Write what you know. It makes more sense

Are you an expert in your field? Do you get asked to write about what you know by your marketing department? How do you go about that task?

I ask because I find so many times that people write what they think they should write, not what they know.

Marketing departments ask me to help shape knowledge into words that make sense to customers. The expert has put together the first cut, and it's complex, convoluted and sprinkled with jargon.

So I get on the phone to the expert to get a better understanding of what they're saying. After all, if I can't understand it, I can't explain it to an audience.

Nearly every time, the expert explains the story to me lucidly, and answers my questions clearly. They could have used those words to write their piece. Writing doesn't have to be that far apart from speaking. Don't be afraid to write as you would talk, just with a little more polish.

What does your email say about you?

Do you ever receive - or send - totally unintelligible emails? Just because someone hasn’t bothered through lack of time or interest to re-read what they’ve written before they hit the “send” button?

Happens all the time with friends and it’s easy to go back and ask they what they really meant. But when it’s business, it’s much more difficult.

It’s when you’re talking to total strangers, or colleagues and customers who aren’t starting from a point of respect for your professionalism, that the problems start.

A survey by GMX found that over half of British respondents said they form opinions about a person’s intelligence, age and social status, simply from the way they write their emails. And one in three adults admit that they do adapt the style of their own emails to deliver a desired impression.

So if your email style is unprofessional, ungrammatical, illogical or just plain tedious, you could be making a negative impression on potential customers and partners.

And that’s particularly true if you’re trying to encourage business with regular email communications. Spending some time, and even some money, ensuring your newsletters are being delivering clearly, accurately and with a tone that suits your business, has to be good marketing sense.

Meanwhile running your eye back over every email you write, just to check for sense and spelling, has to be good for your image inside and outside your company, and even your long-term prospects.