Introduction
Writing for Business is a new course designed to help business people to communicate effectively. It's amazing how many customer-targeted letters and even advertisements suffer from bad spelling, bad grammar, and careless use of language. Poor writing can also make a bad impression on business clients and funding bodies. What can be done about this? Some companies hire copywriters to edit their outgoing mail and publications. Writing for Business can show you how to do it yourself.
Writing for Business makes the basic skills of good writing easy to learn. Beginning with the basic rules of spelling and grammar, it moves on to examine the different types of writing needed for formal and informal business letters, internal communications, press releases, web pages and simple advertisements. As you progress through these lessons, you'll find it easier and easier to create the professional image your business needs. Your writing may be the first thing your clients see; it's essential to get it right.
"Why do I need to learn these skills when I have spelling and grammar checkers on my computer?" you may ask. The truth is that spelling and grammar checkers are not designed to handle all the types of writing which you may wish to use as a business. In order to be effective, they need to be used alongside human editing. Spell checkers don't notice typos which are also real words (just not the words you intended). They can't help you when you're unsure about words which sound the same. Perusing recent editions of popular magazines and newspapers will show you how many errors can slip by when spell checkers are the last line of defense. Is that the impression which you want your business to make?
Although business people are generally intelligent and well educated, many leave the education system without a proper idea of how English grammar works. Whilst not every piece of writing needs to be formal and elegant - indeed, simplicity can make a stronger impression - it's important to know how to construct sentences and paragraphs which are both functionally correct and easy to read. Writing for Business will explain the different parts of a sentence and how they function. It will make it clear when and how you should use periods, commas, colons, semi-colons, question marks, exclamation marks, apostrophes and dashes. To make it easier for you to remember all this, it will also cover the basics of why English uses these rules.
For the convenience of the majority of students, this course is written in American Standard English, but the advice it gives is equally applicable for speakers of English, Scottish, Canadian and Australian variants of the language. Special attention will be given to important differences between these variants, so that you can avoid errors in international correspondence.
Taking this course will enable you to communicate clearly and effectively without any off-putting mistakes. Clarity in your writing will help you to avoid misunderstandings which could cost your business money. Your company will be in a stronger position in any legal disputes if its records and communications are unable to be misinterpreted.
Creating a good impression with your writing is the first way to demonstrate to funding bodies and potential business partners that you are organized, efficient and professional. When you can do it yourself, rather than relying on a hired copywriter, you'll be able to improvise where necessary and impress people even with your quickly written notes. Writing for Business will also show you how to plan telephone calls, presentations and meetings so that you can make an impression when speaking.
In the later stages of this course, you'll learn how to use language to make an impression on your customers and business partners. There'll be lessons on how to create excitement about a new product or service. How can you make sure the media are well informed about your business and say what you want them to say? Most journalists are delighted when handed all the information they need in a form that they can easily copy into an article. This course will show you how to provide information suitable for use in written media, on the radio and on the television. You'll also learn how to write newspaper adverts and design leaflets and posters to tell people about your business directly. Most companies these days have web sites, but how many of these sites tell you what you really need to know before you consider doing business with them? Writing for Business will show you how to build up informative, well-written content on a web site, giving professionals and the public alike the perfect first impression.
As well as writing itself, this course covers basic page layout for a range of different situations, enabling you to produce documents which impress even before they've been read. You'll learn why spacing is important and how to use paragraphs correctly. Attention will be paid to the arrangement of headers and sub-headers and the importance of choosing the right fonts. This section of the course will also help you to design basic promotional materials like the business card. When you produce promotional materials, what are the most important things you need to say about your company, its products and services? Writing for Business will help you to identify this information and present it in a clear, simple manner that complements your image.
This course will teach you how to introduce yourself in a variety of contexts. Whether you're well established or just starting out, smartly written business plans will help you to get what you want. Despite this, the single most important piece of writing you can produce in business is the initial pitch - that introductory letter which grabs the reader's interest and gets you past the door. Without this, nobody will know what else you have to offer. Writing for Business will teach you how to pitch your business' talents effectively.
Good writing will give you natural authority and improve the confidence with which you are able to approach other aspects of business. It will make you independent of copywriters and editors and will put you in full control of the impression your company gives. Within a large company, it could lead to an improvement in your status. If you are a sole trader or freelance contractor, selling your talents afresh on a frequent basis, it will help you to make good contacts and establish yourself within the corporate network.
Writing may not in itself be what you do for a living, but it informs every aspect of how other people perceive what you do. Writing for Business will enable you to get it right.
Lessons
Click here to see course syllabus
