Keeping business writing simple sounds like a good idea. Your reader would certainly appreciate it.

But imagine creating content for a boss who loves technical white papers with loads of references. Or you work in information technology and market to non-techie clients.

How do you keep your business writing simple when it’s not?

Visualize your writing.

Simple Business Writing Visualized

The visualization technique is a long-time practice used by writers.

• Entrepreneurs also use it to picture the journey of their business in reaching their destination goal.
• But you don’t have to be a professional writer to use visualization for simple business writing.

Any human can do it. Really. Let’s charge up those creative visions.

Visualize This

My love of simple thinks in threes – a beginning, middle, end. The illustration below shares three questions to ask yourself about the topic or subject of your business writing.

Now, let’s examine the three questions and look at an example. Follow along with the video. Margo deals with the fallout from an all too familiar challenge – COVID-19.

Visualization Technique Examples

One of my favorite bloggers, Henneke Duistermaat, puts her visual thinking into cartoons. In fact, she wrote a great post about this topic.

Even if you don’t have Henneke’s drawing ability, you can visualize your business writing. Let’s try it with Margo’s challenge.

Margo had several dogs as pets. She became adept at training and works part-time helping others learn how to train their dogs. In thinking about the new company software, Margo visualized the steps she takes in dog training.

The first step Margo took was thoroughly training on the new software so she knew it inside and out. Next, she thought about the best way to train her staff. She decided she needed the following critical elements.

• Make training interactive – it was the best way dog owners learned and Margo knew it helped simplify what trainees thought was a complex subject.
• Incorporate fun elements – her staff were young, competitive, and loved video games. Margo decided to use gamification in her training.
• Include incentives – Margo customized the incentives to each staff member and offered the incentives upon completion of the training.

When Margo prepared her script for training, one phrase popped into her head.

Keep it simple.

She visualized the steps in her dog training.

1. Cues – like dog training’s simple, “Sit,” “Down,” “Drop it,” Margo designed simple cues for software training by using buttons with simple commands, like, “Click here,” or “Next”.
2. Action – The gamification method provided clues for obtaining the correct response. It took users back if they missed a step to discover new clues for a successful finish.
3. Reward – Throughout the training, audio and visual rewards signaled success. Users racked up points until reaching their ultimate reward for completing the course.

Simple Rewards

By visualizing your business writing, you simplified the task for yourself. And that translates to simple reading for your audience.

• Picture your point (or problem)
• Put yourself in the shoes of your reader
• Deliver what your reader needs

Simple rewards come from simple business writing. What tips do you have for keeping it simple – even when your topic is not that simple? Share your thoughts in Comments.

Note: This April 30, 2021 post is an update to the original post that published on July 25, 2013.

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Helping you Keep it simple, clear & uniquely yours

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