Writing Tips Smart People Use At Work

Writing Tips Smart People Use At Work Remember in high school, when anyone who bombed the SAT said it didnt matter because they werent going to be a writer, anyway? Chances are they were wrong. If you add up all the emails you send, all the presentations you put togetherbei and all the reports you pass up the chain, its likely you spend way mora time writing than you think. Whether you like it or not, your readers, from clients to co-workers, are forming an opinion of you based on what you put out there.In order to be a good writer, you must focus on providing something of value to your readers. No blog post, story, sales deck or email should ever be about you. Instead, focus on your readers and how you can inspire them, teach them or otherwise enhance their lives. Start thinking of yourself as a writer and use the 13 writing tips below to take your story to the next level.1. Know your audience.The number one question for a writer to ask before they begin who am I writing for? Knowin g your readers and what they think about will tell you what tone to take silly, serious, professional, fired-up or even-keeled and the kind of language to use.For example, if your readers are lawyers, an emoji-filled listicle on how to attract more social followers isnt appropriate content. However, a 2000-word opinion on the legality of sanctuary cities likely is. Know how educated your audience is, how old they are, if theyre family-oriented or single, where they live and anything else you can find out. How well you know your readers will always come through in your writing. The more you know, the closer theyll feel to you and the more theyll want to read the story youve crafted.2. Have a purpose.Based on what you know your readers care about, determine what you are trying to communicate. If youre writing that piece on sanctuary cities, what are you trying to say about them that theyre good? badeanstalt? Complex?Now take it to the next level why are you trying to communicate th is idea? Do you want your readers to take cases involving sanctuary cities? Do you want them to issue their own statements in favor of or against sanctuary cities?Once you know that, the last thing to consider is why youre trying to communicate behauptung ideas at this particular moment. Right now, for example, sanctuary cities are a hot topic. Theres relatively little precedent around them, so you may want to sway lawyers and judges while theres still an opportunity to do so. Urgency brings abstract ideas into sharp focus and motivates people to take action, so always tell your readers why your point is important right now.3. Show readers why they should care.As crazy as it sounds, you knowing that your readers care about something is different from your readers knowing they care. You want to engage your readers emotionally, so its important to remind them of the real-life effect a particular matter will have on their lives.Lets say your readers live in a sanctuary city and you wan t them to call their senators and voice their support. You know that theyre lawyers and are interested in the issue from a legal standpoint, but you also know that the majority of these readers have children. Instead of writing sanctuary cities offer important community protections, you might say, sanctuary cities show our children that liberty and justice for all isnt just something we say at school, its something we fight for in life. Engaging your readers feelings for children and juxtaposing those with the issue at hand will create an emotional connection your readers wouldnt have made on their own.Even if youre writing about ideas that are far less polarizing and exciting say recruiting materials for the admissions department always frame the issue in terms that relate to your audience. For example, make the person youre recruiting the main character by saying our programs rigorous enrollment standards ensure that youll graduate among the top 1% of marketers in the nation. Ke ep the readers at the center of the story.4. Prioritize clarity.When analyzing sentence structure, this should always be your number one style priority. If your target audience cant understand what you mean to communicate, the work youve put in is welchested. Before you know it, youve turned away readers you worked really hard to attract.To test your writing for overall clarity, simply remember the five ws who, what, when, where and why. While not every glied is relevant to everything you write, if your piece communicates what youre trying to say, why its important right now and how people can take action, youve done your job.Additionally, your readers will recognize when youre trying to sound smart, pad your story for length or stuff keywords into a blog post, so dont do things like that.Effectively communicating all your ideas should be your primary concern.5. Be specific.Brands often write in vague terms to lead consumers to certain conclusions while avoiding concrete commitments . For example, a company might describe themselves as a local bag brand, giving consumers the impression that the companys goods are made locally, when in reality the goods are made elsewhere, and its only the companys office thats local.Consumer trust matters a whole lot if your goal is to build a lasting brand supported by loyal customers that will stand the test of time. Specificity of language will go a long way toward building that trust.6. Find the right economy of language.The English language is meant to be efficient. As a rule, if you can use a single word to replace a phrase you should. How far you take this, though, depends on your branding and your audience. If youre a messaging app for millennials, super talkative might resonate more than loquacious because of the platform and audience age.Conversely, dont sacrifice clarity by making your writing too efficient. When you write using informal, intra-office communications (email, Slack, etc.) people will often leave artic les and even sentence subjects out of their messages to save time.Lets say youre a luggage brand, and one of your