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When it comes to strategic communications, every word counts. The same holds true for writing, particularly at a time when the economy is putting pressure on every decision and stress on every partnership. Brent Sampson, author of Sell Your Book on Amazon, offers these tips to improve the impact of your business writing:

• Spell-check your work. Few things can sour the tone of a potential partnership faster than a grammatically incorrect correspondence filled with spelling errors.

• Include a salutation. How many business emails do you receive that don’t greet you by name? Starting an email or letter without a salutation is akin to starting a conversation in the middle.

• Don’t use emoticons. Eventually you may reach an informal level of communication that warrants an emoticon (punctuation representing a facial expression), but let the other person breach this ground first.

• Include a call to action. Every strategic marketing communication, on one level or another, involves some type of selling. You are selling yourself, your company, your idea, your product, your service, etc. There needs to be a call to action. It can be as simple as ending an email with this line: “I look forward to hearing back from you.”

• Cut to the chase. Since every word counts, be as succinct and on-topic as possible. Including superfluous information opens you up to a variety of mistakes, and communicates to the other person that you are unable to censor, prioritize, or organize.