Strand’s Simply Writing Tips
Writing Effective Messages (1)
The
following article is the first in a series of guidelines for writing more
effective messages more easily.
Every time you write an e-mail, a letter, a Facebook message, an
article—wherever you say it with words—you have an opportunity to make
something happen. If you
choose your words thoughtfully, you can help achieve a goal—no matter how
trivial that might be—and build your own credibility.
Before
you choose the words you want to use, keep in mind the following easy
guidelines.
1.
Identify the recipient’s characteristics. Is it someone who is always in a hurry
and thus will only read part of your message? Is it someone who needs to be convinced, requiring more
details? Is this a procrastinator
who you know will need follow-up messages to achieve action? Is this a group of people who you don’t
know? Does the group have any
common characteristics you could address? Or, do you have no idea about the
recipient, suggesting a more general approach?
2.
Know what you want to accomplish. What is it you want your reader to
do? There are many reasons for
writing:
a. to
introduce yourself or your company;
b. to
correct a mistake – theirs or yours;
c. to
complain about poor service or a defective product.
If you are clear
in your own head what you want to accomplish, you will have direction when you
write. This is true for the
simplest e-mail. Just ask yourself
when you start writing it: What do
I want the recipient to do?
3.
Inform the reader immediately what you want—in the opening
statement. There are some
exceptions to this rule, but in general your first sentence should be an action
statement: this is what you want
them to do or this is what you want them to know. I find it exasperating to get a message that doesn’t tell me
until the end what I’m supposed to do.
Or worse, the requested action is buried in the middle somewhere. Often,
I miss the requested action, and neglect to respond appropriately. If you tell us immediately what
you want, we are more likely to read on to understand why we should do it, and
are more likely to do as you request.
4.
Provide supporting statements. After you have stated what you want,
amplify your request. This is
where you provide the details for the reader to give your message
credibility. When you have
clearly stated your goal in the beginning, these supporting statements help to
convince the reader to do what you want.
5.
Inform the reader clearly what the result or
benefit will be of doing what you ask.
Make a simple concluding statement: the result of learning about my new company is that you will
have a place to go to buy the most unique widget. When you need a widget, you will be happy that you know
about it.
In the next articles, I will
provide some tips and exercises on how to compose each of these various
components of effective business communications. In the meantime, when you get ready to write your next
business e-mail to customers, members, vendors, or colleagues, focus on your
goal and what you want to achieve.
See if that helps turn writing into a simple tool rather than a complex
drudgery.
Joyce T. Strand, Author
Jillian Hillcrest Mysteries
http://joycestrand.com
Strand’s Simply Writing
Writing Effective Messages(2)
The
following article is the second in a series to help you write more effective messages
more easily. Every time you write
an e-mail, a letter, a Facebook message, an article—wherever you write it with
words—you have an opportunity to make something happen. If you choose your words
thoughtfully, you can help achieve a goal—no matter how trivial that might
be—and build your own credibility.
In
the first article, I outlined five easy steps to achieve effective business
communications: (1) identify your recipient (2) formulate a clear objective
before you start writing (3) draft an action statement of what you want your
reader to do as your first sentence (4) provide supporting statements for
credibility (5) conclude with the
benefit or result if the reader complies.
In
this article, I will further explore how to target your e-mail, letter, social
media, or profile that you are scribing to address the characteristics of the
recipient.
It
helps to draft a more effective message if you understand the characteristics
of the recipient. Do they get a
lot of messages or letters? How
much time will they take to read your message?
Is the recipient
someone who values details? If so, be prepared to supply them. Or, does the recipient appreciate
brevity and typically adopts a “Just say it” approach. If you know anything about the recipient,
keep their traits in mind as you are composing your message and be sure to make
the message as brief or as detailed as your recipient will appreciate. Understanding the recipient will
provide additional guidance for you as you compose your message.
