Business writing for dummies

Author(s)

    • Canavor, Natalie

Bibliographic Information

Business writing for dummies

by Natalie Canavor

（--For dummies）（Learning made easy）

John Wiley, c2021

3rd ed

  • : pbk

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Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Learn how to write for the results you want every time, in every medium! Do you wish you could write better? In today's business world, good writing is key to success in just about every endeavor. Writing is how you connect with colleagues, supervisors, clients, partners, employees, and people you've never met. No wonder strong writers win the jobs, promotions and contracts. Business Writing For Dummies shows you, from the ground up, how to create persuasive messages with the right content and language every time-messages your readers will understand and act on. This friendly guide equips you with a step-by-step method for planning what to say and how to say it in writing. This sytem empowers you to handle every writing challenge with confidence, from emails to proposals, reports to resumes, presentations to video scripts, blogs to social posts, websites to books. Discover down-to-earth techniques for sharpening your language and correcting your own writing problems. Learn how to adapt content, tone and style for each medium and audience. And learn to use every message you write to build better relationships and solve problems, while getting to the "yes" you want. Whether you're aiming to land your first job or are an experienced specialist in your field, Business Writing For Dummies helps you build your communication confidence and stand out. Present yourself with authority and credibility Understand and use the tools of persuasion Communicate as a remote worker, freelancer, consultant or entrepreneur Strategize your online presence to support your goals Bring out the best in people and foster team spirit as a leader Prepare to ace interviews, pitches and confrontations Good communication skills, particularly writing, are in high demand across all industries. Use this book to gain the edge you need to promote your own success, now and down the line as your career goals evolve.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1 About This Book 3 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 4 Beyond the Book 5 Where to Go from Here 5 Part 1: Winning With Writing 7 Chapter 1: Making Writing Your Weapon for Success 9 Putting Strategic Writing to Work for You 10 Planning and Structuring Every Message 13 Applying the Goal-Plus-Audience Strategy to More Media 18 Succeeding with email, letters and business documents 18 Writing to present yourself powerfully 19 Writing online: From websites to blogs to tweets 19 Leveraging your writing skills 20 Remembering to think globally 20 Chapter 2: Planning Your Message Every Time 23 Adopting the Plan-Draft-Edit Principle 24 Fine-Tuning Your Plan: Your Goals and Audience 25 Defining your goal 25 Defining your audience 27 Brainstorming the best content for your purpose 33 Writing to groups and strangers 36 Imagining your readers 36 Making People Care 38 Connecting instantly with your reader 38 Focusing on what's-in-it-for-me 39 Persuading with benefits, not features 40 Finding the concrete, limiting the abstract 41 Choosing Your Written Voice: Tone 43 Sound positive, never negative 44 Align tone with the occasion, relationship and culture 45 Writing as your authentic self 46 Using Relationship-Building Techniques 48 Showing active caring and respect 48 Personalizing what you write 49 Framing messages with "you" not "I" 50 Chapter 3: Making Your Writing Work: The Basics 53 Stepping into Twenty-First-Century Writing Style 54 Writing to be understood 54 Applying readability guidelines 55 Finding the right rhythm 59 Achieving a conversational tone 61 Energizing Your Language 63 Relying on everyday wording 63 Choosing reader-friendly words 65 Focusing on the real and concrete 66 Finding action verbs 67 Crafting comparisons to help readers 68 Employing Reader-Friendly Graphic Techniques 70 Building in white space 71 Choosing a typeface 71 Keeping colors simple 73 Adding effective graphics 73 Breaking space up with sidebars, boxes and lists 74 Chapter 4: Self-Editing: Professional Ways to