tem: A brilliant process engineer at a major chemical company is trying to tell representatives from a personal care products giant about the cost-savings and performance benefits of a new hair-care ingredient. But she’s getting tangled up in minutiae and arcane data; she’s lost them before she even gets to the good stuff.
Item: The fundraising team at a nationally recognized child-services organization prepares proposals, letters and reports to corporate, foundation and individual donors. But the content is filled with clichés, unnecessary words and grammatical mistakes. It’s also not tailored to the donor category or personalized in any way; and the calls to action are weak and buried.
Item: IT professionals at a world-class metropolitan hospital send emails and reports to management and busy medical and admin staff about key system changes and upgrades. Rather than getting to the point quickly and clearly, the writing is often too long, too formal and too technical for readers, who just need the pertinent facts that affect them.
Item: Marketers promoting industry conferences use emails, event websites and social media to spur enrollment. But attendee interest lags because subject lines are flat and ignorable and language about the features and benefits of the event is vague. “What can I get out of this event that I can use?” It’s not clear.
Is your organization communicating to key audiences with bloated text, grammatical and stylistic mistakes or unfocused messaging? Clear, persuasive writing is critically important. Your company’s reputation – and your ability to attract clients or motivate associates – depends on it.
Here’s my shameless self-promotion
As an experienced, independent writer and NYU instructor, I can help your team write more effectively – content that’s succinct, compelling and targeted to both internal and external audiences. I developed my short, Effective Writing Workshop primarily for non-writers, like the people mentioned above.
Adaptable for specific needs, the program covers basic skills and techniques as well as guidance on emails, presentations, reports, marketing materials and more. And it’s fun!
If you think poor writing is hurting your business or department, let’s talk about how I can help your team communicate like pros. Shameless self-promotion is over.