The Three-Step Writing Process, Essay Example

In the age of the Internet, smart phones, and other forms of instant communication, the world of business is more hectic than ever. Getting a message out to others in an organization may be crucial, but those messages can also get lost in the noise of thousands of other messages. Whatever the audience, it is imperative that a message be constructed to achieve a successful result. The three-step writing process is a simple, yet effective, organizational tool that offers guidelines about how best to come up with a message that will do the best job of getting a positive response from a target audience.

The first, and perhaps most important, part of the three-step writing process is the planning stage. It is recommended that when writing a business message, half of the time devoted to the project goes to this planning stage. When planning a message, the first step is to analyze the situation in order to determine the purpose of the message. This seems too obvious to be important, but without a well-defined purpose, one’s message may be too unfocused or contain ‘information overload.”

A significant part of the planning stage involves developing an audience profile. It is important to define who the message will reach, and to understand that audience as well as possible. In that way, the message can be tailored to suit that particular audience, and will not contain information that is irrelevant to that audience or leave out information that is important to that audience. Once the purpose of the message has been determined, and an appropriate profile of the target audience has been developed, it is then possible to organize the information that will be contained in the message in such a way that best suits both the sender’s and the audience’s needs.

Another component of the planning stage involves choosing the medium that will be used to convey the message. There are a great number of ways in which a message can be sent, from a simple conversation to a detailed, complex presentation. Knowing what medium to use is a result of having done an effective audience profile; if only a small number of people need to receive a message it may only require a brief, face-to-face meeting. If dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people are in the target audience, it may be necessary to create a video or multi-media presentation to ensure that the message reaches that entire audience. In between these small and large approaches to conveying a business message are other avenues of communication, such as emails, podcasts, websites, and so on. Knowing one’s audience is a crucial first step in knowing what medium to choose.

After the details and requirements of the planning stage have been finalized, the second primary step in the process is the writing. It is here that the information that has been gathered will be shaped into an effective message. Again, knowing one’s audience is crucial, as it is that understanding that will determine what tone to take when writing the message. Generally speaking, it is best to use direct, conversational language that gets to the point and gets the point across quickly and easily. It is the language of the message that will convey the credibility of the sender and the company to the audience.

Once the message has been written, the final step is to revise it and produce a finished version. The revision process involves cleaning the message up, getting rid of unimportant information, making sure the wording is strong, and taking other steps to streamline and strengthen the message. Once that is done, the message can be produced in whatever format has been chosen, from a conversation to an inter-office memo to an interactive website and beyond.

These are just the general ideas involved in the three-step writing process. Each step is broken down into smaller components that help to ensure that the overall message reaches the target audience and achieves the desired effect. While not every detail of these smaller components has been covered here, what is important to remember is that the proper approach to planning, writing, and completing a business message is the best guarantee that the message will be heard and well-received.