Improve Your Work 77 Changing Hats: From Writer to Editor 78 Choosing a way to edit 78 Distancing yourself from what you write 80 Reviewing the Big and Small Pictures 82 Assessing content success 82 Assessing your language 83 Avoiding telltale up-down-up inflection 85 Looking for repeat word endings 86 Pruning prepositions 89 Cutting all non-contributor words 91 Moving from Passive to Active 94 Thinking "action" 94 Trimming "there is" and "there are" 95 Cutting the haves and have nots 96 Using the passive deliberately 96 Sidestepping Jargon, Cliches and Extra Modifiers 97 Reining in jargon 97 Cooling the cliches 99 Minimizing modifiers 100 Energizing What You Write 101 Chapter 5: Fixing Common Writing Problems 103 Organizing Your Document 104 Paragraphing for logic 104 Building with subheads 106 Working with transitions 107 Working in lists: Numbers and bulleting 109 Catching Common Mistakes 113 Fine-tuning punctuation 114 Using comma sense 114 More punctuation tools 116 Using "however" correctly 118 Weighing "which" versus "that" 119 Considering "who" versus "that" 120 Choosing "who" versus "whom" 120 Beginning with "and" or "but" 120 Using sentence fragments 121 Ending with prepositions 121 Fielding Pronoun Challenges 122 Match nouns and pronouns 122 Be mindful of personal pronouns 124 Spot common pronoun errors 126 Fixing Common Word Confusions 127 It's or its 127 Their, there and they're 127 Your, yours and you're 128 Affect versus effect 129 Reviewing and Proofreading: The Final Check 129 Checking the big picture 129 Proofreading your work 131 Cutting to fit 131 Creating your personal writing improvement guide 133 What about my personal style? 134 Part 2: Applying Your Skills to Business Messages and Documents 135 Chapter 6: Writing Email and Letters That Get Results 137 Fast-Forwarding Your Agenda with Email 138 Starting Strong 140 Writing subject lines that pull people in 140 Using appropriate salutations 143 Drafting a strong email lead 143 Building Content That Achieves Your Goals 145 Clarifying what you want 145 Assessing what matters to your audience 146 Determining the best substance 149 Structuring Your Middle Ground 150 Closing Strong 152 Polishing Your Email 153 Monitoring length and breadth 153 Simplifying style 154 Going short: Words, sentences, paragraphs 154 Using graphic techniques to promote clarity 155 Using the signature block 157 Using Email for Marketing 158 Composing Effective Letters 161 Chapter 7: Creating High-Impact Business Materials 169 Creating Valued Reports 169 Writing activity reports 170 Reporting project results 175 Fast-Tracking Your Proposals 176 Writing formal proposals 177 Writing informal proposals 179 Writing a business plan 182 Applying for grants 183 Writing an Executive Summary 185 Giving perspective to complex material 186 Determining what matters 187 Putting headlines to work 189 Writing Tips for All Business Documents 190 Part 3: Writing To Present Yourself Effectively 193 Chapter 8: Building Persuasion into Your Writing 195 Connecting with Your Readers 195 Drawing from psychology 196 Communicating with conviction 197 Strategizing in Many Dimensions 198 Centering on benefits 198 Creating a friendly and reasonable tone 199 Giving people time 200 Planning Your Persuasive Message 201 Step 1: Clarify your goal to yourself 201 Step 2: Characterize your audience 201 Step 3: Determine the best content 202 Step 4: Create action headlines that relate to your audience 203 Step 5: Develop a compelling lead that connects content and reader 203 Step 6: Draft the rest of the message 203 Using Persuasive Language 204 Choosing words that persuade 204 Structuring material to support persuasion 206 Knowing what language to choose and what to avoid 208 Finding Your Core Business Message 209 Searching for true value 211 Making your case in business terms 214 Finding, Shaping and Using Stories 215 Finding your business story 217 Building your story 218 Story-writing tips 220 Translating Words into Visuals 221 Chapter 9: Speaking Well for Yourself 225 Building Your Elevator Speech 226 Defining your goal 227 Defining your audience 228 Strategizing your content 228 Using your mini-speech 231 Representing your organization and yourself 232 Preparing and Giving Presentations 233 Planning what to say 234 Crafting your