How to Write Instructions that Work!

Oct21 by Gail Tycer

Remember the last time you started to install, or assemble, or repair something, following the appropriate set of manufacturer’s instructions – only to find that, while they included steps 2, 5, 6-8, 10, and 12 – they had forgotten to include steps 1, 3-4, 9, and 11?

How did you feel about the person who wrote those instructions and what about the company the instructions came from?

The instructions you and I write on the job are usually somewhat simpler, and certainly different from the late Christmas Eve “special gift” assembly guidelines described above. But the writing process for creating a clear, effective instruction that allows your reader to get the job done is very similar.

Continue reading →

And the Business Writing Trend is: Short!

Oct8 by Gail Tycer

But “short” is not enough. And “short” can cause you a lot of problems, cost you more time, and result in lost productivity. What we’re really talking about is the importance of being concise.

So, for today, we will assume that you understand the subtle, but critical difference between being “short,” and being “concise.” Today, we will assume you have prepared the reader for your message, and we’ll get straight to the point. What are some of the tricks and techniques you can use to tighten up your writing quickly?

Here are three to start with:

1. Use alternate formats wherever appropriate, even beginning with the first paragraph. The old standbys, bullet points and numbered paragraphs, are well known, well loved, and effective. But you know that.

Take a look at some of the lesser-known alternate formats, like the problem-solution, log, or question and answer formats, among others.

While the benefits of using an alternate format to shorten up your writing are many, and obvious when you see them, perhaps one of the foremost is that with the use of a good alternate format, you can also do away with the tricky business of writing a good transition. A good alternate format will make the transition obvious, reducing the number of words required, and enhancing comprehension.

And in an email, the only additional issue you need to watch out for is that your piece will hold its format. If you are writing outside of your organization, or if your organization does not share an intranet where all screens are set the same, it is most likely your formatting will not hold. Use the piece as an attachment, with the body of your email being a cover letter. Saving it as a pdf file is generally safer.

2. Use a cover letter. As you recall, an email should be no longer than a screen. A screen is long enough, with a screen-and-a-half maximum.

That first paragraph, the cover letter in this case, must never be any longer than five lines. This is the extent of your reader’s 100% attention span, and if that first paragraph is to do its job, you need to use that knowledge.

Two purposes of a cover letter are (a) to let the reader know, at a glance, what the attachment is about, and what he or she needs to do with it; and (b) obviously, to get him or her to open and read it. And to act on it the way you intend.

3. Use the old question, “Should this information be passed along at all?” Here’s where you can save not only words, but maybe the entire communication. I’ve had workshop participants tell me this one consideration saves up to half of their business writing time.

So there you have it. Three tips to shorten your written communication. More next week.

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We would appreciate your recommending a Gail Tycer business writing workshop for your people at your location – or ours, or a shorter presentation for an upcoming professional meeting. Please give us a call at 503/292-9681 or email us at gail@gailtycer.com to discuss how we might be able to work together to meet your needs.

You May Be Good – But Why Take Your Word for It?

Sep30 by Gail Tycer

One of the keys to writing less and saying more can be summed up in one word: specificity. Be specific.

There is too much communication at every level today, and on every subject. How can you stand out, help your reader “get it” quickly, and make every word count? Be specific. Become aware of the words and phrases that are vague, general, and mean nothing. Words and phrases that are used so often, that are so trite your reader reads right past them – or not at all. For example:

What do you mean by

• Highest quality? Who says so? How can you prove it? Everyone says they are, so this phrase gives you no advantage; at best you only become a part of the self-proclaimed “highest quality” group. Where is your competitive edge? Support your claim. Give your reader a reason to believe you.

• Strict quality control? What steps do you take? What is your process? Your certification? What does that mean in terms of your reader?

• Lowest prices? Compared to what? How do you know? How is the quality affected? How will lower prices today affect productivity in the months and years ahead? What kind of an investment will this be?

• Best (name) on the market today? Back it up. Prove it. Where are the numbers, the endorsements, the case histories, the detail? And what do you mean by “best”?

