Legal and Business Writing Consultant : Lori Herz : Write For Clients : Professional Writing and Online Content Consulting

There’s something about being on the edge of a new year. There’s a sense of possibility that compels us to look at things from a fresh perspective. It’s a time that lends itself to renewal and renovation.

Like other aspects of professional life, our business writing can benefit from a new-year-inspired overhaul. Service professionals can accomplish this by trying out new channels of content delivery and distribution, including:

• Blogs
  
• Syndicated articles
  
• Press releases 
• White papers
  

You can also revamp the substance of the written content you produce to market and support your business.

It’s long been said that content is king on the Web. But, it reigns offline, too. As Amber Simmons eloquently writes at A List Apart : “[T]he words that shape the page lie at the very center of an engaging visit. If the words aren’t beautiful and meaningful, the sleekest design in the world won’t compensate for it. The body can never replace a missing heart.” When you write helpful material that engages your clients and prospects, you foster the human-to-human connection that makes you stand out in the crowded field of service providers.

For some more ideas on re-designing your business writing for the New Year, take a look at Bronwyn Jones’ article on Better Writing Through Design and this Dosh Dosh post on Using the Right Content Development Strategy. While both pieces address writing for the Web, their guidance applies to your offline endeavors as well.

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One of my favorite new (to me) blogs is Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits. Among other topics, it covers productivity, organization and simplicity. As a business writer, I appreciate the practical guidance offered in posts like this one outlining 15 Can’t-Miss Ways to Declutter Your Mind.

Babauta’s insights often remind me of a writing lesson I learned in law school.

Lawyers and judges are known for producing written work that’s dense, convoluted and jargon-filled. I experienced this first-hand as a fledgling law student. I spent hours and hours trying to decipher the cases anchoring the curriculum and classroom discussion.

I struggled without much success until a friend suggested that I approach the task like an editor and re-write the case facts and law in plain English; reducing them to their simplest and most essential form. He backed his suggestion by citing the principle of Occam’s razor: given any two approaches to the same problem, the simplest one will be the best.

This is a principle that I still hold near and dear. I often refer to it  when I help clients create content for their Web and print publications. No matter how it’s delivered, business writing benefits from simplicity. There are many ways to simplify your writing without diminishing its quality or impact. Here are some great tips from Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl.

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From time to time, service professionals emerge from the whirlwind that’s work and life to find that they’ve fallen out of touch with people in their business network. Especially at this time of year, when closing out the old and ringing in the new, there’s a pull to fix these broken connections.

Many professionals send out holiday cards and gifts as means to this end. While these offerings certainly can connect you with clients and business associates you’ve lost touch with, they’re largely one-way lines of communication.

The better route to re-connection runs two ways. It’s an organic dialogue that lends a human dimension to business relationships. Face-to-face and phone conversations enable this kind of interaction. But, you can also encourage and evolve it through your business writing.

There are a number of ways to channel your written words of re-connection, including:

• E-mails

• Websites

• Blogs

• E-Newsletters

Whatever channel you choose, it’s important to convey why you’re reaching out to your network and to invite recipients to reciprocate by sharing something about themselves and their work.

Curt Rosengren nicely illustrated this point when he e-mailed me an invitation to his Reconnection Revolution. Curt explained: “[I want to have] “30 conversations in 30 days with people I've never actually spoken with (as in voice) before. No particular agenda to the conversations – just seeing what I learn, how I’m inspired, and what new ideas pop up.”

I know Curt from the blogosphere. Still, ours was an arms-length association at best. We reduced that distance during our hour-long phone conversation. We discussed our personal and professional backgrounds, goals and challenges and offered each other advice and support.

Reflecting on his 30-day mission. Curt said: “People start talking, building relationships, exchanging ideas, even finding ways to collaborate. Next thing you know – hey presto! – the positive potential has just grown exponentially.”

Although Curt’s experiment took place in real-time, his model can be adapted to written communications. If his 30-in-30 formula seems a bit daunting, you can easily customize it so it works for you: think 5-in-5 or even 5-in-10 and see what happens in time.

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This is the time of year when mirth and good cheer abound. With 24-7 Rudolph sightings and carols on the airwaves, negativity can be kept for another day.

When that day rolls around and you have some bad news to deliver to a client, this Legal Times article compels you to ask: What Would Winston Churchill Do?

Apparently, after the Germans defeated the French army in 1940, Churchill “gave what was probably the greatest example ever of conveying very bad news in an effective way.” He didn’t mince words or sugar-coat the truth. He communicated the information clearly and directly, ending with a rousing call for the British Empire and its Commonwealth to face “their finest hour.”

As the article suggests, inadvertently or not, Churchill used the psychology of communication to command a difficult situation. He seemed to recognize that people are more likely to accept bad news when it’s:

• Candidly presented

• Teamed with a plan for remedial action

Similarly, according to Thom Singer, we can remedy a bad business relationship by candidly communicating a request to clean the slate (post tipped by Chris Bailey). However, as Singer points out, taking the lead on fixing a challenged relationship is "not the same as admitting guilt. Instead it shows you really care about your [business connections] and are willing to give folks a second chance.”

Pamela Slim embraces this kind of openness and honesty in a recent post on the importance of communicating an apology. Slim misused the word “crass” when describing someone in one of her blog posts. Instead of handling his upset behind the scenes, Slim publicized her misstep for all her readers to see and learn from.

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