Be practical not poetical Whether it’s a sales letter to a Client, e-mail to a colleague, report or proposal to your boss etc. – there can be a danger of trying too hard to compose a beautiful piece of work – rather than an effective one! Understand what you want the Reader to know (or do) after receiving your communication. Then, concentrate on finding the simplest, briefest way of achieving this
Edit it ruthlessly Even when you think you have achieved the first point, have another go at reducing the length of your message. This doesn’t mean omitting anything of importance – it’s about being as sparse as you can be. Your Reader has little time to read or consider your message; the simpler, the clearer, it’s going to be to do so – the better your chance of success
Always be Reader-focused As mentioned above, your reader will appreciate your work at making the communication as easy to understand as possible. So, as you start to create it, aim to see it from the Reader’s point of view (not what you’d like it to be). Once you understand this starting point, it’s easier to reach the successful end-point you are aiming for
Think before your “final” write Imagine you are writing to a relative to thank them for a gift. You’ll probably pick up a pen and keep writing until you’ve exhausted your supply of interesting things to say! And that’s okay in such a personal communication. On the other hand, if you were writing to a boyfriend or girlfriend to ask for their forgiveness(!) you’d probably spend a bit more time carefully crafting your abject apology. With business writing, make sure you stick to the latter plan, rather than just writing (or typing) whatever is in your head until it’s empty!
Find the story Following-on from the last point, if, for example, you are writing an ad, sales letter or proposal; do you take the time to “find the story”? It’s what the best copywriters do. This means you search out that one key fact or idea which will form the cornerstone of your written communication. For example, in an ad, it could often be the prime benefit, key buying reason (or occasionally, a killer fact); the one thing that tips the Reader over from curious to interested; from interested to buyer (More powerful tips in part two of this article)
Smart Written Communications Tips - Part One - To learn more about this author, visit Gordon Veniard's Website.
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Gordon Veniard
(Visit Gordon's Website)
GORDON VENIARD thanks you for your
interest in these articles
He has been delivering training events -
and creating and providing valuable
development materials - for more than 20
years
Gordon covers a wide range of business
communication, promotion, sales,
negotiation, customer service, leadership
and management subjects. He has worked
with major companies and organisations;
spoken at many conferences and seminars -
always adding good humor to valuable
advice
To find out more, Gordon would be pleased
if you would take a moment to visit his
new website: www.thevenwor
ks.com. You can register for his free
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If you have any queries or questions you
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n@thevenworks.com
Thanks again - please enjoy - and feel
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Everything I know about business I learned from M*A*S*H's Colonel Flagg:
