Amid too much jargon, the state of business communication isn’t stellar. We could all benefit from delegating a writing assignment to a great reporter to see how they’d approach it to ensure it’s as clear, concise, and memorable as possible. Here are some of the things a good reporter is going to concentrate on during a writing assignment:
- Interview people directly involved in the story
- Use multiple sources of information
- Write in order to gain attention right away
- Put the most important things at the start of the story, followed by supporting material, then background information
- Address fundamental questions – who, what, where, when, why, and how
- Use specific, concrete examples
- Have an editor who reviews it and makes changes
In addition to identifying at least three new ways to incorporate each of a reporter’s approaches to improve your writing, here’s a bonus book recommendation – do yourself a favor and track down a copy of “How to Take the Fog Out of Business Writing” by Robert Gunning and Richard A. Kallan. It’s a precursor to “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide” and is a short, straight-forward guide to dramatically simplifying your business writing.
Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.
Mike Brown
Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.
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