PUR3000 SPRING 2015 FINAL EXAM LECTURE NOTES PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING 1 INTRODUCTION If you cannot write you cannot make it in Public Relations All the functional parts of PR that we mentioned in chapter one involve some type of writing and without writing skills you will not succeed in the profession THE INVERTED PYRAMID All press releases and newspapers have this same type of format Begins with summary lead Adds facts in a descending order of importance Done so that the story may be edited to fit available space by cutting off the end of the story nothing of significant lost USA Today written with summary headlines because o Attention span o Editor knows how much space to cut cut bottom part of pyramid if have 20 inches can only fit 16 Summary Lead Most Important Point of Lead Second Most Important Point of Lead Third Fourth Fifth THE SUMMARY LEAD This is most important aspect of the article Asks Who What When Where Why How Most of the time what is most important Gives readers basic little bit in case that is all they read Method used for 1 Short attention spans 2 Better to have large amount of people with some knowledge of the event than small amount of people with all the knowledge PRINT VERSUS ELECTRON MEDIA LEADS Hard lead print o Simple Sentences Ex Jon threw the ball verses The ball was thrown by Jon 4 words vs 6 words o Paints a better picture for the reader o Active voice PUR3000 SPRING 2015 FINAL EXAM LECTURE NOTES PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING 2 o 22 25 words maximum o Most important information first o Most important information is the what o Who at the beginning makes it sound better Soft Lead electronic o Simple Sentences o Active Voice o 18 20 words maximum o First 2 3 words are throw away EX Radio example missing first couple words when flipping through channels Pick most important part of who what when where why how Pick most important lead second most important lead etc most of the time it s what o EXAMPLE Who Alpha Gamma Delta What Fundraiser for JDRF When April 19th 12 4pm Where Heritage Grove Why Raise money for JDRF How Competition in Water Activities What s going to get you there Know your audience because then you will know how to get your audience FORMAT FOR NEWS RELEASE Spacing Typed double standard page Paper 8 5 by 11 white paper or company paper avoid bright colors Release Date Embargo date date after allowed to release to public Think about Identification Contact info identify organization when the event is release on the best day to cater to your audience Margins On one page of paper Length On one page of paper Paragraphs Easier to read breaks up the content easier to comprehend short Slug line more or o Used when you have to use more than one piece of paper o Insert slug line at bottom of page o more Suggested Headlines Attract reporter attention clever not cute Draws the reader PUR3000 SPRING 2015 FINAL EXAM LECTURE NOTES PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING 3 Timing When things are due Using the Internet popular now key is finding out how specific reporter wants it Proofreading Don t just depend on spell check could lose credibility when to be presented grammar mistakes are made MEDIA KITS Examples of what might be in a kit Bio Straight forward Narrative Of key people involved o Straight Bullet point format o Narrative Paragraph typically a story Backgrounder Knowing what s going on in the background may help knowing what s going on in the story Feature Case History All facts from start to release By Liner Story signed by one person written by someone else o Example CEO of Hewlett Packard writes a story but someone just took his thoughts and wrote them down in a story format for him Memorandum Helps us understand who we are memo Pitch Letter Sales letter Round up Article About industry not specifics Fact Sheet Bullet points everything you need to know Position Paper Particular point of view Shows Bias Standby Statement You write down what you are about to be in trouble for in order to prepare for the worst released immediately when bad news breaks Speech Make sure its professional and well written NEWS CONFERENCE news worthy Location Held where it best suits the media unless the location itself is what is Be mindful of media deadlines Hold for major events only make sure event is important Quickness If you can get the info to the media quicker simpler way Ex news release do it PUR3000 SPRING 2015 FINAL EXAM LECTURE NOTES PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING 4 EXCLUSIVES In general do not use exclusives Exclusives Give to one outlet An exception News of limited interest might get coverage if given as an exclusive If you do Rotate the exclusives with the media do not play favorites TALKING OFF THE RECORD In general do not do it If you must o Establish Rules o Offer the reporter something in return PUR3000 SPRING 2015 FINAL EXAM LECTURE NOTES PUBLIC RELATIONS CRISES 5 MANAGING CRISES The Do s and Don t s of a Public Relations Crisis Plan for a crisis for when it happens not if o Challenger example Didn t plan for a crisis figure out what to do because it will happen Two types of organizations those who have had a crisis those who will Good PR won t prevent a crisis but it can help you when there is one DEFINITION Crisis Any situation that can affect the well being of an organization Emergency A problem that doesn t affect the well being of an organization it can usually be fixed quickly Crisis vs Emergency TIME FRAME OF A CRISIS o Ex Fire alarm during final exam or emergency terrorist attack on campus 9 11 Example Shock Everyone was shocked that it happened this didn t happen moment Anger Got angry that the terrorists attacked us Muslims publically criticized Siege Mentality Shut out world attendance went down for movies dinner stayed inside due to the fear of another terrorist attack o Cocooning Term for people avoiding their normal routines in to the fear of siege mentality Adjustment Move forward air plane screening in airports Adaption We adapt because we have to TYPES OF CRISES Fire Explosions Product Tampering o Ex Tylenol Tamper Resistant Law Suits o Ex Tobacco Litigation o Alcohol next big PR litigation problem Environmental Damage o Ex Exon BP oil spill Product Defects o Examples PUR3000 SPRING 2015 FINAL EXAM LECTURE NOTES PUBLIC RELATIONS CRISES 6 Ford car blew up when hit from behind Samaria Suzuki cars flipping over when turned too fast Gerber Baby food had glass in jars Terrorism o Wasn t on list until 2001 o 9 11 changed idea of what terrorism is o Do
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