This month’s post is from guest blogger Nadia Jones. Nadia offers some great reasons for breaking out of the business writing bubble and helpful tips for stretching your creative writing muscles. Let’s face it. As professional writers, whether you’re a copywriter, a technical writer, or a general corporate writer, you most likely got into the…
Tag Archive: business writing
When Chicago Isn’t Enough: How to Write an In-house Style Guide
Sometimes the easy part of writing is writing, while the hard part is usage and formatting. When you run into usage or formatting questions, you can refer to a general style manual, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, or The Gregg Reference Manual. These manuals are all very thorough and authoritative,…
Give Your Business Writing the Authenticity Advantage
As the term “authenticity” has gained momentum in recent years, I’ve been surprised. Hasn’t authenticity always been important? Yes. It’s just that with the rise in popularity of social media and online marketing, a lack of authenticity is easier to spot. You can get away with a lack of sincerity if customers only interact with…
Are You an Idea Thief?
You may remember from some point in your schooling a lecture about a little thing called plagiarism. Wikipedia states, “Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as ‘the wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or purloining and publication, of another author’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one’s own original work,’” attributing this definition to…
Mastering the Art of the Article
You’ve seen them in newspapers, you’ve read them in magazines. They appear on many websites, and sometimes blog posts are even mistaken for them. They are the foundation of trade publications. What am I talking about? Articles! The article is a flexible and effective form that can be used in many ways for business and…
How to Find and Use the Right Writing Tone
This week, I’m going to wrap up my series of posts about hard-to-define elements of writing, like emotion, structure, theme, and flow. This post will cover writing tone, which reflects the writer’s attitude about his or her topic and audience. You know how important tone is in conversation (think about how a switch from formal…
How Good Are Your Business Writing Skills?
In companies or agencies without a writer on staff, others may get thrown into the role of copywriter, grant writer, promotional writer, web copywriter, or proposal writer. These people don’t necessarily want to write, or feel comfortable with business writing. While they have no choice but to muddle through, they may wonder how good…
What Makes Effective Business Writing?
Every business writing situation is different. You will naturally alter your strategies for a website versus a brochure, a blog, a press release, or an e-book. The ways to achieve writing project success will vary from document to document as you consider things like context, audience, structure, placement, and purpose. But, there are some common…
How to Write for Your Hidden Audience
We all know how important audience awareness is in writing. In business writing, your audience is typically clients, customers, and colleagues. Right? Yes and no. Yes, you must consider one or more of those audiences. But, no, it’s not that simple. Often there is a hidden audience to think about, and leaving them out of…
Guest Post on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers: The Harvest Time Management Program
Though the Final Draft Communication blog is for ALL business writers, including those who work within companies, and those who are self-employed, my guest post on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers on the topic of time management is targeted toward the latter. As a freelance writer, you can benefit from being aware of how…