Writing for Public Relations

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Chapter 11

• Writing for Public Relations

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Who Are Public Relations Practitioners?

• They are communication specialists, hired by
  organizations to perform and advise on a variety
  of communication tasks.
• Their jobs include Handling communication with
  the external publics of an organization
• Which may include the public, buyers, users of a
  service, potential contributors, members of the
  news media, or any other groups important to the
  organization.

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Who Are Public Relations Practitioners?

• Handling communication with the internal publics
  of an organization
• May include employees, independent contractors,
  stockholders, members and families of any of
  these groups
• They may use company newsletters, magazines,
  letters, notices etc to keep everyone up to date

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Jobs of a PR Practitioner

• Working with the news media to get information
  about the organization
• Helping produce public functions and events
• Often, PR practitioners help in the planning and
  advertising public functions and events
• Researching
• They have to research what information the
  organizations wants to communicate or should be
  communicating

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Jobs of a PR Practitioner

• Planning
• Helping developing future communications in an
  organization
• Communicating
• Putting information into the proper formquickly!
• Evaluating
• Determining whether a plan worked and whether it
  had the desired result

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Characteristics of a PR Practitioner

• Public relations practitioners have to write!
• Public relations departments produce brochures,
  press releases, letters, speeches, scripts, and
  public serve announcements for television and
  radio, posters, reports etc..
• All of the rules of good grammar, spelling, usage
  , style and structure apply to PR writing.

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Characteristics of a PR Practitioner

• PR practitioners write for a variety of
  peoplecompany employees, the general public,
  management, government officials
• PR practitioners must be able to write speeches,
  letters, brochures, news releases, promotional
  copy etc.

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Writing News Releases

• The news release is information, usually written
  in the form of a news story, which an
  organization wishes to make public through the
  news media.
• It should be written concisely and precisely and
  should answer all pertinent questions about a
  storyit is very much like a good news story.
• It should emphasize what an editor will think is
  the most important part of a story.

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A Press Release Should Include

• Headline or Slug telling what the story is about.
• Name and telephone number of a person in the
  organization who can be contacted for more
  information.
• Release timetells the editor when the
  information may be used such as FOR IMMEDIATE
  RELEASE or For release after 10 a.m. Friday,
  October 13 (embargo time)
• An inverted pyramid style of writingwith
  background information provided at the end of the
  press release

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A Press Release Should.

• Address the news values of timeliness, impact,
  conflict, prominence and bizarre/unusual
• Include a LEAD paragraph that will sell an
  editor on a story.
• Write a release so that the information in it can
  be used in a story.
• A press release should NOT include jargon, should
  not be wordy and should pay particular attention
  to proper identification of all the people
  mentioned.

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VNR

• The Video News Release or VNR
• Can range from a short news story produced by the
  organization on videotape and distributed locally
  to longer feature items (or even half hour shows)
  that large companies distribute nationally.
• VNRs are expensive to produce
• VNRs are not always used by the media

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Letters

• Letters are still one of the most important and
  effective means of communicating in the business
  world today.
• Letters have increased in importance with the use
  of fax machines.
• Letters are expensive for organizations to
  produce and sendthus, they must be concise and
  come directly to the point.
• Letters should have some sort of personal touch.
• Letters should never contain any spelling,
  grammar, or punctuation errors.
• Letters should take on a professional tone.

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How to Avoid Being Personal in Letters

• Dont be obsequiousexhibiting a servile
  attentiveness or compliance
• Dont thank someone too much (twice is the
  maximum for a letter once is better)
• Dont keep apologizing
• Dont say please more than once in a letter
• Avoid phrases like I hope youll understand
• Dont be overly complimentary

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How to Avoid Being Personal in Letters

• Generally, dont try to be funny.
• Avoid referring to the personal characteristics,
  habits, or feelings of the reader.
• Use personal pronounsthey can humanize a letter
  without letting it become too personal
• Avoid interpersonal constructionssuch as It
  is and There is and It has been decided
  (tell who the it is)
• Avoid the passive voice!
• Avoid using technical language (jargon or
  bureaucratese.)
• Avoid wordiness

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Company Publication

• Newsletters This is a common task for the PR
  practitioner. The newsletter can range from a
  single-page item posted on the bulletin board to
  a fully interactive Web site.
• Pray for the best, prepare for the worst.
• Consistency in style and content are marks of a
  good newsletter. It needs to say family.
• It could be your companys first impression in
  the business community.

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• Pamphlets and Brochures Pamphlets are directed
  toward the outside public and are usually for a
  specific purpose.
• The can be informational or persuasive.
• It is a common means of introducing your
  organization to the public.
• Design is very important. Again, this item may be
  the publics first impression of you. And, it
  could be the last.
• If a PR practitioner is not good at design and
  layout, he or she needs to find someone who is
  and keep them close.

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• Annual Reports and Such These reports are very
  important because they are for the inside public
  and the outside public.
• The outside public could be investors.
• All financial information presented must be exact
  and presented in a way that inside, and outside,
  it will be understood.
• There are other reports and they will vary with
  for profit and nonprofit organizations.
• Many companies have quarterly or semiannual
  reporting systems.
• Reports can make or break the PR department.

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• Web sites It may also fall upon the shoulders
  of the PR department to develop, design and
  maintain the organizations Web site.
• This is an extremely important task, because the
  outside public is expanded to the World Wide Web.
• Talent to do the technical aspects of design and
  posting is usually left to an Internet Providers
  design team. But, some companies may require
  their PR personnel to do this.

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Oral Presentations

• In writing oral presentations, the writer must
  take three major factors into consideration
• The Targeted Audience
• The Speaker
• The Subject of the Presentation
• In writing oral presentations, the writer must be
  very aware that he or she is writing for a
  READER, and it may be the boss.

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Slide Presentations

• This is one of the most popular methods of
  presentation because of its versatility.
• PowerPoint can accommodate photos, graphs, audio
  and video.
• Slides should be used to outline the speakers
  presentation and should be simple and
  uncluttered.
• Pacing is also very important. How fast should
  the slides appear to the audience. Sometimes full
  automation is not helpful.

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Statements

• A statement is just a short oral presentation,
  usually preceding a question and answer forum.
• It is relatively short, but inclusive. It can
  anticipate what the most frequently asked
  question will be and answer those right up front
  to give more time for other questions.
• Clearly and efficiently written, it should
  present the facts, make its point and stop.

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Speeches

• Speeches can be informative, persuasive,
  entertaining, or any combination of the three.
• Modern audiences usually think speeches are too
  long if they exceed 30 minutes.
• Speeches are the most concentrated pieces of work
  a PR practitioner will face. You must know a
  great deal about the speaker and the topic.

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• Vocabulary must belong to the speaker, the
  reader, not the writer.
• Carelessly chosen words can leave an impression
  that could hurt, or destroy, your speaker, and he
  could be running for president.
• Research for, and extensive interviewing of, your
  speaker will pay off.
• At no time in your career will you be taking on
  as much responsibility with such severe
  consequences, as when you write someone elses
  speech.

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Conclusion

• Public relations work is mostly writing.
  Employers will look for people who can write to
  fill their public relations jobs.
• Public relations writing requires versatility on
  the part of the writer.
• While exciting and rewarding, the PR is one of
  the most demanding as far as skills and hard,
  unpredictable work.