Writing E-mail, Memos,
and Proposals
Chapter 14
The Challenge of Managing
Communication Overload
• The PR writer doesn’t always communicate
with a large, impersonal audience
• In fact, PR people spend a large part of
the working day engaging in interpersonal
communications
• He or she also communicates on a more
personal level through e-mail, memos,
letters, phone calls, and face-to-face
communications
Typical Day
• E-mail– sending, • Writing proposals
receiving, reading • Attending
and replying meetings and later
• Leaving and summarizing
answering voice meetings
mail messages • Preparing position
• Sending memos to papers
colleagues
Clutter Contributor?
• In many cases, PR people add to the
information clutter and overload
• Solution is to “write smart, simple,
and short”
• Follow basic guidelines of clarity,
completeness, conciseness, courtesy,
and responsibility in all your writing
5 Points of Smart,
Simple, Short Writing
• Completeness- Why are you writing and what do readers
want/need to know? Don’t use irrelevant material
• Conciseness- Less is better. Respect that people are busy
• Correctness- Be accurate in everything you write. Errors in
personalized communication reflect solely on you and your
abilities
• Courtesy- Use personal names and be polite but not
effusive/gushy; personal but not overly familiar
• Responsibility- Think how your communication will be
perceived by the recipient. Be careful to set the right
tone. You don’t want to come across as flippant, arrogant, or
defensive. Better to come across as helpful, sympathetic,
and concerned
The E-mail Monster
• Inboxes today are backed up at an astounding
rate
• 2007 research- the average number of corporate
e-mails sent and received per person on a daily
basis was 142. Expected-228 by 2012
• Workers in ’06 spent 26 percent of their time on
e-mail, and that was expected to grow to 41
percent by 2009
• Typical information worker turns to e-mail more
than 50 times and a day and uses instant
messaging 77 times
• Constant interruptions fracture the workday
• Loss of productivity-est. $650 million annually
“Colleague Spam”
• Traditional e-mail spam-tamed (somewhat) by
filtering software
• Bulging inboxes today caused more by “colleague
spam”- friends sending you latest jokes, viral
YouTube videos, Facebook messages, etc.
• Professional communicators need to recognize
limitations of e-mail and figure ways to use it
efficiently to get through the forest of
information clutter
• Maybe better way to go- voice and text
messaging, Twitter, wikis, and RSS feeds
E-mail Advantages
• Reduces cost of employee communications
• Increases the distribution of messages to
more employees
• Flattens the corporate hierarchy
• Speeds decision making
• But there are often situations when face-
to-face communication is better and when
formal letters on nice stationary are
better than informal, less permanent email
Mind Your E-mail
Manners- p. 391
• Avoid the “Reply to • Don’t be a cyber-
All” button coward
• Skip the CAPITAL • Keep the 15 mb image
letters file to yourself
• Save the fancy • Fill out the subject
stationery line
• Give your reply first • Avoid HTML format
• Keep forwards to a • Count to 10 before
minimum hitting the Send
button
Voice Mail Pros/Cons
• A phone call is still quicker than a memo
delivered by interoffice mail and it avoids
the problem of unopened e-mail in a
crowded inbox
• It can eliminate “phone tag” if you leave a
detailed message in someone’s “mailbox”
and that person leaves a response in yours
• Group conference calls can also eliminate
the need for meetings
Voice Mail Negatives
• “Telephone Tree Hell”- frustrates
people outside an organization who
may call a general number trying to
reach a specific person and then
having to go through a series of
prompts- better systems have “O
out” options to reach a live person
Business Letters, Memos,
Proposals and Position Papers
• Business letters are personalized
communication that should be well
organized, concise. They can prevent
misunderstandings and provide a record of
an agree or transaction
• Memos should be one page or less and
state key message immediately
• Memos five components: Date, To, From,
Subject, Message
Business Letters, Memos,
Proposals and Position Papers
• Proposals must follow a logical, well-organized
format
• They are often prepared to convince management
to make a decision about a contract or approve
money and resources for a project
• A position paper or “white paper” gives the
organization’s perspective on a particular trend or
industry.
• They should begin with an “executive summary” or
overview, so people can read the highlights in a
few seconds