Writing a Press Release? AP Style Matters

Writing a professional news release that the media outlets will take seriously is serious business, but it's not difficult. I've written before about making sure your news is actual news, that it is something the press and/or the listeners/viewers/readers will want to know about, as well as reasons to write a press release. 

Here are a few tips on how to write a press release the way a public relations writer would do it, with adherence to AP Style (the Associated Press Stylebook is readily available and is an excellent resource/guide for all matters of news-related reporting).

NOTE: These days, being the era of the digital and SEO press release, you should make sure to include keywords in your headline and in your supportive subhead that are also included in the body of your release.
That being said, here are some handy helpers and this list is by no means complete.

1. Give the editor what she needs to know in the Five Ws: who, what, where, when and why. Pack this information in the top part of your press release in case the very busy editor or reporter who is reading it is skimming and needs to move on to the next 1000 in her inbox. 

2. Get to the point quickly--don't make anyone read a few paragraphs before they figure out what your news is. Your headline and supportive subhead should telegraph the main premise and key talking points and your Five Ws should follow as immediately as possible. 

3. Titles are not always capitalized! GRRR ... this one always makes me just this side of loony. Clients always think a job title is capitalized. I have no idea where this misconception comes from. In a press release, the person's title (unless it is honorific or formal) is only capitalized when it precedes the person's name (Principal Figgins, Executive Director Caryn Starr-Gates) and is lower case after the name (Figgins, principal of McKinley High School or Caryn Starr-Gates, executive director of a whole lotta nuthin'). 

Formal titles, such as Senator, President, Princess are capitalized and appear before the person's name. There is a lot to read up on in the AP Stylebook about this.  

 4. You only use a person's full name the first time it appears, after which you use only the last name (usually; a few exceptions exist). So when I write about Dr. Arnold Pepper (that's Dr. Pepper's first name, right?) I would write, "Dr. Arnold Pepper, the lead scientist on the soft drink project ..." and later on I would write, "Pepper reported that Starr-Gates said she felt there was something really yucky about that soda and that she always prefers seltzer."

5. Write out some numbers, use digits on others. All ordinal and cardinal numbers first through ninth and one through nine are written out; move to numerals at 10th and 10.

6. Don't use first person. It's not "I" and "we" unless those are used in quotes in the story. It's news, written in the third person. Using first person will immediately tell the recipient, "I'm an amateur." 


7. Months that have more than five letters in them should be abbreviated. See the AP Stylebook for how to abbreviate those pesky long ones.

8. Postal abbreviations for state names (and the way they are written) are not the correct state name abbreviations for news releases. Some are the same, as it turns out but not all. Writing a letter to grandma in Tennessee? Write TN on your envelope but if you are talking about news in that state, write Tenn.

9. Spell correctly and punctuate correctly. Proofread that release before you hit "send." Remember that in American English, commas and periods go INSIDE the quotation marks. 

Although it makes me sad, serial commas are not used (I love me some serial commas). This is not to say that your feature article or book that you are writing according to another manual of style (hello, Chicago!) should not be peppered with serial commas; just not in your AP-style news release.

10.  Most book /magazine titles are in quotations. Don't italicize these. And not everything is put in quotes (reference material for example). Look it up in the "AP Stylebook."

11. Give the document some space. Many people double space their press releases, a throwback to the days of old when releases were mailed or faxed and editors needed room to edit. I usually space my documents at 1.15 to make them easier to read.

12. Make sure your facts are straight. No sense making stuff up and then get caught in a lie or in spreading misinformation. You'll get blackballed in no time! If you know who this dude is and why I stuck his photo here, feel free to share that in the comments.

Here's a final tip: hire a professional writer to help you strategize, develop a newsworthy angle or bring out your real story, and write a professional, AP-style press release that won't be deleted before it's read! 

If you'd like me to review something you're working on, send it to caryn@starrgates.com.

Cover the five Ws: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. A press release functions as the hook to get an editor's attention. However, even if you have her attention, if you do not cover the necessary information, she will still find something else to print. The five Ws tell the editor the importance of the information presented.

2

Start with your main point. In journalistic writing, the main point, or overall topic, needs to be at the beginning. If the editor has to dig for it, he will find some other press release to print. You can also underline your main point by including a sample headline.

