Harvard Management

t
Communication Letter

os
A NEWSLETTER FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING TOOLS, TECHNIQUES, AND IDEAS FOR THE ARTICULATE EXECUTIVE

rP
Article Reprint No. C0205B

yo
Writing Well When Time Is Tight
op
by Nick Morgan
tC
No
Do

This document is authorized for educator review use only by HARISUNDAR GOVINDARAMAN, Other (University not listed) until Nov 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright.
[email protected] or 617.783.7860
 Harvard Management

t
Communication Letter

os
A NEWSLETTER FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING TOOLS, TECHNIQUES, AND IDEAS FOR THE ARTICULATE EXECUTIVE

rP
Harvard Management Communication Letter Harvard Management Communication Letter
Subscriptions Subscription Service Center
P.O. Box 257
Shrub Oak, NY 10588-0257
Phone: U.S. and Canada (800) 668-6705

yo
Outside U.S. and Canada (617) 783-7474
Fax: (914) 962-1338
Web: www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hmcl
American Express, MasterCard, Visa accepted.
Billing available.

Harvard Management Communication Letter Please inquire about our custom service and quantity
op
Custom Reprints discounts. We will print your company’s logo on the
cover of reprints or collections in black and white or
two-color. The process is easy, cost effective, and quick.
Phone: (617) 783-7626 or Fax: (617) 783-7658
tC

Permissions For permission to copy or republish please write or call:

Permissions Department
Harvard Business School Publishing
60 Harvard Way
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: (617) 783-7587
No

For a print or electronic catalog of our Harvard Business School Publishing

publications, please contact us: Customer Service
60 Harvard Way
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: U.S. and Canada (800) 668-6705
Outside U.S. and Canada (617) 783-7474
Do

Fax: (617) 783-7555

Web: www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hmcl

HARVARD
This document is authorized MANAGEMENT
for educator UPDATE
review use only • HARVARDGOVINDARAMAN,
by HARISUNDAR MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Other (University not LETTER • BALANCED
listed) until SCORECARD
Nov 2024. Copying REPORT
or posting is an infringement of copyright.
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW • HBS CASES • HBS PRESS or
[email protected] • HBS VIDEOS AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA
617.783.7860
 WRITING BY NICK MORGAN
Our sales are flagging.

Writing Well When Time Is Tight

t
—We can really boost our sales by
extending our brand into the lucrative
Using basic organizational principles, you can create

os
toothpaste market because all our users
a quick, clear presentation of your ideas. also use toothpaste.

t’s 2 a.m. the night before you have clarity and simplicity are essential to Consumers interact with our current
I to present your strategy for reviving
slumping sales. You’ve come up with
good thesis writing. products only when they’re working at
their PCs; we need our brand to touch

rP
nothing all these weeks—until now. 2 Next, develop subordinate ideas their personal as well as their profes-
Eureka! It’s all about brand extension, that support your thesis. Here are a sional lives.
you suddenly realize, and tomorrow few possibilities:
you’re going to stand before the board —After our clients buy our intelligent
and suggest—intelligent toothpaste. All our users also use toothpaste— toothpaste, they will associate our soft-
we’ve got a captive market with 100% ware with the pleasant, confident feel-
Yes, intelligent toothpaste. Your little penetration. ing having fresh breath gives them;

yo
software company will market a brand they’ll therefore want to buy more of our
of toothpaste containing a chip that dis- Remembering to buy toothpaste before products.
penses instructions for better brushing the tube runs out is a tiresome chore.
and reorders the toothpaste when the Remembering to buy toothpaste before
tube is low. You’ll need to set up joint Consumers will love a talking tube of the tube runs out is a tiresome chore.
partnership agreements with Wal-Mart toothpaste.
and FedEx, but you’ll write out the —Our intelligent toothpaste will ensure
details of that later. Right now it’s time Our clients will associate fresh breath that our customers always have tooth-
op
to get your proposal written and time’s with our software and therefore want to paste on hand; they’ll appreciate this
in short supply. And writing was never buy more of our products. convenience.
your best subject.
Now you’ve got four subordinate ideas It’s hard to get consumers’ attention in
Here’s a three-step fast writing process here. But what order should you put the crowded high-tech marketplace.
that will help you express yourself them in? What’s the glue that will hold
tC

clearly. If you find yourself with time them together? —A talking tube of toothpaste will get
later to add some polish, great. But their notice because it’s new, different,
when your chief goals are speed and 3 Finally, choose the best structure and technologically sophisticated.
clarity, it will get the job done. for your argument. Now it’s time to
choose the organizational principle that Cause/effect. This organizational prin-
1 First, formulate a thesis, or main will allow you to structure your argu- ciple can also be quite effective, but
point. This should be one sentence that ment in the strongest possible way. Here among the subordinate ideas there are
articulates the idea and its benefits for are four basic organizational principles no causes, only effects. Thus these ideas
No

the intended audience. In this case, the you might use; which is best depends on will have to be reworked to strengthen
thesis might be something like: the nature of your argument. the connections among them:

