We were all taught how to write from early days of our lives. Back then, our writings are being evaluated on how legible it was written, how it conforms to the grammar rules, and how fast can we write our ideas. In other words, the writing were taught then are more of structures and length rather than style and purpose.
But impactful business writing is not like that. Here are some tips to make business writing as effective as it is intended:
1. Balance style with purpose and grammar. There is a tendency to for us to think that impactful business writing needs to be so technical that a writer is not allowed to inject his own style. According to smallbiztrends.com, business writing should not only focus on the content and grammar rules but the writer should also be comfortable on how he is writing it (style).
2. Be clear as to what you really want to say. Avoid ambiguous statements and words than can cause confusion and that are hard for others to understand. Jargons, scientific words or foreign phrases should be avoided. Not all people know what they mean. Jobs & Hire advises that if you can't avoid using jargons, then you should at least define them.
3. Simplify your thoughts. There are a lot of shorter words that can be used to replace longer statements but convey the same idea. Instead of saying "After arduous fact-checking, there was no payment found on...", write "after checking the ledger, no payment was posted on.."
4. Using active verbs rather than passive verbs is also a good business writing practice. Active verbs tend to be more straightforward and action-directed. Forbes suggested a basic sentence construction-subject, verb, and object. Example, "The company bus leaves at 5:00pm" is better than "At 5:00pm, the company bus will leave".
5. Guard your grammar. For impactful business writing, like most other forms of writing, it should be devoid of grammatical errors. Consult Grammar and Style books as needed. It won't hurt.
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