Effective business writing

Whether you’re doing a piece of business writing yourself or using a freelance writer, keeping half a dozen key points in mind can make all the difference.

Write for your audience
There’s a natural tendency to write from your own perspective, about things that interest you. That’s usually a mistake.

Knowing who your audience are helps you provide the right sort of content, in the right language. What people generally want to know is what’s in it for them. Technical information and jargon is fine if you’re writing for a technical audience, hopeless if you’re pitching to non-specialists.

If what you want to say isn’t naturally interesting to your audience, say it differently or say something else instead. It’s a trick that works particularly well on websites – draw in potential customers with useful, relevant content before you hit them with the hard sell....

Know your business objective
Whatever you are writing, you should have one single objective that will directly contribute to the success of your business.

Trying to achieve two or more objectives is a common mistake. For example, a business plan might aim to help develop your strategy and also to raise financing. Preparing two different versions of the plan is more effective. (Start with your internal plan, then produce an edited version for lenders or investors.)

Watch out, too, for non-business objectives. Writers are particularly prone to producing good writing – for example, funny or award-winning advertisements. You don’t want laughs or awards, you want sales.

Advertise
Pieces of business writing are almost invariably trying to sell something. Advertisements obviously are, but so too are most business plans (selling the idea that you are a promising investment or a worthwhile credit risk), tender documents (convincing the buyer that you are the best supplier) and so on.

So what works for ads tends to work for any kind of business writing. Aim for a simple, clear headline message. Invest in good design (and illustrations if appropriate) – it’s the writer’s tragedy, but a good-looking document or website outweighs any amount of wordcraft. And remember that less is more – if in doubt, leave it out.

Make it real
Words are cheap. It’s easy to claim greatness, but unless your audience is particularly gullible they’re going to want evidence.

If there isn’t any evidence to back up what you’re saying, think hard about what you’re doing. A writer may be able to skate over the cracks, but addressing the underlying problem may be a better way to go.

An advertisement that promises something you can’t deliver translates into unhappy customers. A weak business plan that lures in a few suckers just means that more of you are going to lose your money.

Be excited
There’s an awful lot of boring stuff to read, from pointless memos to junk mail. So people don’t read it and if they do, they forget about it pretty quickly.

Powerful business writing needs to catch the reader’s attention right from the start and keep holding on. Too often, a strong headline or opening paragraph gradually fizzles out into writing by numbers.

A good copywriter will need to understand your business and what makes your customers (or audience) tick, so that he or she can get into their mindset and be excited by what’s being written. If a copywriter looks a bit dazed from time to time, that may explain it. 

Don’t worry about the words
Professional or amateur, writers have a tendency to agonise over individual words. In business, that’s usually overkill – most audiences won’t notice if you haven’t got your phrasing quite right or could have tweaked a sentence to make it read a little better. What they do care about – and what you need to concentrate on – is the underlying message you are putting across.

That said, you’ll want to make an exception for copywriting that needs to play on people’s emotions and one-liners where every word counts. And whatever you’re writing, it’s worth taking care over spelling and grammar, especially if you are targeting a high-end audience. A totally insignificant typo can make people question your professionalism.