For every successful PR officer, writing skill has to be the topmost matter of consideration. In some parts, this fact cannot be denied that the methods of building and maintaining media relations have to go beyond press releases, yet its impact on the market cannot be neglected.
As per a study, more than 90% of editors or journalists prefer email pitches to anything else, when it comes to getting business-related information. And, due to this very fact, the importance of good writing skills certainly increases for a professional PR writer.
If you are also one of those PR writers who want to improve their PR writing skills, then you can consider the below-mentioned points for bringing in more engagement to your PRs:
Write A Catchy Headline
‘Well begun is half done’ – this phrase tells a lot about the significance of an eye-catching headline for any content. This fact is pretty relevant to PR writing as well; you need to grab the attention of the audience through an engaging title. Most of the readers will not go through the PR if the headline is not catchy enough. Thus, you have to make the PR very convincing from the very beginning of the content. Do not include unnecessary words - keep it to-the-point, informative, and most importantly attractive.
Make It Crisp
Editors or journalists do not have much time to spend on your long pitches; so keep the PR short and crisp. In the case of the PR business, less is considered to be more, keep that in mind. Do not elongate the content, write clear and straightforward words that provide all the important information, and make the picture clear for everyone. This will save you time and cast a positive impact on the journalist.
Provide Concrete Details
Do not just write things - back it up with statistics, examples, facts, and figures. This makes the content more convincing and gullible to the journalists as well as the readers.
Never Hurry
On some occasions, PR managers might need to react quickly to a situation, but most of the time, they do not have to. This means that you should not hurry in writing PR, as it might lead to some writing errors. Take some time, conduct research, re-check the facts, make the content presentable, and most importantly take breaks to freshen up your mind. This will help in removing the errors and increasing the quality of the content.
Do Not Use Passive Voice
No matter the type of the content, use of passive voice in it, kills the story for the reader. More words are required for expressing information through passive voice and also its inertness and inactiveness degrades the impact. The use of active voice makes the content engaging and readable.
Mention A Quote
Adding quotes to a PR increased its credibility and draws the attention of the readers. It makes PR feel real and more relatable. You can add quotes from the company CEO, shareholder, or any other important position holder of the organization. But, here also, you must keep in mind that the quote isn’t too long. The quote must be simple and convey the motive of the organization; it should be relevant to the subject –a matter of the content as well. This will make the entire presentation much more interesting and engaging.
Simplify The Content
Do not make the content complex – break down the information into smaller sentences so that the content doesn’t feel congested and the audiences understand the message. You can divide the entire content into some categories and then explain each category one by one. You can also add relevant examples to the content, which will hold on to the attention of the readers.
Proofread It
Content full of grammatical or spelling errors will be straightaway rejected by the journalists. Thus, you must ensure that there are no such errors in PR. Having drafted the content, take some rest, and then proofread the content. You can ask your colleagues to do it, as they will be able to spot out the mistakes that you might have missed. There are many sites or tools available online that provide professional proofreading services – you can make use of those to make the content more engaging, readable, and error-free. You are advised to proofread the PR at least 2-3 times to eliminate any kind of error.
Read It Out Loud
Good PR writing is all about whether the content sound right or not. If you are finding it hard to put some new words into the content, then read it out loud so that you get to see how it sounds. It will provide the idea of what is working with the content and what is not. After completing PR, you must always read it out loud, to make sure that the content feels interesting and engaging to you; if it doesn’t, then you should considering replacing some parts of it.
Don’t Tell, Show It
Journalists do not want to hear from you that the product is great, innovative, and useful; they want to see it all by themselves. So don’t tell them about the greatness of the product, show them what makes the product great and innovative. Tell them what the function of the product is and how it is different from that of the competitors.
Keep Grinding
‘Practice makes a man perfect’ – this phrase is applicable here as well; you cannot expect to write great content from the very beginning. You have to consistently write and find new ways of making the PRs more convincing and interesting. Keep working on your weak points and amplifying the strong ones.
Conclusion
Writing PRs isn’t a job for everyone – it requires a creative mind, extreme research skills, hard work, smart work, time, and patience. One has to consistently improve his writing skills, in order to come up with something new every time he/she sits to draft a PR. This can only be done by continuous practice and brushing up of writing skills.
