9 Tips to Improve Your Business Writing
From client communication to quick e-mails, a lot of writing goes into managing a business. That’s why it is important to master the art of business writing. Here are 9 quick tips to help you improve your business writing:
1. Give the who, what, where, when and why. This is the first lesson a reporter learns but it’s helpful for all writing, especially journalism and business. The key to good communication is leaving no question unanswered.
2. Know your target audience. In order to write, you have to know who you are speaking to. This will determine how you should communicate with them in order to achieve your goal.
3. Choose a clear objective. What is the purpose of your communication? Be it an e-mail to set up an appointment or promotion of your product, answer this question for yourself before you start writing.
4. Write plainly. Business writing does not need any flowery description. It’s better to get the point across with clear, concise writing that doesn’t embellish.
5. Use bullet points and lists to make your points easier to find. Long paragraphs can sometimes be overwhelming to your reader, no matter how much they read. Give them some shortcuts by outlining your statements.
6. Choose active over passive verbs. Active writing is important because it gives more authority to your statements. Always start a sentence with the person or thing that is doing the action instead of the person or thing the action will be done to. For example, choose the sentence form “I wrote this article” over the sentence form: “The article was written by me”.
7. Be concise. Always edit your communication and take out unnecessary words. There is no sense in reading something longer that says the same thing as a shorter paragraph. You’re wasting your reader’s time with unnecessary words.
8. Point out benefits rather than features. If you’re selling a product, point out why it helps your consumer, rather than features you decided to add on. This will help them realize why they need it and make them more interested in your product or service.
9. Give your writing the conversation test. Make sure to read over all of your writing and make sure it doesn’t sound like something you would say in person. The use of slang and contractions (like in this paragraph) should always be avoided.
For more resources, check out:
Writing for Results.net
Business Writing Help
How to Write a Masterpiece of a Resume
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