Writing Well Presented Letters

Any communication that you send out for your business is a representation of who you are and the kind of service you deliver. You want to make sure that your communications look professional, are readable and are spelt correctly!  There is nothing worse than a letter full of spelling mistakes which is badly set out and where the font is unreadable.

To begin with, do you have a letterhead?  This is printed paper with your Business Name and address and usually your logo.  It will be in your company colours too. Here is an image of our letterhead.

You will need to consider, the font and style of your text.

Do you have a house style?

I know I talk about this a lot, however it is very important if you wish to portray a professional image. A house style ensures that all your documents have the same look and feel. It will encompass which font you use, what your headings look like, how you space things on the page, what colours are allowed and what is not allowed. You can also stipulate how your logo is used throughout different kinds of documents.

Writing the letter

If you will be printing on to a letterhead like I do, then you will want to create a template for your letters which includes things such as the correct margins so that your text flows properly and any standard headers and footers that you may use.

When addressing your letter, make sure that the name and address of the person you are sending the letter to is clear and if you are using Window Envelopes, make sure to measure where the first line of the address needs to be in order to fit into the envelope.  You might also want to practice folding your letter up so that it fits into the envelope properly.

Checking the letter

Last of all once  you have typed up your letter, please, please, please use the Spell Checker! There is nothing worse than receiving a letter that is full of spelling mistakes and nowadays it is simply unacceptable. If you fail to check the spelling of your communications it shows a lack of attention to detail and leaves the wrong impression. You might have the snazziest letterhead, the best design, a beautifully worded document, but if you fail to check the spelling all that will be lost.

Next week  I will be talking about Writing Reports.

Till next time…