On-line Readings in Public Relations by Michael Turney
	PR writing should always be goal-oriented.
	© 2023; 2024 Michael Turney	Return to Table of contents	Practicing Public Relations main page	About the author

 
There isn't any one, specific style of writing or formatting that can be called "public relations writing." Public relations writing doesn't follow a special structure or organization such as the inverted pyramid which is used for most news writing. Nor does it use unusual punctuation or capitalization like the slashes (///), dashes (---) and ALL-CAPS STYLE of broadcast writing. Nor the multi-column formatting used for script writing. And, it certainly doesn't use a lot of high-faluting terms like "whereas", "thereunto," or "party of the third part" like legal writing.

Although there may be some circumstances in which a public relations practitioner might choose to adopt one of these styles or some other one for a particular assignment. there is usually nothing in the appearance of the written document or in the language that is used in everyday public relations writing which will reveal that the document was written for public relations purposes.

Quite the contrary. According to several of popular public relations textbooks co-authored by James Grunig and Todd Hunt: "The best PR writing blends into context by adopting a style and tone consistent with the medium chosen for its dissemination... PR writing is doing its job when the audience never stops to think `This is good PR writing.'"

Phrased another way, public relations writing should be driven by its purpose, not by its style. However, whatever style and phrasing is used, should be carefully chosen to ensure that it is suitable for the target audience you need to reach and circumstances in which that audience will be receiving the message.
 

 
The most important thing about writing for public relations is to remember it's writing aimed at achieving a specific goal. It is not writing for writing's sake; nor is it writing solely for the sake of getting published.

• Just because your organization hasn't recently been featured in the news isn't a good enough reason to write and issue a news release. -- You have to have something newsworthy to report.
• Just because your organization has always had an employee newsletter doesn't mean you should continue writing one.
• And, just because the CEO likes to give fiery speeches isn't necessarily a good reason to write one for her.

The practitioner's role is not to churn out page after page of writing. It's to help the organization gain recognition, present its interests, and establish its integrity and credibility. Insofar as writing helps the practitioner do that, it's a valid public relations task. But, if your writing doesn't further these aims, it's merely a distraction from what your real purpose should be.

 
You're not in school any longer. Don't write like you are!

Rudolf Flesch, a reading/writing guru who published dozens of books and hundreds of trade journal articles about business writing in the mid-20th century, concluded that most people in business don't view writing as a helpful tool for achieving their desired ends. Instead, they see it as a chore or, worse yet, as a hurdle they have to overcome.

In his 1974 classic On Business Communications: How to Say What You Mean in Plain English, Flesch wrote: "Right now, whenever you sit down to write or dictate a letter or report, you simply do it the way you've always done it, continuing habits that go back to your early school days and unconsciously try to please a teacher or get high marks on a test... You're writing a composition by the rules of the `English Composition Game' you were taught to play in school... (But,) You have to learn that this game isn't played in real life... The kind of writing you do every day - and receive in your incoming mail - may be flawless as a school composition, but from the point of view of a writing pro, it's probably hopelessly bad."

Public relations writing is business writing, and it should be business-like.

Beginning at the beginning and proceeding chronologically to the end may be good for nursery rhymes, novels, and movies, but not for business writing. Good business writers don't satisfy their readers with a sequence of facts lined up and following from one to another until reach they finally reach a conclusion. They do it by expressly stating their conclusion up front and then offering supporting evidence to explain and justify that course of action. By presenting things this way, they come across as being well-informed, confident, and decisive.

Flesch wrote: "There's a long-standing business cliche that time is money. Don't waste either one by setting the scene and providing background before you get to the main point. Jump right in... Tell the most important information first, and then the rest of it in decreasing order of importance." If you need to provide background or clarify any specific points, do it as supporting evidence after you've presented the main point, not while you're leading up to it.

Writing concise, goal-oriented prose centered on reaching specific objectives is the best way to proceed, and to succeed.

 
Honoring the adage "Time is money," written documents should be as short as possible while including all necessary information.

This point which was boiled down to two words - Be concise. - was, perhaps best made in another classic book on writing, The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. It's successive updated editions have now been beloved by journalists and preached by editors for 125 years.

Strunk and White's mantra "Be concise" is presented in a bit more detail as Rule 17 which proclaims: "Omit needless words." For those who require a bit more interpretation, they added: "A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."

My suggestion is that you remember: Conciseness is best achieved by keeping your goals in mind and making every word count.

 
Public relations writing should be aimed at a specific target audience.

Anything written for public relations should be clear and understandable to the people it's aimed at, but that doesn't mean everything should be written at the same level or that everyone should be able to understand it. So, before you start a public relations writing project, be sure to spend enough time/energy to thoroughly understand your target audience and gain a sense of what they'll be expecting to get from your written piece.

And, since each piece of public relations writing needs to be shaped and phrased for its specific target audience, you may need to consider writing multiple, different pieces for the same project. Actually, it would be more correct to say that you'll probably need to write different versions of your piece to match the different educational and cultural levels and style preferences of your different target audiences. After all, writing a tech manual for medical personnel trying to treat someone who has over-dosed on drugs is very different than writing an anti-drug-use warning for high school students.

Furthermore, when you write in a way that personally connects with your audience on an emotional and gut level, they'll be more likely to keep reading what you've written, to believe it, and to overlook any minor stylistic or grammatical flaws in your writing.

 
And, all professional writers, not just those doing public relations, know that completing a first draft isn't the end of a writing project.

There's a critical difference between the physical act of writing which puts words on a page or on a computer screen and the intellectual process of writing in which you choose the right words and order that will precisely convey your desired message to your target audience.

Clerks and typists do the former.

Professional writers, including public relations practitioners, are expected to do the latter.

And, even the best and the most experienced writers, if they're honest with themselves, know that they don't get all aspects of every message they write perfectly correct by the time they've finished their first draft. Even those who used to receive straight-As in school by simply sitting down, pounding the keyboard, printing out their ideas, and immediately turning them in as finished class assignments, have learned as working professionals that it's necessary to carefully review everything they write and revise, rewrite, and rework it -- sometimes several times -- before it can be considered a professional quality, finished project.
 

 
"You'll produce better results if you plan to write, write what you’ve planned, and then rewrite it and make it better."
Phillip Stella, president of Effective Training & Communication
: