Most communication in business has a simple aim.  To at least some degree its objective will be to interest, inform and influence the target audience.  Whoever that target audience might be, your objective will be to interest them long enough to capture their attention, inform them about your business, products or services and influence them to choose you rather than a competitor.

To achieve that objective you must think carefully about what you say.  These days most people perceive themselves to be (and many really are) busy.  Whatever they are doing, people believe they have very little time to do it.  For this reason, your business communication must not only be clear and concise but also instantly interesting if it’s going capture attention and be read.  Get to the point quickly and make it clearly and emphatically.

To do this you need to unlearn some hard lessons.  At school it may have been drummed into you that your essays must have a ‘beginning’, a ‘middle’ and an ‘end’ but if you are going to communicate effectively in business you must forget that lesson.

Your writing must be sharper.  The first few lines must give the reader a reason to read the rest.  This means you must write like a journalist.  In a newspaper article the subject matter is usually summarised in the first paragraph and this is composed to give the reader a reason to read it.

As you get into the subject matter, use ‘active’ sentences not ‘passive’ sentences.  Keep your sentences short and the wording simple and straightforward.  Don’t try to sound clever.  The objective is to communicate your key messages clearly and quickly.  “Wood scored a great goal” is far more impactful than, “A great goal was scored by Wood” – and it takes less words to say it.

Keep your tone upbeat and positive throughout.  Customers want to read about the interesting things you are doing.  Are you recruiting and training young people from the local community?  Have any of your apprentices achieved awards?  Do you support local charities and community initiatives?  If you don’t, think about doing it, and if you do, tell people about your achievements.  These things demonstrate that you are decent people and yours is a caring business.  Most people like to deal with others who share their values.  Major businesses take their corporate social responsibility very seriously; so should you.  And, like them, you should use it to promote your business.

Have you made investments in your business recently?  A new fleet of vans, new machinery or an upgrade to your systems; whatever it might be, investing in your business shows that you are not a ’fly by night’ company.  You are building your business for the future, making sure you stay at the forefront of new developments in your sector and continuously improving your ability to deliver quality services for your customers.  If you are doing it, shout about it.

Keep your business communication positive and impactful and in so doing, keep your company’s name firmly in your target customers’ minds.  When they are looking for the services you offer they will think of you first.