Business Writing

combination lock Business writing takes time and takes people away from performing their main tasks. Some business writing is inevitable--emails, memos, other day-to-day communications. But much of the writing in any business is time consuming but not time critical--standard operating procedures and work instructions, human resources policies, company reports, and so on. Even if you have many of these documents in place, are they up-to-date or will you get a corrective action at the next quality audit?

Know Your Readers

To write effective and appropriate business messages, you must know your readers. What is their education level? How much knowledge do your readers have of your subject, and what issues concern them the most? These are just some of the questions to consider before you start writing.

Know Your Purpose

Inform or persuede? Do you need to inform customers about a new policy, or do you need to persuade employees to adopt a new business practice? Knowing your purpose helps you focus your message, making it clear to readers why it is important to them.

Use The Appropriate Tone

Tone is a significant element in writing. Have you ever received a memo that annoyed you by its tone? For example, it might have been patronizing or too familiar. The key is to put yourself in the place of your reader. Carefully choose the words that create the right tone. When you know who your readers are and what your purpose is, you can tailor your tone to suit them.

Use Formatting to Deliver The Message

Take a look at the last memo or email you received. What was its purpose? To give you information that you had requested? To pursuade you to take some action? Now evaluate the writing to see if it achieved that purpose. Was it easy to read? Could you quickly identify the intent of the message? In other words, was it reader-centered?

Casterbridge Business Communications provides writing services for your more substantial documentation needs and can train your staff to write clear reader-centered day-to-day documents.

We take great care to identify your readers and create messages that convey the appropriate tone for different reader roles. In this way, we write effectively for the three most common reasons for writing a business document – to inform, respond, or persuade.