Business Writing with Impact

Business Writing

You may be one of those people struck with snow blindness when it comes to getting started on that dreaded piece of writing.

Or maybe you just feel stale and that you're re-writing the same thing over and over; maybe you have an inkling of what's not working, but just don't know how to articulate it.

Readable reports
Persuasive press releases
Original marketing copy
Interesting newsletters
Accessible annual reports
Sit-up-and-take-notice letters

How can you ensure your writing makes an impact?

Before you even start to think of how to frame your ideas and content, there are 3 key questions to ask:

Why are you writing?
Who are you writing for?
What are you telling them?

Why Are You Writing?

What does your writing need to achieve?

Whether to inform or entertain persuade or impress, clearly each different purpose requires a different style and approach.

Who is it Aimed At?

Who is your intended or likely readership?
What are their expectations, concerns and issues?
What is their existing knowledge of the subject?

So many times even the most professional amongst us can alternately confuse or patronise through forgetting the person who needs to be affected or touched by our words.

What Are You Trying to Tell Them?

Only when we've considered the Why and the Who can we properly edit and fine-tune our content and be ruthless with ourselves to murder our darlings.

Less cryptically, this means editing out those swathes of information, juicy thoughts or interesting facts that are actually irrelevant to our intended readership.

One of the 'How?' questions include how to address the reader. How to pitch and how to find the appropriate tone and those nuances between written formality and informality, technical gravitas and readability?

There's a great deal to consider, but once you can answer these three key writing questions, even the most daunting writing task may feel far more straightforward and the inspiration a little more forthcoming.

And guess what?

Its also far more likely to achieve the desired impact.