Due diligence

On the web site of The Piacente Group, Inc., an investor relations firm, we see a brief letter from the firm’s president, Brandi Piacente (photo).

The letter contains at least 13 errors and irregularities. This is the kind of writing that can harm a profession’s reputation. Literate members of the public expect that people who work in exacting professions such as investor relations will produce clear writing as a matter of course.

Let’s look at the error in the president’s letter that is most likely to confuse the reader. It’s in the last sentence:

“By providing innovative investor relations practices, our clients are able to achieve maximum exposure in the marketplace and reach their strategic objectives.”

To understand the sentence, the reader needs to know who is doing the providing, and to whom. Without this information, the reader is forced to guess:

Is the firm providing innovative investor relations practices to the clients?

Is the firm providing innovative investor relations practices to the marketplace, on behalf of the clients?

Are the clients providing innovative investor relations practices to the firm?

Are the clients providing innovative investor relations practices to the marketplace?

Are the firm and the clients jointly providing innovative investor relations practices to the marketplace?

The Takeaway: A writer needs to be diligent in writing so that the reader need not be diligent in reading. More colloquially stated: A hard write is an easy read, and an easy write is a hard read.