Business communications tips, resources and best practices for entrepreneurs, start-ups and small business owners

1. CAB 0002/01 BusinessCAB 0002/01 Business
CommunicationsCommunications
Week 2 :Week 2 :
Message StrategyMessage Strategy

2. I didn’t know this…

3. MessageMessage Strategy

4. ChannelsChannels ofof
CommunicationCommunication

5. • WrittenWritten: Hard copy, email, blogs,
tweets, Instant Messaging/Text
Messaging, Wikis, and websites.
• Oral onlyOral only: Phone, voicemail,
conference calls, and podcasts.
• BothBoth: presentations, consulting,
face-to-face, talk, and webcasts.
Communication Channels

6. CultureCulture StrategyStrategy

7. • Fate
• Time: British Versus Jamaican
• Communication Style: group–oriented
cultures versus individual cultures (ex.
American vs. Native American)
• Credibility
• Audience Selection
• Greetings & Hospitality
Cultures Differ Based On…

8. Culture Differences by FATE

9. • Persuasion
• Gender-based
• Message Structure
• Channel Choice
• Non-verbal Behavior
• Space & Objects
Cultures Differ Based On…

10. Contexting & Face-Contexting & Face-
ChangingChanging

11. Contexting

12. The WritingThe Writing
ProcessProcess

13. Process Versus Product
• STEP 1: Establish the communication strategy.
• STEP 2: To write or not to write?
• STEP 3: IF you decide to write, divide your
activities into FIVE steps:
– Research
– Organize
– Focus the information
– Draft
– Edit
• STEP 4: Rethink, re-organize, make changes.

14. 1. Research1. Research

15. • SYNTHETIC Approach: The internet, the
library, emails, reading, and interviewing.
• ANALYTIC approach: Define your topic,
identify your sub-topics, and your approaches
using the journalist 5Ws & HOW approach.
• Ask rhetorical questions such as:
– What does this mean?
– How do I define this?
– What are the consequences…?
– How do I compare…?
Approaches to Researching

16. Research Approaches

17. • INTUITIVE Approaches
– Brainstorming
– Brain-writing
– Free Writing
– Free note Taking
– Mind Mapping
Approaches to Researching

18. FREE Writing

19. EXERCISEEXERCISE
How toHow to FREEFREE WriteWrite

20. FREE Writing

21. 2. Organize2. Organize

22. • Group similar ideas together
• Bucket similar ideas
• Label the buckets
• Re-check the buckets
• Put buckets in their proper order
Organize
IDEASIDEAS

23. • Create an organizational blueprint:
– Line out
– Idea chart
– Circular design
Organize

24. 3. Focus3. Focus

25. • Imagine the reader skimming your document:
what does the reader NEED to know the MOST.
• “NUTSHELL” your ideas: present the MAIN
idea in only a few sentences.
• “Teach” your ideas: How would you teach the
nutshell to someone else?
• Formulate a Thesis Statement: synthesize
your information to a new ideanew idea with an original
point of view.
Focus

26. Thesis Statement

27. Thesis Statements

28. • Simulate an elevator presentation “pitch.”
• Use the “BUSY BOSS” two (2) minute rule:
– “I don’t have the time to read through your entire
document. Tell me your main ideas in TWO
minutes.”
Focus

29. 4. Draft4. Draft

30. • Compose in ANY order: write the parts that you
are the most comfortable with first. Write your
introduction LAST.
• Avoid editing: drafting is an entirely CREATIVE
process.
• Print a hard copy: this will help you to edit
faster, by seeing the ENTIRE document.
• Schedule a TIME gap: leave time between
finishing the drafting stage of the document
and the beginning of the editing process.
– See it with a FRESH set of eyes.
Draft

31. 5. Edit5. Edit

32. • Edit for:
strategy
macro ideas
micro ideas
correctness
Edit

33. FREE Writing

34. • S
• X
• X
• X
• X
• X
Br

35. RESOURCESRESOURCES

36. Resources

37. Resources

38. Resources