5 PR Writing Tips | Choosing Your Words Wisely

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5 PR Writing Tips | Choosing Your Words Wisely
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Writing is an essential role of the public relations professional. In order to reach customers we write for blogs, websites, and social networking accounts. We also reach them through video, podcasts, and images, and writing well can help to make those better. We can lose the attention of readers by writing poorly or offering content that is irrelevant to our audiences' needs. In order to capture their interest and to keep them on our sites, we must become better writers from the beginning so that our writing will better with time.

Here are 5 tips to improve your PR writing:

Avoid jargon. Jargon, or terms that are used in an industry by professionals in the industry, are often not terms that consumers can define. Trade magazines may have an audience that can understand jargon, but for a blog, Twitter account, or website, avoid jargon so that you do not alienate or deter customers from visiting.
Write clearly. To elaborate on the first point, write in a clear manner that is easy to understand. Think about someone who may not know anything about the topic you are writing, and write for them. Get to the point: if you can write something in a more concise manner, do so. This can make for an easier, faster read.
Avoid over-used terms that have lost their meaning. There are a lot of terms that get used frequently that have lost their initial meaning and are used to level out the playing field. For example, David Meerman Scott writes in his book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, that words like "industry standard, ground breaking, flexible, scalable, or cutting-edge" don't mean much, and are rather used to say that "we are like the rest". He writes that industry standard "means nothing unless some aspect of that standardization is important to your buyers." If you use these terms, explain what makes your product "scalable" or "industry standard" so that you give the terms some meaning relative to your product and how it will help customers.
Proofread. This takes little time and it can save you lost visitors! Take a minute to reread your work to ensure that it reads well, makes sense, and that grammar and spelling are correct. This can help to show readers, visitors, and customers that you take pride in producing quality work and that you take the time to correct mistakes.
Offer timeless content. This means that, although information from the current period is important, information that can be read in 5 years and still be considered valid is content that will continue to get traffic and readers. Write on topics that will matter later, and not just for the next month because you've written about Tiger's marital issues.

Overall, write something that is worth reading. See what other bloggers are writing about, and see what makes them different from other bloggers who may not have a similar amount of success. Though it can be hard to evaluate blogs against one another, you can see the content they write about and the voice their blog has. If you feel comfortable enough, email the blogger and ask them for tips. Most should be more than happy to answer a quick question if they're able.

What are some tips you have for writing? What are your success (and maybe not so successful) stories?

Comments (2)

David Meerman Scott: Just say "NO" to Gobbledygook! Thanks for mentioning my book. BTW the second edition came out this week.
Ashley Wirthlin: Sure thing, David! It's a great read. Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the comment!

-Ashley