Better business writing – 13 ways

EFFECTIVE WRITING IS A LEARNABLE SKILL

THE FACTS OF THE BUSINESS WORLD
Think about it – a significant part of your job consists of communicating with others. This communication will be both speaking and writing. Email, letters, memos, proposals, office materials, promotional copy and a wide range of other documents. Here are 13 tips to improve your writing impact.

1. Brief is best
Concise is what it is all about. You have heard how cover letters of resumes should be limited to one page. You should embrace the spirit of this rule with all your writing – keep it successfully short (KISS). Get to your point quickly, make your pitch and finish.

2. Ditch jargon
This applies even if you are writing to people in the same industry. Jargon is usually the specialized language used by people in the same industry or profession. Jargon can also mean language that is long-winded or has difficult words. If you think someone’s writing is full of jargon, this means you think it could have been written more simply and in a sharper way.

3. Check, Check, check again
I am always amazed at how many typos I make when I first write. All my writing is checked and checked again. Even if you think you are one of the world’s best writers, you should still check again. People judge and will think there is something wrong with your English when the only thing wrong is that you did not check enough. You should check again immediately after writing but you should build in time where you can come back later and check again.

4. TONE TUNE UP
After checking for typos, you should read again and consider tone. There is what you want to say and then there is how (tone) you want to say it or should say it before you hit the send button.

5. NAMES AND TITLES
Don’t get past the hurdles of typos and tone to fall and fail at names, genders and titles. Find out names and double check. This is an area of sensitivity. For example, I am Miss Susan McKenzie not Mr S Mackenzie. Notice my family name is Mc with then a capital K. When people lower case the K I feel it. When you add an ‘a’ you have not taken the time or the care to spell it correctly. I may still do business with you but I am not totally happy.

6. GENDER NEW ACCEPTABLE GRAMMAR
He/She is sometimes too long-winded and many women get hot under the collar when they see words such as ‘he’ but she is the reader. The words ‘They’ and ‘their’ are plural pronouns (words used instead of nouns) but are becoming acceptable gender-neutral singular pronouns. This is where people power triumphs over crusty grammar rules.

7. Developing templates
Save all your letters, emails, memos and other documents where you feel you have written well. You can then use them as the basis for future writing. However, do make sure you have removed the earlier information that was specific to the earlier recipient. If you don’t then this idea will not work for you. Only do this if you are the type of person who carefully removes the specific information from the earlier communication.

8. Professional yes, but not overly formal in day to day emails.
These days not all business communication is totally formal, especially where you have long-standing business connections and are using email. These emails may be more conversational. However, informal does not mean unprofessional. Racy jokes would be an example of going over the line to unprofessional.

9. Who, what, when, where, why and how!
Essay writers and journalists are encouraged to consider the five w’s topped with a how when writing. This formula also works in a lot of business writing.

10.Powerful Purpose
Business communication is about achieving a purpose – so make it clear as to what the reader is expected to do and by when.

11. NO MORE THAN TWO OPTIONS
Ironically giving too many choices may confuse and lead to indecisiveness. Choose the best two options and only offer more if those two are rejected. This applies from product and service offerings to setting up a meeting.

12. BENEFITS PARADIGM
Think benefits. Demonstrate how this will make life easier, more efficient and more successful for the reader.

13. BACK TO THE STRUCTURE
One last check – have you put key words into your writing? Put key words and ideas at the beginning or end of a sentence. Also state the main idea of a paragraph in the first sentence. It is called the topic sentence.