Like clothing, when you write, you must find your style.  Some writers are direct and go right to the point.  Flamboyance suits others.  Still others want to take time to explain what they have to say and make sure the reader follows their direction.  Regardless of your personal style, find your voice.

That takes some time.  When you write in a business (or creative, for that matter) environment, finding what expresses your messages most accurately is something that develops with practice and routine.  Do not expect to make an immediate splash.

Explore different forums.  Submit short stories.  Try poetry.  Write a guest editorial and see if you can get it published.  Each of these encourages you to express your thoughts in a different way.

One of the best exercises I was ever given occurred in college when a professor assigned us an editorial, then mandated we take the opposite position of what we believed.  Talk about a tough assignment!  But it also challenged all the students.  We had to think differently, examine all our assumptions and defend the new position.  That type of exercise solidifies your voice, but also gives you perspective, a very important lesson in writing well.

When you find what makes you comfortable, write from that strength.  At the same time, learn from exploring writing forums that test your comfort zone.  Expanding from that core helps you continually refine your voice.  That’s what it takes to grow your readership. 

Here’s a novel idea:  Find out what concerns your employees and customers.  Ask them questions, dig into their answers and follow up.  Take notes.

In a business environment, knowing what your employees and customers are thinking is critical to your future viability.  Asking questions, writing down the answers and tabulating the key areas of concern help you focus on what’s important.

Companies not doing this type of research and writing lose in the long run.  By not doing it, you don’t know what is really going on in the minds of those most important to a company’s direction and growth.

Even firms that do this type of research may not do it often enough or communicate the results to drive the key points through the organization.  That takes a few core messages, repetition and senior leadership standing behind them in a coordinated and consistent fashion.  Use multiple forums. Stick to the issues of concern.

When you ask questions, you may not always find out your concerns are the concerns of others.  That’s a good thing, because as a business leader, getting this information gives you the jumping off point to communicate and make better connections.  So start walking around.  Grab someone and ask, “What are you concerned about?”  You might be surprised by the answer, learn something new and figure out a way to better build your business.

Long and ponderous are out.  Short is in.

When USA TODAY was introduced several decades ago, they pioneered the shortening of print stories.  They looked for the nuggets and polished them.  That syndrome has driven journalism ever since. Similarly, it should drive your business writing.

We don’t take the time (we have the time, though we like to pretend we don’t) to read business communications/stories over a certain length. The typical newspaper column used to be 750 words. Now it is 600.  Often it is less than that.

Blogs further shorten the message, clocking in at 350-400 words give or take a few.  The question you must ask yourself in a business environment as you strive to drive a message through to others is:  How long will your reader stay with you?

Answering that question helps you focus on the core of your communication.  Dig in, determine what needs to be said, write it up, draw a conclusion, then put it out.  If you need to, repeat it.  It’s easier to follow up with another short message to reinforce your points than it is to go on and on, causing the reader to doze or daydream.

Shorter is better.  Your readers will appreciate the brevity, knowing you will stick to your points and not waste their time.

If you don’t have something important, interesting, useful or funny to say, you shouldn’t say it.  Particularly in today’s overly-busy business environment, people won’t pay attention.  They ignore communications or turn off to your message.

Over and over, communicators hear the importance of publishing quality content on their Web sites:  What you say has to be relevant.  That’s easy to spout.  The harder part is finding content that your employees, customers and leadership team find worthwhile.

Ask yourself this question:  Why do people go to your Web site?  To get customers, future employees and current ones coming back to your Web site consistently, you have to offer them a reason to visit.  Most Web sites remain static.  They don’t change.  When you’ve gone to one once, you’ve seen what you need to see.

So, if you are looking for return visits and have people think about your business differently, give them regular updates.  Add your Twitter feed to the site.  Put your blog on your front page (just like the old newspaper).  In fact, don’t just put the blog icon on the landing page, but instead let visitors land right on the blog.  That will give them something new to read immediately.  Add Instagram and Pinterest if you use those social media tools.

This gives your company a different look and feel, one that indicates to the outside world (and employees) that you are up-to-date, staying on top of trends and looking towards the future.  These are also the tools that can help you find content to keep your site fresh.  Don’t copy, but do dig into what’s out there.  Then take a trend or insight that applies to your company or industry.

Make it personal.  Give it the flavor of your company.  If you do this consistently, you’ll build a stronger following, enhance your brand, add new customers and give your current ones more reasons to continue coming back.  Quality, relevant content puts you in a position to be a thought leader in your industry.  Do your research, then find your company’s angle, and the demand for your products and/or services will grow.