When writing copy that really matters, it's vital to get it right. In-house writing training is a cost-effective way to make sure that every word counts.

Investing in People is a key strategy for the vast majority of forward-thinking organisations. And one of the best ways to invest in your employees is to train them. For organisations that produce large amounts of corporate literature, both the organisation and its employees can see rapid and demonstrable benefits from in-house writing training.

Trade Partners UK was in just such a situation. As the government's lead organisation for helping companies based in the UK achieve their export potential, Trade Partners UK produces a great deal of written communication, both internally and externally.

It is a large organisation with over 2,000 employees worldwide - many of whom are called upon at some stage to write or commission important, client-facing copy, often with little or no experience of publicity writing. And yet, with a high-profile organisation like Trade Partners UK, it is vital that all communications, particularly external, are as good as they possibly can be.

This sounds straightforward enough: an organisation such as Trade Partners UK needs to ensure that all the customer-facing copy produced under its auspices is of an extremely high quality. But that copy also has to be produced with the maximum efficiency, often to tight deadlines. And - perhaps most importantly - all written publicity material must be consistent with the organisation's key messages.

With these three key areas of quality, efficiency and consistency in mind, Trade Partners UK realised that it should invest in publicity writing training for its employees. They turned to the people best qualified to provide in-house writing training - a professional writing agency experienced in the most up-to-date 'brain friendly' training techniques.

The diagnosis

"We turned to Writing Machine for help because not all of the people working here are skilled marketing professionals, adept at commissioning and writing copy," said Julie Hatch, Marketing Manager. "Writing isn't necessarily everyone's core skill, and some people are just given the job of getting on with it. It might be something they've never done before, and sometimes they don't fully understand all the requirements."

To get to the heart of the problem, Writing Machine suggested comprehensive skills and materials audits in two phases. First came a metric-driven critique of over 50 pieces of literature, including brochures, case studies, newsletters and direct mailings. These had all been written over the past two years by authors at Trade Partners UK. Writing Machine graded each piece in terms of its overall quality, as well as using a set of criteria ranging from basic grammar to structure, tone of voice and relevance.

During the second phase, Writing Machine interviewed a cross-section of employees at Trade Partners UK in order to establish their own perceptions of their abilities and, in some cases, their limitations. The results of the materials and skills audits were then combined to identify areas needing improvement.

The treatment

The point of the audit process was to make sure that Trade Partners UK got the most out of its investment in training. Investing in People is all well and good, but there's no point teaching someone what they already know.

The ground was now prepared for the development of a one-day training course designed to address the key weaknesses within the department.

Writing Machine designed a 'SAVI-compliant' training course. This approach incorporates well-documented research which shows that every human being learns using a combination of different elements to process new information: Somatic, Auditory, Visual and Intellectual. By tailoring every module of the training course to meet each of these four requirements, Writing Machine was able to create a course that would be accessible to all attendees, irrespective of their individual learning types.

Four one-day courses were delivered by two trainers, both experienced practitioners from Writing Machine. Group sizes were kept small, with an average of nine people attending each session. This high trainer-to-learner ratio was designed to give everyone from Trade Partners UK the maximum opportunity for personal, one-to-one contact with an expert.

The course itself was divided into three main sections. Before any writing project can begin, it is vital to establish the objectives: answers must be provided as to why the project is being undertaken in the first place, and how its success or failure is to be assessed. Who is going to read your text? What do you want them to do after reading it? And how will you know if it's worked?

Objective setting was followed by a structural tools module, which assists learners to develop an appropriate structure to meet those objectives. This included tuition in Microsoft Word's Outline facility that can help during the structuring process - each learner had their own computer to work on.

With the objectives set and a structure devised, the course moved on to explore some of the ways in which these can be implemented within real-life writing, with the emphasis on writing to meet the needs and expectations of the reader.

The day was organised to mix theory and practice with fun, whilst ensuring the learners had to think on their feet, applying specific writing techniques to a specially prepared 1,000 word document. To create a friendly atmosphere and avoid 'information overload', practical and theoretical sessions were interspersed with quizzes and activities to test what learners had picked up and to reinforce the ideas in the course.

Writing Machine also wrote a workbook to accompany the training course. As well as containing exercises and examples, the workbook provided a comprehensive guide to some of the 'trade secrets' of writing high quality copy which is both entertaining and informative.

Julie Hatch commented: "The delivery of the course was kept at a high pace, with plenty of variety. Writing Machine's approach to teaching was highly educational and very entertaining."

The course was designed to be very flexible to the specific needs of the individuals attending on any given day. The trainers' in-depth experience of writing enabled them to address any issues raised by learners during the session. On one particular occasion, for example, a tendency was spotted amongst the learners to overuse exclamation marks. Identifying the need, the writers initiated an open discussion on the appropriate use of punctuation.

Having two experienced writers also meant that individual learners could get a great deal of one-to-one advice and tuition. This dynamic approach meant that, whilst a high standard was achieved by all, the unique needs of the individual learners were also met - a fact reflected in the excellent feedback received.

The future

Trade Partners UK is currently in discussion about further Writing Machine training days. In the meantime, everyone who attended the course has gained new skills or developed existing ones.

In addition, thanks to Writing Machine's support services, they can rest assured that further help is at hand. For any given writing project, should they run into difficulties, an expert consultant writer is just a phone call away to assist with the tone or structure of the piece, or even just help finding the word that's on the tip of their tongue.

Julie Hatch summed up the Trade Partners UK experience with Writing Machine: "We're really glad we did this. It's been very successful. Several people who went on the course actually recommended that everyone at Trade Partners UK should do it - whether their job involves writing or not. To me, feedback like this means that the course has far exceeded my initial expectations."