5 Tips to Writing a Good Business Memo

Writing a memo at work can be frustrating. While the memos are not very long they often contain important information that people need to know. You want them to be concise and short and to the point. If the memo is about a topic that is going to be unpopular you want to be sure find something positive to say in the memo before disclosing the unpopular topic. This can get tricky to do. There are some things that are consistent on a memo such as the date, the subject and to who the memo is for and lastly who the memo is from. The rest is just blank till you fill in the memo. Here are some ways that will make any memo more efficient and professional.

1. The subject line should be direct and to the point. If it is about mandatory overtime, then state in the Re: line that it's about mandatory overtime. What ever the memo is about this is what you want to put here in as few words as possible.

2. The first paragraph and the fist sentence need to explain the reason for the memo. You want to start off the memo on a positive note. So if you are going to have to tell everyone that they have to do mandatory overtime, you start off by saying business orders are increasing. This way they have a sense of job security. You can also thank everyone in the first paragraph for working so hard and helping to make the company successful. Always try to keep the first paragraph positive and thanking people. This is especially critical if you are conveying bad news in the memo.

3. The second paragraph is going to be the news of the memo. This is where you will tell them that mandatory overtime is required. You may want to reference the first paragraph and say since orders have increased.... And go on from there. This paragraph is where you will just explain what is required and how it is to be achieved. This should be a facts only paragraph.

4. The last paragraph is again thanking them, giving a little more details on how long the overtime is expected to last, and who they need to contact if they have any questions about the memo.

5. You want to make the memo short and to the point. Reading over it one last time before sending it out to make sure that there are no extra words in the memo that don't need to be. The less you can write with a memo to get your point across the better the memo will be.

Writing memos are never easy to do, usually memos are made to deliver bad news to a group of people. Be sure to add some positive things to your memo and thanking people for things that they have done or are about to do. Memos are not as formal as business letters are but you do want to keep it business related and written using business tones.