Business Writing Courses to Write Clearly and Concisely

These business writing tips and business writing courses for professionals will improve your written communications to write clearly and concisely.

In an age where remote work is fast becoming the norm and most communication is done in the form of online messaging via email, Slack, and other apps, professional business writing skills are an essential future workplace skill.

The fact is, you won’t be hired if you can’t write clearly. And you won’t remain in a job long enough to get promoted if you can’t write clearly and concisely – the characteristics of good writing.

One of the best ways to advance your professional success is to do a business writing and communication course to improve business writing skills and write more powerfully and clearly.

You don’t need advanced writing skills to be job-ready, just basic writing skills for adults, and some business writing practice to learn clear and concise business writing skills.

What Is Business Writing?

Business writing refers to any written communication used in a professional setting to convey information. It includes a wide range of documents, such as emails, memos, reports, proposals, and business letters.

The primary purpose of business writing is to communicate clearly and effectively with colleagues, clients, stakeholders, and other business entities.

Effective business writing skills are essential for managers to communicate with employees, and vice versa, in a way that promotes clarity and understanding, and prevents misunderstandings arising out of miscommunication.

Good business writing is characterized by clarity, conciseness, and professionalism. It should straightforwardly convey information, using language that is easy to understand and free of jargon or unnecessary complexity.

Additionally, business writing should be well-organized, with a clear structure that helps readers navigate the content easily.

The Importance of Written Business Communication

What is the purpose of improving your business writing? Written business communication is a formal and professional way to communicate with other people in the workplace. It is also important to be courteous when writing business communications.

Written business correspondence can include memos, letters, emails, and proposals, and may also be used to document agreements, procedures, or other important information.

Written business communication often provides a record of what was discussed and decided upon in meetings. This can be helpful to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that no misunderstandings occur.

In addition, written business communication can help build trust and goodwill between parties. Taking the time to craft a well-written message is an indication that you value the relationship and your colleagues’ time.

Business writing is essential for a variety of purposes, including:

• Internal Communication: Communicating within the organization, such as sharing updates, making announcements, or requesting information.
• External Communication: Communicating with external parties, such as clients, customers, suppliers, and business partners.
• Documentation: Creating official records of business activities, such as meeting minutes, project reports, and financial statements.
• Marketing and Sales: Creating promotional materials, such as brochures, advertisements, and sales letters, to attract customers and promote products or services.
• Proposals and Agreements: Writing proposals to pitch ideas or projects to clients or partners, and drafting agreements to formalize business relationships.

Effective business writing is crucial for maintaining professional relationships, facilitating business transactions, and ensuring clarity and understanding in the workplace.

3 Primary Business Writing Formats

The three primary business writing formats are email, letters, and reports. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three primary business writing formats?

Each of these business writing formats has its own advantages and disadvantages:

#1. Email Writing

Advantages:

• Instant communication: Emails allow for quick dissemination of information.
• Accessibility: Emails can be sent and received from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Record keeping: Emails provide a written record of communication, which can be useful for reference.

Disadvantages:

• Informality: The casual nature of emails can sometimes lead to misunderstandings.
• Lack of personal touch: Emails can feel impersonal, especially for sensitive or complex messages.
• Overload: Email overload is common, making it easy for important messages to get lost in a sea of emails.

#2. Letter Writing

Advantages:

• Formality: Letters are more formal than emails and can convey a sense of importance or significance.
• Tangibility: Physical letters can leave a lasting impression and are more likely to be kept for reference.
• Attention to detail: Writing a letter requires more thought and effort, which can result in a more polished final product.

Disadvantages:

• Slow delivery: Letters take longer to deliver than emails, which can be a disadvantage for urgent communication.
• Cost: Sending physical letters can be more expensive than sending emails, especially for international correspondence.
• Environmental impact: Paper letters have a greater environmental impact than digital communication.

#3. Report Writing

Advantages:

• Comprehensive information: Reports allow for detailed analysis and presentation of information.
• Formal presentation: Reports are typically formatted professionally, which can lend credibility to the information presented.
• Decision-making: Reports can provide the necessary data for informed decision-making.

Disadvantages:

• Time-consuming: Writing a report can be time-consuming, especially if it requires extensive research and analysis.
• Complexity: Reports can be complex and may require a deep understanding of the subject matter.
• Audience understanding: Ensuring that the report is accessible and understandable to the intended audience can be challenging.

Each business writing format has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of format should be based on the specific requirements of the communication and the preferences of the sender and recipient.

Business Writing Tips to Write Clearly and Concisely

The most important principle in business writing is clarity. The main characteristic of good business writing skills is the ability to write clearly and concisely.