3

Look carefully at your use of dates and numbers. For example, ordinal numbers first through ninth have to be spelled out, while anything 10th and over uses numerals. the same applies for cardinal numbers one through nine, with 10 and higher written as numerals. Dates and years use numerals. All months with more than five letters, such as January, are expected to be abbreviated.

4

Go over your punctuation. It is important to remember to use one space after the period. Also commas and periods go inside of quotation marks, and serial commas are not used. That is, if you have a list of items, you do not need a comma before the last item: "This is a list of one, two and three items." Some writing styles do require a comma after the "and."

5

Check names and titles. The first time a person is introduced, you must use her first name and full title. Formal titles, such as President or Senator, must be capitalized and appear before the person's name. Informal titles such as deputy secretary of government agency are in lowercase and can appear either before or after a person's name. After first use, only the last name is necessary, except in cases where two people have the same last name or the name is mentioned in a direct quotation.

6

Double check and double space. When you finish writing your press release, double space the body of the release in order to give the editor space to edit the piece as necessary. Also, double check all your facts, including grammar and spelling, to ensure you are putting the best possible face on your company.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_8029607_write-release-proper-ap-style.html

When Good People (?) Say Bad Things Online

I have witnessed some serious downward spirals in interpersonal communication on social networks and it's quite disturbing.

And many of these are from so-called communications professionals, copywriters, and marketing experts.

I'm not talking about the lewd, crude comments the general public posts to YouTube videos and other shared media. Those are for another conversation. I'm talking about the way professionals snipe at each other on LinkedIn or bash each other on Facebook fan pages. Perhaps because there is room for more characters on these networks, people feel the need to show the darker side of their own character.

In short, their shit comes out all over the place and it's really ugly.

Do they really want to be known or remembered in this way? Uh, I guess so, because they can't seem to stop. As someone who writes for a living, and helps businesses and entrepreneurs spit-shine their image and their marketing message to the best of my abilities, this trend horrifies me!

I have seen this ugly devolution several times on LinkedIn when someone has posted that he/she is looking for a copywriter or art director. People respond with their contact information because they're looking for work. OK. But God forbid the seeker of professionals does not post an update publicly right away, or respond to each and every respondent--people immediately go on the attack and start saying some very ugly things about other professionals they don't even know! Then they start feeding on each other's posts until the conversation gets downright wicked. And they wonder why they are still looking for work?

How about when someone posts a question or opinion to a group and members actually mock them "in public" through their responses? Really? Did you not get the memo that social networks are for sharing ideas, resources, and opinions that will make a positive difference for others? Can't you take your nasty, petty, childish screeds offline and spare the rest of us innocent bystanders who must now delete these so-called discussions?

What you write on social media is forever, you can't really take it away, and your online reputation is how many of your friends, fans, group members, and followers will remember you.

A Sad Example
Last spring a marketing manager posted a simple call for freelance copywriters in one of my LinkedIn groups. People responded. A lot. I chose to respond to her post privately as I often do. It's an easy option and keeps you out of the comments fray.

Some group members checked out this person's profile (which is not related directly to her current position). These group members made an assumption about her present job and her needs, and those whose work history aligned with that background gave some more targeted responses. OK, so far, so good and on point. Until they encountered the response vacuum and did not hear back from this person about their sterling credentials.

Other group members started to get antsy when a couple of weeks went by and there was no further communication from the marketing person who needed to hire a freelance copywriter. The mob started to gather its verbal pitchforks and rakes and really went to town, bashing this person publicly--on LinkedIn, among each other--for not responding to them in what they deemed to be a fair amount of time. Yes, these copywriters publicly demeaned her and anyone who would dare to post a possible job opening. Accusations of phishing abounded!

I sat on the sidelines in horror as I watched fellow group members devolve into a mob mentality of permanent, negative, self-defeating written communication. I also followed up privately and politely to the woman to  see if she'd made any decisions yet. I also gave her a heads up on the ugly slander-fest going on in the LinkedIn group at her expense.

She posted a polite update to everyone assuring them she received everyone's contact information and was holding on to it for any future needs.

Oh - and I got the assignment.

What the Heck is a Copywriter Anyway?

A blog post by a fellow copywriter from the U.K. inspired me to write this entry today. The questions of "What do you do?" or "What is a copywriter?" are not unusual.

First of all, I am not a lawyer who works with copyrights. Copywriters work with copy--with text that promotes and sells in some fashion. They come up with concepts to convey the sales message, in tandem with the art director who conceives the visuals that complete the website, TV commercials, or print project. Then they write the words that speak to that concept. It used to be that the term "copywriter" implied "advertising" but this is not always the case anymore (although I got my start in ad agencies).

