Shape of Things

PR 101 goes like this: write the release, get the approval, send it out over Business Wire or PR Newswire, and start on the next one. It’s not communicating, it’s press release slinging.

This might be fine if you are Microsoft.  But, if you are the rest of us, you should care who’s getting your release and what they are doing with it.  That requires having specially tailored press lists for each of your clients, and finding ways to engage key media people and market influencers.

Preparing press lists is not hard, but it’s time-consuming, tedious and continuous.  It’s also worth it: Addressing your press release to a specific person at a specific publication could mean the difference between editorial consideration and getting lost in the wire service avalanche.  Here are the basic steps:

·         Find out from your clients which publications, online magazines, bloggers and groups are most important to their business.  Add to the list by researching competitors to those publications and searching media directories using key words that are important to your client’s business.  Search your client’s competitors’ sites to see if you can find out which media outlets they might be targeting.

·         Identify the appropriate people to receive your news.  You typically send a product announcement or other news-related item to a new products editor, editor or managing editor.  If you’re sending a customer application story, you will usually send it to a features editor or the editor. 

·         Decide if the release needs to go out via both a wire service and your in-house list or just to the in-house list.  Many new product releases and minor business announcements only need to go to the trade media, saving your client a few hundred bucks.

·         Determine the handful of editors, writers and bloggers who are most important to your client, and make sure they receive a personalized note geared to their areas of interest. If you don’t yet know these people, get to know them by reading their work, commenting on it, and sharing information.

·         Follow-up with key editors, writers and bloggers by offering something extra – a one-on-one interview with the product manager, an exclusive image, a personalized demo, or a conversation with a product user. Never, never utter these words: “Did you get my press release”? Bring something to the table in every transaction or don’t come to the table.

·         Bring social media into the mix by posting a low-key announcements tagged to a free offer on LinkedIn groups, Twitter and other outlets.

·         Once you have compiled your initial press list, update, update and update some more to keep your list current and ensure that your news is going to the most appropriate person.  

This is part 2 of a primer on editing.  Much of this comes from a Folio magazine seminar taught by Peter Jacobi more than 25 years ago.  Jacobi is now professor emeritus at the Indiana University School of Journalism.

What to avoid

Delaying the subject in a sentence

      Bad:        The goals and objectives of writers…

      Good:      The writer’s goals and objectives…

The passive voice

      Bad:        The purchase of hardware is a tedious chore.

      Good:      Buying hardware is tedious.

Excess adjectives

      Bad:        The Internet-enabled, scalable and robust X14AB is a good tool.

      Good:      The X14AB works on the Internet and is able to expand to fit users’ needs.

Hyperbole

      Few actions are outrageous, cities are rarely paralyzed and very few things are vital.

Clichés

Trash high-scalability, high-performance, highly interactive, state-of-the-art and other meaningless phrases.

Pretentious language

      Away with paragon, parameters, debilitate, facilitate.

Newly minted “verbs”

      In general, any word with “ize” and “ate” at the end could be dangerous.  Don’t

      synergize, hypothesize, strategize or caffinate.

Needless words

“he is a man who hunts” should be “he hunts”; “the fact that” is a term we can do without.

Exclamation points

      Except for “World at War!,” there are very few causes for this punctuation.

Using quotations for easily documented facts

      “PlutoView costs $3,000 for a license,” says Joe Magnum.

Backing into sentences

      Bad:        When it comes to electronics, he is an expert.

      Good:      He is an electronics expert.

Non-sequiturs

      His hair flowed majestically, making him a good candidate for the space program.

What to embrace

Direct, short sentences

Repetition, if it makes a sentence simpler

Common words used in a conversational tone

Reinforcing messages by phrasing them in different forms

Using a semicolon for forcefulness:

      Her romances are entertaining; they are full of exciting adventures.

Being specific:

      Bad:        They work on computer models containing millions of polygons.

      Good:      They work on computer models containing 10-million polygons or more.

Sentences in positive form:

      Bad:        He was not very often on time.

      Good:      He usually came late.

You have the power…be good with it

Editing gives you the power to shape messages in a way that will interest, inform and entertain your readers.  Power has its responsibilities, of course.  You must be a benevolent ruler, always keeping in mind the needs of your readers and being gentle with your writers.  May the editing force be with you.

References:

The Art of Editing, Floyd K. Baskette and Jack Z. Sissors, 1971, The Macmillan Company, pp. 418-419

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Editing is a lost art, or at least a misplaced one.  It used to be rare to see a typo or grammatical error in the New York Times; now, it’s almost a daily occurrence.

