Business
Writing
Creating
a message
-- Important points to
consider:
a) Who is
the reader?
- A document
is only useful if the reader finds it useful. There may be more
than one intended reader.
- What does
your reader need to know? What does s/he want to hear? These
may not be the same thing!
- What do they
already know? Repeating known information wastes time and effort.
b) What
readers don't want:
- Remember--they
probably don't want to read anything! Construct your message
so they want to continue reading it.
- They don't
want lots of information. Give the reader just enough information
to do the job.
- They don't
want a history lesson or a story. Very few managers read business
documents from beginning to end. They want USEFUL INFORMATION.
Stories are history lessons about the past; a useful business
document will probably be about what to do in the future.
c) What
do you want your reader to do?
- e.g. After
reading the document I want my reader to:
- Attend a
meeting/Give me answers/Buy my product
- Stop complaining/
Give me an opinion
- Investigate
a problem/Put the problem right
- Agree with
me/Finish the job/Gather information
- Prepare a
presentation... etc.
After considering
points a), b) and c) above:
PREPARE
A DRAFT MESSAGE
Top of page
Editing
Your Message(1)
Editing your message (2)
Editing your Message (3)
Confusion Zones