BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

BAB 4 : WRITING BUSINESS MESSAGES


ADAPTING TO YOUR AUDIENCE

• Writing business messages, including the two key tasks of adapting to your audience and composing your message.
• Be sensitive to audience needs, by using  a “you” attitude, politeness, positive emphasis and bias- free language.
• Build a strong relationship with your audience by establishing your credibility and projecting your image.
• Control your style with a conversational tone, plain English and approriate voice.
• Use extra tact when communicating with people higher  up the organization chart than you or outside the company.
• You can communicate negative news without being negative.
• Show audience member how they will benefit bt responding to your messages.
• Try to avoid words with negative conotations. 
• EXAMPLE:

             - failing  (underperfoming)

             - fake (imitation or faux)

• Avoid biased language that might offend your audience.
• Bias can take a variety of forms:

             - gender bias

             - Racial and ethnic bias

             - age bias

• Disability bias

ESTABLISHING YOUR CREDIBILITY

• People are more likely to react positively to your message when they have confidence in you.
• To enhance your credibility, emphasize factor such as honesty, objectivity and awareness of audience needs.

CONTROLLING YOUR STYLE AND TONE

• Most business messages aim for a conversational style.
• You can achive a tone that is conversational but still businesslike:

              - avoid obsolete and pompous language

              - avoid preaching and brangging

USING PLAIN ENGLISH

• Plain English is a way presenting information in a simple that your audience easily grasp your meaning.
• Audience can understand and act on plain English without reading it over and over.

SELECTING ACTIVE OR PASSIVE VOICE

• Your choice of active or passive voice affects the tone of your message.
• Active sentences are usually stronger than passive ones. 
• Use passive sentence to soften bad news, to put yourself in the background, or to create an impersonal tone when needed.

CHOOSING STRONG WORDS

• Correctness is the first consideration when choosing words.
• Effectiveness is the second consideration when choosing words.

BALANCING ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE WORDS

• An abstract word expresses a concept, quality or characteristic.
• A concrete word stands for something you can touch, see or visualize. They are direct, clear and exact.

FINDING WORDS THAT COMMUNICATE WELL

• Try to use words that are powerful and familiar.
• When you compose your business message, think carefully to find the word that communcate exactly what you want to say:

             - choose powerful words

             - choose familiar words

             - avoid cliches and use buzzwords carefully

             - use jargon carefully

CRAFTING COHERENT PARAGRAPHS

• Paragraphs organize sentences related to the same general topic.
• Readers expect each paragraph to be coherent – to present an idea in a logically way.
• Most paragraphs consist of:

             - a topic sentence that reveals the subject of the paragraph

             - related sentences the support and expand the topic

             - transitional elements that help readers move between sentences and paragraphs

DEVELOPING PARAGRAPHS

1. Illustration
2. Comparision or contrast
3. Cause and effect
4. Classification
5. Promblem and solution

 USING TECHNOLOGY TO COMPOSE(mengarang) AND SHAPE(rupa) YOUR MESSAGES

• Style sheets and templates
• Autocompletion
• Autocorrection
• File merge and mail merge
• Endnote, footnotes, indexes and table of contens
• Wizards