Although it might seem a bit anachronistic, good editing matters.  How many times have you left a website because of poorly written text or typos? Poor writing and editing often precede the sound of business walking out the door.

I could go on, but the importance of editing is something people get or they don’t.  For those who do, here’s a two-part primer.  It’s no Strunk and White, but it’s a start.  Much of this comes from a Folio magazine seminar taught by Peter Jacobi more than 25 years ago.  Jacobi is now professor emeritus in the Indiana University School of Journalism.

What is Editing?

Editing is selection – knowing what to put in, what to take out, and how to prioritize information.

What is an Editor?

·         A creative planner

·         A visionary

·         A procurer and selector

·         A researcher

·         A conscience

·         A utility person

·         An understudy

·         An enforcer

·         A protector

·         A big-picture person

·         An attention-to-detail person

·         A servant

·         A trench worker

·         A voice

·         A cynic

·         A learner

·         A benevolent dictator

·         An unsung hero

Editing: The Two-Headed Monster

Micro-editing – helping the writer by concentrating on words, meaning, style, structure

Macro-editing – serving the reading audience by setting the agenda, tone and image

10 Ways to Become A Great Editor

1.      Read

2.      Write

3.      Perceive

4.      Appreciate

5.      Analyze

6.      Study

7.      Practice

8.      Be curious

9.      Learn from mistakes

10.  Be helpful

Begin at the Beginning

Know your audience: who they are, what they do, what they know, what they want to know, how they want to find out.

What Every Reader Wants

·         Information – as succinctly and clearly as possible.

·         Interpretation – what does it mean and how does it relate to my world?

·         Entertainment – yes, even technically oriented material should entertain.

What We Don’t Want to Do…

·         Assume that the audience is captive and that the message is a must for the reader – no story has a divine right to be read.

·         Write for the masses – each story goes out to an individual; picture the lonely engineer in the windowless cubicle and bring some light into his or her day.

·         Get into a rut – give readers change before they realize they want it.

·         Bore your reader – stay unique, focus on being different, lively.

The 6 Cs for Success

1.      Clarity

2.      Concise

3.      Complete

4.      Constructive

5.      Credible

6.      Conversational

Oh, and a Couple More

Consistent

Captivating

Part 2:  What to avoid and what to embrace.

References:

The Art of Editing, Floyd K. Baskette and Jack Z. Sissors, 1971, The Macmillan Company, pp. 418-419

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Edit your copy as if you are a lecherous skeptic with a jaundiced view of the world.  I hope for your sake you’re not.

Good writing has rhythm and flow.  Read your’s aloud.  Does it swing like a pendulum do or like Duke would do?

Before finalizing, read over that press release, case study, memo or planning document as if you are a complete idiot in the subject matter.

Parts 1 and 2 of this series covered preparation for writing a good case study.  This part deals with the hardest – and most satisfying – aspects of the process: writing and presenting the article.

When fingertips hit the keys

·         Follow your outline or don’t.  Your outline should be a guide, not a noose.  Often when you begin the flow of writing, you find that logic dictates a different sequence of information.  Let logic be your guide.

·         Try not to get stuck or hung up on one aspect or another of the story.  If you are having problems expressing something, leave a placemark and move ahead.

·         If you don’t have a strong lead, don’t fret.  Complete the bones and meat of the story and then come back to the sauce.

·         Stick with the basics.  Get your basic story down on paper first, then go back and fill in the blanks and fine tune.

·         Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.  Good writing is rewriting.  Nobody gets it right the first time.  Don’t fret; consider four or five rewrites part of the process of producing a great story.

·         Read like an idiot.  Read your story as if you know nothing about the product and the application.  Act as if you are learning-impaired when reading through any scenario described in your story.

·         Read like a cynic.  Make believe you are not sold on this product or this story.  Proof-reading with a sneer on your face might help.

·         Eliminate redundancy.  I won’t say it again.

·         Work and rework your lead(s).  Rarely does a great lead introduce itself to you at the beginning of the writing process.  Consider several different leads and analyze them according to relevance, level of interest, connection to the story as a whole.  This is when you wrack your brain for irony, coincidence, humor, comparisons, word plays on clichés, history, current events, or anything else (as long as it is relevant to the story) that will attract attention.

·         Feed your head.  The headline is not a label, it’s a miniature story.  While writing and rewriting the story, work over different permutations of the headline in your head.  Write down ideas as they come to you, wherever you happen to be.

·         Leave something for your fans.  End with a bang.  Or at least come full circle to your lead.  But, don’t end as if you were tired of writing.

Presenting the article

When you send the article for review, make sure the customer knows the audience for which it is intended.  Give a specific date for when you want to have comments and/or approval.  Thank the customer for all of his or her help in preparing the article; treat him or her like a partner or co-writer.

