Persuading a target publication to take your article is only the start of your PR journey. You need to be able to communicate effectively with your audience, to get them interested in what you have to say and keep them reading until you have finished saying it.
The key is to use appropriate language and style for the subject and your audience. If you fail to do this then all effort is wasted, as your readers won’t engage with the message you are trying to get across. This applies as much to posts on social media as to pieces for traditional media, perhaps even more so because SEO rankings are affected by their readability.
It may not be a new concept but so called “plain English” language and style is what you should be aiming for. Perhaps surprisingly, it has by no means been universally adopted, although in this author’s opinion, it should be! Here is some advice for putting the theory into practice:
- Using plain English is not about dumbing down – it’s about being efficient with the words you use. Respect your readers’ time, everyone is busy. Avoid convoluted, complex sentence structures. Write concisely, be direct and clear in what you say. In other words, tell it like it is. Jonathan Ames, the legal editor of The Times gives some strong but spot on advice in the PRCA’s Legal PR Guide produced by Byfield. Jonathan says, “avoid marketing and PR bollocks talk. Tell the story straight, ie, this is a good tale because this will happen or won’t happen.”
- Don’t sound verbose, formal or overly technical. Use simpler words if you can so your writing reads like a natural conversation. This is easier said than done. Cutting out words is difficult but keep going back over your text to look for streamlining opportunities.
- Writing that contains too many qualifiers like “very” and “really” can feel longwinded and wordy so cut these out and look for alternatives. For example, Moscow is freezing works better than Moscow is really cold.
- What you are saying needs to make sense to your readers at first glance, they don’t want to have to re-read it several times to understand the information you are trying to convey.
- Respect your readers’ intelligence. Avoid jargon and technical terms but if it is appropriate to use them, make sure you explain and/or define technical terms and acronyms the first time you use them.
- Law is a complex subject and lawyers are generally detail-focused people but, learn to strip back and simplify to make your writing work for the widest possible audience. Readers will thank the writer who can translate difficult ideas and concepts into easily understood information without resorting to legalese!
- Consider who your audience is likely to be and pitch appropriately. Whether your piece is aimed at fellow professionals in your field or the general readership of a national newspaper the points above apply. Everyone wants an easy, informative and entertaining read, whatever the subject.
- Be clear about what the message is and stick to it. Your article needs to flow in a logical way so that readers can follow your train of thought, lead them through the information in a linear way.
- If you are writing a piece for social media make sure it is structured so that it is easy to scan; make good use of short sentences, paragraphs (sticking to one idea per paragraph is a good rule of thumb), headings, bullet points and text boxes.
- Online content has the potential to reach a global audience so using plain English should make your writing accessible to more readers.
- Real life examples and anecdotes add interest and credibility to any article. Statistics and hard numbers can also help to illustrate the scale of an issue.
- You can never edit your piece too much. If you are unsure, try out your work on others and incorporate any feedback.
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