Powerful and persuasive writing requires multiple inputs: grammar and vocabulary, creativity and clarity, emotion and persuasion, experience and flair. The average executive however is not going to need to churn out creative writing masterpieces or poetic verses to stir the soul. What he/she will need to do most of the time is to write clearly and persuasively. Here are some simple but powerful strategies to improve business writing quickly and painlessly, starting now or next Monday (if you want to take it a bit easy)…
Create Structure First
Most people write first then re-arrange the words into a structure later. With MS Word as the weapon of choice, this happens even more because it’s easy to cut and paste. It is easier and much more effective however to first establish a structure. This is like working out a mind map of what goes where. In proposals or reports, finalize the table of contents first, and then proceed to populate the various sections. On a 1-page memo, think about the first paragraph topic, the middle paragraph, and the call for action in the last paragraph.
Write with Purpose
We tend to provide a lot of context and background first before stating our main purpose. We do this to soften up the audience, and also because it is kind of unseemly to get to the main point too quickly. But that’s inverted thinking. Stating the purpose upfront is the right way to start because we are not in the business of keeping our audience in suspense. This is not a whodunit we’re writing. There has to be a clear agenda – what the writer wants and what the reader is expected to do. The sooner this comes up, the better.
Take Stuff Out
Effective business writing (and communications in general) is as much about what you take out as it is about what you leave in. All of us have experienced the desire to impress with lot’s of supporting data and ideas and perspectives. We think this makes our writing more substantive. It is a form of insurance that we do not miss out any major point. But lot’s of information can create clutter, and leave the reader struggling to understand the main message.
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If you are looking for some guidance on Technical Writing, you may find this article very useful.