Silver Anvil winners get particular with their PR leads Embeddable tooth implants. Zombie slayers. The Internet coffee pot. Details like these grab attention. That's why concrete details are the price of entry for a feature lead. 2014 Silver Anvil Award winners use two types of juicy details leads to get the word out: 1. Specific details lead For this … [Read more...] about Details make the difference
leads
Make it F-A-B
Lead with benefits, substantiate with features Quick! Which would you rather have: a 2.2GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with a Turbo Boost of up to 3.2GHz? Or the ability to create 3D molecular models on your laptop? And that's the problem. Your readers don't care about your organization and its stuff. They care about themselves and their needs. So to sell … [Read more...] about Make it F-A-B
Break the news
The New York Times improves on the fact pack Writing a news story? You could do worse than study The New York Times for inspiration. We analyzed 87 stories in the Dec. 15, 2014, edition of the Times. (We skipped the sports pages and one-paragraph stories.) Reporters started 44 of those pieces with news leads. News leads put the bottom line up front so busy … [Read more...] about Break the news
Color bind
Yes, Communicator, you can make your copy more colorful How can scanning old news headlines, getting a quick education from Wikipedia or asking your BFF and research assistant Google a question or two save a boring story? By helping you add concrete detail to your message in 30 minutes or less. One of my favorite editing assignments is to turn dry, abstract message … [Read more...] about Color bind
The best of Times
The U.S. newspaper of record runs 33% feature leads New York's Grey Lady isn't so gray any more. Topping one-third of its stories with feature leads, The New York Times covers the world in living color. We analyzed 87 stories in the Dec. 15, 2014, edition of the Times. (We skipped the sports pages and one-paragraph stories.) Reporters started 29 of those pieces with … [Read more...] about The best of Times