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

Professional service firms across the country are concerned with navigating the chasm stretching between the values of older employees and those of the Generation Y - or Millennial - professionals now entering the workforce.

Study after study has shown that this younger cohort is more dual-centric (placing equal priorities on career and family) and less work-centric (putting higher priority on their jobs than family) than previous generations. With an eye on attaining work-life synergy, they’re impatient to progress and define rewards in terms of financial success, flexibility, freedom, opportunity and meaning.

According to a recent news release, along with its dual-centric outlook and value system, Gen Y also has a unique communication style. Its members “respond to humor, passion and truth” and need direct and “timely feedback, frequent encouragement and recognition of efforts.” As this article on talking across generations explains, Millennials were raised in an age of tech-fueled instant gratification. So, they need to receive a steady stream of information “to feel in the loop and included” at work.

While older generations are used to communicating with co-workers and clients face-to-face, Gen Y prefers the ease and speed of e-mail and their constant companion – the Blackberry. If you feel behind this e-communications eight ball and want a handy tip sheet for connecting with the Millennials in your work and client space, check out David Pogue’s piece on The Next Generation of Online Shorthand.

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My mantra is that business writing is all about relating to your intended audience. When service professionals write newsletter columns, blog posts, trade articles or basic e-mails, more often than not, they’re trying to connect with clients and prospects. Whether they succeed in making that connection depends on several factors.

First and foremost, as communication expert Joey Asher points out in Lessons From a Lousy Law Lecture, business writing has to be audience-centric. When your writing fails to focus in on and address their needs, challenges and concerns, readers will quickly lose interest. They’ll turn the page, click the back button or hit delete.

So, how do you grab and hold the reader’s attention?

Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen suggests that you take some guidance from Steve Jobs’ keynote presentation at this year’s Macworld. According to Reynolds, Jobs was so engaging and effective on stage because he:

• Developed rapport with the audience. “Right off the bat he was acknowledging the importance of the audience and that they are they important ones, they are who this presentation is for.”

• Gave them an idea of where he was going. He didn’t offer a detailed itinerary, but just “a bit of a road map of the journey [he was] taking them on.”

• Showed his enthusiasm. Although his opening included the words: “Incredible, extraordinary, awesome, amazing, revolutionary,” Jobs delivered them with genuine and sincere zeal. It wasn’t a put on.

Yes, Jobs gave a live presentation. But, what worked for him in real time will work just as well for most business communications, including your business writing.

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We’ve all experienced moments when we’d give anything to be invisible. At those times, it seems safer and easier to just disappear. Then there are times when we really want to be noticed. To get that attention, we’ll step on a soapbox, dress flashy or walk on the edge.

Whether we embrace or shun it in our personal lives, visibility has become a prerequisite for success in the business world. Your clients and prospects won’t know the first thing about you or your services until you grab their attention and engage them in a meaningful dialogue. There are many ways to make yourself stand out as a service professional. But, for years, the Web has been a main line to visibility.

Whether you’re a solo professional or practice in a firm, you can create a Web presence and online communications that attract attention and build strong client relationships. Here are some tips and tactics to help you along:

As Kevin O’Keefe reminds us - by channeling Robert Scoble - your goal isn't to attract the widest possible Web audience. A better aim is to become a credible and indispensable resource in your “niche area.” I've found that you can jump-start this process with a who-what-how intake.

Ask yourself and your team these questions:

• Who do you want to draw through your Web door?

• What problems do they have that you can/want to solve?

• How do you solve those problems?

Once you’ve brainstormed the answers; you can design (or re-design) your website and site content for maximum relevance and benefit to your target visitors-clients.

To learn more about the makings of innovative Web content, tune into an ongoing series on the topic at Brian Clark’s Copyblogger. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen is another great source of information on how you should write for the Web.

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