Chapter 3
| Most of what you will write is to a voluntary audience |
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| What is the competition doing? And, are they doing it better? |
| Newsom - the most important part of PR writing is "write so people will understand what you mean" |
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| No magic formula but there are basics - message, recipients, medium |
| 1. Message |
| what is it you want to say? |
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| If you don't know, the audience won't |
| If the writing gets complex/convoluted, you probably don't understand the message |
| 2. Recipients |
| Know your audience |
| What terminology will the understand/not understand? |
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| What do they believe? Value? |
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| Cultural considerations |
| 3. Medium |
| Which medium is best/most appropriate? |
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| Building on the basics |
| Write clearly, write in an engaging style, simplify |
| 1. Write clearly |
| A panda walks in to the room and eats shoots and leaves |
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| Read what you wrote (and read it aloud) |
| 2. Write in an engaging style |
| Is it readable/listenable (building off writing clearly) |
| Sentence length |
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| Eliminate excessive words |
| Eliminate "big" words (unless necessary) |
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| Write lively |
| Active vs. passive |
| Present tense vs. past tense |
| Naturalness - write like you talk... |
| Ear vs. Eye |
| Variety - be careful about repetition (in words and in ideas) |
| Bias - be aware of loaded words (remember culture?) |
| Checklist on p. 44 |
| 3. Simplify |
| Know your subject |
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| Developing position papers |
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| Use plain English |
| be aware of abbreviations |
| and doublespeak (p. 51) |
| be aware of obfuscation (a big word!) |
| be aware of deception (ex. phone plans) |
| be aware of trendy language |
| how much is too much? Can you explain something on one shot or do you need a series? |