If
you are sending a message to a group, it helps to identify the common
characteristics of the group. For
example, if you are writing to members of the Rotary Club, the Chamber of
Commerce, or your non-profit Board, keep in mind their commonality and be sure
to mention it. It might also be
helpful to review other messages they receive in their role as members of the
organization to gain insight into what they are accustomed to reading.
If
you don’t know about the recipient’s habits, typically it’s better to err on
the side of brevity offering additional information if requested. People in general are more likely to
read shorter, get-to-the-point messages.
Alternatively, you can supply backup information as an attachment in the
case of an e-mail or include additional printed materials if sending a printed
letter.
In
the next articles, I will provide some tips and exercises on how to compose
each of the various components of effective message communications. In the meantime, when you get ready to
write your next business e-mail to customers, vendors, members, or colleagues,
focus on what you know about your recipients and on what your goal is. See if that helps turn writing into a
simple tool rather than a complex drudgery.
Joyce T. Strand, Author
Jillian Hillcrest Mysteries
http://joycestrand.com
Strand’s
Simply Writing
Writing Effective Messages (3)
The
following article is the third in a series to help you write more effective
business messages more easily.
Every time you write an e-mail, a letter, a Facebook message, an
article—wherever you write it with words—you have an opportunity to make
something happen. If you
choose your words thoughtfully, you can help achieve a goal—no matter how
trivial that might be—and build your credibility.
In
the first article, I outlined five easy guidelines to achieve effective
business communications: (1) identify your recipient’s characteristics (2)
formulate a clear objective before you start writing (3) draft an action
statement of what you want your reader to do as your first sentence (4) provide
supporting statements for credibility
(5) conclude with the benefit or result if the reader complies.
In
this article, I will further explore how to simply and quickly formulate a
clear objective of your e-mail, letter, social media, or profile you are
scribing.
First,
there are many reasons for business communications—you are not just writing a
friendly “How are you?” letter.
After you have identified the characteristics of who should receive your
message, think about the reasons you are writing and keep the objective at the
forefront of your thinking as you compose your message:
·
Change – to get the recipient to correct a
mistake, change different direction, or make different choices.
o
To correct a mistake on your bill
o
To supplement or amend an error in a memo that
was sent at work
o
To recommend alternatives to throwing away
cardboard boxes or electronics
·
Invitation: To attend a fundraising event or join an organization
·
Follow-up:
We didn’t hear from you and we need to know your response
·
Purchase:
Buy a product or ticket
·
Introduction: To familiarize recipient with your name to prepare for
future messages.
·
Reminder:
to keep your name in front of the reader to build momentum. This could
be in the form of a thank you or thinking about you.
·
Inform:
o
Change of schedule
o
New location
o
Interesting—and relevant—factoid to establish
you as expert
·
Complain:
o
Ranting without purpose is not usually
effective.
o
Prepare a coherent case for your complaint to
achieve the result you want.
Take the time to
reflect what you want to achieve with your message and what you want your
reader to do.
In the next
article, I will provide some tips and exercises on how to compose that first
action statement that is so important to achieve results. In the meantime, when you get ready to
write your next business e-mail to customers, vendors, members, or colleagues,
focus on your goal and what you want to achieve. See if that helps turn writing into a simple tool rather
than a complex drudgery.
Joyce T. Strand, Author
Jillian Hillcrest Mysteries
http://joycestrand.com
Strand’s Simply Writing
Writing Effective Messages (4)
The
following article is the fourth in a series to help you write more effective messages
more easily. Every time you write
an e-mail, a letter, a Facebook message, an article—wherever you write it with
words—you have an opportunity to make something happen. If you choose your words
thoughtfully, you can help achieve a goal—no matter how trivial that might
be—and build your credibility.
In
the first article, I outlined four easy steps to achieve effective business
communications: (1) identify the
recipient’s characteristics (2) formulate a clear objective before you start
writing (3) draft an action statement of what you want your reader to do as
your first sentence (4) provide supporting statements for credibility and (5)
conclude with what the benefit or result will be if the reader complies.
