Monthly Archives: March 2011

PR Gets Social: PR Is Social Media’s Friend and Key Provider of Content

Posted on by

Check out “Social Media Change the Way PR Firms Do Business” from daily radio business news magazine “Marketplace.” The reporter and her sources describe the almost 100 percent increase PR firms have seen in social media business from clients, due to two factors:

  1. Clients’ unfamiliarity with the channels and tools that disseminate social media
  2. The increasing demands to “feed the beast” and produce content for everything from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube
It’s another plug for the “content is king” school of thought. Interestingly, the story notes that new-media content is not all about promoting products, “it goes for ideas too,” says reporter Ashley Milne-Tyte. Getting PR, the story states, includes establishing your clients as experts in their industry, writing opinion pieces for them – content that sites, such as the Huffington Post, find equally valuable.

I Will If You Will

Posted on by

I started reading a graphic novel called The Sandman: Dream Country today. It’s only the second time I’ve ever attempted to read a graphic novel, and the first time I’ve stuck with it.

Hmmm, you say, not really my cup of chai. Normally, I would’ve said so too.

My first foray was the Batman reboot The Dark Knight. Despite being a big fan of the ‘60s TV show, this gothic vision of the Caped Crusader just didn’t pack the same POW! I was also an avid “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” watcher, but somehow never was tempted to pick up Joss Whedon’s Fray series.

So, why now? Why Sandman? It’s the next selection in the I Will If You Will Book Club, a side project of NPR’s “Monkey See” blog (see fawning rave for this culture blog in previous post). I’ll let blog editor Linda Holmes explain the concept:

“For those of you who don’t know, the I Will If You Will Book Club began here at ‘Monkey See’ as a way to read books we might otherwise not choose to tackle, whether because of their reputations or because they’re a different style than we typically prefer, or whatever. We have gone both lowbrow (Twilight) and highbrow (Moby-Dick). I have personally been really glad that I read both of those books, even though they were both difficult in their own unique, vampy, whale-anatomy-intensive ways.”

You’ll have picked up that the whole thing started as a sort of Twilight dare. A lot of people who love good books and films and who generally support reading have piled on the Twilight-hatin’ bandwagon. And a lot of those same haters have never read the book that ignited the flame that became the series and later the movies. It was a bit like the whole Harry Potter sensation, but with many, many more dementors.

The premise of I Will If You Will is that one might be a bit hasty with the criticism prior to the actual reading of the book (and, to be fair, seeing the movie is not the same thing, as any Harry Potter fan will take pains to tell you in groaning detail – far, far too much detail). Reading the book gives you a foundation from which to detract or change your mind. It seems to me that this is the difference between thinking critically and just being critical.

It’s why I’ve read Twilight and The DaVinci Code and other novels that capture the attention of the masses, and I don’t mean “masses” in any kind of insulting sense. That is what popular culture is all about, and it’s why I’m a consuming member of the masses myself.

As writers, and as consumers (“devourers” might be the better word, in Sandman context) of writing, exploring new territory is imperative. It expands our vocabulary, literally, and the creative centers of our brains to boot, granting us access to new options (for example, storytelling that’s fully embedded in a visual medium – yet relies on the imagination in deeper ways than films or TV shows do).

Reading this graphic novel today reminded me (as a corporate communicator) that I’ve seen both health and safety information conveyed in comic-book-esque form, and the uniqueness of the medium – in our seemingly all-online world of communications these days – may be just what a particular, targeted audience is looking for.

I’d have serious reservations about recommending this volume to anyone under the age of 20, but if you’re into the “we’ll all learn together” approach of I Will If You Will or you were curious about graphic novels or you were looking for a book club, maybe you’ll check it out here (there’s still time to get The Sandman: Dream Country and devour it before the first online chat starts).

Writing that inspired me this week:

“Maybe I wrote in invisible ink/Oh, I’ve tried to think/How I could’ve made it appear/But another illustration is wasted because the results are the same/I feel like a ghost/who’s trying to move your hands/over some Ouija board in the hopes/I can spell out my name.”
~ Aimee Mann, “Invisible Ink” from the album “Lost in Space”

Pun-ditry

Posted on by

To undertake a post on humor is to tempt Fate. Or, as Tina Fey might have it, it’s waving baked goods under Fate’s nose when she’s trying to write.

Everyone gets tickled in a slightly different place on their funnybone.

Does humor have a place in professional writing – be it internal memos, magazine articles, executive speeches, or press releases? It definitely can, but a few guidelines can help.

  1. Know Your Audience: Isn’t this the case for all good writing and communications? You bet. Never more so than when using humor because humor is dependent on individual taste, background, and cultural, ethnic and religious norms.
  2. Have Something to Say: Humor is no substitute for delivering information that your readers or listeners can use. No matter how hard they laugh, if your audience is left with a lingering sense that they didn’t get something useful from your communication, they’ll ultimately feel they’re wasting their time.

Most pros advise going for puns rather than belly laughs. One key reason for this is that editors and avid readers are consumers of words and have a natural appreciation for word play. Do it with flair, and you may get column inches out of your press release.

Remember word play that relies on a visual interpretation of text will be far more difficult for an audience listening to a speech, however, verbal punning is perfect in these instances.

Likewise, while I have laughed till I developed a stitch in my side over the antics of Autocorrect and the LOL cats, if you’re trying to explain in writing what one of the “kittehs” at I Can Has Cheezeburger is doing, the joke will probably go down like a hairball.

Then, there’s being too clever: One company found this out the hard way when it used what it thought was a humorous soundbite to start off a video explaining why the company was downsizing. “I came to this meeting because I heard they were serving food,” chortled an exec on the video. Loss of job, loss of life, loss of lunch – these are not moments for levity unless you inhabit Quentin Tarantino’s world.

Your audience – employees, gentle readers, shareholders, the editor of a network news show – is made up of human beings. They respond to humor like we do, but it’s important to be respectful. And substantive. Humor won’t hide a lack of real news or information in your content. You don’t want to insult your audience or their intelligence.

What tickles your funnybone? Do have examples of written humor that works or fails?

Writing that inspired me this week:

“I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed; and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.”
~ James Boswell

“Monkey See,” Monkey Do

Posted on by

One of the writers I’ve learned a lot from recently is Linda Holmes, who helms NPR’s “Monkey See” blog and the “Pop Culture Happy Hour” podcast. I was not particularly into blogs or podcasts before reading some of Holmes’s posts on NPR’s website; now I’m a daily follower and weekly listener.

This blog is what sold me, and it really had nothing to do with popular culture, which I’m a fan of and would happily tune in just to consume that subsection of content. It was the strength of Holmes’s writing, the attitude she and others who write for “Monkey See” bring to the blog, and the vision she has for this medium.

Put simply, Holmes and Co. do not subscribe to what might be called the “King Me” view of many of the pop culturati. This worldview engenders the kind of exclusive club of insiders who know more than you ever will about the minute details of the plot of their favorite TV shows, the origin stories and bizarro world tales of superheroes, the alternate tracks that never made it onto the record of the bands they idolize, etc., etc. “Monkey See” gives away the secret password so that everyone can enter the clubhouse – and quite a fun clubhouse it is, thanks to their “all in” attitude.

One of the first pieces that really made me sit up and take notice was this one about Steve Martin’s engagement at the 92nd Street Y. Up until then, this venue had been considered something of a modern-day salon for artists and thinkers. The Y refunded the audience’s money the following morning, apparently claiming that the discussion covered in the Martin interview wasn’t comprehensive enough and that a number of attendees had expressed disappointment in the talk.

At the end of 2010, Holmes, like a lot of other columnists, prepared an end-of-year list. Instead of cutting down bad entertainment, she dashed off a list of 50 wonderful pop culture phenomena she was treated to during the year. “Honestly,” she wrote, “the hands-down best part of this job is coming in every day and being repeatedly delighted.”

Apparently, this piece of writing got Holmes to thinking because, at the beginning of 2011, she announced on the podcast that she was going to dedicate the year to sharing with her readers the high points, the best, the things that make people happy, the works of art and culture that uplift. If this sounds a bit too Up With People for you, note that the opposite of what she’s proposed is to sharpen her pencil and use it as a skewer. Change the secret password and effectively barricade the door to the clubhouse.

All this to say: Isn’t this what great writing is about? Helping people aspire, rather than tear down. Yes, satire has its place, and it can be a precision tool when addressing abuses of power. But, we’re talking about pop culture criticism here and, if we want our artists to take risks and share their best work with us, then we need to give them the space to create – and sneering and snark doesn’t promote that kind of environment.

If you work in another area of communications – say, employee communications – you can substitute the word “employees” for “artists” and come up with the same equation: Don’t we want to create an environment for employees where they feel comfortable bringing their best ideas to the table? How we write in our corporate communications vehicles can foster or it can dampen enthusiasm.

This is writing that can make a difference, and isn’t that why we became writers in the first place?

Writing that inspired me this week:

“Tolerating the ideas that classical music can be viscerally stirring and that ‘Survivor’ can be sociologically interesting allows much better balance — which benefits everyone — than an escalating and unnatural war between fun and art. Fun and art are natural allies (despite often appearing separately), and forcing them to do battle just divides us into tinier and tinier camps, where we can only talk to people who like precisely the same kinds of culture that we do. That benefits absolutely nobody — not artists, not audiences, and not the quality of discourse.”
~ Linda Holmes, “Monkey See” blog

Help on the Shelf

Posted on by

A former colleague used to refer to writers as “ink-stained wretches” – a phrase I love (and which, in today’s blogged-out world, would probably be updated to “carpal-tunnel-suffering wretches”). To that phrase I would apply one further qualifier: “solitary ink-stained wretches.”

Unless you have the support of a writers’ group or receive feedback in writing classes, there’s often little collegiality going on while you’re writing. Those of you who run your own small businesses know what I mean. But, writers working in corporate offices engage in a solitary pursuit, as well. They just have many more layers of review and approval once they finish their prose.

Where do you get answers when you have questions about your writing? What resources do you turn to? The Internet provides tremendous reference tools for those of us who work on our own. Perhaps you’ll share some of your favorites in the Comments section, and I can post as a resource for everyone.

Why books when the Internet is available at your fingertips?

  1. See carpal tunnel reference above;
  2. Getting up, moving about, stepping away from your computer can get the blood – and your thoughts – moving again; until computers take dictation, it’s the best method endorsed by the advocates of ergonomics to preserve your health and comfort through a long writing career at the computer (and while you’re up, you might try a nice Downward Dog or Uttanasana stretch to really get the blood flowing to your brain);
  3. It gives you a chance to see what’s going on in the world for a few seconds, taking in visual information that doesn’t come from a computer screen, which can also jump-start your thought process.

Today, as I mused on those physical reference tools known as books, I thought I’d share some suggestions:

A dictionary
Yes, I use Merriam-Webster online frequently, and it’s a helpful resource. It probably takes me the same amount of time to launch the online dictionary, type in a word and wait for the site to respond as it does to look up the word in a physical dictionary. The advantage of the book form is that the word you’re hunting for is surrounded by other words. Take a moment to let your eyes wander. When we’re engaged in putting words together to write clearly, input is important. Because writers don’t tend to interact with others when we’re heads-down on a project, we can get bogged down in our own vocabulary. Talking to others – literally hearing their language – or visiting the dictionary, touring page upon page of new words, can expand the known universe of options and word choices, making our writing even better and clearer than before.

A thesaurus
I use a worn, sepia-colored, pocket version of Roget’s that was printed in 1959 and originally sold for 35 cents. Stuck in the past, you say? Possibly. What I love about this edition is the sheer amount of possibilities it includes under each reference. I’m not sure who loaded the thesaurus into Microsoft Word, but it rarely offers more than a few apt options. The 1959 Roget’s can go on for pages about a subject such as attention, or lack thereof. This may sound ridiculous, but the usage in this book seems closer to an original, truer meaning of the English language. The cover of this well-thumbed Roget’s promises that “it will help you to find the words that express your ideas most exactly. It will show you how to use those words according to their precise shades of meaning.” Precisely!

A grammar guide
The Random House Handbook was recommended to me many years ago by one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. I went rummaging through used bookshops until I found an edition, published in 1984. Yes, even over the roar of the Internet, I can hear you laughing about these old books I use as references. I do recognize that language evolves, often rapidly, and for those references, I go online. In this case, the reason I like the older Random House Handbook is that, in updating later editions, the authors managed to make grammar more complicated and the handbook less handy. Grammar is tedious enough for most people – even writers who are often geeks on the subject – I vote for the clarity of the 1984 edition. Grammar Girl’s website is another reference that many like; I find the site hard to view and navigate. So, in book format, I’m happy also to recommend Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s books, including The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (“A book to sink your fangs into,” wrote William Safire when it first appeared) and The Well-Tempered Sentence. Vamps, werewolves and zombies are fairly topical these days, and I’ll invite anyone who can exsanguinate some humor from grammar into my home.

A style guide
Consistency being considered a hallmark of good writing, many corporate communications departments, reporters and writers rely on (or have a love/hate relationship with) The Associated Press Stylebook. This is the book that has taken more than a decade to agree that “website” should be one word, not two, and that “email” is no longer hyphenated. Combine that with a Byzantine system for looking up references that requires the user to have memorized the entire guide anyway, and you’ll understand why the haters. The Chicago Manual of Style is considered a more formal approach, however, the two guides have more in common than not. Since one or the other of these guides is generally required knowledge for even entry-level communications jobs, it’s helpful to have some familiarity with them.

Inspiration
Or “a little sweet” as Natalie Goldberg, author of one of my favorite books on writing, describes it. Goldberg has written a number of books that encourage, advise, instruct, and calm writers, including Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind. Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird is another miracle in book form. What do these books mean for the writer? I can’t say it any better than my quote of the day below.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on books that have helped you write, guided you or inspired you. If you’re kind enough to share your resources, I’ll create a place to share them here on this blog. Thanks!

Writing that inspired me this week:

“In Judaism there is an old tradition that when a young boy first begins to study, the very first time, after he reads his first word in the Torah, he is given a taste of honey or a sweet. This is so he will always associate learning with sweetness. It should be the same with writing. Right from the beginning, know it is good and pleasant. Don’t battle with it. Make it your friend.”
~ Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

When a Hotel is Not a Woman

Posted on by

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll authored one of my favorite pieces of writing, the column “The Claremont is a Woman,” in which he dissected a press release so packed with clichés that the words lost all meaning. The title is derived from “grand dame,” a phrase the writer chose instead of grande dame to describe the hotel’s restaurant. The writer made other unfortunate choices, such as “leading edge,” which, as Carroll pointed out, is the front edge of a propeller, which is a rather unsteady place to locate a restaurant, which Carroll also pointed out.

You get the picture. I certainly did. I keep that column nearby at all times, not to make fun of the writer, because I can’t believe that anyone sits down at their desk in the morning and sets out to write unclearly on purpose. Over the years, Carroll’s response to that press release has served as a reminder of what can happen when you push too hard to promote a client.

Several years after Carroll wrote “The Claremont is a Woman,” I had the chance to talk to him about the column, as well as what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to PR and marketing writing.

The object of any press release is to get the client noticed, but not like the Claremont release. Sometimes a poorly executed release doesn’t just fade into obscurity, or email Trash. Like “The Claremont is a Woman,” sometimes it backfires into posterity.

Bad releases are “such a large target, but if they’re funny enough, I’ll do it,” Carroll told me then, indicating a column that puts the writing under a microscope. “Language means something. Some of these writers don’t understand the meaning of the metaphors they’re throwing around, so I say, ‘Let’s find out what this means.’”

Here are some of the things that catch the eye of columnists and reporters – and that can help your client get coverage:

  • Good spelling and punctuation
  • Headlines that clearly and honestly tell you the news or the angle
  • Content that supports the news in the headline
  • Brevity

What doesn’t work:

  • Electronic press kits (most reporters don’t have time to read them and these days often worry about viruses that might hitchhike on an attachment)
  • Newsletters (likewise)
  • Adverbs and overly effusive adjectives (a simple rule of thumb, said Carroll: “You do the nouns, we do the adjectives – that’s the deal.”)

Sending a barrage of releases all at once or week after week after week also fails to impress journalists. “This is make-work,” Carroll noted, “so you can say to the client, ‘See, I’m working!’ These releases become worthless by their repetition.”

Journalists, he added, pride themselves on discovering stories on their own. “You feel older, lazier, cheaper if a story comes to you. You want to be known as the person who thought of the idea and wrote about it first,” he concluded.

Most effective of all? A one-page pitch, personally addressed to the reporter, indicating your (genuine) familiarity with the journalist’s work and suggesting a story on a related topic or field.

How about you? Do you have a favorite piece of advice that reminds you of the importance of writing well?

Writing that inspired me this week (or adverbs sometimes work when a whale is not a sea mammal, but a metaphor):

“Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.”
~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

Mission Statement

Posted on by

I believe there’s no bad language, only unfortunate choices.

I have a passion for language that cuts through the cacophony we’ve created with thousands of channels and multiplying media options. My goal is writing that creates meaningful connections, greater understanding, a stronger sense of purpose about the work at hand.

With this blog, I’m hoping to explore writing that takes wing, messaging that hits home – the good stuff, and why and how it works. I hope you’ll share your examples and expertise as well because while writing is mainly a solitary task, it’s the sharing of writing that gives it meaning and develops our ability to do it well.

Even after several decades as a professional communicator, I still write first drafts that give me nightmares (and would make you cringe if they ever saw the light of day – maybe in a future post, I’ll work up the nerve to share a first draft and show how it evolved into something that someone felt was worthy of publishing), and I can’t write headlines to save my life (see “Mission Statement” above). But, I am driven by the belief that effective communication helps everyone at work as well as in life, and it’s why I spend so much time thinking about it and practicing at it.

I don’t know about you, but I still experience that inspiring frisson whenever I learn something new – about grammar, style, launching a blog, how to read between the hash tags on Twitter – and I hope always to get the same sense of giddiness when I discover great writing, whether it’s a headline in The Economist, a novel new or old, a website, the contents of a fortune cookie, or even in a press release.

What writing has inspired you? Did you post it to a blog or to the bulletin board over your desk? How did it change you or inspire you to take action – or not, depending on what you were reading?

Writing that inspired me this week:

“It’s wanting to know that makes us matter.”
~ Tom Stoppard, “Arcadia”