You may not be writing a book, but if you’re in the business world, you’re writing thousands of words a day. Yes, in an age of the latest, greatest and smartest phones we have ever imagined (until the next one is rolled out in a few weeks), we spend more time texting and emailing than we do talking.
And, whether you like it or not, those texts and emails, along with memos, business letters, sales letters, blogs, online postings, bios, web content, ad copy, product descriptions/instructions and press releases are all forms of written communication used all the time in business. With that in mind, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Know what is and is not important: Most business communications are short and to the point. Filter out all the unnecessary details. I used to attend meetings where one member would discuss the conferences he attended. He would inform us about new ideas he learned and then branch off into ten minutes on what food was and wasn’t served. Fortunately, the menu sections didn’t make it into the minutes. Unfortunately, we had to listen to the details. Be concise and to the point when writing business communications.

2. Know your audience: Industry specific terms and references that make sense to colleagues and team members may not play well on a website, in a blog or a marketing piece written for rest of the world. Re-read your words from the perspective of someone who does not know the language or the references in your industry and don’t be afraid to explain them to a lay audience. Too often we take short cuts assuming everyone knows the terms and the references we’re using.

3. Put things in context: “How he got in my pajamas I’ll never know,” is the second half of a very old Groucho Marx joke. On its own it makes no sense. If you use the preceding line “I shot an elephant in my pajamas,” it’s worth at least a groan because you get it. We want everything written quickly today – but if you leave out the context, it may not provide the reader with the entire message…even in a memo.

4. Facts Count: Despite what you hear from Kelly Ann Conway or others in Washington, facts still need to be accurate. Theories, conjecture and assumptions are not facts. I remember working at AXA Equitable and there was a brochure coming out for a product that was available in 49 states. On the brochure it mentioned that it was not available in Oregon and Washington (the state). No matter how you slice it 49+2 =51 states. Fact is we have 50 states. Problem was that it included Washington D.C. as a state. Fact number #2, D.C. is not a state. I pointed it out to the manager of marketing who, “We’ll see what we did last time,” meaning if we had the facts wrong the last time, it’s okay to have them wrong again. No it isn’t. Gotta love corporate America.

5. Headlines Matter: If you need a headline, think about what it tells readers about the written material that follows. I recently finished a book where the author had creative headlines which gave no indication of what the chapters were about. While this may work in a novel or a mystery, it does not bode as well in business, where it can lead people astray. Creativity is great but business folks want to know what they’re going to read about from the start – they don’t have t time to read long winded material only to find out it wasn’t important to them in the first place. Also, you want keywords in your title to draw people to postings.

6. Attribution: If you’re using quotes, comments or various sources, please provide the proper attribution. It’s so embarrassing when it’s obviously not your words…and it’s easy for the reader to find the source on Google. It can be actually advantageous to include quotes from notable individuals (in the proper context) and/or outside resources.

7. It may obvious BUT – read EVERYTHING closely – especially emails and texts! Living in a fast paced world does not preclude you from taking a few precious seconds to look over what you are sending. I once invited someone to join me for lunch at the fast food restaurant Bare Burgers. However, somehow my iPhone invited him to join me for lunch at Bare Buttocks. Oops.

There are so many tips on better business writing. If you have some, please email me and I’ll post them.

Rich Mintzer

Author, ghostwriter, blogger and business writer

rsmz@optonline.net