Create
snappy
sound bites
PRSA teleseminar
April 16, 2009
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
2
Writing self-assessment
Do you have the skills and training you need to:
1.
Write copy that gets read instead of tossed?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
2.
Select and use the best structure for organizing information?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
3.
Use creative material to engage the reader, versus a dull, just-the-factsma'am approach?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
4.
Incorporate the most powerful form of human communication —
storytelling — into the piece?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
5.
Translate numbers and otherwise clarify complex concepts with
metaphor?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
6.
Surprise and delight readers with wordplay?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
7.
Write clear, concise, conversational copy?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
8.
Get the gobbledygook, businessese, technobabble, jargon and other
gibberish out of the copy?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
9.
Gather the information needed to write copy that grabs and keeps reader
attention?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
10. Create presentation copy — headlines, decks, callouts, cutlines and
subheads, for instance — to communicate to flippers and skimmers?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
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3
11. Work intelligently with a designer to create pieces that enhance
readability as well as looking good?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
12. Write quickly and well without suffering the obstacles of writer's block or
procrastination?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
13. Write Web copy that overcomes the obstacles of reading on the screen?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
14. Present and package information on the Web to reach readers online?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
15. Apply the latest research on Website usability to avoid losing Web
visitors?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
16. Write online microcontent — links, headlines, and so forth — that get the
word out on the Web?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
17. Write press releases, pitches and e-mailed releases that are among the
small percentage (3 percent to 45 percent, depending on which study you
look at) that actually get used?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
18. Make media-relations materials more relevant to reporters — and to
reporters' readers?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
19. Come up with fresh ways to approach even repetitive topics (as opposed
to writing the same old story over and over again)?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
20. Run a helpful, efficient approval process versus a time-consuming,
morale-sapping procedure that reduces the effectiveness of your
communications?
Absolutely — 2 points Sort of — 1 point No — 0 points
Total your score: _________
Monitor and improve your score: http://tinyurl.com/36ne8o
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4
Cut back the quotes
Keep quotes concise
• 1-2-3
• Even better: 1
Cut the buzzwords, jargon
Make it easy to remember, repeat
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
— President Ronald Reagan
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5
Put a quota on quotes
Overquoters …
• Select less carefully
• Create a dull rhythm
• Mask the great quotes
Quote when you need to …
• Support a new or controversial point that you as the writer don’t have
the authority to present credibly
• Communicate opinion, emotion and other things the “reporter” can't
say
• Give your copy a human voice
• Change the pace of the piece
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
6
Let there be personality
“I can flap my lips all I want. Talk is cheap. Watch us.”
— JetBlue CEO David Needleman
“Answering the needs of e-tailers, our cutting-edge
software product recognises the importance of clicks and
mortar operations. A turnkey solution, our best of breed
product tests the performance of enhanced customer
care. Representing a radical step-change, our new
product set tests the performance of enhanced customer
care. Putting us at the vanguard of the industry, our
robust architecture shows a strategic direction towards
cost-effectiveness in the marketplace.”
— UK Press press release quote generator
Go beyond the most ordinary parts of human speech
Make the reporter want to pick up the phone
Take time to write a great quote
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7
Make it creative
Metaphor
“I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln.”
— President Gerald Ford
Wordplay
• Twist of phrase
“You’ll be spammed if we do and spammed if we don’t.”
— Federal Trade Commission spokesperson
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8
• Alliteration
“The stuff of Shoebox is what we experience in our daily lives,”
says Kim Newton, product manager for Shoebox. “It’s what
turns us on or ticks us off, but it’s what we are all going
through together.”
• Balance
“America is a great nation because we are a good nation.
When we stop being good, we stop being great.”
— Bobby Kennedy Jr.
• Not X, but Y
“Our destiny will not be written for us, but by us.”
— Barack Obama
• Triadic phrases
“divisions and distractions and drama”
— Barack Obama
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9
Humor
“Mmhhh, crow,” Goldman Sachs chief U.S. economist Jan
Hatzuis wrote to his clients.
Anecdote
“Buddy was hit by a car when he was very young,” Eichman
says of the 4-year-old Lab mix that shattered his pelvis and
dislocated his elbow in the accident. “To this day, the only
reason we can wrestle and play is because his veterinarian
recognized his resulting arthritis and did something about it.”
