Formal communication via business letter is the method that is followed by many organizations. This type of letter is exchanged between:

• Two companies
• Company and their customers
• Company and their clients
• Company and other external parties, etc.

You can adopt a particular business letter style, depending on the relationship with the concerned party.

Who Writes a Business Letters?

The business letters are generally written by the people who are into some or the other kind of occupation. The numbers may differ, but the business letter is written by the majority of the business people. Some may have to send such a letter on a daily basis.

The person or a group who writes a letter is called as a sender. The person or a group to whom sender writes a letter is called as a recipient. Below are the few examples of sender and recipient.

• Sender – A business person, Recipient – A business person
• Sender – A business person, Recipient – A consumer
• Sender – A citizen, Recipient – A government official
• Sender – A job applicant, Recipient – A company
• Sender – A staff member, Recipient – A staff member
• Sender – An employer, Recipient – An employee

Reasons to Write a Business Letter

There can be many reasons to write a business letter, depending on the sender and the recipient. Here are the few reasons for which a business letter is written:

• It can be written to encourage the reader
• It can be written to provide information to the reader
• It can be written to place any kind of request
• It can be written to show your gratitude
• It can be written to send a reminder
• It can be written to give some recommendations
• It can be written to apologize on a certain issue
• It can be written to congratulate another party
• It can be written to take any kind of formal decision
• It can be written to make any kind of announcement
• It can be written for the sake of providing any kind of invitation
• It can be written to introduce a policy or a person
• It can be written to offer or reject a proposal

Format of a Business Letter

The format of a business letter includes things like date, salutation, body of the letter, closing statement, signature, list of enclosures etc. Let’s discuss this format in detail:

First is date

In a business letter, you are strictly not allowed to write a date in the form of abbreviation. The date should be written in a form like, 31^st March 2016. Always place the date two or three lines above the recipient’s address.

Name and address of a recipient

• First, add the name of a recipient
• Now add title, if known
• After this place their address details

Salutation

Do you know the person to whom you are writing a business letter? Depending on the answer to this question, you can choose your salutation. When it comes to maintaining the business relation, it becomes important to take care of the level of formality. Understand one thing that salutation is the kind of greeting that acts as an indicator of respect. Here are few examples of salutation:

• Dear sir or madam
• Recipient title and last name
• Recipient first name
• Whole name of a recipient

You can write recipient first name only when you have informal relation with the recipient.

Body of the letter

In the body of a business letter, it is advisable to include some concise paragraphs. The paragraphs that you include should convey your message clearly and successfully. While conveying your message it is important to make use of right kind of tone and also avoid lengthy sentences. Write a letter straight to the point.

Your motive of writing a business letter should be crystal clear if you want to create a good impression in front of a reader.

If possible, the business communication should always be friendly and helpful. In the last paragraph of the body, you need to summarize your points and mention your expectations.

You can also write details about the planned course of action. Be thankful to the recipient for giving attention to your letter and reading it patiently.

Respectful closing

The closing of a business letter should be respectful, just like the salutation. It should reflect your formal relations with the reader. Closing can be like:

• Sincerely
• Yours Sincerely
• Respectfully
• Yours Truly
• Regards
• Cordially, etc.

Add your signature

Leave 3 to 4 lines after closing for signature and then add your name, title, telephone number and email address. The signature should always be done in a blue or black ink.

Enclosures

Do you want to enclose anything with your business letter? If yes, then write “Enclosures”, followed by a colon. Prepare a note that informs the recipient about things to look for in an envelope. Few lines below the contact information, you can add this enclosures information.

Business Letter FAQ’s

Some of the business letter related FAQs that you need to know:

What is Attachment?

It is added image or a document.

What is block format?

It is common business letter format that is single spaced and in this format all paragraphs begin at the left margin.

What is the certified mail receipt?

In a letter with this feature, the sender pays extra postage in order to receive a notice of the receipt.

What do confidential means?

It means that letter is very personal and it should be kept private.

What is double space format?

It means that leaving one blank line between the line of texts.

What is an informal business letter?

It means that the letter which is written in a casual tone.

What is inside address?

Inside address means, the recipient’s mailing information.

What is letterhead?

It means a special paper that possesses a company logo or its printed name.

What is spacing?

The spacing means, blank area between lines of text and words.

What is tone?

Tone means to understand the feeling of language. It can be serious or enthusiastic.

Objectives of Business Letter

The main objective of writing a business letter is to:

• Build goodwill
• Maintain records and references
• To exchange business information
• To have an authoritative proof
• To widen areas of business operation.

The post Business Letter appeared first on Wikitechy Letters.

