Business writing is an all encompassing concept. The overarching importance of written is nowhere as glaringly visible as in the business. Its usage is not just confined to archiving the business operations and transactions but it is considered the best and the only way to chalk out a business plan, but also a method of problem solving and doing business in the real world. Whether it is communicating with the governmental agencies or informing the strategic partners, business writing is an essential medium of exchange of information and ideas.
The use of business writing is purely utilitarian. It is a means to an end and not an end itself. For instance, it can be used to justify or explain the administrative or strategic actions that have already been taken. Or they can be used to convey information about the changing of an organization’s management policy or announcing its strategy for future’s layoffs. It is also done by the top managers and the line managers as a goading stick to enforce a change in the employee’s behavior. It is also commonly used to deliver good or bad messages to the employees.
So far as the style of business writing is concerned, it greatly differs from the conventional ones. In the conventional and informal writing you can take the liberty of being too much resplendent or excessively vulgar. The same cannot be done in the business writing because either it will make the reader indifferent or leave an impression of non-seriousness over him. Finding clarity out of the ambiguity is an all important factor in the art of business writing. Without making yourself clear how can you ever think of driving home your point? That is the main reason that the professional business writers discourage the too much use of passive voice in the business writing. Another thing must always be kept in mind that business writing does not consist of short and quick sentences. Here conciseness is the keyword, but you have to proceed with caution here as getting too much concise will make it difficult for the reader to grasp the entire purpose of writing. According to a very famous business writing professional four Cs must always be kept in mind while business writing: Conciseness, Clarity, Consideration and Correctness.
Business writing is not the easier thing to do. Sometimes it can get too much frustrating for you, but all you have to do is to persist and keep on editing with an open mind. Get into the readers shoes and try to feel what he wants to feel while reading your text. Moreover you always have to focus on the real subject. A digression from the subject never goes well with the target audience. To conclude, you have to cut the un-necessary words, drop the long and ambiguous phrases and be impersonally direct. And once you have finished the business writing do not forget to proof read it just in order to make it more perfect and impeccable.