Colorful numbers

Startling statistics make compelling leads

Research shows … that nearly half of commuters text and drive … that one in three patients enters the hospital malnourished … and that 66% of women won’t kiss men with moustaches.

By the numbers Surprise readers with startling statistics. Image by Stephen Coles

Statistics like these grab attention and make your point.

But you don’t have to tell PRSA’s Silver Anvil Award winners. They use statistics to sell their ideas:

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Start with a story: Steal a tip from these Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign leads Squeeze juicy details: Compress fascinating facts into a creative passage

Master the Anatomy of a News Release

Tap current best practices, from lead to boilerplate

Prose is architecture, Ernest Hemingway famously said. It’s not interior design.

So: Are you building a compelling foundation for your PR pieces? Or are you still using structural techniques you learned when you were 19?

Anatomy lesson What goes where in a contemporary P.R. piece? Image by University of Liverpool

Here’s the bad news: The story structure you’re using today probably isn’t helping you get the word out via media relations. In fact, the traditional news structure reduces readership, understanding, sharing and engagement and — according to a study by The Poynter Institute — does “not work well with readers.”

Here’s the good news: 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 learn to use a structure that’s been proven in the lab to grab readers’ attention, keep it for the long haul and leave a lasting impression.:

Specifically, you’ll learn how to:

• Decide between triangles, boxes or lists: Choose a structure that increases readership, engagement and sharing. (Hint: The structure you’re using now is probably doing the opposite.)
• Steal a trick from The New York Times: Trade in your bloated fact packs for snappy synthesis leads.
• Build a better benefits lead with our fill-in-the-blanks approach.
• Avoid PR 101 leads: Still stuffing all those W’s and the H into the first paragraph? Still writing “XYZ Company today announces that …”? It’s time to move on to a more effective approach.
• Beat the boilerplate blues: Here’s one way to stay off The Bad Pitch Blog.

This is the only PR-writing workshop we have planned in Chicago in 2017. Don’t miss out on your chance to master PR-writing in Chicago! Register now.

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

Rather bring Ann in to train your whole team? Invite Ann