HBR Guide to Better Business Writing

Lesson 1. How to get Started?

Your written content determines a lot about how your company presents itself to the audience. This audience comprises partners, competitors, customers, and employees. This content will determine 

• if your partners will do business with you, 
• if your customers will buy from you, 
• if your employees will stay or if more will come, and 
• if your competitors will feel threatened due to your product launch. 

Writing, therefore, becomes a big deal. 

A common myth associated with writing is that it is a gift of genes or a natural talent. Well, it is neither. It is, instead, a skill cultivated through time and hard work. In order to get started with writing, you need to think on the following lines:

1. Think that you are a professional writer: If you have started considering writing as an option, you must have come across good writers, or writers you appreciate. Keeping this in mind, you need to see yourself as one of them. Continuously remind yourself that , “I am a good writer,” and it will trigger your brain's highest writing capabilities, taking you to a good start. 
2. Pick your style: Throughout your engagement with various writers, you must have come towards various writing styles. Which one do you think resonates with you the most? Pick that writing style up and build it. Once you have a grasp on your strongest strength, you will have various opportunities to try something new. 
3. Know why you are writing: Ask yourself if whatever you are writing is advancing the topic under consideration. For example, if you are writing about the political scenario of the US, don't derail from the track by talking about racism. As important as the topic might be, your content is getting cluttered. Stick to the topic under consideration and see if the words you are constructing, are helping in the advancement of the same. 
4. Understand Readers: Keeping in mind the audience you are writing for is perhaps the most important part of content writing. Therefore, demographics become really important. For example, you can’t use informal language when you are writing a letter for  the board of directors of a particular franchise. 

There are the essential points that you need to keep in mind while starting the job of a content writer in a company. Your content, thus curated, will carry on its shoulders the reputation of an entire foundation. Therefore, taking