How long is too long?
J.W. Elphinstone’s “Business Watercooler” feature for the Associated Press is just 200 words long. Why, then, do PR pros send her pitches that are longer than that — even PowerPoint presentations with 30 slides?
Call it “AKK,” The New York Times’ acronym for “all known knowledge.” Your job isn’t to forward everything there is to know about your topic; your job is to find a tight story angle on the topic and to pitch it efficiently to the media.
So keep your pitches short. How short?
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Cut Through the Clutter in PR
Increase coverage, sharing and more with tight, bright releases
Regardless of what you’re writing, Cutting Through the Clutter can help you keep readers from running screaming from your message.
But when it comes to PR pieces, the stakes are even higher.
If your release is too long, for instance, Google News may reject it. If your lead is too long, journalists may stop reading. If you pack your release with too much hyperbole, you’ll reduce coverage, dilute SEO efforts and kill your chances at going viral.
At NOT Your Father’s News Release — our two-day PR-writing master class on May 18-19 in Chicago, and on Nov. 16-17 in Kansas City — you’ll how to write tight, bright PR pieces that increase readership, coverage, sharing and more.
Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Target the right length to reach the 70% of journalists who spend less than one minute reading releases. (The median release on PRNewswire is three times this recommended length.)
- Avoid a common PR practice that journalists say “gets in the way” of their doing their jobs, according to one survey.
- Remove from your lead one but-that’s-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it element that’s obscuring the meaning of your story.
- Stop relying on the most overused PR buzzwords: Journalists and bloggers — not to mention readers — will love you for it.
- Write a lead that excites journalists before their internal alarm clock goes off and they move on to the next release.
This is the only writing workshop we have planned in Chicago and Kansas City in 2017. Don’t miss out on your chance to master PR-writing in Chicago and Kansas City! Register now.
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Polish your skills at these Master Classes
Learn to Master the Art of the Storyteller, Catch Your Readers, Get Clicked, Cut Through the Clutter and more
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