Best-practice communications all have four things in common.
Do you do them all?
- Engaging start – say something early your audience values – their #1 priority, an intriguing phrase etc. They have to think “this is in my interest”, or they’ll stop engaging
- Call to action – ask them to do something (or they won’t do anything). The best way is often to state their action (“Please can you do X”), and then the action you’ll do after they’ve done theirs (“And then I’ll do Y”)
- Agreed headings – wherever possible, agree with your audience upfront the headings you’ll include. That way, you only say relevant, useful things. Easier and quicker for you to prepare; and for them to read
- Looks nice – first impressions drive everything. Hand in a shabby communication riddled with spelling mistakes… well, that won’t help! So, use spell checker. If you aren’t sure of the grammar, ask someone
I know everyone knows all these.
But how many do you do?
Action Point
Review a recent communication, to see how well you do these four. If any are missing, you know what to do.
And for more tips on how to master this, and other critical techniques, there are hundreds more here: www.andyboundsonline.com.