In
the second article, I highlighted how to take advantage of your knowledge of
your recipient to help target your message. In the third article, I amplified how to simply and quickly
formulate a clear objective of your e-mail, letter, social media, or profile
that you are scribing.
This article
focuses on how to formulate that critical first sentence to let the recipient
know what you expect and why you are writing. It is the most important part of your message and should be
forceful to inform the reader immediately what you want. Take a few minutes to review the
following examples and then draft a few practice action statements. When practicing, it helps to start with
“I am writing you to ask you . . .”
Eventually, you may drop this statement.
·
Objective
of Message:
o Change
– to get the recipient to correct a mistake or proceed in a different direction
or make different choices.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement:
o I
am writing to ask you to correct a mistake you made on my bill.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Introductory Opening Action Statement:
o Write
a first statement that asks your recipient to correct the listing by a local
garage of your car and its license.
You do not know the recipient.
o Write
a first statement that addresses the misspelling of your name. You do not know the recipient.
o Write
a first statement that tells Harry he made a mistake in his recent memo; you
need him to send out a message correcting that statement. Harry is your boss.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Invitation: To get the recipient to attend a
fundraising event or join an organization
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o This
is a special invitation to invite you as a premier member of our organization
to a unique event designed for you to have fun and simultaneously raise funds
for our cause.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Introductory Opening Action Statement
o Write
a first statement to invite someone to join your organization, e.g., the
Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, or your weekly meeting of those concerned
about the future of education in California. You do not know the recipient.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Introduction: To familiarize recipient with your name
to prepare for future messages.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o Please
make a note of my new company McCloughan and Schmeltz Publishing LLC
(mccloughanandschmeltz.com) so that you are prepared to consult us when you
need help to self-publish your book.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Introductory Opening Action Statement
o Write
a first statement that introduces you to a new organization you’ve joined so
that they’ll consider you for future activities. You have knowledge of the recipients, who tend to be
detail-oriented.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Complaint:
Ranting without purpose is not
usually effective. Prepare a coherent
case for your complaint to achieve the result you want.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o The
service I received at your company was not acceptable and, unless corrected,
will lead at best to my and other customers turning to your competitors.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Introductory Opening Action Statement
o Draft
a first sentence letting your car dealer know that you are dissatisfied with
the service you received that involved repeated trips to the garage and an
engine that still stops working at every stop sign. You don’t care that you know the recipient prefers brevity!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
In the next
article, I will provide some tips and exercises on how to compose the
supporting statements to add credibility and make your message convincing. In the meantime, when you get ready to
write your next business e-mail to customers, vendors, or colleagues, focus on
your goal and practice with an action first-sentence. See if that helps turn writing into a simple tool rather
than a complex drudgery.
Joyce T. Strand, Author
Jillian Hillcrest Mysteries
http://joycestrand.com
Strand’s Simply Writing
Writing Effective Messages (5)
The
following article is the fifth in a series to help you write more effective messages
more easily. Every time you write
an e-mail, a letter, a Facebook message, an article—wherever you write it with
words—you have an opportunity to make something happen. If you choose your words
thoughtfully, you can help achieve a goal—no matter how trivial that might
be—and build your credibility.
In
the first article, I outlined five easy steps to achieve effective business
communications: (1) identify
recipient characteristics (2) formulate a clear objective before you start
writing (3) draft an action statement of what you want your reader to do as
your first sentence (4) provide supporting statements for credibility and (5)
conclude with the benefit or result if the reader complies.
In
the second article, I highlighted how you could target your message with
knowledge of your recipient. Next,
I amplified how to simply and quickly formulate a clear objective of your
e-mail, letter, social media, or profile that you are scribing. In the next article, we
worked on how to draft an action-oriented first sentence to clearly define what
you expect the recipient to do.
Now
it is time to develop the supporting sentences to add credibility and convince
your reader to do what you’re asking.
