When I write a blog post or article I try to concentrate on my subject, to figure out what my audience might want to read and research all the necessary parameters concerning my subject and the objectives I want to focus on. But writing for a blog, on purpose, is quite different in style and in context, from writing in general. More so when you have to deal with business writing! In business writing, you write to reach some specific objectives and your audience and how to serve them best must comes first!
How You Handle Writing?
Writing might be a pleasure or a serious problem for many people. It is a discipline needs to be practiced constantly and requires (among other things):
- agility
- clarity
- synthetic and analytic thought
- focus
- cultivation, engagement & commitment
- accuracy
- research
- daily practice
- habit, time, resources and energy management
- suitable strategies and tactics
On the other hand, writing is also a very personal activity. It affects greatly by your character, your personality, your personal style of saying, doing or write, etc.
Either way, it is an essential part of your business, either you are an employee in a company or an entrepreneur, a blogger, a freelancer, a student, etc.
How to Write Better!
To write better you need to have always in your mind 3 basic things:
- Your goals. What you want to provide to your readers when you write a particular document! You want to inform them, to educate them, to persuade them, maybe for a cause, a new product or service? When you write you should always have in mind what you want to achieve with your writing!
- Your subject. The selection of your subject is very important during the process of writing. Depends on and influences your goals and objectives directing your reader, in the end, you want to provide (your objectives actually). Goals and subject are (or should be) in constant dynamic interdependence and should feed on the other (and the rhythm of your writing) in constant interaction
- Your audience. The audience is the most important part of this equation. You do not write in the void and you do not write for yourself or for all the world! You write for a specific reader who can benefit the most by your writings. You might be lucky to be read by many people, but the reader included in your audience are the ones you want to influence the most. When I writing these lines, I have in my mind an ideal reader (with specific demographics: man or woman, from 30-60, looking for new approaches to change some things in his/her life, or for starting up something new, or for new personal and business opportunities, etc.), who can use and take action on the ideas described here!
Beyond these generic steps, of course, there are many strategies, sectoral tactics, ideas, templates, techniques, and approaches specific to certain sectors, which can help you to write more effectively (effect depends on the area you operate in and for some areas there are specific metrics on effectiveness. For instance, effectiveness in copywriting is depended on, among other things, with the sales of a particular service, products, etc.)
But, at the end of the day, all these depend on your personal goals your writing skills, and your personal style to be expressed in a proper way (proper in relation to your audience) and received in an intended manner!
What Business Writing Ought To Be
Writing for business, for marketing or sales though may prove to be much more difficult, considering the many factors come into play! Writing in business is not an idle activity. It is a tool used to communicate, to inform, to persuade, to educate and to affect the opinion of a group of people toward a product, services, case, etc.
Writing for business should be:
- Have objectives and goals
- SMART
- Addressed to the specific audience for which the document is created
- Take consideration the niche market for which the document addressed to
Due to its importance, business writing cannot be generic. On the contrary, it ought to be specific and with special objectives! It needs, first of all, to be SMART and focused on the particular subject it covers. Furthermore, cannot be a document addressed to the public per se.
Business writing should be specific for the market segment it is addressed to! Only in this way, the document you produce can provide more value to the people for whom it is developed!
What do you say? How is always possible to write for your audience? Please send me your thoughts!