In general, business writing should be easy to read quickly. Clear communication ensures that your audience understands your message easily, reducing the risk of misunderstandings and improving the effectiveness of your writing.

To achieve clarity, focus on using simple and concise language, organizing your ideas logically, and structuring your writing in a way that makes it easy to follow.

Basic writing skills are essential in the workplace, as is the ability to be clear and concise in your written communications. Here are some tips to help you write clearly and concisely in your business correspondence.

#1. Set a clear intention

One of the most effective writing skills of quality writers is knowing clearly what goal they want their message to accomplish. What is the intention of your email, memo, essay, or report?

Once you have a clear intention, you will be able to write clearly and concisely to communicate your business goals in a way that achieves the results you want.

In business writing, the main idea of a written work should be located at the beginning or in the opening paragraph. This helps to immediately capture the reader’s attention and clearly convey the purpose or message of the document.

So, when organizing your business writing, you want to make sure that the main idea is at the very beginning. Setting an intention for your communication will help you achieve this writing goal more effectively.

#2. Cultivate mental clarity

The quality of your writing reflects the clarity of your thoughts. If you’re not clear about what you want to say, you won’t be able to write clearly. If your thoughts are scattered and confused, your writing will reflect your lack of clarity.

“The quality of your writing reflects the clarity of your thoughts.” ~ Priya Florence Shah

To demonstrate better business writing skills, you must get clear on what you want to say, and how you want to say it before you sit down to compose that missive.

You can develop clear business writing skills by taking some time to contemplate what you want to say first. Put down your ideas in bullet points, if that’s helpful.

You can use the MindVisualizer Mindmap software to create a mindmap that visually captures and organizes your thoughts and information.

If you find it easier to dictate a message rather than write it, you can use a Speech-to-Text app to dictate your message and then edit it to a professional tone.

If you have a deadline, ask your boss for an extension, so you can gather your thoughts properly, and write clearly and concisely once you’re done.

#3. Avoid using jargon

What is jargon in business writing? Jargon in business writing refers to specialized language or terminology that is specific to a particular industry, profession, or organization.

It often includes abbreviations, acronyms, technical terms, and phrases that are not easily understood by those outside the specific field.

While jargon can be useful for communicating efficiently within a particular group of people who understand the terms, it can also be confusing or off-putting to those who are not familiar with the language.

Intelligent writing is concise and clear and does not require complicated words or jargon-infested sentences. Using complicated words does not make you seem intelligent; it only makes you sound pretentious.

Therefore, it is important to use jargon judiciously and to explain or define terms when writing for a broader audience. Use simpler words that are easy to understand, instead of complex words that strain the reader’s mind, or don’t flow naturally.

For example, you can say “use” instead of “utilize”; or “very” instead of “extremely”.

“Use the smallest word that does the job.” ~ E.B. White

#4. Craft the right tone

In business writing, tone is typically driven by word choice, sentence structure, and overall writing style rather than paragraph length and font style.

The tone of a business document can vary from formal to informal, depending on the audience and purpose of the communication. Word choice plays a significant role in setting the tone, as certain words can convey different levels of formality or informality.

Sentence structure also contributes to tone, with shorter, simpler sentences often conveying a more direct and formal tone, while longer, more complex sentences can create a more sophisticated or academic tone.

Writing style, including formality, professionalism, and engagement, also influences the tone of business writing. Avoid long sentences and paragraphs to make business writing easier to read and comprehend.

Well-organized business writing uses short sentences and paragraphs. This approach enhances readability and comprehension, making the content more accessible and engaging for the reader.

Short sentences help convey information clearly and concisely, while short paragraphs create visual appeal and improve the flow of the text.

You can also break your ideas down into smaller chunks, and try breaking up long sentences into shorter ones so that your reader can follow along more easily.

Make sure each sentence is clear and easy to understand. Try reading your writing out loud to see if it sounds awkward or confusing. If it does, go back and revise until it sounds smoother.

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” ~ Hans Hofmann

In Prowriter’s free business writing book, you’ll learn the techniques that professional writers use to write clearly and persuasively.

#5. Eliminate excess words

To adhere to good business writing principles, you must learn how to write clearly and concisely, eliminating any unnecessary words or phrases.

Start by getting rid of any excess words. For example, you might be able to simplify a sentence by getting rid of the word “very”. Here are some clear and concise sentence examples:

• “To improve your writing skills, you need to practice” can be rewritten as “To improve your writing skills, practice.”
• “The fact that I am writing to you shows that I care about you” can be rewritten as “I’m writing to you because I care about you.”

