FROM WRITER'S BLOCK TO OUTSIDETHEBOX: DEVELOPING CREATIVE PR IDEAS

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FROM WRITER'S BLOCK TO OUTSIDE-THE-BOX
DEVELOPING CREATIVE PR IDEAS
Steve
Cody

• Steve Cody
• Salt Lake City November 2006

Salt Lake City
Nov 2006
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Is there anything scarier than this?
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What is writing?
"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank
sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your
forehead. -Gene Fowler I get a fine warm
feeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is
pretty much negated by the pain of getting
started each day. Let's face it, writing is
hell. -William Styron
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Your World

•  We asked 193 PRSSA members,
• What part of writing keeps you up at night? 

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Your World
1.) What sort of writing assignments typically
pose the greatest challenges?

• Press releases ("coming up with a catchy,
  creative headline and lead paragraph")
• Research
• Meeting deadlines ("stuff like this where I am
  asked to come up with something instantly")

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Your World

• Making boring stories sound interesting
• Poor direction from professor ("Just do whatever
  you like.")
• Long papers on a short idea
• Op-eds/opinion pieces
• Personal/creative assignments ("I hate writing
  about myself.")

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Your World

• 2.) What part of your writing needs the most
  work?

• being to the point
• taking it from acceptable to awesome
• AP style
• getting started /
• introductory paragraph
• vocabulary choice
• writing impartially
• etc. 

11 varied
13 grammar, spelling and punctuation
50 coming up with an original idea
26 copy flow, proper word and phrase
transitions
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So, what is writer's block?

• an inability to put words on paper
• be it a term paper, press release, blog,
  proposal, e-mail, bylined article

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What causes writer's block?
Gene Colter, former Wall Street Journal editor
"It's caused by not knowing enough about the
subject matter or what we're supposed to say
about the subject matter. Without that insight,
we have a hard time getting started and end up
with endless rewrites, passages that say nothing
and frustration.

• Richard Harte, PhD, PR industry consultant
• "Writer's block is caused by fear of the
  unknown. The fear, in turn, causes anxiety which,
  in turn, causes avoidance behavior. Most people
  will look for any excuse not to write.

Julia Hood, editor, PRWeek Brains don't like
writing and will find every excuse to wander and
focus on the mundane instead. Half the battle of
writer's block is knowing what your brain is up
to and understanding that it wants to take it
easy.
Sue Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal
columnist "I find that when I'm blocked, it's
usually because I'm either too anxious or too
tired to think clearly."
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What solves writer's block?

• Richard Harte, PhD
• "Identifying the obstacles to your block.
  Fill-out this sentence "Because of ______, I
  cannot write this paper, release, etc." Now, list
  the three steps you'll take to overcome that
  obstacle."

Julia Hood "When you're stuck, go off and do
something else. The brain will keep working on it
behind the scenes. Often you will kick start the
process by going away. But, make sure you go
right back and keep going. Don't lose the thread.
Darryl Salerno, PR industry consultant
"Meditating, long, calming walks and exercising
will take your mind off the assignment and enable
you to clear your mind."
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What solves writer's block?

• Matthew Schwartz, senior reporter, Crains BtoB
  magazine
• Try to totally unplug. Get away from all
  reference materials, the web and dont listen to
  any music. Try for a few minutes, instead, to let
  the words come and think more organically about
  the story rather than try to agonize over a lead.
  Alternatively, try to strip things down to the
  core and not overcomplicate things."

Gene Colter Do more reporting/research. Talk
to smart people about the subject matter. Ask
them for views. Even if they dont agree, so much
the better. It will help frame your POV. Once you
are confident of the research/your POV STOP.
Dont overanalyze.
Sue Shellenbarger Exercise and more sleep.
Good thinking must precede good writing, and no
one can think well if theyre either too fatigued
or overanxious.
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Putting Words on Paper
Matthew Schwartz "Embrace 'periods' as your
best friends."
Julia Hood "Don't try to write in paragraphs.
Start with words. Turn words into phrases,
phrases into sentences, sentences into
paragraphs. Stay away from adjectives,
particularly when you are stuck. Just the facts,
ma'am. If you can get the facts down, the rest
will be easy to build around it.

• Gene Colter
• "Spend the greatest amount of time on your
  opening passage. Resist the urge to fix every
  word. Bang it out. Don't fuss. Keep one or two
  subjects/themes in mind. More than two will cause
  writer's block and confuse the reader.

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A  Real-time Peppercom Case History

• Co-branded blogging survey with Bulldog Reporter
• 1,200 respondents in UK and US
• Wanted to uncover the differences and
  compare/contrast
• Main finding There were no differences. Everyone
  agreed blogging is important, but few are
  embracing it.
• Now what?

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Our Solution

• DIVIDED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE,
• UNITED (IN CONFUSION) OVER DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
• Survey Finds 1,200 U.S. and U.K. Marketing
  Executives in Near Unanimous Disorder on the Use
  of Consumer-Generated Media
• NEW YORK November XX, 2006 Public relations
  professionals in the U.S. and U.K.
• agree blogs are important to corporate images.
  However, professional communicators
• in both countries have yet to embrace this new
  medium and establish common practices
• in the blogosphere, according to survey results
  released today by Peppercom Strategic
• Communications and Bulldog Reporter.
• The survey, composed of 1,200 public relations
  executives from communication agencies
• and leading corporations in the U.S. and U.K.,
  revealed that most major companies in
• both countries still have not defined their
  blogging strategy. Despite the fact that a
• majority of respondents consider blogs to have
  influence over public opinion and decision
• making in U.S. and the U.K., the survey found
  that only a fraction of those companies are
• currently blogging to promote themselves, their
  clients or industry concerns. This even
• as they acknowledge that others will soon expand
  their communication efforts to include
• MySpace, Second Life and other digital vehicles.

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My Challenge to You

• Write a one-page press release introducing the
  paper clip. (Assume that it's never existed
  before and that you need to clearly and concisely
  communicate the who, what, when, where, why and
  how immediately to the reader.) Be as provocative
  and creative as possible.
• E-mail it to me at ( scody_at_peppercom.com ) and
  I'll respond with a grade and a critique.

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FROM WRITER'S BLOCK TO OUTSIDE-THE-BOX
DEVELOPING CREATIVE PR IDEAS
Steve
Cody

• Steve Cody
• Salt Lake City November 2006

Salt Lake City
Nov 2006