Mary G. Lewis - Business English Writing: Effective Business Writing Tips and Will Help You Write Better and More Effectively at Work

BUSINESS ENGLISH WRITING

EFFECTIVE BUSINESS WRITING TIPS AND TRICKS THAT WILL HELP YOU WRITE BETTER AND MORE EFFECTIVELY AT WORK

Introduction

T his book will show you how to write business messages clearly, concisely and simply. It will encourage you to write conversationally, the way you talk, and to write with humanity; that is, from one person to another. In the process this book will steer you away from academic, bureaucratic and legalistic writing.

Everyone wants to know the who-what-when-where-why-how-how much immediately, in the first sentence. They need to make decisions. When they read documents, they want to know the important things immediately. They want to know objectives, means of measurement, costs and returns on those investments. They want to see that information in the first sentences. Good business writing is more about clear thinking than it is about writing style. Writing can only be as good as the thinking that precedes it. You must know what you want to say, what your objective is in saying it, and why its important for your audience to read it. Organizing a writing project is very similar to organizing a presentation. The good writer is just as aware of his/her audience as a good public speaker is.

After you have organized and outlined the subject of your memo, report, or letter, you should have a clear idea of your main focus. Focus in your business report or memo is your objectiveit is the why of why you are bothering to write at all. Most business writing has its purpose buried. There is no focus, no goal, no call for action, and no desired end result. If you do not provide the focus, you force your reader to ask questions about your message which you should have answered before sitting down at your word processor.

Knowing your audience will help you to organize your material so that it has the best chance of being read and understood. Put yourself in your readers shoeslisten, and you will be better received.

Chapter 1: How to Execute Business Writing Clearly

T he secret to creating clear business writing may surprise you; if youre doing it properly, the time you spend actually writing is actually very short. Whether youre creating some web copy, a report or a proposal, great planning and editing is far more important to writing a clear, succinct readable text.

Understanding your readers

I ts often easy to forget that theres anyone else involved in the writing process. The truth is, youre there for no other purpose than to serve the reader.

But first, you have to work out who that is. Your reader might be a single person or a large group. Whichever it is, youll always need to consider factors like how theyll be feeling, what they care about, how much they understand, what they think is funny, cute, clever, confusing or stupid, how important you are to them and whether they want to talk to you at all. Even if youre writing for someone you know, taking the time to put yourself in their shoes, to ask what they need and want from your writing will help make your writing simpler, faster and more effective.

When writing for large groups of people, imagining a single person to represent it will also help. You can keep that imagined person in mind while you write and ask them, Do you understand what this word means or should I explain it?, Does this approach make you annoyed or should we pick another? or Does this headline grab your attention?

Defining your reader as a single person

C hoose one of your organizations target audiences or a group of people youre likely to write for and build a picture of a single typical person to represent them. The information you need to adequately describe this person will vary - the questions below are a good place to start.

What is your persons name, age and gender?

What does he or she look like?

What does your person do for a living?

How would you describe your person to a colleague?

How would your person behave at a party?

What else is important to note about your person?

Know why youre writing

T his may seem obvious but being clear about your objectives before you start to write will make everything simpler.

You need to be clear and specific about your writing objectives. They must take note of:

What youre writing e.g. a letter, email, proposal or brochure.

Who youre talking to.