Although we tend to pay much more attention and spend much more money on marketing communications (brochures, websites, ads, etc.), we should probably be spending as much effort on everyday business communications (memos, customer contact, letters, emails, etc.).

I live in a townhouse community with a homeowner's association and a management company, which do not do a good job with business communication. Case in point: I received a postcard on Friday informing me of very noisy and disruptive work over this past weekend. The card did not specify the nature of the work, only gave an email for contact, and never used the phrase "we apologize for any inconvenience."

When you are communicating with customers/clients/donors or other target audiences your first priority is to figure out what information THEY need to understand your message.  It may be useful to make sure you are answering the journalist's W's: why, where, what, who and how.

You may want to check that you Here's a list of stuff that you may be easily overlooked:

Hours

Location

Complete contact information. An email is not sufficient.

Directions

Dates

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It seems basic, and yet how many letters have we all received that fail to mention crucial information?

And remember, even though most of us look up addresses and information on the Internet, the Internet or your website can go down. You should have a analog form of communication.