Business Writing - Get Results - No Stress

Plan by asking the Why, Who, What, How, Where and When of your writing.

Fit what you write into the general flow of busines communication which is always about current circumstances, how they can be improved and the plan of action. You will always be writing about some aspect of this genaral flow. A performance appraisal, for example, fits that model when helping an employee work out how to develop their career.

Use SPIN, SWOT, PEST, AIDA and KISS to guide the reader through to your intended outcome.

Mind Maps from the lecture attached as swf and pdf formats.
Message me if you want me to send you the .mmap file extension for use with Mind Manager.

Remember that people do not read until they have scanned your writing up to 9 times, so make sure that you check how your eye naturally moves across the page.

Use of metaphor as the way to write in a way that ideally suits the reader.

Comparing new things to those things with which we are familiar helps communicate complex ideas quickly.

Importance of paying close attention to the language used in normal conversation by the potential reader.

Scenario of writing a Direct Mail Letter to raise awareness of a delicate topic - Funeral Insurance Planning.

Tough challenge and a sensitive topic.

Doing the research first using SPIN and other tools to take a helicopter view of our subject and audience before taking any decisions on the type of letter and the content.

Step back from starting to write and consider your objectives and the mindset of the audience before employing your time and energy on writing content. Research will vary from market to market but the guiding principle is good old common sense.

It's easy to ignore this step and assume you know best but avoid the temptation as new ideas could emerge and it's costly to correct your mistakes at a later date.

How to craft a headline for a Direct Mail Letter to grab attention.
AIDA - attention - interest - desire - action.
KISS - keep it short and simple.
3 Logical and 3 Emotional points to win interest and desire to act.

First look at how to layout a good Direct Mail Letter with the eye guided through indented keywords.

Logical and emotional drivers centred in the page and surrounded by white space.

Deciding on the type of document to present based on knowledge of the recipient and the kind of realistic next action we can expect from them.

Presenting the key data

First comparison of before and after versions of the same content.

Analysis of the good and bad examples.
Guiding the eye.
Use of Plain Language.
Headline at the first fold which is where the eye naturally falls.
Logical and Emotional drivers in punchy text centred into the page and in lots of white space.
Less is more but it takes a lot of planning.

Legal requirement to write in Plain Language (PL).
Readers expect PL as much of what they read is in that form.
Write as if you were talking to a friend - you would not use dazzling long words in that case.
Favour concrete words over concepts where you can.
Put the doer in a sentence first to make most impact.
How to handle abbreviations.
Tool to test you ability to write in Plain Language.

Setting up a new scenario - proposing the consideration of a new software package in your company.
HIgh pressure situation for sending an email to the leaders in a business.
Use of the core planning process.
Matching metaphors used by recipients to create maximum resonance.
Varying your content to ensure all readers feel they are being addressed.

Gain attention with a standout subject line.
Consider the Subject - Target Reader - Intended Outcome model.
Write in punchy bullet points.
Use emotional and logical drivers.
Guide the eye using the F schematic.
In the content use a range of metaphors to appeal to different audience types.
Include the most relevent hard data points in the body text.
Have a beginning, middle and end following the story model.

Think about what works best for you in the emails you receive.
Emails are best when kept short and simple - KISS.
Run spell, grammar, punctuation and the clarity test before hitting send.
Don't write when you are over-emotional.
To avoid any disasters, add the recipients after you regain emotional control.

Use the "Where are we, where are we going" model but place emphasis on the phase which in context demands the most attention.
Grab attention with a punchy report title written in headline format.
Write a well thought out executive summary - this might be all that gets read.
Guide the eye using AIDA and all the formatting principles.
Include a table of contents.
Cite all your research sources and others books you have used to build your argument.
Include simple graphics to reinforce your point and guide the eye. 
Scan the document to gauge how the graphics affect the flow of the eye.
Provide weblinks to reports on file servers to avoid sending very large emails.

A presentation is an Executive Summary packed with emotional content to make it easy to recall.
Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them then tell them what you just told them - repetion works.
Prove you can help them see wood for trees - show them that you have leadership skills.
The audience will relax once they know you have control of your subject.
Run with your main points using the 80:20 rule.
Paint pictures with words and use supporting graphics with 3 word bullets.
Check commercial rights usage and source free images with Google Advanced Image search.

Simple three part layout.
Importance of grabbing attention with a graphic and headline.
Simple call to action.
Audience must get if fast.

Learn the formal etiquette of letter writing.
Dear, sincerely and faithfuly to begin and end.
Centre a simple explanatory headline.
Short punchy paragraphs with limited indenting.
Prefer We and You over I.
Run all the checks to prevent silly errors.

Make sure that before the reader flicks straight to the price (which they will do) you add plenty of re-statements of your features and benefits.
Start with your own 2 page summary even if you have to fill in their own proposal document.
Include your top reasons to buy in the executive summary.
Add sections to cover what you wil be responsible for and what the client is expected to do within the deal.
Place price at the end and wrap it up in feature and benefit statements.

Emphasise the action elements of the next steps required to make the agreed plan progress.
Memo means "aid to memory" so only include supporting arguments if the context demands it..
Write the entire memo in headline format - the punchier the better.

Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation can affect how people think about you; if you persistently make errors or take people to task for very minor mistakes.
If you regularly make mistakes but don't know why then get yourself checked for word blindness.
If you can't relax until it's perfect consider getting support for control issues.
Try to get it right first time,most of the time, without it stalling your ability to communicate.

8 minutes of video on the most commly reported grammatical errors.
Replay a few times to embed the learning but use online tools if you wish to take your learning to the next level.
Your focus should be on making your point, not on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Subtle differences from inter-personal communication.
Expectations of graphic design are very high.
Legal constraints on distribution to prevent spam.
Availability of specialist tools - highly recommended.
Keyword research is imperative.
Use wikipedia, bulletin-boards, blogs and books and use chapter headings as indicators of what interests readers at the level below the headline.
Content layout follows guidelines but you have to creatively include keywords whilst still making it all read well.

Write for the audience and the Search Engines.
Get all your positive news about beneficial change upfront.
Include company and contact details.
DO YOUR KEYWORD RESEARCH.
Gey keywords into the headline and first 100 words.
Get others to look at the headline and ask "So what?"

Keep your focus on search engine optimisation within reasonable limits.

One key phrase - "Something that would work better for me is......."  - to give feedback.
"What would work better for you?" to request feedback.

A simple metaphor can convey all the meaning in one image.

As you write think of yourself in the role of a gude on a forest trail. You know the terrain well and can and want to give clear desrciptions of the landscape and directions with it. You'd almost certainly keep it simple and be chocking to se if you got your message across.

Metaphor can do a lot of the hard work for you.