presentations with writing 238 Integrating visuals 240 Standing and delivering 241 Composing Talking Points for Live Interaction 242 Chapter 10: Writing for the Job Hunt 245 Knowing and Expressing Your Value 246 Pinpointing your personal strengths 247 Pulling your ideas together 249 Assessing All Your Skills 250 Writing Resumes That Win the Race 253 Choosing a format 254 Sidestepping presentation problems 256 Styling Language for Resumes 257 Using keywords: An essential 258 Writing the summary statement 259 Building your work history section 261 Showing off strengths 262 Succeeding with Cover Letters 265 Planning a cover letter 265 Opening with pizzazz 266 Networking with Messages 268 Requesting informational interviews 268 Saying thank you 270 Part 4: Writing For Online Media 273 Chapter 11: Writing for the Digital World 275 Positioning Yourself Online 276 Understanding Visual Platforms 277 Choosing Your Platforms 277 Breaking down your goals 280 Finding your audiences 281 Writing for Digital Media 284 Loosening up 285 Keeping language simple and clear 286 Communicating credibility 287 Cutting hype, maxing evidence 288 Devising nonlinear strategies 289 Incorporating interactive strategies 290 Using Social Media Platforms 292 Engaging with social media 292 Exploring content ideas 294 Networking with Twitter 295 Planning your Twitter program 296 Guidelines for tweeting 297 Working with LinkedIn 298 Chapter 12: Creating Content for Your Online Life 303 Creating a Website from the Ground Up 303 Shaping your site to goals and audience 305 Planning a basic website 307 Creating the site structure 309 Assembling and writing a home page 310 Writing the About Us page 312 Writing the inside pages 313 Content tips for websites 315 Writing tips for websites 315 Graphic tips for websites 315 Creating a Blog 317 Choosing your best subject 319 Developing tone and style 321 Drawing from the journalist's toolkit 321 Creating magnetic headlines 324 Organizing with progressive subheads 325 Considering articles for publication 325 Telling Your Story with Video 326 Using video to accomplish goals 327 Scripting your video 328 Producing video step-by-step 329 Sharing expertise with video 333 Introducing yourself with video 334 Part 5: Leveraging Your Writing Skills 337 Chapter 13: Writing for the Workplace: Managing Up, Down and Sideways 339 Communicating as a Manager 340 Relating to your team members 342 Writing to inspire and motivate 343 Delivering bad news 344 Writing good news messages 350 Criticizing with kindness 352 Writing requests and giving orders 353 Writing to Manage Up 354 Guarding your tone 357 Avoiding the blame game 359 Making it easy to respond 360 Writing to Colleagues, Collaborators and Teammates 361 Using Backup Memos 362 Language for Communicating Sideways 363 Using Turnaround Techniques 364 Communicating with a Team of Equals 366 Chapter 14: Writing for Entrepreneurs and Virtual Workers 369 Communicating as a Virtual Worker 370 Teaming Techniques and Practices 371 Using Everyday Communication Tools: Email and Group Chat 374 Making email more personal 374 Using team chat to your advantage 375 Using teleconferencing effectively 376 Writing as an Entrepreneur 379 Charting your communication plan 379 Pitching the media for free publicity 382 Writing Challenges for the Entrepreneur 386 Introducing yourself in writing 386 Writing to pitch your services 390 Creating letters that get you in 392 Part 6: The Part of Tens 401 Chapter 15: Ten (or So) Ways to Grow Your Personal Power with Writing 403 Use Writing to Problem-Solve 403 Write a "Pro" and "Con" List 404 Handwrite to Spark Creativity 404 Write to Take Charge of Your Emotions 405 Take Notes about Your Work 405 Take the Meeting Notes 406 Take Notes of Your Anytime Ideas 406 Prepare for Confrontation 406 Write a Long-Range Career Plan 407 Create Profiles of Your VIPs 407 Write Gratefully 408 Chapter 16: Ten Steps to Writing Your Own Book 409 Envision Your Finished Book 410 Create an Elevator Speech for Your Book 411 Think about Marketing - Early 411 Break the Writing into Pieces 412 Create a Folder System 413 Assess the Practicalities 413 Write a Proposal 414 Draft the Copy 415 Liven Up Your Content 416 Check Out Self-Publishing Options 417 Index 418

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