's with the robot voice?

1. What does the first line in your emails usually say?

2. How much of your writing is ‘standard text’?

3. The word ‘I’ appears in your writing:

4. Empathy in business writing shows:

5. When do you use company jargon?

SUBMIT
MOSTLY As:
Real

Good news – your writing shows you’re a living, breathing human being with a personality and everything. Want to see how your team’s writing matches up? Send a sample to hello@thefirstword.co.uk and we’ll give you our take on the language.

Human
MOSTLY Bs:
Half-real,
half-robot

Uh oh. A mechanical tone is creeping into your writing. Email us at hello@thefirstword.co.uk and we’ll stage an intervention before you start sounding like the Terminator.

Half human half robot
MOSTLY Cs:
Robot

Oh dear. Looks like you’ve been brainwashed by corporate speak. Email hello@thefirstword.co.uk and we’ll help you put the human touch back into your writing. Unless you’re one of those creepy robots that can play chess and have a conversation and do surveys.

Robot