Supporting sentences should be factual and/or clarifying statements to
reinforce your action request and enable the recipient to comply with your
request. So if you’re asking the
reader to correct a mistake on your bill, provide the information about the
mistake. Or if you are offering
information you want the reader to store for future action, suggest the details
that will make it worthwhile.
Following are some examples of supporting statements along with
suggested exercises to help you strengthen your skills.
·
Objective
of Message:
o Change
– to get the recipient to correct a mistake or proceed in a different direction
or make different choices.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement:
o You
need to correct some misleading information that you recently sent to several
of us.
·
Example
of Supporting Statement
o You
may not have been aware that we changed the time for our meeting, and therefore
will need to adjust the due dates of several items, including the one you
covered in your e-mail.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Supporting Statement:
o Write
a statement that supports your opening action statement to correct the listing
by a local garage of your car and its license.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Invitation: To attend a fundraising event or join
an organization
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o This
is an early invitation to invite you as a special member of our organization to
an event at a unique venue, designed for you to enjoy and to raise money for
our cause.
·
Example
of Supporting Statement
o Mark
your calendar to come to Sam’s Castle in Pacifica overlooking the ocean in a
100-year-old castle built to withstand earthquakes and fires at the beginning
of the 20th century. We
have planned some interesting visitors to help with parlor games and skits to
raise money for the cause. Our
goal is to raise $100,000.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Supporting Statements
o Write
supporting statements for the following action statement:
You are invited to join the
Chamber of Commerce [or Rotary Club] or your weekly meeting of those concerned
about the future of education in California. You do not know the recipient, although you are aware they
are interested in the group.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Introduction: To familiarize recipient with your name
to prepare for future messages.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o Please
make a note of my new company McCloughan and Schmeltz Publishing LLC
(mccloughanandschmeltz.com) so that you are prepared to consult us when you
need help to self-publish your book.
·
Example
of Supporting Message
o McCloughan
and Schmeltz specializes in making it easy for you to self-publish your latest
book. We offer a variety of
packages for you to select how much you want us involved with the choice of a
percentage or flat payment options.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Supporting Statements
o Write
supporting statements to corroborate your introduction of you as a new member
of a group. Your opening action
statement is: I am pleased to be
joining you in [Rotary Club or book club, ??] and look forward to working with
you on various activities. You’ll
want to highlight your qualifications of why you believe you will be a valuable
member of the group.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the next
article of this series, I will provide some tips and exercises on how to
compose concluding statements to “seal the deal” by clearly stating the benefit
to the recipient of doing what you ask.
In the meantime, when you get ready to write your next business e-mail
to customers, vendors, members, or colleagues, focus on your objective,
practice with an action first-sentence, and compose one or two supporting
sentences. See if that helps
turn writing into a simple tool rather than a complex drudgery.
Joyce T. Strand, Author
Jillian Hillcrest Mysteries
http://joycestrand.com
Strand’s Simply Writing
Writing Effective Messages (6)
The
following article is the sixth and final in a series to help you write more
effective messages more easily.
Every time you write an e-mail, a letter, a Facebook message, an
article—wherever you write it with words—you have an opportunity to make
something happen. If you
choose your words thoughtfully, you can help achieve a goal—no matter how
trivial that might be—and build your credibility.
In
the first article, I outlined five easy guidelines to achieve effective
business communications: (1)
identify recipient characteristics (2) formulate a clear objective before you
start writing (3) draft an action statement of what you want your reader to do
as your first sentence (4) provide supporting statements for credibility (5)
conclude with the benefit or result if the reader complies.
In
the second article, I highlighted how you could target your message with
knowledge of your recipient. Next,
I amplified how to simply and quickly formulate a clear objective of your
e-mail, letter, social media, or profile that you are scribing. Then, we worked on drafting
action-oriented first sentences to clearly define what you expect the recipient
to do, followed by suggestions of how to compose supporting statements to add
credibility to your request.
