I got commented not to long ago that my writing was to Business style/Corporate and that kind of stuck with me for a bit. Having recently graduated with a business degree and having been rewarded for it for so long I thought of it as a stronger way of writing and a better way to get my point across. But then social media comes along and the trend of being much more informal and completely the opposite of this style begins to start. With this I’ve seen some criticism of corporate writing being seen as the old or caveman way of doing things and it not having any practical use. So my question is, is there still room for corporate writing or do I need to unlearn about 4 years of my educational experience?
Conversational or the ‘new’ way of writing?
So the biggest argument for moving away from the traditional style of writing is that its very cold and unemotional and that its better to write like you’re writing to a friend or like you’re talking to the person beside you. A lot of the time I’ve seen it to be very upbeat and full of personality.
Photo from Alex Barth
Some Criticisms I have: I can see it very easily causing miscommunication especially as companies are trying to reach a larger more international audience. Writing isn’t the same as face to face communications you can’t completely express tone and emotion and everyone can have their own interpretation of things. You can also easily go overboard as well with poor language, use of slang and the appropriateness of subject matter ( ex: will someone be offended by a joke). My personal criticism of moving away from the business style of writing is that it can get too cutesy/expressive and not quickly get down to content .
Corporate or the ‘old’ way of writing:
In my opinion there was a reason that corporate writing became the norm. It standardized things and got right down to the point. When done right there is little ambiguity and the reader can quickly grab the information they need. It also made sure that nothing that was said would improperly anger anyone or put businesses in legal situations which could cost a company a lot of money in the courts.
Photo by PinkMoose
When it can be used poorly: This style of writing has also been known as being cold and very political. When there is pain being felt such as during a crisis event a corporate style press release or letter does not show much sympathy. On the other side of things it can improperly show a company’s excitement for a new initiative or company win.
So here’s my look at both types of communications and the benifits/drawbacks of both. I’d like to suggest a hybrid of both styles as they each communicate well in a specific way. What are your thoughts? Is informal writing in or is business communications not going away?
Tags: business writing, Communications, conversational style writing, corporate communications, informal communications, Social Media
Well said! I agree that there could be some changes made and it does need to be made from the top down. I’m curious how big of a role financial market regulations play though in upper management being very cautious with what they say?
Nice post Kev. I know the feeling.
It took me 4 years of university to learn how to write proper academic style, only to then decided to get into PR and have to unlearn everything for the PR writing style. It can be a bit confusing.
I think that a hybrid of formal and unformal is the way to go these days. Of course, it also depends on what you're actually writing for and about.
For instance, in your blog here, it's a kind of informal style, as the medium allows and almost asks for it. However, if you were writing a business plan you'd want it to be much more formal in the writing, but depending on who it's for, you may not want it to be too formal.
I think the best thing to do is feel out why and who you are writing for, and then just go with a way that makes you feel comfortable. People can tell if the writing came naturally or didn't, and I think if you felt comfortable with the way you wrote people will get that feeling as they read it.
Thanks for the comment 40deuce. I agree that making writing your own is really important, I've tried altering my style to match with someone else's and it ended up coming off as fake and insincere because it wasn't me.
I have adjusted my writing over time as well to make it sound like I'm speaking to someone rather than pushing out words to my audiences.
Conversational tone style of writing is much easier to read, is more memorable, and I feel more connected to the content as a result.
I don't think we will see corporate press releases change tomorrow, but the curve jumping, mission critical type of words should stay in more executive's heads rather than be posted as text in important news documents.
Nice post Kev. I know the feeling.
It took me 4 years of university to learn how to write proper academic style, only to then decided to get into PR and have to unlearn everything for the PR writing style. It can be a bit confusing.
I think that a hybrid of formal and unformal is the way to go these days. Of course, it also depends on what you're actually writing for and about.
For instance, in your blog here, it's a kind of informal style, as the medium allows and almost asks for it. However, if you were writing a business plan you'd want it to be much more formal in the writing, but depending on who it's for, you may not want it to be too formal.
I think the best thing to do is feel out why and who you are writing for, and then just go with a way that makes you feel comfortable. People can tell if the writing came naturally or didn't, and I think if you felt comfortable with the way you wrote people will get that feeling as they read it.
Thanks for the comment 40deuce. I agree that making writing your own is really important, I've tried altering my style to match with someone else's and it ended up coming off as fake and insincere because it wasn't me.
I have adjusted my writing over time as well to make it sound like I'm speaking to someone rather than pushing out words to my audiences.
Conversational tone style of writing is much easier to read, is more memorable, and I feel more connected to the content as a result.
I don't think we will see corporate press releases change tomorrow, but the curve jumping, mission critical type of words should stay in more executive's heads rather than be posted as text in important news documents.
Well said! I agree that there could be some changes made and it does need to be made from the top down. I'm curious how big of a role financial market regulations play a role though in upper management being very cautious with what they say?
Thanks for the comment 40deuce. I agree that making writing your own is really important, I’ve tried altering my style to match with someone else’s and it ended up coming off as fake and insincere because it wasn’t me.