 Growing up and honestly still today one of my favorite games to play was the board game risk I just loved having to think try and think three or four steps ahead and try and keep my emotions from getting the better of me and Getting the way of that strategy But I just found it a game that was just so thoughtful and required So much of me in terms of strategic thinking and that really appealed to me as even a young person And you know really the same thing is true and one of the things that draws me to public relations Is that it really does involve a lot of strategic thinking? We've got to be thinking ahead got to be thinking about purpose and goal and not just thinking in that moment But where are we headed with this and and certainly nowhere is that true even within public relations more than in Writing when we're thinking about writing for public relations. We've got to be thinking about both strategy and style so in this video I want to take a look at those things just some of the basics of of Public relations writing in terms of strategy and style so let's start with the basics some of the public relations were writing Basics again more focusing specifically on on some of the written tasks that surround public relations So the very first thing we need to keep in mind is purpose purpose always has to come first again We've got to know where we're going We have to have an idea of where we want this to end up in order to be able to write in a way That gets us there so we've got to and in all stages of the writing Process for public relations and just in general communication I would say but but specifically as we focus in on public relations writing We've got to know where we're going. Where's this taking us? What do we hope to accomplish with this and keep that purpose first and foremost in our mind as we as we Engage in this writing process Next we've got to strive for what we're going to call success and you can that's not a typo The last s is smaller. This is built on something from a book called made to stick by Chip and Dan Heath That's a wonderful book on on Why some ideas stick as they put it and others don't and so they have this model in there called success with only one S at the end, but we're gonna add a second ass and and so let's walk through what those Stages are and again, this is from made to stick by Chip and Dan Heath should go check out that book It's really good But but one of the things they talk about there is this success model game with one ass for them We're gonna add a second ass at the end, but so the first ass for them is simple We've got to keep things simple We've got to have this material be digestible and so we've got to we've got to break it down to the core Really the core ideas on what we're focusing on so for them That means what are the core ideas that we that we really engage only in the essentials We focus on the essentials only when we're writing and we keep it both short and Meaningful it doesn't have to be one or the other but we can be brief and we can be meaningful at the same time We can keep things simple In our writing the you in success stands for unexpected and here we're thinking about things like engaging the curiosity of the audience We're trying to present them with new information and or present it in a way that's different for them That's unexpected so we want to engage their curiosity And we both want to open and fill gaps of knowledge in the audience We want to help them understand what it is. They don't understand Maybe they're not aware of what they don't know about this topic so we can open that gap for them And then we can fill it with knowledge. We can say, okay Here's what you don't know and here's what you should know about it So we can open and fill those gaps of knowledge those unexpected gaps of knowledge for the audience So we want to be simple. We want to be unexpected in our writing We also want to for this first CB concrete concrete Of course is the opposite of abstract in languages as we as we learn in basic communication skills concrete versus abstract So we want clear ideas. I'm very very again concise simple unexpected but clear Able for the audience to grasp immediately We want to choose words that evoke imagery We want to put a picture in the minds of our audience through the words that we're using and we want to avoid Abstraction if we can be more specific in something we want to do that now It doesn't mean we have to break out the $10 words or use a bunch of words instead of just one We can still be simple but be very specific and be very concrete in the image and and the idea that we're putting Into the audience's minds. We want to be concrete The next C stands for credible as a as a writer and as a communicator in general We need to be thinking about credibility. We need to think ethos We need to think you know character and competence. What is it the audience knows about me? And and what is it that that I can do to help establish my credibility with the audience? And we want to provide credible information and we want to speak to the audience's interests and needs We want to show that credibility through understanding what that audience wants and needs What's going to be helpful for them and have that audience first and foremost in our purpose But also who we're speaking to to achieve that purpose So we want to speak to their audience and to those audience interests and needs and that will help establish credibility as well through preparation E stands for emotional in success the E stands for emotional We want to express and harness emotion now. This is not just gratuitous. We're not just going to try and elicit emotion for no purpose We're going to use this to connect that topic to the audience We're going to use it to to help them feel something You know when we talk about ethos and credibility the out one of the other You know persuasive techniques that come to us from Aristotle is of course Pathos which has to do with emotion, right? And and so we want to use That emotion to connect that topic to the audience in responsible ways But still we want to express our own emotions But also help the audience express those emotions and then harness those