How to Prepare to Write a Business Document

1. Determine the document’s objective, audience, and tone.
2. Gather the information required to support your message.
3. Plan out the document’s organizational structure.
4. Draft the document.
5. Revise the document.

How to Determine the Document’s Objective, Audience, and Tone

1. What’s the objective? Your document should have an objective that you can sum up in just a few words: “To notify our clients about a new product our company has in development,” for example. Your document should include a call to action, a statement that conveys the response you hope to receive from the reader. For instance, a sales letter may request that readers visit a website to buy a product. A memo may solicit opinions about a recent meeting or presentation.
2. Who’s the audience? Once you’ve determined your objective, consider your audience, which might include clients, colleagues, investors, media outlets, or potential customers. More specifically, consider the type of initial response you expect to get from them. For instance, if you’re writing a sales letter, your audience probably will not be familiar with your product or service and therefore may approach your claims skeptically.
3. What’s the tone? The response you desire from your audience—in conjunction with the initial response you expect to get—should guide the tone of your document. For instance, if you’re writing a sales letter, your tone should be authoritative, instructional, and trustworthy in order to allay your audience’s potential skepticism and lack of familiarity with your product or service. If you’re writing a memo to request your boss’s permission to close a time-sensitive deal, your tone should convey the urgency of the situation without being disrespectful or overly demanding.

Gather Information That Supports Your Message

1. Search your files: Look at existing documents, such as successful memos or proposals you’ve written, to find supporting information or to inspire new ideas.
2. Consult your colleagues: Ask colleagues you trust for advice on finding information that’s relevant to your document’s subject matter. If your company has a research specialist, ask him or her to direct you to the information you need.
3. Search online: Use a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, to find recent news or reports that may inform your message. (And always verify the authenticity of information you find online.) Some companies subscribe to research databases such as LexisNexis® or ProQuest®, which contain millions of articles and other documents that may suit your purposes.

Plan the Document’s Organizational Structure

• News style: Gets right to the point by clearly stating the document’s objective in the first paragraph. The rest of the document offers supporting information prioritized from most to least important. Useful for internal correspondence, such as memos or emails, that makes an announcement or requests information. Also used in press releases.
• Point-by-point: States the document’s objective, or main point, in the first paragraph and introduces supporting points in each successive paragraph. Often acknowledges and refutes counterpoints within each supporting paragraph. Most useful in memos and reports that take a solid position, such as an argument against a new corporate policy or in favor of a potential deal.
• Step-by-step: States the document’s objective and provides step-by-step guidelines to describe the actions required to attain it. Most useful when writing memos or proposals that argue in favor of a specific approach to a problem, such as how to redesign an office’s layout to increase productivity.
• Narrative: Takes a personal approach to accomplishing the document’s objective by using first-person perspective (“I” and “we”). Most useful when writing documents that must ingratiate the reader, such as sales letters.
• Problem-and-solution: Presents the document’s objective as the solution to a problem. Most useful in writing proposals in which you identify a flaw in a product or process or a troubling trend, and provide recommendations for improving the situation. The document might identify ways to address lagging sales, for example.

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