Even in this Social Media flooded Era of communication, chances are that we will still have to go beyond the 140 characters of Twitter and the Facebook status update in order to get certain messages across.
I have been writing letters of all types since I was in School where I was quite often tasked to write Love letters to girls for my guy friends in class. My letter writing got more serious though, when I was a member of my School ‘Interact Club’ where I had to actually mean what I said in those letters ;-).
The truth is however, some of us just don’t like to write letters and emails longer that 100 words, specially since we can’t use all the Internet Slang that we are all used to. I don’t claim to be an expert on letter writing by any means but I have developed a technique of writing letters which I want to share for anyone who might be interested.
The most important thing to remember when writing a letter or an email is that you are writing to a ‘person’. A person who has expectations, goals, insecurities and a job description to fulfill. Before writing, make sure that you have a general idea about;
- WHO > are you writing to / about.
- WHAT > are you writing about / do you expect this letter to do.
- WHEN > are the events / actions in your letter going to happen.
- WHERE > are the events / actions in your letter going to happen.
- WHY > you are writing the letter / does the reader have to take action
I generally beak my letter down to Five paragraphs, each between 30-50 words long. Bear in mind that you might not be able to keep the paragraphs within this word limit on the first attempt and certainly not on the first draft, and that is OK. Once you have completed the five paragraphs, you will have a more holistic idea of the letter, which will help you to summarize each paragraph and make more sense with less words.
Let’s get started, I am going to use a Cover Letter that I wrote for one my KreativeRights clients, Home Bright Paints as an example. My client wanted a letter to accompany his Company Brochure which he sends to Architects, Interior Designers, Engineers and Contractors.
Paragraph 1. The Attention Grabber > Let’s face it, no one likes to read a long letter and the truth is most of us can’t afford to. So when someone sees Five paragraphs of text, they are most likely to read just the first one. So it is very important that we grab the attention of the reader in this paragraph. We need to evoke Instant self-Identification in the reader. They need to be thinking, “Hold on, this is me they are talking about. This just might be interesting and useful to me”. The text should positively identify the reader with the ‘Ideal’ professional / individual of their industry or community.
Ex: We understand that you are a passionate professional who is inspired by Creativity and committed to delivering functional design on all your projects and to all your clients.
Paragraph 2. Empathize with the Reader > Remember, most often than not, your client has clients too, these can be internal clients like employees and business stakeholders as well as other B2B or B2C clients. Express your understanding of the expectation of THEIR clients, the importance of delivering on those expectations and the readers understanding of this importance. This might sound a bit cheesy but you might have to do a bit of ego-feeding with this one. But of course, you need to be professional about it and not make it look like you are sucking up.
Ex: Your clients are assured of your reliability based on your enthusiasm for understanding their needs, your meticulous attention to detail and your ability to always see the bigger picture when it comes to fulfilling their personal or professional construction needs. And this is specially important when it comes to choosing the color for their dreams.
Paragraph 3. Introduce your Product / Idea > By now, if you have managed to grab your readers attention and empathized with them, they will be interested to know what this is all about. State the general relevance / importance of your product or idea which will help the reader (or the intended beneficiary) achieve their end goals. This is also where you mention the specific product features or the uniqueness of your idea.
Ex: We at Home Bright Paints understand the importance of you choosing the best possible Paint solutions for your clients. The High Quality of Home Bright Paints is assured by its Wearability, Large Covering ability, Vibrant range of Colors and protection of the substrate.
Paragraph 4. Tie it all together > This needs to be the ‘Aha’ moment in your letter for the reader. This is where you relate all that you have said up to now in your letter and make sense of it. Tell the reader how using your product or idea (P3) will help them deliver high quality service and meet their client’s expectations (P2) and be known, recognized and established as a true industry professional and/or model citizen in their community (P1)
Ex: Combining your technical competence with the benefits of Home Bright Paint will ensure that your clients will always be satisfied with your services which will in-turn result in good references from your clients, recognition among your peers and peace of mind for you as a professional.
Paragraph 5. Call to action > This is the ‘punch line in the joke’, the ‘knock-out punch in the bout’, the ‘icing on the cake’. You have done the hardest part by grabbing attention, empathizing, informing and consolidating, but your job is half done if the reader thinks, “this guy can write really good cover letters” and ends the ‘affair’ after reading your letter. That’s why P5 is important in making the reader ‘Take Action’ with regards to your letter and what you have said in it. This can be to pick up the phone and call you, visit your website or social media page, send you an email, getting their secretary to arrange a meeting with you or even forward your email to someone else. Think about what you would want the reader to do soon after they have read your letter, NOT what you want them to do with regards to your product or Idea. Think immediate, think next step, think like your reader.
Ex: So if you are looking to get the job done right the first time, minimize time and material wastage and deliver the best paint job that your clients have ever seen, pick up the phone and give us a call right now.
Well, there you have it. my tips for writing cover letters. Obviously, this works best when this letter accompanies the main material such a Company Brochure or a CV but I am sure you can use the tips on your own too. Let me know if you find this helpful and if you have any tips of your own.
Happy Writing! 🙂
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