Writing Business Messages

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Purdue University
Writing Lab
Know your audience

 Business writing is persuasive writing.

 At the most basic level, business writing seeks
to convince the reader that what is being said
is true.
 Some business writing will try to persuade the
reader to take an action or think about
something a certain way.
Know your audience
 You will be able to write
most persuasively if you
know your audience
and their expectations
and if you organize your
message to address
their needs.
Know your audience

• Sometimes you will know your audience

personally.
• Other times you will not know your audience
personally, or you will need to write to more than
one person.
When you know your reader
 Put yourself in your  If your message does
reader’s place and not meet your reader’s
look at your message needs or if it isn’t
through that person’s written at his or her
eyes. level of understanding,
your message may be
ignored.
When you know your reader
 Before you write, ask yourself these questions about
your reader:
– How interested or involved in the subject is my reader?
– How knowledgeable is he or she on the subject?
– What is my reader’s purpose for reading? To make a
decision? To be better informed?
– Does my reader have special concerns or strong views about
the subject? What are they?
– How does my reader regard me personally and
professionally?
– What is my reader’s style of doing business?
When you do not know your reader

 Thereare two general types of business

readers: skimmers and skeptics.

 Your documents will be most effective if you

write for both types of readers.
When you do not know your reader
 Skimmers are readers The documents you
that are typically very prepare for skimmers
busy. Pressed for time, should:
they often skim  State the main point clearly
and up front
documents in a rather  Place the most important
short period of time. information at the
beginning or ending of
paragraphs
 Highlight key dates or
figures
When you do not know your reader
 The second type of
reader is a Skeptic. A
Skeptic is a reader that
is cautious and doubtful.
 Skeptical readers will
tend to read a document
carefully, questioning its
validity and the writer’s
claims.
When you do not know your reader

 In order to meet the needs of the Skeptical

reader, it is necessary to support your
statements with sufficient details and evidence.
 Provide specific examples, numbers, dates,
names, and percentages to meet the needs of
the skeptical reader.
Know your audience
 Knowing your audience  Using knowledge of your
is only the first step. audience to develop and
 This information must organize the content of
affect the way that you your message will help
write your message. you to create documents
that can be skimmed
 So, how can you write
easily and read critically.
for both skimmers and
skeptics at the same
time?
Audience expectations

Your document will be Three of the most common

most successful if it expectations are that
matches the reader’s your message will:
 Get to the point
expectations.
Most American readers will
share the same general
 Be kept as simple as
possible
expectations.
 Use passive and active
voice appropriately
Get to the point
 Readers will expect you  Preview your main idea
to answer the question, so that readers will know
“so what is your point?” what to expect.
early in the document,  Even when delivering
regardless of the type of bad news, it is best to
document they are state the main point
reading. early in the document.
Get to the point
 Here is an example of a Dear Personnel Director:
hidden main point in
requesting an On March 27, I received a
employment verification. phone call from Mrs. Karen
Krane from New York, who
was once a data entry clerk
in your Ohio office. She was
under the direct supervision
of.....
Get to the point
 Here is the same Dear Personnel Director:
example rewritten so
that the main point is Would you verify the
clear. employment of Mrs. Karen
Krane? She was a data
entry clerk in your Ohio
office (fill in the details)
Get to the point
 Even bad news should Not: We must hire a new
always be delivered up secretary now.
front.
 You can cushion bad But: I know that you do not
news by the language think we should hire a
you use. When new secretary now, but I
delivering bad news, do really think we need to.
not be too aggressive, Please let me explain my
as in the first example. reasons.
Keep it simple
 Do not feel compelled  The main reasons to
to use bigger words or avoid such an approach
more complex are:
sentences to build a) you might be perceived
credibility with your as a con artist or,
audience. b) your message might
become confusing.
Keep it simple
 An example using  An example using simple
“impressive” words: words:

Subsequent to the
After the law passes,
passage of the subject
you must tell your
legislation, it is incumbent
upon you to advise your people to comply with
organization to comply it.
with it.
Use active and passive voice
appropriately
Passive voice has three Here is a sentence using all
basic characteristics: three characteristics:
1. a form of the verb to be “The matter is being looked
(is, am, are, was, were, be, into by the committee.”
been, or being).
Another sample of a passive
2. a past participle (a verb
sentence:
ending in -ed or -en except
“You have been given an
irregular verbs like kept).
extension on your loan.”
3. a prepositional phrase
beginning with by
Use active and passive voice
appropriately

 Passive voice is often overused in business

writing.
 A writer uses passive voice to purposefully
leave out the actor or subject of the
sentence in an effort to sound more
diplomatic.
Use active and passive voice
appropriately
Active: You are past due on
your registration payment.
Passive: Your registration
payment is past due.
 The passive example is
less confrontational. It
takes the actor out of the
sentence so that the
message does not appear
to blame someone.
Use passive and active voice
appropriately

Use passive voice:

1) when you don't know the actor (The door was left
unlocked.)
2) when the actor is unimportant to the point you're
making (The office will be open on Monday.)
3) when the emphasis is clearly not on the actor but on
the acted upon (What happened to the student who
plagiarized their paper? The student was failed.)
Audience expectations
 Readers from other
cultures will often have a
different set of reader
expectations.
 Be sensitive to these
differences when writing
to or for people from
other cultures.
Audience expectations
 Some strategies for communicating with those from
different cultures:
 Maintain formality—use titles and family names and
convey an attitude of propriety.
 Avoid slang, jargon, and other figures of speech (zero
tolerance policy, once-over, done deal, user-friendly,
etc.).
 Be specific and illustrate your points with concrete
examples.
 Provide summary.
Content
 Content refers to the  Your Goal: to include
information included in enough information to
the message. keep the reader’s
 Considering your interest but not so much
audience will help you to information that you
determine what waste the reader’s time
information to include in and obscure your main
the document. point.
Content
 Do not begin writing your
document until you have
planned what you want
to say.
 This will help you avoid
writer’s block or writing a
poorly developed
message.
 Ask yourself:
2) How much background
information is needed?
3) How can I best support
my conclusions?
4) Would examples,
details, or graphics help
readers to understand?
5) Do I need to do any
more research?
Content
 Some common methods
that writers use to help
them determine content
are:
 Outlining
 Brainstorming
 Clustering
 Content
 Outlining: create a Progress Report for January 2002
hierarchy of your ideas. I. Background
A. Details of my being hired in
 This will help you to Dec. 2001
identify what your main B. My objectives the first month
points are, what II. Work completed to date
supporting material is A. Developed a plan and
available, and what other presented it to the necessary
committee
information you need to B. Plan has been approved
include. III. Work to be completed
A. Plan will be initiated by
March 2002
Content
Jan.2002 Progress Report:  Brainstorming: write
----Being hired: no clear down ideas, facts, and
procedure for handling anything else that seems
mail. related to your purpose.
---My plan: name of the  Don’t edit yourself as
committee who you brainstorm.
approved it??  When you’re finished,
---Susan and I hope the decide what’s important
plan will be in place by and what can be deleted
March 2002. or revised.
Content
Work to do
 Clustering: Write your
main point in the middle Hired
of the page and circle it. in Dec.
 As you think of ideas,
My progress
write them down and link
them to either the main
idea or to another point.
Work to
Work do
finished
Organization
 Organization refers to
the order in which
information is presented.
 Once you know what
information you want to
include in your
document, you can
decide how to organize
that information.
Organization

 The first step to organizing is to group like

information together.
 Next, consider the reaction you are likely to get
from your reader.
Organization
 If you expect a positive I recently came across your
response, you can use posting for aviation interns on
a direct organizational an employment opportunities
plan. board. My organizational,
 Present your
leadership, and problem-
conclusions or major solving skills uniquely qualify
idea first, followed by
me for the position of
the reasons or
support. planning and development
intern at Phoenix Sky Harbor
International Airport.
Organization
You did such a good job of
explaining the merits of our
new Tuition Assistance
Program that I have
tentatively decided to apply
for the program myself. To
keep my options open, then, I
must ask you to select
someone else to serve on the
program committee. . .
 If you expect a negative
response, you might
choose to use an indirect
organizational plan.
 Present your reasons
first and your
conclusions after.
 Even when using this
plan, be sure to state
your main point up front.
Organization
 You can also organize
information in
paragraphs to meet the
needs of skimmers and
skeptics.
Organization

Place information where readers are most

likely to look for it:
– Skimmers are most likely to read the first and last
paragraphs of a message.
– Within paragraphs, skimmers are most likely to read
the first and last sentences.
Organization

Use paragraphs effectively:

– Keep paragraphs short. Readers are more likely to
read a longer message broken into several short
paragraphs than they are a shorter message without
breaks.
– Each paragraph should contain only one main point,
and this point should be developed with concrete
evidence and details.
Did I effectively reach my
audience?

 When you have finished writing your

message, evaluate your writing by
considering whether or not you effectively
addressed your reader.
 It may be necessary to rewrite or reorganize
the document to make your message clear.
20-second test
 Skimmers are likely to  After you are finished,
spend 20 seconds or see if what you have
less skimming a marked is able to convey
document to decide your message clearly.
whether or not to read it  Even better, have
more carefully. someone else skim your
 Skim your document for document before
20 seconds, and mark sending it, and see if
what stands out most to your message is clear to
you in that amount of them as well.
time.
Testing your assertions
 Ask the following questions
 Expect skeptical
readers to question about each assertion:
– Is the assertion clearly stated?
every assertion that – Did I include enough details
you make. and examples to support my
 Look at your document assertion?
– Is it clear what I want the
closely and underline reader to do or know?
each of your major – Do I provide enough context
for the assertion or is more
assertions. background information
needed?
For more information
 Contact the Purdue University
Writing Lab with questions
about business messages.
– Drop In: Heavilon 226
– Call: 43723
– Email:
– owl@owl.english.purdue.edu
– On the web:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu