Why Your Writing Style Can Make or Break Your Media Opportunities

Today's blog is a guest post by Lisa Elia, enjoy!!

Lisa Elia- PR Expert and Media Trainer

Don’t be too casual with your writing style, when pitching the media.Many members of the media, especially at larger, more prestigious media outlets, are very well educated and can be picky about correct grammar and punctuation. 

Some members of the media have told me that even one typo or grammatical error in a pitch or press release can make them disregard the pitch entirely. If you’re not a great writer, and even if you are, have someone proofread everything you send to the media.

Use Associated Press Style in press releases that you will send to the media (as opposed to those you may simply post online for consumer viewing). If you’re writing press releases or even if you are having them written for you, it’s important to know what Associated Press Style is because it will save you many PR service hours and/or dollars.

Associated Press (AP) Style is the media industry standard for journalistic style. Adhering to this style will make members of the media take you seriously, and it will make it easier for editors to publish your release immediately, and you ALWAYS want to make their job as easy as possible.

First, here’s a bit about the Associated Press, from the organization’s website:

“The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from AP.”

On the Net: www.ap.org”

So, you can see why Associated Press Style is important when writing press releases. If you’re planning to do your own PR, I highly recommend buying the Associated Press Stylebook, available at Amazon.com or at www.ap.org

AP Style is very specific. There are rules on punctuation, grammar, quotes, etc. that are specific to this style. It also changes with the times, so be sure to get a new copy of the AP Stylebook every year or so. AP Style is succinct, journalistic, objective and factual. Keep in mind that press releases are meant to be newsworthy, so write “news.”

If you want a more flowery, loose article on yourself or your company, consider pitching an article authored by yourself to media outlets that accept submissions or write whatever you’d like on your blog.

As a basic rule in business and in PR, supply people with the information in a format that is going to make it easiest for people to spread the word about you.

For more tips, register for my 10 PR Musts guide at www.10PRmusts.com

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This article is provided courtesy of PR Expert and Media Trainer Lisa Elia, the CEO and founder of Lisa Elia PR and Expert Media Training. Elia has spent more than 25 years in the PR industry, securing interviews for clients with major media outlets that include CNN, Oprah Winfrey Show, Time, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Redbook, Shape, Huffington Post, and hundreds of other outlets. To receive free tips on how to work with the media most effectively, avoid common mistakes and shine in every interview, visit www.lisaeliapr.com or contact us at lisa@lisaeliapr.com or 310-479-0217.