The Importance of Business Writing
Writing is the primary way business gets done in today's collaborative world. When it's done well, business gets done well. Communication can take many forms, such as texting, email, signage, advertising, blogging, publicity and others. Clearly written proposals lead to more revenue; clearly written notes lead to deeper insights; smart marketing materials gains new audience and boosts company reputation.
Get Organized and Think Clearly
It is impossible to write well without thinking clearly. You must understand what you want to say and be able to explain it. Once it is organized and down on paper you will be much better organized.
Types of Business Writing
"The More You Can Get Down On Paper the More You Can Save"
Business Contracts
A business contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more persons or entities.
NDA
A non-disclosure agreement is a legally binding contract that establishes a confidential relationship. The party or parties signing the agreement agree that sensitive information they may obtain will not be made available to any others. An NDA may also be referred to as a confidentiality agreement.
Privacy Policy
Canada has two federal privacy laws that are enforced by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: the Privacy Act, which covers how the federal government handles personal information and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which covers how businesses handle personal information.
Personal information is data about an “identifiable individual”. It is information that on its own or combined with other pieces of data, can identify you as an individual.
The definition of personal information differs somewhat under PIPEDA or the Privacy Act but generally, it can mean information about your:
- race, national or ethnic origin,
- religion,
- age, marital status,
- medical, education or employment history,
- financial information,
- DNA,
- identifying numbers such as your social insurance number, or driver’s licence,
- views or opinions about you as an employee.
What is generally not considered personal information can include:
- Information that is not about an individual, because the connection with a person is too weak or far-removed (for example, a postal code on its own which covers a wide area with many homes)
- Information about an organization such as a business.
- Information that has been rendered anonymous, as long as it is not possible to link that data back to an identifiable person
- Certain information about public servants such as their name, position and title
- A person’s business contact information that an organization collects, uses or discloses for the sole purpose of communicating with that person in relation to their employment, business or profession.
- Government information. Occasionally people contact us for access to government information. This is different from personal information. For access to government information, contact the Information Commissioner of Canada.
Sample Policy
What information do we collect? We collect information from you when you place an order, respond to a survey or fill out a form. When ordering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address or credit card information. You may, however, visit our site anonymously.
What do we use your information for?
Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:
- To personalize your experience (your information helps us to better respond to your individual needs)
- To improve our website (we continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you)
- To improve customer service (your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs)
- To process transactions
- Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested.
- To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature
- To send periodic emails
- The email address you provide for order processing, may be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your order, in addition to receiving occasional company news, updates, related product or service information, etc.
How do we protect your information? We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.
Do we disclose any information to outside parties? We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Third Party Links: Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our website. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.
Ontario Privacy Protection Act Compliance: Because we value your privacy we have taken the necessary precautions to be in compliance with the Ontario Privacy Protection Act. We therefore will not distribute your personal information to outside parties without your consent.
Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance: We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.
Online Privacy Policy: Only this online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website and not to information collected offline.
Terms and Conditions:
Please also visit our Terms and Conditions section establishing the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of our website at (YOUR WEBSITE) Your consent by using our site, you consent to our websites privacy policy.
Changes to our Privacy Policy: If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will update the Privacy Policy modification date below. Contacting us if there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.
Quality Policy
A quality policy is a brief statement that aligns with your organization's purpose and strategic direction, provides a framework for quality objectives, and includes a commitment to meet applicable requirements (ISO 9001, customer, statutory or regulatory) as well as to continualy improve.
GMP Manual
Good Manufacturing Practices for cosmetic products (also called cosmetic GMP or cosmetic GMPs) help businesses identify and mitigate the risks associated with production that can impact product safety and quality.
As a quality assurance practice, cGMP assists in proactively controlling production variables to consistently give rise to high-quality products.
Whether or not cGMP forms part of legal regulations can differ from region to region; in the US and Canada, implementing GMP standards is not mandatory but highly encouraged by the FDA and Health Canada, respectively.
The ISO 22716 guidelines form the internationally accepted standard related to cosmetic GMP; countries such as the US, Canada, and those within the EU incorporate ISO 22716 guidelines within their own cosmetic GMP recommendations or regulations.
Cosmetic GMP guidelines contain advice relevant for cosmetic businesses and can include areas such as documentation and records, equipment, personnel, laboratory controls, as well as product complaints and adverse events.
Press Release
A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, an official statement, or making an announcement. A press release is traditionally composed of several structural elements, including a headline, introduction, body, and other information.
Business Plans
The purpose of a business plan is to help develop a strategy for starting your business. It also provides concrete steps that need to be taken, resources required for achieving your business goals and a timeline of anticipated results.
Top Reason Companies Avoid Business Plan
One Person Company
Focus on the Products
Focus on Short Term Sales
Business Plans are Outdated and No One Reads Them
I Will Do It Later
Business Plan Basics
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Market Analysis
- Organization and Management
- Service or Product Line
- Marketing and Sales
- Financial Projections
- Funding Request
Pitch Decks
A pitch deck is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote or Adobe, used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan. You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.
Let's Look at Some Pitch Decks