Free Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations Strategies

Invest in PR, Invest in Growth

Investing in public relations is investing in profit.  Let us say that you are looking to purchase a new home.  After days of searching, you find it.  The realtor gives you the keys and you enter your home for the first time as the owner; but something is different.  The home you bought suddenly is eight times larger.  “Surprise,” yells the realtor as they’re dancing around you, pelting you with confetti “We decided to give you eight times the space for free!”  Public relations can do the same thing to business.

One study shows how every $1 invested in TV advertising causes a return of $1.10.  A 10% return.  The same study uncovered that every $1 invested in public relations yields a return close to $8 (Weiner, 2006).  Clear communication is the key to the public’s eye.  In order to capture public attention; one must first gain the trust of the media.

The media acts like a teacher using projector and the press release the transparency.  The projector illuminates the screen with the information provided on the clear plastic to the students (the public).  The teacher must see the information valuable, otherwise he or she will share another lesson.  You want to write the press release as a valuable piece of information people must have.  The tips I am providing will do just that.

The press release’s goal is to answer questions: Who, What, When, Why, and Where.  I am not going to go in detail about writing the press release. Instead, I will offer three key items to remember when drafting a press release:

• Write in an active voice
• Use simple writing
• Place subject first

Writing in an active voice simply means to place items in the present (Friend, Challenger, & McAdams, 2005).  This will show up in verbs.  For instance, instead of using the word created, use creates.  Passive writing (past tense) is not engaging to the reader and they will lose interest.  Consider the following sentence: Imagine Inc created the light display that illuminated the new welcome sign.  The sentence seems bland; now place it in the active voice: Imagine Inc creates lighting display to illuminate the new welcome sign.  The active voice is vibrant and inviting.  It engages the reader’s attention.

The simpler the better, make communication easy for the reader.   The simpler the message, the easier it will be to understand (Heath & Heath, 2008).  Studies show that most people prefer to read under the 10^th grade level and a Flesch reading score between 60 and 70.  Often times when we write for business, we tend to complicate the story.  Follow these two tips to create a simple and easy to understand sentence:

• Use one syllable words
• Keep sentence length under twenty words.

Remember, the goal is to communicate and idea.  Short words are strong and easily suited for storytelling; long words are heavy and weak (LaRocqu, 2003).  Short, simple words create a clear picture for the reader.  Also, consider human speech.  Writing is just an extension of human speech.  Consider this sentence: John hastily summoned the telephone receiver with his hand listening to the full auditory frequency spectrum emanating from the minute speaker located within the handset.   Unlikely we would say that sentence in normal conversation.  You can see how this might distract readers from the message.  Now let us consider the simpler revision: John picked up the phone, hearing only the quiet hiss of static.  The sentence only uses two, two syllable words: only and static; two commonly used words.  Another way to keep writing simple is by limiting sentence length.

Keep readers attention by limiting average sentence length for 20 words or less and one topic per sentence.  One subject per sentence focuses ideas and creates a clear picture of the story.  This blog, for example, has an average sentence length of 13 words.  The complicated sentence about John and his phone is 28 words long, a readability grade level at 18.3 and a readability score of 0.  The simple sentence is 19 words long presenting a grade level of 8.8 and a readability score of 63.  A great tool to use is the readability statistics feature in Microsoft Word.  Shifting gears, from viewing the sentence; let us look at the subject.

The subject is the “what” of the story.  The subject should always come first in the sentence, epically in press releases.  One record company I worked for always put information first then the artist.

Tropic records presents: guitar wizard and virtuoso Michael Keen, to perform at Memorial Hall.

Revising this sentence with what we learned in this blog might look something like this:

Michael Keen, guitar expert, performing at Memorial Hall…

The fact Michael Keen is a part of Tropic Record is irrelevant at this point.  The reader wants to know: whom it is, what they do, why they are there, and where they are at. Who is playing? Michael Keen.  What is Michael Keen? He is a great guitar player.  Why is he here?  He is performing.  Where is he performing?  He is performing at Memorial Hall.  Did you notice the change from passive to active voice between the two examples?

Public relations require little input resources giving your company a substantial return on investment.  Keep these ideas in mind when creating your next press release for your business.  Remember; send press releases as often as possible.  Let the media work for you.  Be productive.

References

Friend, C., Challenger, D., & McAdams, K. C. (2005). Contemporary Editing. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2008). Made to Stick. New York: Random House.

LaRocqu, P. (2003). The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well. Portland: Marion Street Press.

Weiner, M. (2006). Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication. San Fransico: Jossey-Bass.