While we have tackled the subject many times, we still get a lot of inquiries from readers on how they can improve their writing.
This highlights the importance of good writing skills in the modern workplace, where these not only improve communication, but can also have an effect on how you are perceived. Most of us send e-mails, compile reports, and write memos—and we need to be able to communicate in a manner that is easily comprehensible and well organized to be understood.
But when the job at hand involves writing—as in the case of PR and communications related professionals—then your literacy skills are clearly going to be important.
Poor writing skills, especially where communication with management is concerned—can be a red flag that the employee is not suited to more senior positions. Employees with excellent writing skills, on the other hand, are generally viewed as being a hot commodity. Here’s how to stand out.
For this, we turn to an expert, Andrew Hindes, who writes on How to Stand Out: 7 Elements to Include to Improve Your PR Writing in prnewsonline.com.
Hindes is the president of the Los Angeles-based PR and marketing copywriting firm, The In-House Writer. He is also a sought- after PR writing coach and corporate trainer.
In his work as a PR instructor, Hindes strives “to help clients write effectively—just not correctly.” While we can all agree on the value of weeding out typos and adhering to stylistic conventions, in today’s crowded media environment, simply avoiding grammatical mistakes isn’t enough to make your PR content stand out.
Here, he shares with us seven essential elements of good PR writing “that will help make your press materials clearer, more concise, and more compelling to journalists and other readers.”
1 Planning. Like in all other things, planning is essential in working out PR materials. “Before you start writing, know your objectives,” says Hindes, adding, “who your target audience is and what type of outlets you’ll be pitching.”
2 Storytelling. It has been said that good stories happen to those who can tell them. Hindes believes that, “honing your storytelling chops will make whatever you’re writing—whether it’s a corporate profile, a press release, or a Facebook update—more engaging.”
3 Empathy. Sad to say, some PR practitioners simply like to plan campaigns related to their own limited experiences. Or they simply apply a what can be considered a textbook formula that’s been done to death. Instead, Hindes suggests to “put yourself in the readers’ shoes and focus on their interests and needs rather than yours or your clients.” That’s where the power of empathy comes in.
4 Context. As we all know, nothing exists in a vacuum, and it will be good to “help journalists—and their readers—understand the broader significance of your story, and how it fits into the larger context of your industry, your community or the world.”
5 Flow. “Good writing has a rhythm that carries the reader along a catchy melody,” says Hindes. “Pay attention to the way you transition between ideas, where you put your paragraph breaks and even the sounds of the individual words and sentences.” As they say, go with the flow.
6 Structure. I remember that when we took tests and submitted papers in our English Literature class, our grade would depend on how we organized our thoughts. No flowery words could save a paper with badly constructed thoughts.
This is also true in today’s modern workplace, where “the way you organize a story—which ideas you present and in what order—can have a major impact on whether a reader hits the ‘delete’ halfway through the first paragraph or reads it all the way till the end.”
7 Accuracy. Have your facts in check, whether this concerns names, titles, sizes of structures, and many more. Many major news organizations have fact checkers that validate the data submitted to them.
“The best writing in the world won’t matter if you get your facts wrong,” says Hindes. This is so true in a world where fake news is a major concern.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie F. Dizon, the senior vice president for marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
Image credits: Gaudilab | Dreamstime.com