— Deramaxx
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Polish your attribution
Lead with the quote
“Lead with the quote and follow up with the attribution,” says
Ann Wylie, president of Wylie Communications Inc.
NOT:
Ann Wylie, president of Wylie Communications Inc., says,
“Lead with the quote and follow up with the attribution.”
• Don’t end with a thud
As Wylie says: “Don’t end your story with attribution.”
NOT:
“Don’t end your story with attribution,” Wylie says.
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Sandwich your attribution
“Sandwich your attribution,” says Ann Wylie, president of Wylie
Communications Inc. “Don’t end your quote with the
attribution.”
NOT:
“Sandwich your attribution. Don’t end your quote with the
attribution,” says Ann Wylie, president of Wylie
Communications Inc.
Keep attribution simple
• Stick with “said” and “says”
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Use testimonials
Use third-party testimonials
Find quotes
• Work with your sales and service teams
• Write your own testimonials
• Craft a three-sentence case study
• Problem
• Solution
• Results
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Tell mini-stories
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
RevUpReadership.com
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For further study
Write snappy sound bites
• Quotations should be snappy sound bites. Get nearly 50 articles
on how to write moving quotes and memorable quips:
http://tinyurl.com/2p22rh
• The Quote Diet. The Poynter Institute's Chip Scanlan shares his tips
for cutting through the clutter in quotes: http://tinyurl.com/5y8mg4
• Quotes and Dialogue. Roy Peter Clark, The Poynter Institute's
editorial guru, offers suggestions on how to report good sound bites:
http://tinyurl.com/3ry2f8
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Get more tips: http://tinyurl.com/6nuw7e
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
How do you rate as a writer?
New FREE tool lets you score,
improve and track your writing skills
How do your writing skills stack up?
Find out with Wylie Communications' new writing assessment:
TinyURL.com/36ne8o. This free yardstick will help you identify where
you are and how to get to the next level. Plus, you'll get free tips and
tools for improving your skills.
In these days of enormous changes in media technology, vast increases
in information overload and almost complete transformation in
readership habits, monitoring and improving your writing skills is
essential.
Take the next step
Not where you want to be yet? Use this tool as a professionaldevelopment yardstick. Here's how:
• Identify your most urgent skill — something you need to do well
every day, but that you couldn't give yourself the highest marks on.
• Focus on developing that skill for the next six months. Read
books and articles, attend workshops and teleseminars, or do
whatever you can to master that single area of expertise.
• Retake the assessment and identify your next area for development.
• Repeat. As you continue to polish your skills, revisit this assessment
every quarter or so. You'll track your progress and identify the next
area to focus on for improvement.
That's what the best writers — the masters of their craft — do.
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
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© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
About Ann Wylie
Ann Wylie runs a company called Wylie Communications Inc. She works with
communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to
get the word out.
•
Ann has served on all sides of the communications table: as a corporate
communicator for Hallmark, as editor of an award-winning regional business
magazine, as a professional in a boutique public relations firm and as head of her
own consultancy.
•
Her work has earned more than 40 communication
awards, including a Women In Communications
(WIC) Clarion and two International Association of
Business Communicators (IABC) Gold Quills — the
Pulitzer Prizes of business communications.
•
Ann is the author of more than two dozen learning
tools, including Revving Up Readership, her
popular writer’s “toolbox”: TinyURL.com/zvev5
•
Ann and her team of award-winning writers handle special writing and editing
projects for Sprint, Readers Digest, The Mayo Clinic and dozens of other major
clients.
•
She helps such organizations as FedEx, Sprint and H&R Block launch or
improve their publications and Websites.
•
Ann’s popular workshops take her from Hollywood to Helsinki. There, she helps
writers at such organizations as NASA, Humana, SC Johnson, Motorola, Nokia,
AT&T and America Online polish their skills and gain new inspiration for their
work.
•
Ann has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas. In
addition to her full-time work, she taught graduate writing courses at Webster
University for more than a decade.
“Bringing in Ann Wylie
was absolutely one of
the best investments I’ve
made on this job.”
— Cindy Conner, director,
Employee Comm., FedEx
To learn more about Ann’s training, consulting or writing and editing services, visit
WylieComm.com.
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Wylie Communications Inc. • [email protected] • http://WylieComm.com
© 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.