Do you have to communicate in writing, externally or internally?   Follow our top tips on business writing to:

• Get your message across
• Achieve your objectives
• Impress your colleagues

1. Clarity is bred by brevity: if you can say the same thing using fewer words it will be clearer
2. Write from the readers’ perspective: if they don’t understand you it’s your fault not theirs
3. Brush up your spelling, grammar and punctuation: mistakes in your writing destroy your credibility as well as clouding understanding
4. Write with nouns and verbs: it is more concrete and concise to use a more specific noun or verb than to qualify a vaguer one
5. Be careful with jargon: jargon is a private language so only use it if your audience also speaks that language
6. Don’t go over the top: understatement is normally more persuasive
7. Prefer the objective and the neutral: they are more credible than the subjective and emotive
8. Consider the positive and the active rather than the negative and the passive: they are shorter and snappier
9. Cut out redundant words: there is no difference  between a ‘consensus’ and a ‘general consensus of opinion’ – except ¾ of the word count
10. Use short, simple words in short, simple sentences

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