A brand extension of our software into Problem/solution. Often the strongest We have an information database of all
intelligent toothpaste will revive our way to organize an argument quickly, our users.
flagging sales. problem /solution is easy to follow
because it corresponds to a common Because they’re aware of the impor-
Note that the thesis doesn’t capture the thought process. tance of good dental hygiene, they all
full richness and scope of the idea. It use toothpaste.
Do

doesn’t mention the joint partnerships In this case, only one of the subordinate
with Wal-Mart and FedEx, for exam- ideas is a problem: Remembering to buy They each face the daily challenge of
ple, nor does it explain what intelligent toothpaste before the tube runs out is a ensuring they have toothpaste on hand.
toothpaste might actually be. But it tiresome chore. The others are neither
does detail the benefit that the audi- problems nor solutions to the problem If we can meet that challenge by making
ence—the board—expects to hear. identified. So you have to identify other it easy for them to accomplish this small
Note too that the concept and its benefit problems to which the subordinate but vital need, our users will be grateful
are directly, not indirectly, linked. Such ideas will serve as solutions: and will begin to love our talking tube.

This document is authorized for educator review use only by HARISUNDAR GOVINDARAMAN, Other (University not listed) until Nov 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright.
Copyright © 2002 by Harvard Business School Publishing [email protected]
Corporation. All rights reserved.or 617.783.7860 3
 Writing Well, continued

In addition, they will associate our of brand recognition among those on into a project. Say, for instance, that
brand with fresh breath. the rented e-mail lists. And given the your little software company had previ-

t
level of spam these days, sending out ously extended its brand into auxiliary
They will therefore have positive associ- this e-mail could actually damage our consumer products such as talking

os
ations that will lead them to want to buy credibility with those who do know us. stuffed animals. A chronological pres-
more of our products. entation of when the various steps of
Remembering to buy toothpaste before that process were made and what the
Comparison/contrast. Using com- the tube runs out is a tiresome chore. results were could help you make your
parison/contrast is a good way to high- Not only will our intelligent toothpaste argument as to why extending the brand
light the advantages of one model ensure that our customers never run out into intelligent toothpaste is a good idea

rP
while pointing out the disadvantages of of toothpaste, it will also save them the and why doing it right now is sound
another. In this case, you’re going to time they would have spent going to the business strategy. Arranging handout
show how marketing intelligent tooth- store to buy more. But it’s likely that material chronologically might also
paste provides more benefits than the many people who receive our e-mail make sense, even if you’ve ordered your
idea currently on the table: launching an will perceive it as a waste of time. argument using one of the other organ-
e-mail campaign using rented lists. izing principles.
As much as we dress up a marketing e-

yo
What features do these plans have in mail with bells and whistles, we’re not Once you’ve put your subordinate ideas
common? This is the “compare” part of reaching people in a new way; the tech- together in one of these four ways, you
your argument. In this case, it’s pretty nology is old hat. But a talking tube of need to flesh out details that will
simple: Both aim to increase sales. But toothpaste—that’s seriously cutting- strengthen your argument. Use the main
that’s where the similarity ends. You edge. It has a fun, trendy feel and the thesis as a check—include nothing that
might begin this way: potential to become a status item among does not support it. Your thesis should
a highly desirable demographic. The be the topic sentence of your first para-
The brand extension plan and the e- status we gain from this innovative graph, and the subordinate ideas, per-
op
mail marketing plan have a common product will enhance the reputation of haps with some modification, should be
goal: reviving flagging sales. our other offerings. the topic sentences for succeeding para-
graphs. Then all that’s left to do is con-
Now it’s time to go into the “contrast” Our clients will associate fresh breath struct a quick close that reinforces the
part of your argument. Here’s where and cutting-edge technology with our big ideas in your strategy and seeks the
you hit your subordinate ideas one by products and will want to buy more. In audience’s commitment to it.
tC

one, building on their benefits while contrast, a marketing e-mail offers

demonstrating the inferiority of the nothing special for the customer to The document you have once you’ve
other plan: associate with our products; indeed, completed this process may or may not
those who perceive the e-mail as a nui- be rhetorically elegant, but it will be
All our users also use toothpaste— sance could come to perceive our prod- clear and logically sound. And that’s a
we’ve got a captive market with 100 ucts as nuisances. good start. ❑
percent penetration. In targeting this
market, we’re reaching out to people Chronology. Arguments structured —Nick Morgan can be reached at
No

who know us and our products well. We along chronological lines can highlight [email protected]
can’t expect anything close to this level the time and data that have already gone
Do

This document is authorized for educator review use only by HARISUNDAR GOVINDARAMAN, Other (University not listed) until Nov 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright.
4 H A R VAorR D
[email protected] M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R M AY 2 0 0 2
617.783.7860