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To read the first part of this article series, go here.
To read the second article in this series, go here.

I want to spend a little bit of time discussing tone and style. This is one of those important, although often overlooked, aspects of writing your special report.

Have you ever been really interested in something only to quickly disengage because the tone of what you were reading was so heavy handed or . . . why mince words here, dull?

So what goes into tone?

A few ideas.

First, is the ability to write in your own voice. For example have my own somewhat distinctive style of writing, which isn't necessarily any better or worse than yours. It's mine and it's consistent with my personality and style. As a matter of fact if you read this out loud it would sound pretty much like I do.

And that's important.

If you read your report out loud and it sounds like a bad professor you had in school, that should be a great big tip-off that the tone and style isn't conducive to actually getting your report read. If, when you read it out loud, it doesn't sound like you speaking, then you are not writing in your own voice. And I think that's a big mistake.

Now having said that, there's nothing wrong with picking up style tips from those you enjoy reading. In fact the very best copywriters tend to be voracious readers . . . of pretty much everything.

So at a bare minimum, if you find a report or an article to be particularly well written, I'd suggest that you add it to you "clip-file" of articles that have resonated positively with you. I think clip files are great not only for helping you develop your own voice but also for helping you get creative when you suffer from writers block.

Granted my tone is somewhat informal and you may be thinking to yourself "Well this won't work for my audience-they're SERIOUS people." Well I'm not saying that my tone is necessarily the one that you imitate, but I will tell you this-my material gets read.

Now that doesn't mean that my style is the only one that is effective. Far from it. However I do tend to notice that many writers adopt a very ponderous tone that makes someone have to WORK REALLY HARD in order to read the piece. I just don't think that people really want to (nor are they willing to) WORK REALLY HARD. Especially when we're just starting to build a new relationship, and the information that we're presenting is of potential interest-rather than being crucially important the reader.

That's an important distinction that we need to keep in mind.

If you are looking for some "templates of tone" and you want a little more formal style than mine here are some things to read:\

• The Harvard Business Review: Probably the overall best template for report writers especially if you're considering doing a case study.
• Fortune and Business Week Magazines: These typically have great examples of articles that weave stories into the body and content of the article.

Beyond that, some general advice I'd offer you includes the following points:

1. Write with one person in mind. Using the words "you" as often as possible draws the reader into the content and makes him/her feel as if you're writing just to them.
2. Positive: Since your report is ultimately a marketing piece, the tone should be motivating. The goal should be to empower the reader that they can accomplish or achieve whatever solution you are promoting in the article.
3. Practical: It just isn't enough to recite what the problems are. Everyone already knows what those are. What the reader is most interested in are practical tips they can immediately implement. I'm not suggesting that you give away the store but you want the reader to put down your report feeling that their time was well invested. Ultimately I've found that you can be very generous with sharing WHAT to do, because what you are selling is HOW to do it or actually DOING IT FOR THEM.
4. Finally and most importantly: Your content should "point' the reader towards what you want them to do next. This is key element to the structure of your report and we'll talk more about this. However it's very important to keep in mind that you've accomplished little with your report if you don't get them to take action.

And that leads to our next point in the development structure with is to conclude with -a very compelling, and very clear-CALL TO ACTION.