Focus on brevity. Keep your sentences short and to the point so that your readers can quickly absorb your ideas. Use strong verbs and concrete nouns to improve impact, instead of weak verbs and abstract nouns.

“The writer who breeds more words than he needs is making a chore for the reader who reads.” ~ Dr. Seuss

You’ll find many clear and concise sentence examples in former Wall Street Journal editor, Shani Raja’s copywriting course, From Structure To Style, which will show you how to write clearly and concisely, with confidence, style, elegance, and impact.

#6. Active or passive voice?

To make business writing easier to read and comprehend, you should use active voice, which is more direct and engaging than passive voice, making your writing clearer and more effective.

Passive voice should be used in business writing when:

• The focus is on the action or the recipient of the action rather than the doer. For example, “The report was reviewed by the manager” (passive) instead of “The manager reviewed the report” (active).
• The doer of the action is unknown or irrelevant. For example, “Mistakes were made” (passive) is often used in business contexts to acknowledge errors without assigning blame.
• The doer of the action is less important than the action itself. For example, “The decision was made to proceed with the project” (passive) emphasizes the decision rather than who made it.
• Using passive voice helps maintain a formal or impersonal tone. For example, “The policy has been revised” (passive) is more formal than “We have revised the policy” (active).

Overall, passive voice should be used judiciously in business writing, as overuse can make writing less clear and direct.

#7. Use stories to engage

Unlike persuasive messages, most business writing is informational. It aims to convey facts, data, or instructions clearly and concisely without necessarily trying to persuade the reader to take a specific action or adopt a particular viewpoint.

However, in business writing, it is effective to tell a story because readers can retain information better when delivered as a story, become inspired by moving and vivid stories, and grasp obscure points more readily when given as stories.

Storytelling serves as a potent tool, offering a multifaceted approach to communication as it has a remarkable ability to engage readers on an emotional level, making the information more memorable and compelling.

To make business writing easier to read and comprehend, use transitional words and phrases to help readers navigate between ideas and understand the relationship between them. Use examples and anecdotes to make abstract concepts more tangible and easily understood.

By framing facts and figures within a narrative context, readers are not only more likely to retain the information but also to understand its significance and relevance. Additionally, stories can inspire and motivate, encouraging readers to connect more deeply with the message being conveyed.

In this Storytelling Course, you’ll master the craft of creating powerful narratives that inspire and influence your audience to take action, even with data-driven content, ensuring your writing leaves a lasting impact.

Whether used to simplify complex ideas, add a human element to data, or evoke a particular response, storytelling is a versatile and effective technique in business writing.

#8. Edit, proofread & format

You don’t have to be an expert at grammar and punctuation to be good at written business communications. However, you do need basic writing skills with decent grammar and punctuation.

You can use online writing tools like Prowritingaid’s free online grammar checker tool to help you check your written correspondence before you press send.

It is important to keep the same tense in your business writing because otherwise your readers may become confused or struggle to follow the timeline of events. Consistency in tense helps maintain clarity and coherence in your writing, ensuring that your message is conveyed effectively.

Master the English language with this Udemy English writing and speaking course that covers all areas of English learning, including English grammar, English speaking, and English writing (punctuation).

Don’t forget to proofread your written business correspondence for typos or long-winded sentences that may be difficult to understand.

“The best sentence? The shortest.” ~ Anatole France

Avoid using clichés, jokes, emojis, SMS-speak, and slang words. Ensure that your text is properly formatted into easily readable paragraphs and use a font that is neither too big nor too small.

#9. Use business writing templates

Using templates and examples can significantly improve your business writing by providing a structured framework and guiding you on the appropriate tone and format for different types of documents.

Business templates offer a starting point for your writing, helping you organize your thoughts and ensure you include all necessary information. They also save time by eliminating the need to create documents from scratch.

Business writing examples show you how to apply the template effectively, demonstrating how to adapt it to your specific needs. This can help you craft more professional and effective business documents.

For example, you can learn how to write a business proposal using a business proposal template as an entrepreneur seeking to secure new clients, projects, and funding.

Business-in-a-Box gives you access to a vast collection of business templates for various business tasks, from legal matters to sales and marketing, HR, finance and accounting, administration, product management, projects, and situations.

Make use of the latest writing technology by using AI copywriting tools that have email writing templates to write compelling emails and subject lines.

Why Take a Business Writing Class?

