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Move from event to impact

Focus on outcome, not input

Screenwriter Nora Ephron long remembered the first day of her high school journalism class.

We had a party, and you weren’t invited Don’t tell me about your event. Tell me what I’ll be able to do at your event. Or focus on the outcome of past events. Image by Rawpixel.com

Ephron’s teacher announced the first assignment: to write the lead for a story to appear in the student newspaper. He told them the facts:

“Kenneth L. Peters, the principal of Beverly Hills High School, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Sacramento next Thursday for a colloquium in new teaching methods. Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret Mead, college president Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins, and California governor Edmund ‘Pat’ Brown.”

Ephron and the other budding journalists condensed the who, what, when, where and why of the story into a single sentence: “Governor Pat Brown, Margaret Mead, and Robert Maynard Hutchins will address the Beverly Hills High School faculty Thursday in Sacramento …”

The teacher reviewed the leads, then paused for a moment.

“The lead for this story,” he said, “is ‘There will be no school next Thursday.’”

Not ‘just the facts, ma’am’

What’s the point of your news story? It’s probably not really the five W’s and the H. Instead of focusing on the event, focus in the impact, or how the news affects your readers.

Covering a:

  • Speech? Write about the most valuable thing the speaker said, not the fact that she spoke.
  • Event? Focus on what people will be able to see and do at the event, not the time, date and place.
  • Meeting? Center the piece on what was decided at the meeting and how it will affect the reader, not on the logistics of the meeting itself.

What would Miss Piggy do?

To reach readers, think like Miss Piggy and write about MOI, counsels management consultant Alan Weiss. That’s “My Own Interests,” from the reader’s perspective.

One way to do that is to shift your focus from event — what occurred, when, where and why — to impact. That will make your copy more interesting, relevant and valuable to your readers.

How can you write PR pieces that get covered?

Some 55% to 97% of all releases sent to media outlets are never used, according to Dennis L. Wilcox and Lawrence W. Nolte’s Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques.

NOT Your Father’s PR Writing — media relations-writing workshop on Aug. 15So how can you create PR pieces that are among the 3% to 45% of those that actually get the word out?

Learn how to write PR copy that editors won’t be able to pass up at NOT Your Father’s PR Writing — our media relations-writing workshop starting Aug. 15.

There, you’ll learn how to go beyond “new and improved” to develop story angles that readers want to read … and that journalists and bloggers want to run.

Save up to $100 with our group discounts.

Register for NOT Your Father’s PR Writing — media relations-writing workshop on Aug. 15