5 Simple Tips to Improve Your Business Writing and Communication

True or false: Writing is a necessary skill for your job.

If you ever have to write an email or send a message on Slack or Teams, the answer to this question is "true."

In today's business environment, the ability to communicate via the written word is a fundamental skill. Every position requires quality writing — even if it's not listed in the job description.

However, many people are not confident in their writing skills. And while AI writing tools have taken the business world by storm, they are still far from perfect and need to be proofread and edited thoroughly.

Whether you're writing from scratch, or need to improve AI created content, the following five tips will help you communicate more clearly and minimize miscommunication.

1. Create an outline

Writing is a skill that many people struggle with, especially when it comes to organizing their thoughts into effective written communication. Emails, presentations, blog posts, and other forms of writing can often start off well-intentioned but quickly become derailed and scattered.?

Creating a short outline before you start writing can drastically improve the final result. This is especially true if you're utilizing an AI writing tool. Writing a brief outline can help improve your inputs, which leads to more detailed outputs.

There are many ways to create an outline. I prefer to keep things simple and think about the following three aspects of what I'm writing:

• Goal — What is the purpose, intent, or objective of this piece of content? Are you persuading or informing?
• Audience — Are you writing to one or multiple people? How much do they know about the topic? Is this your first time contacting/interacting with them? What motivates them?
• Dates and details — What do they need to know in order to accomplish your goal? Are there deadlines or important dates they need to be aware of?

Answering these questions ahead of time will help keep you focused and help you communicate more effectively with your readers. It can also act as a checklist to ensure you covered everything you intended to before you publish, send, or present your content.

2. Format for scanning, not reading

No one reads anymore. They scan.

If you want to communicate effectively, you need to format your writing so people can easily find the information they're looking for. The following tips will increase the scannability of your content:

• Create white space — White space is the blank space between elements on a page (i.e text, images, and headings). Breaking up large blocks of text with white space can help create a visual hierarchy, highlight important information, and make the text easier to scan.
• Keep paragraphs short — You were probably taught that paragraphs need to be 3-5 sentences long. That is not the case in business writing. Generally, you want to keep your paragraphs under 3 sentences (some exceptions apply).
• Use bullet points or numbered lists — Bullet points and lists can help you reduce the length of your paragraphs and increase clarity. This is especially true when writing instructions or step-by-step processes.
• Highlight important information — Bold, italics, and different font colors can help words or phrases stand out from the rest of the text. This is beneficial if you need to draw attention to dates, regulations, rewards/consequences, etc.

3. Omit needless words

This tip comes from Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug.

People often use flowery language or over-explain instead of getting straight to the point. I strongly recommend following Krug's Third Law of Usability:

Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left.

It sounds challenging but it will help you clarify your message and improve your writing skills.

Using active voice instead of passive voice make your writing more concise, clear, and engaging. The following examples showcase how to rewrite passive voice sentences in active voice:

• Passive:?The house was built by the carpenters.
• Active:?The carpenters built the house.
• Passive:?The data was analyzed by the scientists.
• Active:?The scientists analyzed the data.
• Passive:?The presentation was given by the student.
• Active:?The student gave the presentation.

As you can see, the active voice sentences are more concise and clear.

Identifying passive voice can be difficult. If you use any of the following words/phrases, you may want to consider rewriting the sentence:

• to be
• was
• is
• am are
• have been
• has
• will be
• being
• will have been

Using these words does not guarantee that you are using passive voice. However, it's a good idea to double-check whenever they pop-up.

4. Clarity is king

When it comes to writing, following grammar rules (and the tips mentioned above) can greatly improve clarity. However, there may be times when breaking a rule actually makes your writing clearer. In those cases, always prioritize clarity over strict adherence to grammar guidelines. The following tips will also help increase clarity.

Don't over use pronouns

Many people have a tendency to replace all names with pronouns. This can make it difficult for readers to understand which person is responsible for which action.

• Less clear: Fred and Ted both attended the meeting. He told me he was impressed with his performance.

Who was impressed by whose performance? It's hard to tell. Avoid using the same pronoun — in this case "he" — to represent multiple nouns in one sentence.

• More clear: Fred and Ted both attended the meeting. He told me he was impressed with Ted's performance.

Make dates specific

You cannot assume that someone is going to read your content on the same day you send or publish it. If your readers have to play detective to figure out deadlines, their chances of completing it on-time drop significantly.

• Less clear: Please respond with your preference before next Friday so we can submit the order.
• More clear: Please respond with your preference before Friday, June 2 so we can submit the order.

Use consistent terminology

Consistency in your language usage is key. Changes in terminology can hinder your reader's ability to understand and act upon your requests.

• Less clear: Our company provides basic and premium subscription plans. The basic plan offers our most popular features and benefits, while the premium plan gives you access to additional tools and perks. Let me know if you'd like to become a Gold or Silver member.
• More clear: Our company offers two membership options: Silver and Gold. Our Silver membership provides our most popular features and benefits, while our Gold membership offers additional tools and perks. Let me know if you'd like to become a Gold or Silver member.

5. Always proofread

Typos happen, it's inevitable. Even Grammarly is not foolproof. It is essential to always proofread your content before sending or publishing it. The following tips can help you minimize mistakes:

• Have someone else read your writing —You know what you're trying to say, so you automatically correct mistakes. Having another person proofread can help catch things you'd otherwise miss. However, a unqualified proofreader can also introduce mistakes into your writing. Choose carefully.
• Walk away for five minutes — If you don't have a reliable proofreader (or are working on a confidential matter) walk away from you desk for at least five minutes. Think about anything other than what you're working on. You'll come back with fresh eyes and be able to catch more mistakes.
• Read it out loud — Reading out loud forces you to see every word on the page. This makes it easier to notice and correct mistakes you would have otherwise missed.

No one is perfect. I'm constantly catching mistakes and typos in my work. Expecting flawless content is unrealistic. Most people aren't grammar experts and won't notice minor mistakes. If you don't notice any obvious or distracting typos, you should feel confident to move forward.

Final thoughts

Writing is an indispensable skill in the professional world. Whether you're crafting an email, responding to a Slack message, or creating long-form content, the ability to communicate effectively is crucial. By following the five tips discussed, you can enhance your business writing and communication skills.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Are there any tips that I missed that have helped improve your writing?