This Tool Can improve investment writing in four different ways

Why try and steal an audience’s attention, when you can just give readers what they want?

Readers willingly pay attention when they can grasp value quickly. Our analysis shows popular business content sources (like the Financial Times) habitually provide key insight in the first or second sentences.

But investment content – targeting the same readers –   often proves long and dense, its main points scattered or hidden deep within the text. This trap becomes acute when articles are written using “essay rules”, which include a lengthy intro paragraph.

On top, fund managers tend to write as if their views are mathematical proofs. Layering arguments one atop of another, they reach their key message all the way at the bottom. Right where skim-readers will never find it.

How can writers and marketers check content is serving value quickly enough?   

Meet Gist

Gist is a free tool that automatically plucks the key sentences out of any article.

Simply paste the article it into the text box, then click the ‘Analyze’ button. You’ll see the key sentences come up at the box on the right, as well as being highlighted in the article body.

No need to worry about images, videos or irrelevant links – Gist filters them out. When you’re done, simply click ‘Clear text’ to start over.

Gist is among the suite of tools FinText uses to benchmark investment managers’ content and help marketing teams create more effective campaigns. It’s so useful, we decided to make it open to everyone.

Here’re four ways investment marketers can use Gist to improve their firm’s content.

1. Improving How Content is Served

Don’t waste precious time distilling the key message; have Gist do it instantly. The selected sentences can then be used to:

• Create a bulleted summary on top of your article
• Quickly edit an enticing opening paragraph
• Craft social media content using your key sentences

2. Nailing the Right Headline

Headlines are a top clue when readers judge if an article is worth their time. A short, quirky headline gives the reader little to go on.

When Gist is fed a headline, it’ll factor it in when considering which sentences matter most. It’s a good way to test different headline options.

3. Getting your Voice Heard

At times, financial content can benefit from tighter editing, but both marketers and authors lack hard data to show when and what’s needed. Gist helps.

If the sentences plucked aren’t in tune with what the expert wanted to say, the point isn’t clear enough. Removing excess sentences and sharpening the focus will result in an improved summary – and a better reading experience.

4. Speed Reading

Not every story that spikes your interest is worthy of a full read. Gist helps you quickly get, well, the gist. It helps you decide whether to dig deeper or move on,  cutting back on the time it takes to stay informed.

But Why these sentences?

Gist applies some of our collective knowledge on how humans take in digital content.

Using Text Analytics, the tool breaks the text into sentences and words, scoring sentences and plucking the ones containing the most information relating to the article’s overall contents.

For example, one way to score sentences is based on their length. Short sentences are fun. They change up the rhythm. They spice things up. But because they’re short, they usually don’t contain a lot of material information, so they receive a lower score.

We also know human readers pay more attention to the top paragraphs than they do to ones lower down. That’s why another trait is how high up a sentence appears. Other scores consider the words each sentence contains, and factor in which seem the most important overall.

Combined, these scores provide a pretty good X-ray for your article and pull out what matters most. Try it!