Over the course of a normal day, businesses are creating tons of work documents. Professionals working at different business verticals are busy creating-
- Powerpoint presentations (PPT)
- Cold Outreach Emails
- Business Reports
- Growth Strategies
- Work Agreements
- Merger Documents
- Proposals
Every piece of the business document serves to fulfill an end or purpose. This is why business writing has become such an important component of corporate circles. Someone gifted as far as business writing goes can climb the success ladder faster than their peers.
However, not everyone is great at business writing. Many of us commit mistakes even without knowing that we have done it. When a strategy fails or a cold outreach email campaign does not work, we go back to the drawing board.
In this article, we look at the ten business writing mistakes you should avoid making right now. If you are someone that is looking to excel in this area, you should read the article till the end.
List of 7 Business Writing Mistakes you need to avoid making right now
1. Not understanding who the target audience is-
The purpose of any effective communication or writing is to make the readers understand what it is all about. This means that your business writing needs to be directed at your target audiences. Unless you can tailor-make your content, tone, and communication accordingly, you will not be able to call yourself successful as far as business writing goes.
2. Reliance on complex sentence construction and wordings-
You might feel that using long sentences and big words is something that will be appreciated and results will follow. In reality, commercial or business circles require a language that is simple and lucid enough for everyone to understand. This is why you need to be as precise, simple, and concise as possible. You want the messaging to get across in the best possible way.
3. Using short forms and abbreviations in official documents-
All of us are guilty of getting our language skills compromised because of WhatsApp and social media platforms. This tends to spill over to our official work documents and writings as well. You need to stop using abbreviations or short forms in business writing. This is a sign of unprofessionalism and should be avoided at all costs. This is a habit you need to get out of.
4. Making tall claims or being vague about specifics-
The purpose of business writing is to be as realistic as possible. If you are quoting a figure, remember to back it up with data. Being vague and unclear is something that should not feature in your business writing. If you are unable to back up your claims with actual results, you and your business might lose credibility and trustworthiness in the industry.
5. Creating business documents that are lengthy in nature-
You need to understand that you might want to explain everything there is about a topic, but that will not help you get the best results. Formal business writing needs to be short and crisp. Anyone that opens a lengthy piece of email feels that they have to invest a lot of time and effort to get to the end of it. Making business writing direct and to the point is something to aim for.
6. Not investing in doing research and planning-
You might think that the time you are thinking about spending on doing research or planning is a total waste. Not quite. If you can plan out your business writing, you will be able to hold on to a consistent chain of thought. This chain is what the reader of the writing will also be able to experience. At the end of the day, this can only be possible if you are doing research.
7. Depending on business jargon and assumptions of the reader-
Business writing cannot begin with the assumption that the reader is automatically aware of business jargon you are familiar with. This is why jargons need to be avoided altogether in any form of business writing. You need to make the writing simple enough for everyone to understand, from a sales representative to the CEO of the business you are writing to.
The Final Word
Creating mistakes in your business writing is something almost everyone is guilty of making. The important thing to know is that you are willing to acknowledge that they exist and work towards ways of improving yourself. A good way of doing the same would be to undertake specialized courses by credible institutions on business writing.
Business writing like any form of communication is all about developing a positive habit. Every time you correct yourself post a mistake and learn; you will keep improving yourself. If you have any more questions you would like us to address on business writing, let us know in the comments below.
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