How to Format a Business Letter Format
A business letter is essentially a written communication from one business to another, either between such companies and their clients, customers, or others external to both. The content of this type of letter varies greatly depending on the relationship established between the parties involved. There are many different business letter styles that can be used in today’s business world, though the most commonly used business letter format is the one which follows.
The first thing you will want to do when considering a formal business letter format is to determine whether you should be using a formal or informal tone. In a formal business letter format, you will find that there will be some sort of preface that describes the purpose of the letter and who is the sender. There will also be a title which is the middle portion of the letter, containing either the name of the person who is responsible for writing it, or a more formal phrase such as “to whom it may concern” or “to whomsoever it concerns”. There will be a body of the letter which will contain all of the information that is relevant to the topic of the letter.
In an informal business letter format, there will be no such preface or title. The body of the letter will simply include a list of the names of the parties to the correspondence, with any names of friends or other contacts that are mentioned in the body omitted. All of the information relating to the subject of the letter will be enclosed in single parenthesis, to mark the beginning and end of the enclosed text. After this, you will have the enclosed document to your file, with the bottom line referring back to the page that it is printed on.
Another thing to consider is the fact that many businesses will use the same small business letter format template, with very little variation. This means that if you are using a template designed for a different purpose, then you may have to make some minor changes to the text to suit the needs of your own letterhead. For instance, if you are printing the letterhead for a small business in Boston, Massachusetts, and you are looking for a template for a business in California, you would not be able to just change the template’s address line to “2nd Street, Suite 101, Denver CO”, since that would be too drastic a change for the letterhead. Even if you were to find a template with that address, it might not be in the correct fonts for the type of business letterhead that you need.
Another issue to think about is the salutation. Your recipient may receive a standard salutation, such as “Dear Sir” or “To Whom it May Concern”, which may not be appropriate if you are printing the letterhead to a recipient in Paris, France. You should instead write the salutation in French, using a word that is easy to pronounce for the recipient. For example, “Yours faithfully”. This kind of simple salutation shows respect to the recipient that makes it a good letterhead design.
One other important thing to consider is that when printing a formal business letter, the recipient should always be informed of the date on which the correspondence was sent. The recipient should also be aware of the address of the sender, as well as the fax number or email address. If you have included any comments in your salutation, then you should also indicate this as well. You should close by thanking the person for his/her time and consideration, and then formally concluding with a “Yours faithfully”. If you were to include an email address or fax number, you would then close with “Regards”.