BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW - Part 2

Guest Author: Beverly Zibrak, President of the Word Doc, Brookline, MA

Continued from 7/13/13 post . . .

You are already an expert.

Draw from your own personal and business experience  You are already an authority on many subjects.  What places have you visited?  What are your hobbies?  How have you built a successful small business?  Answers to these questions will shed light on the broad range of things you already know.  So go ahead and write about them.

Do not put style ahead of honest communication.

Writing about down-to-earth subjects may not seem to have any style.  It is very easy to be grandiose and convince yourself that you are a bold writer.  This is not true.  The key is to write in an informed manner.  Uninformed writing is not as interesting.  The most important thing in any of your writing is that it communicates in a clear, concise and engaging style.  This is critical to creative writing but more critical to business writing.

Put your thoughts and ideas on paper.  Rely on others to edit.

If you are not a professional writer - and most business people are not - then focus on your ideas.  They are unique to you.  Put your ideas on paper, and then turn to a professional writer or editor to turn them into solid writing.  You can develop the concepts, and then let someone else polish them up.

Beverly Zibrak is President of the Word Doc, a writing and editing services firm dedicated to helping small business with all their communication needs, including web content development, press releases and marketing communications, and blog posts.  You can reach Beverly at www.worddocusa.com or 617.584.9847.