Unit 3 Assignment - Top 5 Business Writing Tips (BUS311 Managerial Communication)

September 2019

Top 5 Tips for Effective Business Writing

THE BUSINESS POST

Hello and welcome back to this month’s “The Business Post,” where every month we discuss ways to improve yourself in the business world. This month, we will be diving into the Top 5 Tips for Effective Business Writing. When it comes to writing emails, composing mail or finalizing reports, it is important to have strong business writing skills. Here below are some of the best tips for getting there:

1. READ! – No bit of writing advice is complete without the directive to read. And for good reason. Learning to write well is like learning a language. You should read what you want to write, which means consciously combing through business publications and news reports in order to pick out vocabulary, terms and ideas that others use in their writing (Roltman, 2013).

2. STRUCTURE! – Make what you’re writing is easy to follow by structuring it well. Have one-point flow naturally into the next. Spend time planning your structure when you start and you’ll save time at the writing stage – and the result will be better. Also, avoid long and complicated sentences. Use simple world and phrases in order to get your point across (SpeakFirst, 2016).

3. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR READER! – Know your audience. An email to an important client should use a much different tone, style, and vocabulary than an email to your significant other. But you also need to account for your readers’ knowledge, value, and biases in order to win them over. Only by understanding how your readers think and feel can you focus your language in a way that best resonates with your audience (Roltman, 2013).

4. KNOW THAT YOU’RE TRYING TO ACHEIVE! – Understand what your aim is. Sometimes you simply need to give information, but often you will be seeking to influence others. Either way, it is important to get your point across effectively, and being as clear as possible about what your goal is will allow you to formulate key messages that achieve it (SpeakFirst, 2016).

5. PROOFREAD! – When you have completed your final draft, read through it one or two more times to pick up on missing or misplaced punctuation, misspelling, and other typos. Nothing can kill your credibility faster than a typo can (Roltman, 2013).

Writing, like anything, takes years to master. But by focusing more consciously on what you’re reading and what you’re writing — at the level of the entire document, the paragraph, the sentence, and the word — you can become more conscious of the effects your writing has and deploy them with authority (Roltman, 2013).

Remember to tune in next month when we will discuss how to “Dress for Success!” Have a great day!

References

SpeakFirst. (20 January 2016). 10 Top Tips for Effective Business Writing. Retrieved 24 September 2019, from

https://blog.speak-first.com/10-top-tips-for-effective-business-writing

Roltman D. (15 September 2013). HuffPost. 5 Business Writing Tips to Make Readers Hang on your Every Word.

Retrieved 24 September 2019, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-business-writing-tips-t_b_3600479