retailers is having a problem with a customer. If your babo sends you something that reads Spoke with retailer. Stopping by at 11, you might not be able to discern who is stopping by where and youll have to ask for clarification. Ultimately, in an effort to maximize efficiency, your boss sacrificed clarity and ended up making more work for both of you.7. Use the singular they.Its 2017 time to step into the light and stop using he as the default pronoun for unspecified consumers or coworkers. The singular they, while taboo in sixth grade, was named the2015 word of the year and is now 100% acceptable for all genders. If your brand serves a mixed-gender audience, or if youre writing an HR handbook for your co-ed kollektiv, use the singular they to include not only men and women but non-gender-conforming employees as well.And while youre at it, stop casually referring to co- ed groups as guys, as in good morning, guys Believe it or not, youre reinforcing male dominance when you use male as the default group setting. Big changes abflug in small places.8. Use active voice.Write in active voice a construction in which the subject of the sentence performs the action of the sentence as often as possible, and eliminate, for the most part, thepassive voice in which an action is performed on the subject.You are being let go is an example of the passive voice. The sentence tells us whats happening to you, but not whos responsible. Use of the passive voice is common in sensitive situations like terminations, when individuals employ it to distance themselves from responsibility.Scan each paragraph for use of the passive voice. While sometimes its the clearest way to make policy statements, more often than not its a way to dodge responsibility. Instead of telling your boss, There was a mix up with their order, say, I input their order incorrectly. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone knows how to own them a good boss will appreciate your integrity a lot. If this is an issue for you, using the active voice in your essay writing is a great first step since its far less intimidating than owning up in person. The more you do it, the more comfortable youll feel admitting mistakes in any context.9. Dont mix your metaphors.Because metaphors often dont make obvious sense, it can be hard to know when youve used one incorrectly. A mixed metaphor involves one of two mistakesThe first is when you communicate a single idea using two or more metaphors that dont make sense together. (For example we want to hit the ground running and be a success right off the bat.) The problem here is that the metaphors derive from two different contexts and basically mean the same thing. Youre going to want to choose one of the two, but not both.The second version of a mixed metaphor is when you combine two separate metaphors into one confusing image. For example, a coworker once reported on the status of a project with she gave me the green thumb. Mistakes like these can undermine you in little ways, like distracting your coworkers from the presentation youre giving, and in bigger ones, like convincing your superiors you cant be trusted to speak off the cuff at events.10. Choose active verbs.Any time in which you want your reader to take action calls for strong verbs. (Social media and community managers should be especially conscious of this, as you have so many fewer characters in which to persuade your readers to do what you want.) For example, when brainstorming email subject lines, instead of Keep Your Little One Sunburn-Free, consider, Protect Your Little One From A Dangerous Sunburn. The second verb (protect) is far more powerful than the first (keep) and puts more responsibility on your readers shoulders, so theyll feel compelled to open the email on time and fulfill that responsibility.11. Put only one space after the period.Using tw o spaces after a period makes you look outdated. Thats not a vibe you want to give off, especially if youre writing for a tech platform, start-up or any other brand where trend awareness is key.Its also very frustrating for editors to whom you might be submitting guest blog posts. Copy editing departments at publications have been cut to the bone, so any extra work you make for the remaining staff will leave a bad taste in their mouth. Worse, many outlets have eliminated copy editors altogether, meaning the editors themselves are doing that work and their own. Spend the time to correct your own work to keep a good editorial contact.12. Dont underline for emphasis.These days, everything from spreadsheets to emails to PDFs contains hyperlinks, which we denote by underlining the hyperlinked word. We assume that any underlined word is linked to something relevant, and you should therefore not use the underline for anything else. Instead, consider bolding or italicizing the word you want to draw attention to.13. ProofreadWhether youre sending an email, publishing a blog post or preparing a presentation for the executive team, take the time to read through your work and catch any mistakes. This is especially important where consumer-facing materials are concerned, as mistakes in brand materials can tarnish their reputation in the eyes of the consumer. Before publishing consumer-facing materials, ask a team member whos unfamiliar with the project to read over it. Itll be easier for them to catch typos your brain has already gotten used to seeing.Today, the best paying jobs require that you be a strong communicator, both in person and on paper. Whether youre just realizing that or youre already making an effort to write more effectively, the guidelines youve read in this article include everything you need to become a solid, confident writer that your clients, coworkers and superiors can depend on.--Emily Rose is a storyteller at heart, a Kentuckian living in Brooklyn . Also an NYU/Tisch grad, she produced an EP, performed Shakespeare, recorded voice-overs, and taught music to kids before becoming a marketer in the start-up world. Follow her at the_gremily, and do let her know if youd like to publish her childrens story.