Here are some more. You’ve got the idea, so play with these phrases. Apply them to your company, to your service, to a specific product.

• Full service:

• Centrally located:

• Completely equipped:

Vague words and phrases surround us, cluttering our writing, and losing valuable opportunities daily to prove who we are, what we do, and how well we do it in every email, sales piece, or conversation.

Begin by thinking like your reader might think. First priority: benefits to your reader. What will he or she gain, achieve, become? What will he or she avoid, prevent, save? Be specific.

Look for those vague, mean-nothing words and phrases in your own writing.

Think about what you would like your reader to tell his or her purchasing agent, colleague, or friend if asked about you, or about what you have to offer; what you would like him or her to believe (and remember) about you. Think about the level of detail you need for this writing situation. Then give your reader a specific reason to believe you.

See you next week!

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We’ll be happy to come to your organization. To discuss a workshop for your people at your location, or a shorter presentation for an upcoming meeting, email us at gail@gailtycer.com or give us a call at 503/292-9681.

Your Most Cost-Effective Marketing Tool

Sep17 by Gail Tycer

Your day-to-day business writing could be – should be – your most cost-effective marketing tool, no matter what you’re writing. And you don’t have to be a marketing expert to use it this way!

First, ask yourself why you are writing. To inform? To persuade? No, really. Think about it. Much of the regular, routine information you pass along has a job to do, in addition to providing that information. When you provide the information, how do you want your reader to think about your organization? About you? Isn’t there a bit of persuasion there?

Pen and Paper “They seem to know what they’re doing,” might be one desirable judgment. “They sound like they’re easy to work with,” another. If, after reading your written communication, your reader were asked, “What do you think about (your organization)?” what do you want him or her to say? Isn’t there a bit of persuasion there?

So how do you write so that you get those opinions?

Remember the most critical issue of all: If your reader doesn’t “get it” quickly, without spending some time with it, if your reader doesn’t “get it at a glance,” he or she may well decide you don’t know what you’re talking about!
Where to start: Begin with the old basics: correct spelling; grammar: punctuation, sentence structure and all the rest; and of course, that secret strategy: tone, the relationship the writer sets up with the reader. Miss out on any of these, and it’s possible your reader may see you as somewhat careless, not quite so knowledgeable, and maybe not taking as much care as he or she might like you to do.
Think about your reader. What is the best way to provide this information to him or to her? In person? On the phone? In writing – online, on paper? By a webinar, teleseminar, or in-person workshop? Through social media, or your own blog site, or comments on other blog sites?
Think carefully about why you are writing. What is the result you want to achieve? To provide clear, accurate information to your reader? To persuade him or her to approve your proposal? To get that person to follow a new procedure?

What is the relationship your writing – if you decide the written word is the way to go – must set up with the reader? How will you word your piece? Then – it works best if you can give it a bit of time first – re-read your finished product, and ask yourself, “If I were the reader, how would I react (feel)? How would I respond (what would I be likely to do)?” And of course, “What questions would I have?”

Next time, we’ll talk about some of the words and phrases you might use to prove your case. See you then!

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Nine Places to Find Ideas for Your Blog Post

Sep3 by Gail Tycer

O.K. So you’re convinced. You’ve got to have a blog site, and post to it frequently. The internet is full of articles telling you how important this is to build trust; to establish yourself as an authority in your field; to improve your “findability” with the search engines; to attract the “right fit” for potential clients, customers, and employees; to increase traffic to your website; and to stay top of mind with your clients, customers, and prospects.

Now the next question – whether you are new to blogging, or a veteran – becomes “What do I write about?”

