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

Resource box:

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.

Use Video to Engage Members of the Media

Today’s Blog is a guest post by  Lisa Elia

Lisa Elia- PR Expert and Media Trainer

Videos are extremely important because members of the media (especially TV producers) need to see how you will come across on camera before they will book you for an interview. Increasingly, print media outlets are now including videos on their websites, to correlate to their print articles. Members of the media frequently search YouTube and Google for experts to interview and products to feature. So, if you want to attract the media and keep them interested in you or your company, video is crucial.

If you are an expert, create videos of yourself sharing valuable tips or information, or demonstrating what you do. If you create products, you can also share tips, but be sure to create at least one video that shows the products in use. Be sure that the lighting, audio and video quality is adequate for the media. You can lose the attention of the media quickly if your videos look too unprofessional or if they are difficult to watch.

Host your videos on your website so that you lead people back to your site to view them. For purposes of media pitching, it’s best to host at least some of your videos in an online press room on your website. You can also post your videos in the videos section of your Facebook page and other social media accounts, and share them in your feeds.

Include links to videos in the body of your press releases so that when they are published, readers can view the videos to gain information, be entertained or see something else that is useful, educational and/or entertaining. Also include links to videos of you/your products in your email pitches to the media so they can get an immediate sense of you and/or your products.

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

Resource box:

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.

Communicating your message. Are you being heard?

What are you doing to get your message out to the world? What approaches are yielding the best results? How do others get their message out to you?  How are your communications landing on others?

These are great questions to ask yourself as a leader, business owner, speaker or author. And these are exactly the questions that I explored with Shannon Skinner, PR Expert and Talk Show Host of Extraordinary Women TV, when I interviewed her on my Conversations with Charmaine radio. Shannon suggested that we are in an era where now, more than ever, creativity and speed is essential.

Publicity and marketing are both very important yet different. Publicity really increases your credibility and raises your profile, and with marketing, it is something businesses need to be doing all the time, not just when the pace slows down. In fact, this is a common mistake. Businesses, organizations and authors market during the slow times and when it gets busy, they are busy doing business. The challenge is that it creates peaks and valleys in your business, and in your bottom line.

Shannon provided some practical and tactical tips to help you with publicity. Let’s look at these one at a time. The first tip was to develop a Planning Calendar for your marketing and publicity. I love (did I say LOVE!) this idea. Why? Because in addition to helping you plan and organize yourself for success, it creates a system/process which you can use in future. It becomes somewhat of a template. Second, it makes it easier for you to share or hand off this task to someone else once you have built the plan. Many publicity approaches require a lot of lead time. For example, getting into magazines can require 4 plus months of lead time. You can also plan your publicity around specific themes such as “Small Business Week” or “Workplace Health and Safety week” or “Customer Appreciation Day.” You can also plan around certain times of the year such as Valentine’s Day and holidays. Publicity takes time to plan and to build momentum.

The next step is sustaining the momentum. Social media is a useful tool in creating and sustaining momentum and buzz, but it is not the only one. And of course your actions and decisions will be dependent on your budget. Once you know your budget you can pursue the activities that will work, and within your means. Activities to sustain the momentum could include an ongoing news release campaign such as press releases and media opportunities, article writing and offering tips in both articles and press releases.

Remember, you are more than your job. You are more than a leader or business owner. Find interesting hooks such as your hobbies or a cause that you are involved in. Are you an avid reader? Maybe you garden? Perhaps you are a cyclist. How about that volunteer board you sit on. Maybe you make a rocking hot chocolate chip cookie using your grandma’s secret ingredient. Find what sets you apart.



For authors, Shannon suggests blogging (regularly), having a great media room on your website with all the past media, press releases, a great bio, a professional headshot, and your videos. Listen to our radio interview with more great tips from Shannon at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your-book-as-a-business/2012/05/26/guest-shannon-skinner

Why Having an Skilled Emcee Creates Lasting Memories..and Success!

This week I launched my new radio show, Conversations with Charmaine, a very exciting day, as I had stepped into something new and accomplished a goal that had been brewing for the past year. My guest Seanna Collins offered incredible tips for business owners, communications staff and event planners about working with the media and hiring a skilled emcee for your next event!



SEANNA is a multi-faceted experienced broadcasting personality offering a variety of media talent services. She has a sterling reputation of being a person who “walks her talk” and can always be counted on to pull it all together. SEANNA’s television career includes hosting her own lifestyle programs, prime-time entertainment specials, live on-location broadcasts and numerous client commercials. She has also made cameo appearances playing the role of a TV reporter in Canadian movies and the primetime TV show “Fear Itself” for NBC and Lions Gate Entertainment out of Los Angeles. www.seannacollins.com


Seanna and I spoke about the valuable role that a professional emcee plays in any corporate event including: setting the tone for the event, managing challenges (e.g. room temperature, instructions for silent auctions, a late speaker, etc.) with ease and grace, keeping the event flowing on time, to name a few. Seanna pointed out that it is often the emcee that guests at corporate events, weddings, assembly's ect. remember, so make sure the emcee is leaving a great impression.


We also spoke about the role of media and how many times small businesses and organizations fear publicity, however Seanna reminded listeners that the media can be an extremely effective tool to dispel rumours, shed light on an important community issue or event, to showcase the good news stories in the community, and to recognize those that are making a difference.

You can listen to Seannna's interview at Conversations with Charmaine:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/02/15/guests-david-irvine-and-seanna-collins