emotions so that we can use them to direct the audience as well So though the s the last s as far as the made-to-stick model goes is involved storytelling We want to ground this topic in what is familiar to the audience And we want to enhance the believability and the motivations We want to use ideas and topics and stories first of all humans are narrative creatures So stories are always good, but we want to ground these things in things that are familiar with the audience We want to put it in real-world terms that they can understand through things that are going to be familiar to them And we'll use this then to enhance the believability and the and the motivation of the audience and of that information Now we're going to add one little extra s on here The the made-to-stick model ends with that first that the last s here But we're going to add one more and that's why it's not capitalized because it's one we're tacking on here at the end But we're going to add an s that stands for strategic As we talked about we need to be strategic in our writing in our communications We want to write with the end in mind and we want to address the purpose both that we have as the writer and as Or you know whoever we're representing in that effort and the audience So we ought to try and combine our purposes here and come to some consensus as to what our purpose is that our purpose is your Purpose and this is why it's important and so at all stages of the writing process We ought to be strategic by having that purpose that end in mind and where we're going Where we're moving the audience to in other words until all of this has a purpose and what is that so we're going to add That last s on to provide for the full word of success adding on just one element to that model from the made-to-stick Model by Chip and Anne Heath. So again wonderful model set forth in that book made to stick by the by the Heath and Wanted to share that with you here as we think about striving for success in public relations writing on our own Okay, next up for public relations writing basics We want to know the rules and the rules we want to know are the AP rules basically so what do you? You know When should you spell out a number instead of just writing the actual numeric version of that number? And how do you handle dates in this writing and and what comes where the AP? Stylebook has all kinds of information and so as we're writing We want to kind of conform to those rules because those are the rules first of all that that Frankly that media are going to be using for the most part of the AP style book And so that's what's going to make their job easier and be familiar with them But also just gives us a consistent guidebook to follow so that As public relations practitioners were all kind of on the same page as well So we ought to know the rules specifically the AP rules the AP style rules as we're writing for public relations And so you can find those you can find those in your text you can find those in online You can just do a Google search for the AP style book I'm sure and find just one of the basic rules of how we handle writing in the AP style book We also want to watch our language by which we mean again keeping it simple But and and keeping it clear and understandable and using an economy of words where possible And moving in a straight line instead of all over the place When we use fancy words now, maybe if you're writing for academic purposes You want to use ten words where one will suffice the opposite is true in public relations and an effect really because When you're using ten words instead of one It's just a nine more chances for an audience to get confused, right? So we want to use a simple language as possible for and still achieve our purpose We want to move in that straight line instead of all over the place having Having our language take the audience everywhere. So we want to be effective, but we also want to keep things Simple we want to use language. It's appropriate and effective for that particular purpose again keeping our purpose first And then finally we want to use good form. I mean this is becoming more and more important as we as we get into writing that is That is really oftentimes not as Concerned with you know, using good form using the proper grammar and spelling and punctuation and things like that But when we're writing for any kind of professional purpose and particularly for a public relations purpose We ought to have this very much in the forefront of our mind What's good form? Have I have I you know, literally dotted my eyes and crossed my T's am I using proper punctuation and grammar and Capitalization on these things we're writing for professional purpose. We're writing. This is going to go to our credibility It's going to the understandability of Of our document and of our writing. So we want to be sure that we are using all of the appropriate just basic grammatical Forms that are present for writing in English So again, when we're writing for public relations Their strategy and their style involved. So we've got to think strategically We've got to think what is not only going to convey this content in the most effective way But what's going to help the audience take me seriously as a writer and take us as an organization seriously What's going to help them come to the clearest and quickest understanding of what I'm trying to write Well, all of these things have to be involved in our public relations writing So it is a very strategic venture very much like playing risk This is not just you know a role and take your chances of the die here and rolling the dice But but this is very strategic much more like risk than some other games. You might have played as a child If you have questions about writing or anything else related to public relations process Please feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there in the meantime I hope that you would this will revise your thinking about when you're writing for public relations Keeping purpose first keeping that idea of what's my goal Who is my audience and what's the best way for me to move from point a to point B Is a think about strategy and style in writing for public relations