Title: Business Writing Tips For Professionals Word Count: 980 Summary: Effective business writing skills can

help you win that million dollar contract, earn a promotion, resolve a dispute, or generate a significant increase in new business leads. Poor business writing, on the other hand, can never be undone; i t can cause you to lose business to your competition and even cost you your job. Here are 11 easy ways you can improve your business writing skills: 1. Before you write a word of copy, make sure you know who your target audience is and w... Keywords: effective, business, writing, tips, corporate, content, writer, author, ghostwri ter, ghostwriting Article Body: Effective business writing skills can help you win that million dollar contract, earn a promotion, resolve a dispute, or generate a significant increase in new business leads. Poor business writing, on the other hand, can never be undone; i t can cause you to lose business to your competition and even cost you your job. Here are 11 easy ways you can improve your business writing skills: 1. Before you write a word of copy, make sure you know who your target audience is and what specific result you d like to achieve. If it s an important business com munication, take five minutes to visualize yourself in the shoes of the recipien t and imagine what this person s world is like. What does their typical day look like? What are their unique needs, goals, and c hallenges? What problem is keeping them up at night? The more thought and resear ch you invest in understanding your target audience and how you can help them, t he more powerful and effective your business writing communications will become. 2. Avoid using your company acronyms and buzzwords. While they might seem cute a nd clever to you, it s very annoying to a busy executive who has a pile of documen ts and proposals to read. Avoid using academic language like ergo, henceforth, or so to speak, and as a general rule of thumb avoid use of technical jargon. Simplify big words: write use instead of utilize, send out instead of disseminate, fair i nstead of equitable, etc. 3. Use a strong, active voice instead of the impersonal, passive voice. The meeti ng agenda could be discussed further is passive. Let s discuss the meeting agenda is active. Express confidence and decisiveness in your business communications. Ins tead of writing, I intend to write a report on sales performance measures, which c omes across as weak and indecisive, write: I m currently writing a report on sales performance measures for completion on or before end of the second quarter. 4. Write in a conversational tone instead of alienating your readers by being to o formal and bureaucratic unless you re writing to a bureaucrat or someone who pre fers formality. Know your audience! Even if you are writing a marketing communications piece that will be read by se veral thousand potential readers, make your writing as inviting and personal as possible. You can accomplish this feat by writing to one specific person who you

can visualize as an ideal customer. Pretend you are sitting down with this pers on in a bar and having a casual conversation. Write your piece with this one per son in mind and you will positively engage thousands of readers who will feel th at you are writing directly to them! 5. Replace hyperbole with solid facts and reputable testimonials. Phrases like, W e re #1, We re the leader in our field, or We provide the best service, aren t going to you anywhere. Instead, use a fact such as stating that the President of a leadi ng association ranked your company with the highest quality score out of 500 cer tified companies. 6. Convert product features into benefits. Mentioning that you provide automated billing or an automatic domain name renewal service does not engage your custom er emotionally. Here s an example of benefit oriented copy: Our automatic domain na me renewal service will provide you with the added security and comfort of knowi ng that your domain names will never be hijacked by your competitors while freei ng up your administrative time to focus on growing your business. 7. Don t rely on editing all your important business documents from your computer desktop. Print out your document and read it out loud. If you encounter any awkw ardness in speech it means you need to re-write your piece to make it more conve rsational and flow better. By reading your document out loud, you will also be able to spot typos and error s that your computer spelling and grammar check program might not have detected. As an example, you might have written echo friendly when you really meant eco frie ndly. 8. In writing a business letter or business proposal, it is vitally important to write from your customer s perspective and what will interest them. Start off by writing about how great your customer s company is and what specific attributes yo u like about the company instead of bragging about how great your company is. To o much use of I, me, or our company is a sure sign of ego getting in the way of busine ss. Make sure to generously use You and Your in your business copy if you want to ma ke more sales. 9. Business writing is very different from writing poetry or literature. Don t mea nder or get carried away with flowery language. Write the most important point y ou want to make in the first sentence. If you are writing a sales letter, you ca n significantly increase sales by simply including a powerful P.S. at the end of the letter that summarizes the main point in a fresh way, creates a sense of ur gency, or adds further credibility. Here s a powerful example: P.S. I ve been invited to speak at your association s annual conference this coming Friday and hope to s ee you there. 10. Be clear, concise, and to the point. Don t assume readers will know what to do . Guide them by including a specific call to action: click on the link to get you r special report or call me to set up a no-cost 15 minute consultation. 11. Use word pictures to get your point across. Can you imagine the thrill and e xcitement of driving a rocket-fast, cobalt blue Porsche 911 Turbo as it whisks y ou to your desired destination? A well-written article or report can be like tha t Porsche and generate a ton of new business in half the time with more fun! Aft er all, what s more exciting, cold-calling prospects or having them call you? (If writing is a challenge, consider hiring a professional).