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Chapter Two Writing Effectively for Your Audience,

Purpose, and Medium

Chapter Two (2 of 2) “Communication is a major and

essential part of business.”

Learning Objectives (1)

1. Understand the importance of skillful writing in business.

2. Describe the writing process and effective writing strategies.

3. Describe the use of computer tools to facilitate planning messages.

4. Describe the use of computer tools to facilitate drafting messages.

5. Describe the use of computer tools to facilitate revising messages.

Learning Objectives (2)

6. Describe the purpose and form of letters.

7. Describe the purpose and form of memorandums (memos).

8. Describe the purpose and form of email.

9. Understand the nature and business uses of other communication media.

10.Describe how technology will continue to impact communication in the future.

The Writing Process

Planning the Message §Determining goals

§Analyzing the audience §Gathering information

§Analyzing and organizing the information §Choosing the form, channel, and format

You Make the Call (1)

It’s a hot, humid summer, and you manage a hotel in a busy city where the air conditioning has stopped working.

• How will you communicate to current guests about this problem? How can the planning steps we’ve talked about help?

• How might you respond to a guest’s complaint letter that comes to you a week after the incident?

Computer Tools for Planning Complex writing projects can be helped by using • Project planning tools (Gantt charts)

• Scheduling tools (electronic calendars)

• Research tools (Internet research and RSS) • Organizing tools (databases and outlining)

• Presenting tools (statistical programs, multimedia presenters)

Rock On

• You are organizing a fundraiser concert event for a local nonprofit that helps at-risk kids stay in school. Come up with an idea for an article, letter, flier, or video presentation that tells donors about the event.

• Look up info: real touring dates or local band schedules, venue availability, collect data number of kids they aim to help, etc.

• What info do you need to create this message?

• What would be a reasonable project schedule?

• What computer tools could you use to organize your information and create the communication piece?

Drafting Tips

• Avoid perfectionism. • Keep going.

• Use any strategies that will keep you working productively.

Computer Tools for Drafting

Explore these word-processing features:

• Help feature to adjust settings • Built-in styles and themes

• Save settings

• Speech recognition

What are your favorite ways to draft text?

Revision Steps

• Top-level revising • Editing for style

• Proofreading

You Revise It

Read this draft of a memo, then make suggestions for revision.

In the new perf review program we will be rolling out soon, maybe next week, we will have managers meet individually with all their direct reports. Then they will meet with small groups of reports later. They will meet with these reports at set times to be decided on between the manager and report, at a time convenient to both. These meetings between managers and reports will take place sometimes in the next two weeks, if possible and able, or they can take place the following week, if neccessary. All meetings that arent’ have not been finished by May 30 will not be included in the annual performance records and so should really happen before that date if at all possible.

What principles guided your revision suggestions?

Computer Tools for Revising and Editing Explore these word-processing features:

• Find and replace

• Comment and track • Auto correct

• Spell check • Thesaurus

• Grammar and style check

• IRM (Information rights management)

Business Message Forms §Letters

§Memos §Email

§Text and Instant Messages §Social Media

Which ones do you use more often in your work? Which ones do you see businesses using? Which ones are used less or not at all? Why?

Letters

• Most traditional form

• Used to correspond outside an organization

• Not as formal as they once were

• Strategic for achieving a business goal

Letter Format

You Write It

You are an intern at a business journal and have been tasked with requesting the presence of a local construction company CEO, who happens to be a woman, on a panel at a community impact conference your journal is sponsoring. You admire this particular company’s practices and want to make a favorable impression on the CEO.

How would you construct your letter?

Memos • Written internally

• More formal than email

• Formatted with • date

• to

• from

• subject

• Meant to share factual, problem-related info; can be classified as reports

• Being replaced by email

Memo Format

You Make the Call: Memo or No?

All employees you manage have email access. In which instances would you send a memo instead of an email? Why?

• You want to circulate a print journal article that features reviews of your products to key team members.

• You want to let a large number of employees know about a significant change to your health insurance policy.

• You want to gather donations for a gift to a coworker who has recently lost a loved one.

• You want to remind employees of an urgent deadline for certain tax-related forms to be turned in.

• You want to distribute an agenda regarding an executive-level meeting to discuss certain sensitive company policies.

Email §Advantages

• Is quick and low on cost

• Eliminates telephone tag • Speeds up decisions

• Provides a written record §Disadvantages

• Is not confidential

• Can be misunderstood or used to avoid difficult live conversations • May not communicate writer’s emotional intent

• May be ignored

Email Form

§Header: includes To, Cc, Bcc

§Subject: short (5–7 words), clear, and descriptive

§Salutation: formal, informal, or generic—depends on relationship with recipient

§Message: to the point

§Closing: informal or more formal, in keeping with tone

§Attachment: includes only what reader needs

Email Wall of Shame 1. Using vague subject lines such as “meeting.” 2. Hiding the main point.

3. Using the “bcc” field to be sneaky in communication.

4. Not deleting strings of replies unnecessary to the recipient. 5. Ignoring grammar and mechanics.

What email offenses would you add?

Email Structure and Style

Three categories of messages

• Casual: resembles conversation, best limited to close friends

• Informal: is more organized and well-constructed

• Formal: resembles a report

All good business emails are written to achieve communication goals, promote goodwill, and present a professional image.

Email Etiquette Checklist üIs your message needed?

üIs your message for routine or for sensitive material? üIs your message spam?

üIs your recipient list correct?

• Has everyone necessary been copied? (Don’t offend by omission.)

üHave you proofread carefully?

üDoes your signature avoid offensive quotes?

You Send It

Group A: You want to add some key words to a presentation slide one of your team members is preparing for a meeting at 4pm today. You know he doesn’t have a lot of time to do this, and you also were supposed to have all changes in yesterday. Write an email to request your changes.

Group B: You receive an email from one of your team members that requests changes to a presentation you already finalized this morning. You know you will have to make the changes anyway. How do you respond?

Texts and IM

§Used for promotions, brand awareness, customer relations, time-sensitive messages

§Typically formed with a max of 150 characters Some tips for using texts and IM:

• Cover all critical information. • Keep it short.

• Strive for clarity.

• Maintain a conversational tone. • Adapt messages to the audience.

• Keep language and content professional.

Which Text Is Best?

1. Marina Smith is a vegetarian. Where shall we take her to lunch today? Zach.

2. Marina Smith is a vegetarian. Shall we go to 1) Fish House, 2) Souplantation, 3) Mandarin House? All are available at noon. Zach.

3. Add your own!

Social Media

Which businesses or brands are using social media well? What do they gain and/or lose from using social media?

Social Media Uses §Communicating with customers or clients §Publicizing or promoting products §Communicating internally

§Networking

§Evaluating potential employees

Reminder: Nothing on these sites is confidential. Your employer (or a potential employer) may view them.

Social Media Warnings

§Reppler, a social media monitoring service, found that more than 90% of recruiters and hiring managers have visited a candidate’s profile.

§69 percent rejected (and 68 percent hired) a candidate based on profile.

You Make the Call (2)

You are in charge of developing a new social media policy for your start-up app design firm. You have some apps in development that are top secret due to piracy concerns.

• What will you restrict employees from posting about on social media?

• Your company is brand new and still developing its image. Do you want employees to list the company name as their employer on social media, or not?

• What will you encourage employees to post on social media?

• Will you also allow employees to use social media at work for personal purposes?

Future Technology

§Developments in social media

§Mobile personal business solutions

§Cloud computing