Now
it is time to write that concluding statement that will “seal the deal.” Since we are asking the recipient to do
something—to remember your name, correct a mistake, or add your name to a
special list—we need to say why it is in the recipient’s best interest to do
so. We have already provided the supporting
statements that amplify the request.
Now it’s time to clearly state the benefit of positive response—even if
it might be passive in the form of just remembering your name.
This
benefit statement is more than just a summary of your opening and supporting
sentences. It is a synthesis of
those statements that reaches a conclusion. As you practice writing your concluding statements, you
might add the words: “You will
benefit from doing this by . . .”
Again, eventually you can drop these introductory words, but to help
drive your words, they can be helpful.
·
Objective
of Message:
o Change
– to get the recipient to correct a mistake or proceed in a different direction
or make different choices.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement (to your boss):
o You
need to correct some misleading information that you recently sent to several
of us.
·
Example
of Supporting Statement
o You
may not have been aware that we changed the time for our meeting, and therefore
will need to adjust the due dates of several items, including the one you
covered in your e-mail.
·
Example
of Concluding Statement
o By
sending a message with the correct information to all of us, you can quickly
fix the error and we can all adjust our schedules appropriately with little
effort. Alternatively, if you
prefer I send the message, please let me know.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Concluding Statement:
o Write
a concluding statement that explains to your local garage the value of
correctly listing the make of your car and its license.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Invitation: To attend a fundraising event or join
an organization
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o This
is an early invitation to invite you as a special member of our organization to
an event on this date at a unique venue, designed for you to enjoy and to raise
money for our cause.
·
Example
of Supporting Statement
o Mark
your calendar to come to Sam’s Castle in Pacifica overlooking the ocean in a
100-year-old castle built to withstand earthquakes and fires at the beginning
of the 20th century. We
have planned some interesting visitors to help with parlor games and skits to
raise money for the cause. Our
goal is to raise $100,000.
·
Example
of Concluding Statement
o By
agreeing to attend this special event now by replying to this e-mail, you will
be part of an exclusive group who will receive special privileges at the event,
such as free parking, special time with our celebrity guests, and raffle
tickets. Above all, you will be
supporting our cause to enable us to achieve our 2011 goals as outlined in the
attachment.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Concluding Statement
o Write
a concluding benefit statement as part of your invitation for the recipient,
who you do not know, to join your group.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
·
Objective
of Message
o Introduction: To familiarize recipient with your name
to prepare for future messages.
·
Example
of Introductory Opening Action Statement
o Please
make a note of my new company McCloughan and Schmeltz Publishing LLC
(mccloughanandschmeltz.com) so that you are prepared to consult us when you
need help to self-publish your book.
·
Example
of Supporting Message
o McCloughan
and Schmeltz specializes in making it easy for you to self-publish your latest
book. We offer a variety of
packages for you to select how much you want us involved with the choice of
percentage or flat payment options.
·
Example
of Concluding Statement
o By
being aware of McCloughan and Schmeltz now, you are prepared for fast response
to your self-publishing needs.
Watch for future messages when we’ll alert you to some of the issues of
self-publishing to enable you to anticipate the timelines and costs.
·
Exercise
to Prepare Concluding Statements
o Write
concluding statements to corroborate your introduction of you as a new member
of a group. Your opening action
statement is: I am pleased to be
joining you in [Rotary Club or book club, ??] and look forward to working with
you on various activities. You’ll
want to conclude why they will benefit from using you to implement.
________________________________________________________________________________
You are now
prepared to write effective business messages by following some simple guidelines,
which hopefully you have assimilated.
If nothing else, keep in mind what you want your message to achieve and
state that clearly as your first statement. The rest of the message will fall into place if you keep
these two main guidelines in mind. You can help achieve a goal—no matter how trivial that
might be—and build your own credibility with effective business communications.
See if that helps
turn writing into a simple tool rather than a complex drudgery.
Joyce T. Strand, Author
Jillian Hillcrest Mysteries
http://joycestrand.com
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