Here are nine places you can find things to write about:

Build on your own experience. Think of the things you wish someone had told you, or that you had figured out sooner. How did this information solve a problem for you? What problem could it solve, and how, for your reader?
Reflect on conversations with clients, customers, and employees. What is the feedback you’re hearing? Is there a new trend here? What are they interested in? What are the problems they need to solve? How can you help?
Stay current with general circulation media – newspapers, magazines, TV, radio. The internet. Many thought-starters in each, every day, whether on the actual event itself, your reaction to how it was presented, your own unique view of the piece, or just something totally different that you thought about while reading, listening or watching. How could it relate to your field of expertise? Note: If you are commenting on someone else’s post, cite it, and provide a link.
Include trade publications on your personal reading list. Enjoy a broader perspective by expanding your own knowledge base, and sharing it with your readers. Credit the publications you refer to in your post.
Observe. Without judging. Every business or social meeting, office interaction, or shopping trip gives you an opportunity to identify the natural consequences of specific actions. Everywhere you go, something is happening. What? And why? And why does this matter to your reader? What do you expect your reader to do with this information?
Read books. Use your mortar and bricks library. Become acquainted with the reference librarians, and all the services your library provides. Everything you read, listen to, or watch will bring you ideas – from the new business book everyone is talking about, to a possibly unknown text you’re reading on a favorite topic. What’s your “take” on the best-seller? What did you think about – very possibly unrelated – when reading that unknown text that provides a jumping-off point for your blog post?
Write about what concerns people. Friends, clients, neighbors, grocery checkers. What do they talk about? What concerns them?
Interview an authority. While your authority may be a celebrity, or someone whose name is a household word, or someone with an unusual job or hobby, fabulous posts are very often written by providing insights from people who do everyday things.
Update an old post. If you wrote something in the past that would do well with an update, perhaps this is the time.

To receive your Business Writing Tip of the Week automatically every week, please subscribe to our newsletter. We appreciate your recommending a Gail Tycer business writing workshop for your workplace, or a shorter presentation for an upcoming professional meeting. Thank you.

Readers Want to “Like” You Online!

Aug12 by Gail Tycer

People may be a whole lot nicer than given credit for, according to a new study published on the Journal of Science website last week. Study findings could well have significant implications for communication – especially traditional marketing communication – in the long run.

To reach their conclusions, researchers examined how thousands of people reading online comments reacted and responded, perhaps providing new ideas on how marketers can present their products or services positively today.

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Here’s what researchers found:

If a post, perhaps on a site like Facebook, garners a “like,” more people are likely to “like” it also, “even if the reporting and writing are not all that great,” researchers said, adding that a positive comment “can set off a bandwagon of approval.”

Apparently the same is not true in reverse – in fact, rather than inspiring readers to dislike an article or post, an “unfair negative reaction” will quickly rally readers to counteract the negative view with positive ones. See? A lot of nice people out there!

Additionally, researcher Sinan Aral, professor of information technology and marketing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that “Hype can work, and feed on itself as well.”

Calling the study “provocative,” Matthew Jackson, professor of economics at Stanford noted that it raised many questions to be answered. Jackson was not involved in the research.

Conducted over a five-month period with an unnamed website to provide objectivity, users submitted links to news articles. Readers then scored and/or commented on the articles, and commented on other readers’ comments to provide the raw data. Researchers applied mathematical formulae to compile their findings.

Among the most interesting findings were that site users were initially twice as likely to comment on the article favorably. And when the researchers posted a fake positive score, the first person reading the comment was 32 percent more likely to give the article an “up vote, ” with no change in the likelihood of subsequent negative votes. Over the course of the study, those comments with the artificial “up vote” garnered scores 25% higher than those of the control group.

“…a significant change,” Aral noted, “…very small signals of social influence snowballed into behaviors….”

Business Writing Tip of the Week: Summer Reading – Call it Research!

Jul17 by Gail Tycer

We’re halfway through the summer. Summer: the time we promised ourselves we’d get caught up on our reading. Visions of lying out by the pool, or on a sandy beach, digging into those materials we’ve been saving for just such an occasion!

So let me add a couple of things to your reading list, and hope you will find them as edifying as I did. Communication wears many hats!