When comments are received, think about them from the reviewer’s point of view.  Make changes that are necessary.  If you think a change damages the story, talk to the customer about it.  Approach it as a partnership, telling him or her that you are afraid that omitting a key fact, for example, will damage the credibility of the story for the audience.  Try to work around problems, while maintaining the integrity and value of the article.

Use in good health

The guidelines presented here are from years of experience in writing case studies that have value to editors and readers.  They are based on many more successes than failures, but they are still guidelines, not rules. Your mileage may vary, but not by too much.

Part 2 of “Anatomy of a Case Study” covers specific interview questions and preparation before writing.

Here are some basic questions (outside of the 5 Ws and an H) that can be used to get detailed, results-oriented answers that are the foundation of good case studies:

·         What factors made you decide to purchase Product A?

·         How did Product A compare to other products on the market?

·         What process did you go through to make your buying decision?

·         Did you have metrics or goals set for Product A before your purchase?  Are those metrics being met?  Do you anticipate the metrics being met?  If metrics will be exceeded, by what percentage?

·         What effect is Product A having on time-to-market?  Can you give a percentage increase in speed?

·         What effect is Product A having on quality?  Can you give a specific example?

·         How is Product A saving your company (or potentially saving your company) money?  How much money do you think you’ll be able to save? (dollar value or percentage)

·         Is Product A helping increase customer satisfaction or participation?  How?  What effect has that had on your company and its products and/or services?

·         Has Product A eliminated any steps in your processes?  If so, how?  Why is it significant?

·         Can you describe a project in which Product A has been particularly effective?

·         What was the process before implementing Product A?

·         What is the configuration (no. of systems, hardware, name of software module, peripherals, etc.) of Product A?

·         Is Product A being used in conjunction with other products?  Which products and how are they used together?

·         In what departments or facilities is Product A being used?

·         Has Product A improved communication between departments, functions or facilities?

·         How has Product A helped your company become more competitive?

·         In what upcoming projects will you use Product A?  When will they take place and how will Product A help you improve your results?

·         Do you expect Product A to be used by other departments, functions and facilities in the future?  Which ones?  How will it be used?

·         Anything to add that we haven’t covered?

Before Fingers Hit the Keyboard

Before you begin writing, read over your notes a few times thoroughly, embedding the information in your head.  Think about these things:

·         Similar stories you’ve read in the publication(s) targeted for the story.  How are they presented?  What information do they highlight?  How long are they?  For whom are they written?

·         The single, most unique aspect of the story.

·         Measurable, definable benefits that can be documented.

·         Prioritizing information from a reader’s standpoint, from most to least important.

·         Quotes that can be used to enhance information, express opinion, or act as an anchor to the story.

·         Look for irony, coincidence, humor, history, a tie-in to something familiar, or a specific scene that can set a stage.

Based on the information above, prepare an outline of the story.  Don’t worry if there are still some holes or if you don’t have the lead figured out.  Holes can be filled or worked around and leads often bubble up once the basic story is down on paper.

Next: Writing and presenting the story.

One of the best things a company can do is write about how customers use its products.  Not in the pandering way that makes “case study” a dirty phrase, but in a way that enlightens current and potential customers about how your product works to solve a problem or make something better.  Provide stories about solutions to common problems and you’ll have a built-in readership, whether the stories are published in a trade publication or website, an e-newsletter, the company website, or all of the above.

In the first of a three-part posting, I’ll define what makes a good case study and how to obtain the information you need before writing. 

What is a case study?

A case study outlines how a customer uses a product or service to do something faster, better or cheaper.

What makes a good case study?

• Detail. With a case study, God is in the details. Readers want to know exactly how something was done and why it is important. They want solid information: numbers, comparisons, customer testimonials, “before-and-after” contrasts.
• Uniqueness. The best story is one that an editor or reader has never heard before. Or, if he or she has heard it before, it should be presented in a way that will make it stand out from the hundreds of others appearing on the web at any given time.
• Relevance. The story has to be relevant to key issues facing your customers or potential customers.
• Good writing. Well-written stories, even if not as newsworthy, will get read before ones that are written poorly.
• Images. Images might not sell a mediocre story, but they can make a good story great.

Peeling the onion (getting inside the story)

Background Information.  Before conducting interviews, obtain as much information as possible about the application and the customer.  The best sources:  the account rep or technical person who deals with the customer for project-specific information, and the company web site and/or trade publications for more general company information.

The Interview.  This is the most important source of information.  The information you are able to coax out of the customer contact will mean the difference between a generic story and a story that has uniqueness, detail, personality and focus.  Because many customer contacts are difficult to reach, you must try to get all necessary information in one interview.  Some things to keep in mind:

• Concentrate on the 5 Ws and an H (Who?, What?, When?, Where? Why? and How?), as well as on the SW (So What?).
• Be polite, but firm in your questions. Don’t be negative, but be cynical, as cynical as the editor or reader who will be judging your story.
• Don’t accept vague statements on face value. The response to “Our customers are happy with our new products,” should be (in a most pleasant voice): “How do you know that? Have you surveyed them or found a way to measure their happiness?”
• Be curious and interested. Listen attentively and ask questions to find out more. If the person whom you are interviewing feels that you are curious and interested, he or she is much more likely to spend more time with you.
• Be prepared, but be flexible. Always have a list of questions you need to ask, but don’t be afraid to deviate into other areas if that’s where the interview takes you. Tangents often reap the greatest rewards.
• Be gently persistent. Keep trying to get the key information you need. If a question doesn’t get you what you want the first time around, have other variations of it ready and ask it again later in the interview.
• Ask about the people you are interviewing. Find out how long they have worked for the company, in what position they started out, other companies they have worked for, etc. If they had a particularly tough problem to overcome, sympathize. Remember, you are interviewing a person.
• Put the interviewee at ease. Make sure the interviewee knows up front that he or she will have a chance to review the article before it goes to the publication.
• Don’t be afraid to appear dumb. If you are prepared, you should be confident. If you don’t understand something, ask the person politely to explain. “Perhaps I should know what a tessellated pixel is, but I don’t. Could you please define it for me?” If you don’t hear something correctly, ask again: “I’m sorry, could you tell me again what hardware you are using?”
• Three words: benefits, benefits, benefits. Technical information is good for supplying the detail required for a good story. But, the benefits to the company are the real story. Technology without results is just a toy.
• Get correct titles and name spellings. Nothing turns off a source of information worse than having his or her name spelled wrong after spending 30 minutes to an hour talking with you.
• Find out if they have images available. A picture is worth…
• Thank the interviewee and ask permission for future help. Time is extremely valuable. Thank the interviewee for his or her time and ask if it is OK for you to call him or her in the future if you need more information.
• Be clear about your intentions. Let the interviewee know when you will have a draft for review and in what time frame you are seeking approval and images.

Next: Interview questions and pre-writing preparation.

Is there any document more vilified – and justifiably so – than the press release? Maybe legal documents and corporate mission statements, but in the land of bad writing, confused messages and blatant puffery, the press release is royalty.

As a public service, I present a short guide on how to do palatable press releases.  If you go beyond palatable to noteworthy, congratulations, you are in the elite company of about half of one percent of press release slingers.  Don’t believe me? Go to BusinessWire or PR Newswire and check it out for yourself.

Here are my 10 simple tips:

(1) Ruthlessly consider whether you need a press release.  The world would be a much better place if this sniff test was applied (see earlier post).

(2) Consider what you are announcing and who is going to want to hear about it.  Divorce yourself temporarily from your company’s or client’s corporate rhetoric and consider how you can show – not tell – the value of your news to the IT guy, CAD user or animator in your target audience.

(3) Determine the one or two things that are most newsworthy about your release and put that in the lead paragraph (the “lede” in news parlance) as simply and clearly as possible.

(4) The timeless five Ws and an H (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) still work. Make them the foundation of your release, and add one more for the cynics (most of us) out there: “So what”?

(5) Avoid adjectives and overused, trite phrases.  In best cases, they will be ignored.  In worst cases, they’ll be a source of derision.  Leave any superlatives to customer or third-party quotes, and even tone these down so as not to create suspicion of payoffs.

(6) Write headlines that entice (“Headless body in topless bar”) or at least clearly summarize your news and the impact it will make on the target audience.  If a brief headline can’t do the job, add a subhead.

(7) Use declarative sentences.  Use short paragraphs. Use bullets for lists, but don’t make lists too long.

(8) Look at your release with a jaundiced eye.  Imagine Bogart as Eddie Willis in “The Harder They Fall” looking over your shoulder at your copy or Tina Brown peering over her reading glasses at that overly long paragraph.

(9) Have some fun with analogies or quotes – unless you work for certain agencies, your releases aren’t likely to be life-and-death stuff.

(10) Be interesting.  Surprise or delight if possible.  If you can’t manage any of those, at least be honest and straightforward.

There’s a whole lot more that could be said, but follow the above and you will be a superstar in the pantheon of press release writers.  Dubious distinction perhaps, but it’s a start.