How can business writing classes help you learn better business writing skills? Taking a business writing class with a business writing coach or doing online business writing courses can help for several reasons:

• Structured Learning: Classes provide a structured approach to learning, covering essential topics such as grammar, style, and formatting, which can improve your overall writing proficiency.
• Feedback: Instructors can provide valuable feedback on your writing, pointing out areas for improvement and helping you develop a more effective writing style.
• Practice: Classes often include exercises and assignments that allow you to practice writing in a business context, helping you apply what you’ve learned.
• Peer Learning: Interacting with other students in the class can provide additional insights and perspectives, enhancing your understanding of business writing principles.
• Updated Content: Business writing classes are often updated to reflect current trends and best practices, ensuring that you learn the most relevant skills for today’s business environment.
• Networking: Classes can also provide networking opportunities, allowing you to connect with other professionals who may offer advice and support as you continue to develop your writing skills.

Overall, business writing classes offer a comprehensive and interactive learning experience that can significantly improve your business writing skills and enhance your professional communication abilities.

Best Online Business Writing Courses

Your written communication skills will determine how well you do in the workplace. If you want to advance in your career, you must make an effort to learn better business writing skills.

Learn how to improve your writing quality with these business writing courses to improve your writing skills and business communications.

#1. Shani Raja’s Business Writing Course

Learn how to write electrifying, well-structured, and professional copy on demand with the bestselling instructor, Shani Raja, a former Wall Street Journal editor and in-house writing trainer, who now teaches the world’s best newspaper editors secrets to 500k+ students around the globe.

Shani has written for The Economist, Time, the FT, Dow Jones, and Bloomberg News. In his From Structure To Style course, he reveals how wordsmiths do the magic of producing captivating copy for millions of global readers.

No more will your writing be rambling, confusing, clunky, or boring. These strategies will empower you to write blog posts, web and content marketing copy, and articles with impeccable style and grace.

This course is ideal for those who know basic grammar and yearn to take their writing to the next level. Here are the concepts you’ll learn in Shani Raja’s bestselling business writing course:

• The 4 ingredients of exceptional writing – simplicity, clarity, elegance, and evocativeness
• How to make your writing simple, snappy, and straightforward
• How to write with care and avoid misplacing words
• How to structure your writing so that it presents well
• How to nurture and maintain the skills you gain through the course
• How to be bold, make your writing stand out, and steer clear of weak words

Get the From Structure To Style course and learn how to write clearly and concisely with Shani Raja.

#2. Mark Morris’ Udemy Better Business Writing Skills

Learn the skills, tips, and tricks of persuasive writing from professional speechwriter, Mark Morris’ videos in his course on Udemy Better Business Writing Skills. You’ll learn to write clear, concise, and persuasive content to achieve your goals.

Discover techniques for productivity, overcoming writer’s block, and asking key questions before writing. Understand the importance of persuasive writing in achieving professional objectives.

Explore ancient secrets and powerful editing techniques for career and business success. Structure your writing for impact and use ChatGPT as a valuable business writing tool.

#3. Business Writing & Technical Writing Immersion

In this highly-regarded Technical and Business Writing Udemy Course, you’ll learn sophisticated approaches to generating lengthy papers like proposals, and how to meticulously prepare, structure, outline, compose, revise, and deliver outstanding business and technical writing.

Developed by Dan Graham as a straightforward, tried-and-true, effective writing system, this effective business writing course uses 12 steps and almost 60 practical techniques to compose emails, business documents, reports, and other professional communications successfully.

Learn how to produce documents that are successful every time by working your way from the initial writing analysis to the final copy in this professional business writing course online.

#4. Udemy English Writing Course

Do you lack confidence in your English writing skills? This Udemy English Writing Course will help you master the English language and become a more confident writer.

This writing course for beginners covers all areas of English learning, including English grammar, English speaking, and English writing (punctuation).

This is a practical course for developing writing skills in English. It covers English grammar, English speaking, and writing for British and American English.

This English writing skills course includes over 35 hours of video lessons, hundreds of examples and practice problems, and full-length PDFs.

#5. Free Business Writing Course from the University of Colorado Boulder

The principles you’ll learn in this Free Business Writing Course from the University of Colorado Boulder will enable you to become a great business writer.

This course will teach you how to apply the top ten principles of good business writing to your work, how to deploy simple tools to dramatically improve your writing, and how to execute organization, structure, and revision to communicate more masterfully than ever.

From the very first lesson, you’ll be able to apply your new learning immediately to your work and improve your writing today. Your ideas are powerful. Learn how to deliver them with the clarity and impact they deserve.

#6. High-Impact Business Writing from the University of California, Irvine

In this course on High-Impact Business Writing from the University of California, Irvine, you’ll learn how to improve your business writing skills to clearly communicate ideas.

Learn to select formats for different audiences, use the correct medium, and adjust your style. Identify objectives clearly and avoid common pitfalls.

Gain experience writing various business documents, from emails to reports. Master editing, proofreading, and writing for a global audience.

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