The first is an unlikely candidate: Inside of a Dog – What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, by Alexandra Horowitz. The author is a behavioral scientist who teaches psychology at Barnard College, Columbia University. Before that, Horowitz worked as a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster and was a staffer at the New Yorker. The result was this #1 New York Times Bestseller.

Inside of a Dog is virtually loaded with good doggy stuff – but you do not have to be a dog lover to appreciate the research, and the human connections she makes. In talking about Rico, a border collie she characterizes as a “skilled word user” for his ability to understand, and to retrieve the correct toy from the more than 200 items in his toy chest, she tells us that there are dogs whose “cognitive equipment” is sufficient for them understand language “in the right context.” Subsequent to Rico’s celebrity, many other dogs have been tested with vocabularies of from 80 to more than 300 words. Be careful what you say in front of your dog! Continue reading →

Business Writing Tip of the Week: Want to Help Your Kids Excel in School?

Jun28 by Gail Tycer

Well, it might be, “An apple a day….” Or maybe healthy food and plenty of exercise and good sleep. Maybe even an extra hug or two every day.

While all of these are very good ideas, today let’s talk about something you can do easily, and enjoy with your children, making memories for them and for you. What is this mystical something? Read to your kids every day for at least the first eight years of their lives.

According to a recent Harris Interactive study reported this week in our daily paper, some 87% of the 1,003 U. S. parents of children eight years old or younger they interviewed said they read bedtime stories to their kids. But only about a third of them read to their children every day, according to the national study conducted in April of this year, sponsored by the literacy nonprofit organization Reading is Fundamental.

When asked what their children do most of the time, half of the respondents said television or video games. Not reading. According to officials at the Reading is Fundamental organization, “…parental reading helps children acquire large vocabularies and become comfortable with decoding words and sentences by the end of third grade. That’s technically when children are about eight years old and when school curriculum switches from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’”

Isn’t that a great phrase, a switch from “learning to read to reading to learn”?

This comes as no surprise, when we realize that words are, in fact, symbols that stand for an entire concept. That word, or that phrase, wraps the concept into a neat, manageable package that you and I, and our children, can work with.

According to Reading is Fundamental, reading to children daily during their earliest years allows them to start hearing, seeing, and learning words that are not usually part of their day-to-day lives. If your child does not have these, what RIF calls “decoding skills,” by the third grade, he or she will not have the vocabulary, and therefore will not have the concept, putting your child behind before he or she can get off to a good start.

So where to start?

Picture books are especially fine for building vocabulary. A child may not really understand, for example, what a turkey is. But with repeated reading, the word “turkey” ties in with the picture of the turkey, and the child gets the concept of the word “turkey.”

The daily reading time can be any time, or several times, during the day or night. While it does not have to be the traditional “bedtime story,” incorporating story-reading as part of the night-time ritual can be a calming routine, and tends to help children look forward to bedtime (and story time), making it easier on children and parents alike. The most important thing, according to RIF, is to make the story-reading, or story-telling time a regular daily event – even if you have just a few minutes – and to create a pleasant habit for both parent and child.

The organization also suggests some creative ways to build vocabulary, and to package concepts, including some that work well when the parent is short on time, or just plain exhausted. Here are a few:

• Choose a single page of a picture book – children always seem to have their favorite pages – look at it, and talk about it. Your children may even enjoy making up their own stories about what happened before, or what is going to happen after the picture on the page. Read a poem. Tell a family story. If you’re excited about it, they will be too.

• Most children enjoy hearing stories about when their parents were children, especially when it involves something funny, or something similar to what is going on in their own lives.

• Participate in story times at your local library. Borrow books to take home to read. Many families have books the parents read as children. Or how about writing a story with your child? Keep it easy. You can use a spiral-bound tablet, or single sheets, with the parent writing down the child’s words, and the child “illustrating” the story. Sheets can be stapled down the side to make a book, pasted into the spiral-bound tablet, or punched and put into a notebook.

• Your stories can be imaginary, or based on something you did with your child – going to the park, the zoo, or taking a road trip, for example. Talk about what you are seeing, how it sounds, and how you feel about it. Talk about the things you are doing. Take turns asking questions, and answering them. Then write about them.

