Brief-writing workshop

Business Communications

How readers consume content

Agenda

1

2

3

4

Tactics for writing briefs

Persuasion & influence

Making data meaningful

HOW READERS CONSUME CONTENT:

Gaze plot and eye-tracking

studies show that most people

commonly exhibit patterns when

consuming written materials.

Improve comprehension and

increase consumption rates for

your writing with these tips >

“The true scarce commodity is

increasingly human attention.” --Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

• Put your most important information up

front (above the fold)

• Reduce copy as much as possible

• Use subheads

• Use bulleted lists

• Keep each paragraph focused to one idea

TACTICS FOR WRITING BRIEFS: Reading Patterns

From most to least

common

Default style for

readers encountering

content

Well-structured

content engages

readers

Used by readers

searching for specific

keywords

Used by readers who

consume the entire

copy

It’s called F-Shaped Pattern Layer Cake Spotted scanning Commitment

Use these tactics • Format the copy

• Organize info

• Keep them on the

page

• Give them

somewhere to go

• Bolded, underlined

words, subheds,

lists

• Cross promote

related content

• Keep it fresh k

C O N F I D E N T I A L A N D P R O P R I E T A R Y C O M C A S T I N F O R M A T I O N

TACTICS FOR WRITING BRIEFS:

The Inverted Pyramid

One summary sentence

that explains everything.

The Inverted Pyramid is a style of writing where the first

sentence summarizes the most important information. The

remaining content is organized from most to least important,

followed by context or background information or materials at

the end.

Building blocks like facts,

statistics, arguments

ordered from most to least

relevant or important.

Context,

attachments,

relevant artifactsPROS CONS

Readers can leave at

any point and still be

informed – you make

the most of a reader’s

attention span.

Is formulaic, not

engaging, encourages

scanning.

C O N F I D E N T I A L A N D P R O P R I E T A R Y C O M C A S T I N F O R M A T I O N

TACTICS FOR WRITING BRIEFS:

BLUF

BLUF or Bottom Line Up Front is a style of writing that puts the

conclusions and recommendations at the beginning of the text

to facilitate rapid decision making. Commonly used as an

interview tactic, in medical or scholarly articles, in military

briefings or for planning and management.

PROS CONS

Immediately focuses the

audience to the topic.

Helps decision makers

save time.

Requires analysis and

time on the part of the

preparer.

C O N F I D E N T I A L A N D P R O P R I E T A R Y C O M C A S T I N F O R M A T I O N

PERSUASION & INFLUENCE: Persuasive writing, calls to action

When writing persuasively Sources of personal power for influence

• Clearly articulate your position

• Provide evidence from credible sources

• Differentiate fact and opinions

• Address counter arguments

• Expertise; possession of valued knowledge

• Referent; respect and admiration of others

• Connection; the people one knows and can influence, reciprocity

• Information; knowing what is happening in the organization

Tips, Best Practices for Calls to Action

What it is:

• A statement that instructs the reader to act or identifies a clear action

path

How to do it: • Assess the audience or reader and provide a motivation, illuminate a

consequence

• Give the reader all the information necessary to commit the action

• Use an active voice

• Clear any obstacles, barriers

PERSUASION & INFLUENCE: Pressure tactics commonly appear in business

Be aware of high pressure negotiation

tactics that sometimes appear in

business communications

How to deal with them

DEADLINES: Use of deadlines to create action.

Can be internal or external, artificial or real.

• Resist the anxiety and ask direct questions about the deadline, is it real, what’s the source, what’s the

consequence of missing it.

COMPETITION: Can impact timelines, prices.

Bluffing, puffing.

• Ask questions that focus on the product to differentiate

• Challenge bluffs, or inflated figures by asking direct questions to expose

DELAY TACTICS; Limited Authority / Missing

Person tactics, deal dropping

• Find out who makes decisions and arrange a meeting with that person.

• Start negotiations with the person who has the final authority

• Find out what standards are used to determined if agreements can be authorized or now

MORAL APPEAL; Appeals to sense of fairness,

tries to get negotiator to empathize with

opposition

• Name the tactic, stand firm in your position, expose a motive

BLANKETING / ASSOCIATION; Generalizing

statements made to create credibility and weaken

resolve from the opposite party

• Use objective criteria to challenge generalizations

• Ask for specific details that drill down to the actual details

PERSUASION & INFLUENCE: Writing with confidence

Active vs. Passive writing Unnecessary Qualifiers, words, phrases that

undermine credibility / authority

Affirmative vs. Negative sentences

• Active voice. In most English sentences with an

action verb, the subject performs the action

denoted by the verb.

• Using the active form of writing conveys

confidence and is the preferred style for business

communications.

• Statements that hedge “Feel free to disagree but

…” invite doubt

• Replace weak words and phrases like, “I think,

believe, feel, try,” with stronger ones like “We’re

confident, I’m convinced, Optimistic, we expect”

• Masking statements or opinions as questions

invites rebuttal, criticism

• Qualifiers limit or modify the meaning of words;

apparent, presumed, some, in general, unlikely,

possibly, estimate, intent, might, suggest, often,

several, most.

• Negative statements fail to provide information

• They sound defensive

• Negative sentences are usually longer than their

affirmative counterparts

MAKING DATA MEANINGFUL: Analyzing audiences / data

Communicate / Present

Compile and collect

Clean up and validate

Provide context, benchmarks

Combine

Analyzing data

Communicate / Present

Consider Demographics

Disposition / Actions

Knowledge and Gaps

Customization

Analyzing Audiences

MAKING DATA MEANINGFUL: Writing about numbers

• Start off paragraphs with a theme sentence that contains no numbers.

• Avoid the use of elevator statistics

• Avoid or define upon first reference any jargon, technical terms or acronyms

• Provide context for big numbers to make them relatable

• Consider using a visualization to present data

• Control the “Cognitive load” of your content, visuals or statements. The Cognitive

load is how hard the reader has to work to understand what you’re trying to

communicate.