Business Writer? Beat the block!
How do you start writing a powerful piece of business writing?
Below is a transcript of the video.
So you’ve got to write some kind of document - whether it’s a blog post, a report, a pitch book, or even an email.
Where do you start? How do you go from that blank page to producing a powerful piece?
Well for me, getting started boils down to knowing the answers to three simple questions. And I can tell you that invariably, as a copywriter, whenever I’m struggling to get my thoughts down on paper for a client job, it’s because I’ve not been given enough information to answer these three questions. And similarly when I see clients struggling with - or failing to persuade - in their own writing, it’s because they’ve not figured out the answers to these questions either.
So what are these questions?
Basically, it boils down to who, what and why?
Who?
Let’s look at each one of these questions in turn, starting with probably the most fundamental: who?
And of course by “who?” I mean: who is my reader?
Because having a clear idea of your reader is absolutely crucial if you’re going to produce a compelling piece of writing.
And some things to consider when thinking about this question of who are:
What’s their job title?
This is really important to know because of course readers with different backgrounds, and expertise, and experiences are going to have different motivations for reading your document. So some things to think about are:
Are they external? For example, a shareholder will have very different interests from a member of the board.
Similarly what’s their level of expertise? A member of the sales team is going to be looking for different information from someone from the IT team say.
Age/gender
If you’re writing something with a more of a marketing slant, you might want to consider things like age and gender.
Now these’ll tell you what your reader’s concerns are - as well as what kind of tone of voice might resonate with them - or even alienate them.
Another question…
Is English their first language?
If so, you might want to avoid language that’s too colloquial.
Who is not my reader?
Finally, it’s always a good idea to consider the who question from the opposite standpoint: who is not my reader?
For example, if you’re writing to customers, you want to write what appeals to them, not what appeals to you or your boss!
And, in fact, this is a mistake I often see over and over again, writing for the wrong reader - or trying to persuade too many different types of readers with different motivations.
So getting a great idea in your head of who your reader is is going to be the first step to producing a powerful piece of writing.
What?
Once you’ve done that, the next question you’re going to need to ask yourself is: what?
And here specifically we’re thinking about what do I want my reader to do, know, think or feel after reading my document?
But I think above all do. This is especially true of business writing, because of course one of the defining features of business writing is that you are trying to get someone to take action, whether it’s buying your product, being persuaded to adopt your idea, or make a yes or no decision, or invest in your business.
And to take that action, your reader needs to know three things:
1) that there is an action,
2) what the action is and
3) what are the bits of information that will help them take that action - for example, step by step instructions.
So let’s drill down a little bit into this question of what, and think about what we need to think about.
What’s my Big Ask?
So the first thing to get straight in your own head before you sit down to write is, what’s my Big Ask?
In a salesy piece we’d term this big ask the Call to Action. I call it your Big Ask, because it doesn’t just apply to straightforward sales.
And very often in a piece of business writing, your Big Ask will be the whole point of your piece – it’s what journalists call the lede. So it needs to be clear, up front, in your opening lines, possibly in your headline, in your executive summary if you’re writing a report. If it’s an email it will be in your subject line potentially.
Things you need to consider when communicating your Big Ask, include:
Is the action clear?
A lot of business documents fail simply because the action is implied rather than stated outright. And the reader’s left wondering what to do after reading. So you have to be clear what the action is you want your reader to take.
For example, maybe you’re writing a report for the brand team that talks about a fall in clickthrough rates to the website this month. Well, they’re going to find your update much more useful if you can give the brand team an action that follows on from your insights. In other words, what do you recommend the team does to address the fall in hits?
Here’s another question you should think about.
What do they need to know to comply with my Big Ask?
And this might include things like when and where they should take action. Who should they contact? What’s the deadline?
What don’t I need to say?
Again, it’s useful to think of the what question from the opposite point of view - in other words what don’t I need to say to get my reader to take action. So here you’re thinking about all the things you might be tempted to include because they’re interesting, but they’re not strictly essential. And these might actually cloud your message if they are included. So ask yourself: What’s less relevant? What can I get away with leaving out? You might even want to jot these down separately to remind yourself that they’re not needed.
Why?
So that’s who and what, but there is of course a third question that will be key to getting your writing read: why?
This is specifically addressing your reader’s reasons for reading - and the questions they’ll be asking when your piece comes across their desk or appears on their screen.
Questions like:
Why should I bother reading this?
Why are you telling me this?
Why should I care about this?
And
Why should I take the action that you’re asking me to take?
In other words, what’s in it for me to keep reading?
If your piece is going to succeed, you’re going to want to address these questions within it, so, again, jot down your ideas for answers before you even start writing.
So that’s the three questions to think about before you even start writing: who, what, why?
Who is my reader? What do I want them to do after reading? And why should they care?
Remember those and you can’t go far wrong.
For more proofreading advice, enrol in the full online course, Proofread Like a Pro, available at the Doris and Bertie Writing School.
