Today I am going to talk about developing your writing skills. Would you like to draft and revise written pieces in a business context increasingly easier? Your writing can make a positive impression on others and enable you to achieve your purpose if you strengthen your writing skills.

Sharpening your writing skills will help you: 

1. Prove quickly that the issue is important—to your readers, not just to you.
2. Waste no time in conveying the information.
3. Write with such clarity and efficiency that reading your material will be comfortable and enjoyable.
4. Achieve a tone that makes you likeable, so your readers will want to spend time with you and your message.

Writing best practices will depend on the language you’re writing in. They’ll also rely on the setting—for instance, the degree of formality that’s expected in your industry or your organisation’s culture.

Here are your 3 Steps To Strengthen Your Writing Skills:

Clarify your purpose

When you set out to write something in a business setting, ask yourself: “What’s my purpose?”

Consider your readers’ needs

To achieve your purpose, you need to understand your audience—what they expect, what they need to know, and how they prefer to receive information. When you plan, organise, write, and revise from your readers’ points of view, they’ll better understand what you’re trying to say and what their next steps should be.

Take a reader-centred approach to your writing by asking yourself these questions:

• Will my readers be receptive, indifferent, or resistant to my message?
• What will my readers already know about the subject I’m writing about?
• How much technical information will my readers understand?
• What will my readers expect regarding length, degree of detail, tone, and other characteristics of the document I’ll be sending them?

Keep in mind: most business readers are busy—very busy. If they have to struggle to understand your written piece, they’ll stop trying. And if you don’t get to your point quickly, they’ll move on.

Once you understand your readers’ needs, plan how you’ll tailor your writing to address those needs.

Adapt to diverse audiences

Many business documents you write will go to diverse audiences—people with varying levels of expertise and interest in your content. It’s hard to write for a large, diverse group of readers, especially if you don’t know all of them.

To write well for a diverse audience, imagine you’re writing for an intelligent nonspecialist in your audience, or that you’re writing for a relative or friend. Regardless of your readers’ level of familiarly with your subject, assume that they’re intelligent. You’ll strike a balance between sophistication and accessibility. And your writing will ultimately be more appealing and more persuasive.

These are your first 3 steps that will strengthen your writing skills and will help you in planning your writing projects.

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