When are announcements made? Announcements are made in response to several things like rumors, promotions, retirement, pregnancy, college graduation, engagement, baptism, wedding etc.

Announcements can also be made for certain positive reasons like launching new products, business practices etc.

You should write an announcement letter in a simple and easy way so that reader can easily understand the news or information that you want to share.

Tips to follow while writing an Announcement Letter

Map out an outline

Whatever may be the reason of writing an announcement letter, it is very important to map out an outline. Framework your letter in such a way that reader can find it easy to know the essential elements related to the announcement.

Different things that you need to arrange in your announcement letter are related to invitation details, promotion details, references etc. Add complete information in a chronological order.

Draft rough letter

Drafting rough letter is important after you have the outline ready so that it can further give you the room for making improvements if required. Initially, mistakes are bound to happen so rough letter drafting is essential.

Filling the subject matter can become easy if you have the framework of letter ready. Edit your drafted letter to correct spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, sentence punctuation etc.

Be frank and write concise letter

It is advisable to come to the point in the opening of the letter itself. Be frank and ensure that you add information in short and sweet manner. Adding unrelated information can waste yours as well as reader’s time. Being frank does not mean that you can make an announcement in blunt words. Make your letter simple and effective by adding to the point information in direct but not blunt words. For further reference of the reader, it is better to add the date in your announcement letter.

Make the announcement LOUD

If you want to make an announcement to everyone then it is important to be LOUD and for this, it is important for you to stand out different in the crowd. Reader’s should get tempted by the announcement that you planning to make. You can make use of the coloured marker or bold text, to highlight the announcement. Write the announcement letter in a readable font size. You can also make use of logo or graphics to make the letter look further interesting.

Be courteous

In any type of letter, you write, it is important to be courteous. This can make your letter look interesting and readable. It is important to show your gratitude in the beginning as well as at the end of a letter.

The announcement letter can be related to anything like promotion, business offer, gift etc. Always write the letter, after thinking about the subject matter.

Use positive approach

The announcement letter should always be written in a positive tone. Make use of words that can create a positive impact on a reader. These words can be like:

• Thank you
• Cheers
• Valuable customer
• Best employee
• Valuable presence, etc.

Maintaining positive approach can allow you to enhance your business relations and create a goodwill.

Make use of letterhead

It is important to write an announcement letter using letterhead if it is an official announcement. Writing a letter by using the letterhead can successfully grab the attention of the recipient. Informal announcement letters, don’t have any such kind of obligation.

Right closing is essential

Maintain gratitude while starting as well as closing the announcement letter. Showing professional courtesy is important. Repeating your appreciation is important while closing a letter. You can make use of salutation like sincerely, truly, thank you etc.

Editing is important

Don’t send any kind of an announcement letter without editing. Editing is important because it can allow you to make out grammatical errors, spelling errors, wrong phrases etc. Read your letter loudly so that you can easily find out the mistakes.

Announcement Letter Format – Formal Type

In header…

• Add your name
• Add your address
• Add date
• Add name of the recipient
• Add address of the recipient

In body…

• Mention the subject
• Add salutation like dear recipient

In first paragraph…

• Add information related to any kind of announcement that you want to share.

In second paragraph…

• Provide additional information about an occasion or an event related to date, place etc.

In third paragraph…

• Show the gesture of happiness

In closing…

• Add salutation and your signature.

Announcement Letter Format – Informal Type

In header…

• Add date
• Add name of the recipient

In body…

• Add salutation

In first paragraph…

• Make announcement related to any kind of an occasion or an event.

In second paragraph…

• Add details related to date, venue etc.

In third paragraph…

• Show your happiness

In closing…

• Add salutation and your signature.

Examples of business and personal announcement letters

Examples of few business announcement letters:

• It can be related to introducing new employee in the company
• It can be written to the shareholders in order to announce the change in address of the company, announce bonus etc.
• It can be written to the suppliers in order to inform changes in rates, supplies etc.
• It can be written by the government to the concerned parties in order to inform changes in any kind of policies.

Examples of personal announcement letters:

• Announcing marriage of any relative
• Announcing surprise birthday party
• Announcing news related to sad demise
• Announcing beach party

Things to consider while writing effective and winning announcement letter

Here are the few things that you need to consider while writing an attention grabbing announcement letter:

• Identify an objective of your announcement letter and write on the message accordingly.
• Maintain accuracy while writing your content in order to avoid any kind of misconceptions.
• Don’t keep the length of the content, too long.
• Make use of language that your readers can easily understand.
• If there is some bad news to announce then make the straightforward announcement and follow up it with few positive statements.
• If there is some good news to announce then you can make use of the friendly tone.

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