Pack A Wallop With Your Business Message

Technology allows us to transmit quickly in a vast array of formats. We write in bullets, abbreviations, and cutesy alpha-numeric shorthand. We conduct hurried, often simultaneous conversations – texting with one hand, emailing with the other, leaving voice mail via Bluetooth. Such division of attention lends itself to miscommunication. Bullets are expedient, but they don’t tell the whole story, and even with bullets, incorrect spelling or punctuation can convey an unintended message. Is expediency worth the risk of misunderstanding?

I expressed to my twenty-something son my displeasure about grammatical shortcomings, misspellings, dropped capitals, and haphazard punctuation. He said, “Mom, did you understand the message?” Granted, I got the gist. That doesn’t mean I want my professional messages to be the written equivalent of stuttering.

I recently attended a workshop by a competent, knowledgeable, entertaining presenter. I left pumped to “go get ‘em” and couldn’t wait to delve into the 18-page handout that she saved for the end (wisely, as it turned out). I relished the thought of juicy, written reinforcement of the points she had driven home. I looked forward to new information she hadn’t had time to cover in the seminar.

My hopes were dashed. I met with abrupt disappointment. The document was littered with sloppy sentence structure, cluttered ideas, informality of language, and blatant grammatical errors. The clumsy construction was so pervasive, I’ve yet to read through the whole thing.

Hello! This is professional, educational material! Should it not be held to a stricter communication standard? The materials lacked precision and clarity. As a speaker you can get away with informality, a few ums and ahs, or restatement to clarify a point. But written exposition demands a tighter format.

As a Baby Boomer, I was taught and appreciate linguistic precision, mechanics, logistics and grace. Some will argue, “I write like I talk.” There’s nothing wrong with a casual, conversational tone that embodies style, humor and colloquialism. But if writing like you like talk means, you know, sort of like I don’t know, being in the moment and shooting from the hip like without bothering about pesky commas and sentence ending's you know what I mean incomplete sentences and stuff, its kind of like a drag for the poor reader not to mention a major waste of time cause he like wants to run screaming into the street scratching his freaking head in dismay!

Too little information – bullets and abbreviations – aren’t sufficient to pique interest. Too much information – dreary repetition, unnecessary asides and opinions – leaves readers yawning, clicking impatiently to someone else’s web page, or using your flyer to wrap fish.

Professional business communication should:

•    deliver a clear message (foster understanding)

•    be succinct (respect your potential customers’ time)

•    include the essentials

•    tantalize (leave them wanting more)

•    express the style and personality of you and your business

Hire a good editor for your marketing materials, workshop handouts, web pages and e-books. It’s a worthy expense. Pack a punch with precision, clarity and style. Anything less is a disservice to your potential customer and an impediment to your success.