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Tips on How to Write a Business Memo
Creating something called a memo may sound like simple drafting of an info note, but it is more complicated than that. A memorandum ("reminder" is an American word for it) is a special document that business people write to communicate policies and processes within a company, and it belongs to the one-to-all category. That means that the memo informs the scope of an audience instead of a single person. What are the purposes of this document? The memo is written to inform a group of people working for an organization about the events, actions, updates of the project, etc. It should make requests or announcements. Example: a memo may contain the legal rule that was recently accepted.
A memo is an informative paper that can contain a call-to-action as the element of persuasion. If you know how to write a good persuasive essay or informative paper, it will not be a big deal to cope with memo writing.
For students, writing a memo could be another quiz question or part of the homework for business class. MBA students face this type of assignment often. Read this article in the shape of the how-to guide. Experts rated this article high, and it will be useful to read it from A to Z to learn how to write a memo no matter whether you are an employee or student of the business school.
Five Basic Types of Memorandum
The type of memo predetermines its tone and purposes. Five main types are known.
- Request
You might write a request memo in the form of a question or petition/appeal to obtain a positive reply to your request. Specify the reasons for your application, explain any mentioned figures, justify the costs, recommend the actions, and remain polite and tactical. The recipient should say "yes" after reading this document. - Confirmation/Verification
A confirmation memorandum proves that the agreement was achieved. An example could be a human resources manager who promises to recruit two more experts in copywriting if the company CEO agrees to increase the salaries of this department by 3%. Others should be informed about such a decision. - Periodic report
These should be prepared with equal intervals. They should contain information about the organization's recent achievements, improvements, and gaps to let the employees know what has to be fixed and what was done correctly. Do not confuse this one with an incident report! - Ideas and suggestions
In ideas and suggestions memorandum, one should share some points that could be helpful in achieving the set goals or setting new ones. It is a more creative type of memorandum. You may offer ways of keeping a trade secret safe or increasing the profitability for the following three months, for instance. - Informal study findings
Informal study results memorandum is the document where the findings of some research should be listed. The main purpose of the author is to disclose data in a simple, understandable manner.
Proper Format
The header is one of the distinguishing features that set the memo apart from other info papers. Place it flush left and ensure it includes:
- To (specify the target audience - all employees or specific department)
- From (specify the author)
- Date (MM/DD/YY format)
- Subject (the topic of your memo)
Insert a double space between the heading and other parts of the document. The rest of the sections are more than an introduction, body, and conclusion; those are an intro, declaration, and discussion. To end or conclude a memo, a writer should come up with the summary of everything said above. Every section has a clear purpose: while the declaration should state the main theme of the message, in the discussion part, one has to mention the basic points related to the chosen topic or news.
Extra Tips on How to Write a Memorandum
A little memo tip: what you must achieve here is attracting and holding the audience's attention. This paper is created with an informative purpose, and it means you need to make it crystal clear that the info should be studied backward and forward.
A writer should stick to the pro, formal tone. The memorandum may possess legal standing as it sometimes reveals specific policies and must be based on the existing company and state laws.
It is important to come up with a concise and to-the-point subject. Example: if the one who writes a memorandum wants to inform the personnel about the upcoming holiday schedule, it could sound this way, "Christmas weekend schedule."
Finally, the memo should never be subjective or written in an indirect format. That is what you have to know about this business document. If you have difficult times with preparing this type of document, we recommend delegating your task to the professional academic and business writers online.
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