Business Writing For Dummies, 3rd Edition

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.

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 reada