WRITING TECHNIQUES FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS

Objectives of the course: to outline the nature of good writing in public relations; to familiarize the students with the necessary skills for good PR writing; to develop professional attitudes and skills that public relations professionals need.

Topics: 1. Public relations writing in organizational media - Speechwriting - Writing fliers and brochures - Writing for newsletters - Writing for the web

2. Public relations writing in the news media - Writing news releases - Writing other forms for news media coverage - News Briefs - Fact Sheets - Factoids - Feature Releases - Photo Captions

Events Listings Media Advisories Public Advisories Story idea memos News Conference Statements Interviews

Public relations writing is about tailoring messages for particular media and publics.

As a PR writer: - you have to be a very good writer, offering excellent information in an extraordinarily interesting way.
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you need to remember that good writing is writing that succeeds in communicating. Bad writing is writing that fails to communicate.

- much of what you write is expected to have a specific

effect, as PR writing is results-oriented.

An important part of good writing is being properly prepared before you start: - do the necessary research on the subject matter so you: - will understand the material; - know what is important; - have in mind just what you want to communicate and what results you want. - know who will receive your communication - know how best to reach your public.

In short, you must know your message, your public and your medium.

a)

Message decide just what you want to say. dont express your message in hazy, abstract terms. make sure you understand the message before you begin to write. if you dont understand what youre trying to say, neither will others.

b) Public you must know who your readers or listeners are you must know something of their characteristics, values and beliefs so you can reach them you must phrase the message so the public will understand

The variety of publics is so vast that PR people often find it useful to divide the publics they deal with into two broad classes: internal and external.

Internal publics are groups within the

organization (such as employees or the board of directors).

External publics are groups outside the

organization (such as the media, your companys customers or the state legislature).

c) Medium choose the right medium in order to reach your public be aware that different media are appropriate for different types of messages the choice of medium affects the way you frame the message you must use the style appropriate for the medium, being aware of the mediums technological advantages and limitations

Internal and external publics and typical media that reach them
1.

Publics a) Internal - Management (top and middle) - Staff and employees (union and employee organizationsnonunion) - Stockholders - Directors

b) External - Direct (marketing communications) - Customers - Sales representatives - Traders and distributors - Suppliers - Competitors

- Indirect (institutional communications) Potential customers Potential investors (stockholders) Financial community Government Community

2. Media
a) Internal - Personal (person to person/person to group) - Audiovisual (specialized media: films, slides, videotape, closed-circuit TV, computer networksi.e., on intranet) - Publications (specialized media: books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters) - Direct mail

- Exhibits (including posters and bulletin board materials internally displayed) - CD-ROMs - Email - Fax (or facsimile) - Web pages

b) External

- Personal (person to person/person to group) - Audiovisual (Web pages with art and sound, films, slides, videotape, mass media, specialized media available to external audiences such as externally distributed CD-ROMs, videos, etc.) - Publications (mass and specialized, including controlled and uncontrolled publicity as well as institutional and commercial advertising)

- Direct mail (personalized, institutional and sales promotion) - Exhibits (mass and specialized externally displayed) - Broadcast fax - Email - Internet site (on World Wide Web)

Style a) Clarity - the number one aim of writing style is clarity;

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there are two key qualities that make writing easy to read: - sentence length - word length

1. -

Sentence Length the first principle of readable writing is to keep most sentences short. for the meaning to be clear, the reader must be able to grasp at once the relationship among the words in a sentence. long, tangled sentences tend to obscure those relationships.

- however, an endless stream of short sentences makes for dull reading. - it is possible for long sentences to be clearif they are properly constructed. - the key to readability, then, is average sentence length.

Ex.1: Structural integrity has been found to be difficult to measure. (long) Structural integrity is difficult to measure. (short) Ex.2: It is important for students to listen to the news media in the winter and know that the University will be officially closed on severe weather days. (long) University closings on bad weather days will be announced on radio and television. (short)

2. Word Length - if you use long words, some readers wont understand them. - even if the long words you use have well-known meanings, they slow the reader down.

Ex: LONG

SHORT

precipitation employ/utilize equitable remuneration

rain use fair pay

b) Naturaleness - one of the basic rules of readable writing is write like you talk. - reading is easiest if the style is conversational

Ex: Smith was not disturbed that Johnson had submitted his resignation. He said that the position held by Johnson was not of high significance. (clear, but it sounds like a written, not a spoken, sentence) Johnsons resignation didnt bother Smith. He said Johnsons job wasnt important, anyway. (written in a more natural, conversational manner)

Devices that make writing conversational

use active instead of passive verbs Ex: Passive: Everything possible was done by company engineers to restore service. Active: Company engineers did everything they could to restore service.

Passive: It was requested by the company president that

the exhibit be kept open by the museum officials. Active: The company president asked museum officials to keep the exhibit open.

- use contractions freely. Avoiding contractions does nothing but slow the reader down.

c) Variety - monotony can poison an otherwise good style - try to use synonyms, but do not exagerate Ex: When my books arrived, I took the hardbound texts from the package and placed the treasured volumes on my bookcase next to my other bound publications.

- try to use pronouns in order to avoid repetition or the use of too many synonyms Ex: I took the books out of the box and put them on the shelf with my others.

in other cases, theres no need to repeat the word at all Ex: Jones, Smith and Brown all won races; it was Jones first win, Smiths third victory, and Browns fourth triumph .
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It was Jones first win, Smiths third and Browns fourth.

d) Human interest - if you are writing about people, your writing will naturally contain elements of human interest - if your subject is something mechanical, impersonal or abstract, your task will be more difficult - when writing about inanimate objects you can achieve human interest if you remember that youre writing to people even when youre not writing about them

when appropriate, address the reader as you use the pronoun we to refer to people in general when discussing common knowledge use rhetorical questions and direct quotations

e) Eliminating bias - try to avoid offending words - use gender-neutral language Ex: people in business instead of businessmen - dont mention ethnicity or disabilities unless they are important to content

Content: Simplifying the Complex

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if you always remember to use simple language, youll be able to write clearly about even the most complex ideas.

it takes special writing skills to simplify the complex without explaining it inaccurately.

a) -

Know Your Subject you cant simplify complex writing unless you know what it means You must understand it thoroughly yourself before you can explain it to somebody else

Ex: Opening another front in its war on smoking, the federal government plans to publicize a new peril carbon monoxide to prod the cigarette industry to reduce its use of that substance in cigarettes just as it has reduced tar and nicotine.

b) Take One Step at a Time

- you can confuse readers by telling them too much at once - you have to introduce one new idea at a time - the first idea should help explain the second, the second the third and so on

c) Make the Central Points Clear

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make sure the main idea stands out support your message with facts, figures, descriptions and explanations, but do not lose track of your central

point

d)
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Explain the Unfamiliar with the Familiar

readers dont easily understand complicated explanations of things they know nothing about tie your subject to something within the readers experience

e) Avoid Redundancies
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redundant words add no meaning to a sentence because another word already has provided the meaning

Ex: This was a serious tragedy.

She grew up in a little village. The committee did some advance planning.

f) Use Strong Verbs

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use verbs that forcefully make the point

Ex: Weak: She has a new car. Stronger and more specific: She drives a new car. (or leases or owns) Vague: He went to the store. More meaningful: He ran to the store, (or walked or

drove or jogged or dashed or ambled or hiked)

Weak: "I hate you" she said. Stronger: "/ hate you" she sobbed, (or cried or screamed or muttered or wailed or announced or shouted)