n the PR Writer’s last PR Tools post, I called out the OMA’s writing for excessive use of ‘you’ in the copy. Some have asked, why is it important to edit out? Two reasons:
Addressing readers is irrelevant as they know they are reading something from the writer.
‘You’ and ‘yours’ are extraneous words that can almost always edited out, saving on copy. There are better ways to express content.
I am continually amazed at how first rate organizations like the Ontario Medical Association pay good money to newswires to distribute such flawed news releases. The copy below commits numerous fundamental errors, including word repeats that can easily be avoided. Here’s how:
In this new PRTools press release recap, there are several important writing tips, a really…
n this edition of PR Tools, once again, you need not look long and hard to find press releases crying out for basic edits and reduced word counts. Easy-to-correct mistakes abound in these two news releases, one from Canada’s newswire.ca today and the other from prnewswire.com in the U.S. in the next post.
In this latest instalment of PR Tools, @LeonsFurniture chain made many instructive press release mistakes. As usual, the PR Writer is mystified how a major national chain like Leon’s can pay significant sums to distribute a news release with so many basic mistakes and a need for editing.
In this news release, there are opportunities for making the headlines and lead much shorter and more concise. There are also ways to take better advantage of the news. Take a look.
Headline style, cliches, capitalization, it vs. they, all in a day’s work for the Better PR Writer.
In this press release, there are some textbook examples of basic mistakes, both in copy and emphasis, not to mention capitalization and headline style. The lead was reduced from 142 word to 109, around 23 per cent.
Word repetitions are easy to catch: don’t repeat the same word in the same sentence or in an adjacent phrase. Even avoid repeating a word elsewhere in a news release.
In this story, from the world’s premier news release distributor, with basic attention to simple Better PR Writer techniques, more than 20 per cent of the copy can be removed from the headline, lead and second paragraph.