Three Simple Rules for Effective Content

Strong written communication skills are essential in the public relations industry in order to effectively convey your messages. Thus, content is king.  Whether you’re writing a headline, blog post, press release or speech, there are three simple guidelines you can follow in order to engage your audience and deliver a strong and well-crafted message. Susan Young of PR Daily discussed them in “The 3 C’s of Powerful Content.”

 

• Be Clear – Clarity is key. As stated in Reaching Audiences by Jan Yopp, Katherine McAdams and Ryan Thornburg, listing requires writers to list the important facts and ideas for the copy, and drafting requires that the content make sense to your reader. Talk out your ideas, as it both listing and drafting help give the copy structure, style and clarity. You may also try providing real life examples to better convey your message to your reader.
• Be Concise – One of the biggest difficulties in engaging audiences is the information and media glut. People are so overwhelmed with information that their attention wanes.  It is critical to write with precision. If your reader is confused, then you’ve lost them and failed to convey your message. Simply make your point concisely and move on. Readers with taxing lifestyles and little time will appreciate it and take away more from your message.
• Be Compelling – Emotion is a connecting factor among human beings. When drafting a message, include personal anecdotes that are relatable and will make the audience have an emotional response. When you don’t have to be as concise, take your audience on a journey and tell a story so that they feel as if they can’t stop reading. If brevity is required, using strong rhetoric can also help make the copy more engaging.

 

It’s as simple as that. Next time you’re composing a message, be sure that you know what the point is, that you make your point succinctly and that you make the message relatable and emotionally gripping.

Procrastination: The Pesky Bug to Beat

Procrastination is an ugly habit that is hard to beat. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us have succumbed to the powers of procrastination in our lifetime. It truly is a pesky bug that always seems to be coming back, proving extremely difficult to get rid of. Productivity is essential in both the corporate world (meeting work deadlines) and in our personal lives (planning a trip or managing appointments). Therefore, PRLine is here to offer some quick procrastination elimination tips. Instead of listing these tips, however, we thought it might be  interesting to tackle a real-life scenario.

Crisis Communication and Social Media: The Good and Bad

When developing a business plan, it is imperative to include a crisis communication strategy. This includes how to handle negative customer feedback and how to respond to the public if a crisis occurs – for example, a competitor publicly challenging the ethics of your company. In the field of public relations, we explore the best routes to deal with crisis communication before finalizing methods in a business plan.

Have Your Own Style

In this blog we’ve addressed AP style many times, however, one thing we’ve never really discussed is creating your own company style. Creating a style guide for your company is an important part of the branding process, because, believe it or not, there will be things your company deals with that may not be covered in the AP style guide.

Spending a Little Money Now Will Become a Big Return Later

With the economic recession our country has been suffering, the plan for many businesses has been to save, save, save and cut any fat within the company. This was a very important and effective game plan as it kept many companies afloat during this turbulent period. But now as we look into 2010, we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is now time to position your company to come out of the recession ahead of the competition. Public relations a cost-effective way to do this.

Alternatives to Sending Press Releases

While press releases have been the traditional approach to communicating with reporters, technology has allowed us to reinvent the stale process and reach out to these audiences in innovative ways. Below are some alternatives to sending press releases courtesy of Clair Celsi of PR Daily.

How to make a name for yourself in the PR industry

Establishing and maintaining relationships with other industry professionals is a useful tool in building a network and making yourself well-known in your field. The same holds true in the public relations industry. There are several steps that you can take to bolster your reputation, and Becky Jones of PR Daily has concisely listed them in “Five sure-fire ways to become known in the PR industry.”

Entering the Blogosphere: Tips and Tricks

Blogging is a great way to share ideas and tips by connecting with others in your industry.

Information is priceless and many will welcome your advice – especially when it is free, so make sure you’re providing useful information within your blog that your audience will be inclined to follow.  Keeping your audience interested can be tricky, so make sure you don’t fall into a pattern of writing what’s easy.  Do some research and see what captivates and excites your audience.

How to make the view better for your site or blog

When you go to a website do you look at the graphics first or do you read the text before scanning the page as a whole?  In the article, 15 must-know facts on how people view websites, Raul Kaevand shows three different pictures of the areas that people focus on most. These color-coded pictures show that most people view and focus on the top of the webpage, although the least likely viewed areas are highlighted as well. 

Seriously, cut that out.

Step one in journalistic writing is simple; less is more. When writing press releases, newsletters, pitches, blog posts and emails, brevity is key. No one wants to read an entire novel, nor do they have time to. In the article 8 Steps to More Concise Writing, Mark Nichol gives tips that that will help make your writing more concise.