claire@handyeditorials.co.uk

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Writing for Business

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Writing – any kind of writing – is done to get a message across. This is especially important in business. It has to be clear. It has to be complete. It has to be concise and it has to be accurate. Sounds easy… but often isn't. A lot of writing in business is often disorganised and incomplete. Because there is a lot of jargon used in the business world it is also often very unclear, and the message is lost in long, poorly written documents, leading to confusion and problems.
There are a few easy rules to writing an effective business document. Follow these and you should soon be getting your message across.

Rule number 1: Organise your writing

Work out what you are wanting to communicate and make a list of each item. If this is an email for a staff memo, then it will probably just be a one or two item list you can make in your head. However, if it is for a quarterly document, marketing material or training manual then taking five minutes before you start writing to make a list of everything you want to include will ensure that all the information you wish to write about is included and you don't lose anything when you actually get immersed in the actual writing.

Rule number 2: Consider your audience (and avoid jargon)

There are different levels of writing depending on who you are writing for. The general public are going to have a lot less background knowledge of your business than your colleagues. Instructions and explanations have to be complete in this instance. An email reminding your team of an impending deadline can be a lot less formal than a quarterly report.

However, in all instances, avoid as much jargon as you can. Even if you are writing a document for colleagues there can be room for misinterpretation. Different departments and teams may have slightly different understandings or words for similar concepts. A recently overheard conversation illustrates this point rather well:

Tim:	Tomorrow we're going to have to put the trunk lines in.
John:	What's a trunk line?
Tim:	What do you mean, "what's a trunk line?" We spent 15 minutes in the meeting yesterday discussing the installation.
John:	DID we?! When?
Tim:	You obviously weren't paying attention. Andrew told us the service line needs to be in by Friday.
John:	Yes… so what's a trunk line?
Tim:	The service line… Didn't you listen?
John:	Oh!!!

Tim knew that a service line was a trunk line. To him the conversation was obvious. John knew what a service line was, but not knowing that it was also called a trunk line caused a confusion that Tim hadn't even considered.

My favourite (unintentional) comment about jargon was made when I was at a training course.
"We should avoid jargon in our writing. CEOs of SMEs won't know what we're talking about!"
And if you didn't know what a CEO was or an SME, YOU wouldn't know what the person was talking about either!

Rule number 3: Consider your writing

There are as many ways to actually write an article as there are people writing them. Some people write everything out as it comes to them, then go back and edit afterwards. Some people make copious notes and turn each noted item into a paragraph. Some people write and edit at the same time. And there are many other ways in between.

However you do write, though, make sure what you finish up with is clear and concise. Use enough words to get your message across without being long-winded, too descriptive or repetitive. In business the old adage "time is money" is true, and no-one wants to read 30 pages when 15 will do. Be succinct in what you're saying, but make sure your meaning is obvious and has nothing missing.

Ask yourself: "Will my reader understand what I am trying to tell them?"

Rule number 4: Edit and proofread

Always go through what you have written to make sure what is on the page is what you intended to say. Mistakes are easily made, and you know in your head what you wanted to say, so you may not "see" what you have written. A good tip to avoid this (apart from hiring a professional proofreader!) is to read what you have written out loud. Our brains work faster than we can process thoroughly, so reading out loud will slow you down to enable you to catch mistakes.

A fresh pair of eyes is the best way of catching mistakes, as they will not only be able to override your belief that you wrote, for example, 40% when you only typed 4%, but also they will be able to feed back whether you managed to get your intended message across and, like Tim, haven't assumed something just because you know about it.

Last, and most important rule:

Focus on the message you want your audience to hear, rather than how you are going to tell them.