So what does a copywriter do? As a freelance copywriter I write: tag lines, print ads, headlines, and online banner ads; in-store signage, table tents, and other point-of-sale materials; other people's blog posts, websites, white papers, and articles--and more. (I am standing by for TV and radio spots.) If the medium has words that sell, promote, educate, or inform, it requires a copywriter to put virtual pen to paper (and sometimes a real one to get the creative juices flowing). Sometimes I get to brainstorm the concepts with an art director or hash out layout ideas with a graphic designer (like the old days) but often I work solo, writing to a website design or creating headlines that will inform the layout. I work with a rich assortment of accounts and the people behind them, and flex my writing muscles as the brand voice behind these accounts.

I had a wonderful career in ad agencies, first in Atlanta (long ago and far away, before there were word processors and the World Wide Web, and cable TV was an emerging media outlet) and then in New York. I had the opportunity to flourish creatively writing print ads, radio and TV spots, concept ads for consumer package goods, and print collateral. I got to work on a broad array of accounts. It was a blast. I still have two hand-rendered animation cels from a children's cereal commercial I wrote hanging over my desk.  

I still write the words that inform, promote, and ultimately, sell products and services. But in today's incredibly diverse communications landscape, copywriters must be more versatile to meet the demands of the marketing domain . . . and many small businesses are not putting their money behind paid advertising in the historic sense. Today it's about being able to cross over into other marketing arenas such as public relations or corporate communications. Whichever route clients take to market their messages, copywriters will be there to guide them.

Why Can't They Just Say What They Mean?

Somewhere along the line, people have forgotten how to use simple, clear language in their business communications and insist on falling into a big bucket of jargon-y goo. Marketing-speak and consultant-comm are creeping into the common lexicon like boll weevils in a cotton patch, changing how we talk to each other. It would really be terrible if this problem extended into private, personal, informal conversation and I am thankful I have yet to hear this.

My rant is against using terms that are substitutes for more common everyday words. Here is a short list of my least favorite, commonly used terms:

1 - Leverage. When I was growing up this was a noun; now it is used frequently as a verb, "to leverage." Instead of people having leverage against a competitor or have the leverage to make something happen, now they leverage things, including money. You can read what Dictionary.com says about it here. That's fine, except I am hearing the word used somewhat incorrectly over and over again and it's quite annoying. If you're using a resource, use the resource. Keep your levers out of my office.


2 - Analytics. Analytics is "the science of logical analysis" but it is now the ubiquitous term for analysis and reports, data and results.

3 - Metrics. Another annoying use of a word that began its life meaning something else --the metric system, metric tons . . . not measurements or data. See Analytics above.

4 - Client-facing. Oh, you mean the customer service and sales people? When I hear that all client-facing employees must do something, I cannot help but conjure up the image of too many people squished in an elevator or in a small office being forced to stand face-to-face trying to have a conversation. Perhaps I've just stumbled upon the concept for a new mouthwash commercial.

5 - Onboard. I don't mean vacationers who are on a cruise ship. This is used when a company brings a newbie on board . . . that person is "onboarded" which I take to mean acclimated, welcomed, oriented. But I don't really know; being a freelancer, I haven't been onboarded by a company lately. Not sure I want to be (sounds like waterboarding, no?). Alternate usage: to garner support for a project (getting people on board with you). I guess five or six words just sends some folks over the vocabulary edge.

6 - Stakeholder. Who has a stake in the company? Senior management, the owner, perhaps the board of directors if relevant. But this term has now extended to employees, clients/customers, the public. Of course, it is always better to have a stake in a company that a stake in the heart (any Van Helsing fans out there?).

Oh, I could go on but I won't. Maybe I'll rant about overused phrases such as "at the end of the day," or "off the hook." I just miss the days of saying what you mean in more than a word, using a full phrase, a long sentence -- just saying it! There are loads of really fun phrases that will keep you chuckling at the website, TheOfficeLife.com. I found it recently and really enjoy reading what contributors submit. Some are ultra-clever, some are quite snarky, many are graphic in a good way. Check them out alphabetically at http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-A.html

Send me some of your least favorite newer terms that are tearing up our conversation and reducing modern discourse to a lot of words that used to mean one thing, now mean another, and others that just seem silly.