• And finally, “…look for words and letters around you…many children…learned the letter M from McDonald’s…and ‘stop’ from a stop sign.” And play alphabet games with your kids, they suggest.

To receive your Business Writing Tip of the Week automatically every week please subscribe to our newsletter. We appreciate your recommending a Gail Tycer business writing workshop for your workplace, or a shorter presentation for an upcoming professional meeting. Share us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Thank you, and let us hear from you!

Business Writing Tip of the Week: How to Say It When You Can’t Think of What to Say

Jun24 by Gail Tycer

How many times have you or I sat, staring at a blank computer screen, waiting for inspiration to strike? How many times have we wished there were such a thing as a business writing fairy godmother – or at the very least, a ghostwriter, who could come along and give us a fill-in-the-blanks draft to get us started?

Soon it becomes apparent that inspiration is on vacation, and we’re going to have to handle it on our own.

Let’s say that your email is the type of email you write all the time. And the question becomes just how many ways can you say the same thing? So it can often be helpful to use a sort of template for the same sorts of pieces, and many companies and organizations do just that.

The downside of course is that these form letters tend to sound much the same, and are usually, of necessity, quite impersonal.

Especially from a tonal point of view, these impersonal form letters can be quite destructive to a relationship that we have worked so hard to develop with each individual reader. Obviously, it is far preferable to write most of our correspondence directly for that specific individual reader. Templates, or “form letters” are not for everyone, nor are they for every situation.

On the other hand, when carefully crafted, and especially when they are of the “save as and fill-in-the-blanks” type, they can be quite useful. Just “save as,” fill in the blanks, and you’re done!

Let’s see, for example, how this might look for a very simple standard meeting announcement:

“The (date/topic) meeting of the (name) committee will be held (at/in the) (location) (at/from) (time) on (day and date). Please see attached agenda for details.”

This simple “save as and fill-in-the-blanks” template might become something like:

“The April meeting of the waste reduction committee will be held in the third-floor conference room from 4 to 5 PM on Thursday, April 24, 2013. Please see attached agenda for details.”

The RSVP request will be your second paragraph, which could also be a “saafitb” paragraph.

Be sure that the attached agenda details include who will be responsible for each report, or presentation agenda item, so the responsible person will be prepared. It’s also a good idea to send a quick reminder email to each of these individuals. You may even have a system that does this automatically.

You probably have a number of standard emails you create on a regular basis. Try developing your own “save as and fill-in-the-blanks” templates for these sorts of emails, and see if it makes the process easier and faster.

More complex repetitious communications will require a more complex format, but the principle is the same: You want to avoid as much repetitious key stroking as you reasonably can, using the “blanks-to-be-filled-in” to provide both the specific information for the piece you are writing, and to personalize this information for your specific reader. This will go a long way toward avoiding the impersonal “form letter” tone, while speeding up the process.

For example, a persuasive proposal should begin with a persuasive “lead” paragraph clearly summarizing exactly what the proposal is, and stressing the benefit to the reader, or to his or her company or organization. Quick tip: Increase the effectiveness of your proposal by starting with the benefit.

As appropriate, other sections of the persuasive proposal could include, for example:

• Significance of your proposal. Why do? Why need? Why now?

• Proposed time schedule.

• Resources required/Resources available.

• Changes that will be needed.

• Similar programs/activities. Review and evaluate how, and how well they worked. How were they the same, and how did they differ?

• Projected positive results, with time frame and evaluation criteria.

• Anything else your reader needs to know to decide in your favor.

And finally, you will have a very strong, very clear, very persuasive conclusion to the material covered, in benefits-to-the-reader terms.

Business Writing Tip of the Week: “Spin”

May27 by Gail Tycer

Can you remember when “spin” was what we did as little kids to make ourselves dizzy and fall down? And then we all laughed so hard?

“Spin” is not a laughing word today, is it?

In the kindest terms, maybe we could say “spin” is “putting the best face on it,” or maybe just call it “reframing,” helping your reader to see the positive side of what might normally be considered a negative.

For example, pretend you are the copywriter for an advertising campaign promoting a new housing development. Here are some of the facts about this housing development you must deal with. See if you can turn each of them – which would normally be considered negative – into a positive statement about the development:

The new housing development is across the street from the main entrance to a busy urban airport, and directly under the flight path.
There are sidewalks on only one side of the street.
The playground has only one swing.
No required minimum landscaping will be provided.
There is a dangerous swamp in the southeast corner of the development.
The model home blew up last Friday.

Now let’s have a little fun with this exercise. Take a couple of minutes to turn each of these probably negative statements into positive ones.

So what did you come up with?

Perhaps on negative #1, you thought how perfect this new housing development would be for the busy business traveler, saving commute time, and allowing his or her family to be alerted to his or her return.

Negative #2: Did you think about the sidewalks provided for safe walking, or greater privacy with reduced foot traffic?

For negative #3, how about “Children’s playground thoughtfully designed for cooperative play, and to support sharing.”

“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stretch your imagination and create the unbelievably beautiful garden you have dreamed of, and only imagined until now,” might work for negative #4.

And of course the dangerous swamp in negative #5 can easily be translated into an unusual wildlife preserve allowing your family to observe nature at first hand.

Finally, the model home in negative #6 that blew up last Friday? “Only one home has not met our rigorous standards, and it was promptly removed last Friday.”

You’ve probably come up with many other negatives-into-positives, and I hope you have had some fun with this exercise. Let us hear from you!

Now that we have the general idea of negative-into-positive with this light-hearted exercise, let’s get a little more serious. Over the next week, listen for “reframing” statements. Listen to the ads, listen to the news, listen to your co-workers, customers, and clients. Listen for how your family members – kids are particularly good at this – manage to “put the best face on” what could be a negative situation or fact.

Word choice can also be a tool of “spin.”

We all recognize connotative words, words like “propaganda,” “gossip,” and “manipulate” – words that carry baggage. Words that in and of themselves can create a negative emotion. And of course there are also words that in and of themselves can create a positive emotion.

But let’s talk about “neutral words,” and how they can be ramped up, or ramped down to inflame emotion, or to calm emotion. For two examples, let’s use the words “situation,” and “important.”

How many ways can you think of to say “situation”? Take a minute here to jot down half a dozen or more as they occur to you.

Which of these words might, under certain circumstances, create a panic? Which are the potentially inflammatory words? Crisis? Disaster? Catastrophe?

Which of these words could you use to calm a general sense of panic? Which neutral words tend to minimize the serious nature of a crisis? Situation? Issue? Matter?

Now let’s look at “important.” Well just how important is “important”? Not very is it? How much attention do you pay when someone says, “This is an important issue”? Let’s ramp it up a bit. How about critical, crucial, life-threatening? Dire, desperate, or grave? Even there you can see various levels indicating just how important this issue may be.

And to ramp it down? Important? Worth consideration? Or fairly serious?

While thinking about the quality, nature, and potential effect of the words you use may not be critical, crucial, or life-threatening, probably not even dire, desperate, or grave, I do hope you will find it worth your consideration this week.

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We appreciate your recommending a Gail Tycer business writing workshop for your workplace or a shorter presentation for an upcoming professional meeting. Thank you.

The Gail Tycer Blog

Strategic Business Writing

Category Archives: Writing

How to Write Instructions that Work!

And the Business Writing Trend is: Short!

You May Be Good – But Why Take Your Word for It?

Your Most Cost-Effective Marketing Tool

Nine Places to Find Ideas for Your Blog Post

Readers Want to “Like” You Online!

Business Writing Tip of the Week: Summer Reading – Call it Research!

Business Writing Tip of the Week: Want to Help Your Kids Excel in School?

Business Writing Tip of the Week: How to Say It When You Can’t Think of What to Say

Business Writing Tip of the Week: “Spin”