Hey, PR pros: Would you like to see your story in The New York Times? Then why not write like the Times?

We recently analyzed 100 headlines from PR Newswire and compared them to 100 headlines from a recent issue of The New York Times. (We skipped the sports pages.) Here’s what we found:

• Average headline length. Times: 8.6 words. PR Newswire: 11.2 — 37% longer than the newspaper of record in the United States.
• Median headlines length. Times: 9 words. PR Newswire: 11 — 22% longer than the newspaper of record.
• Longest headline. Times: 14 words. (There were two.) PR Newswire: 33 — 136% longer than the newspaper of record.
• Shortest headline. Times: 4 words. (There were four.) PR Newswire: 4. These are too short for good search engine optimization. Google prefers headlines of 5 words or longer.

How long is too long?

I usually recommend that you keep your news head to eight words max. That’s the number people can easily understand at a glance, according to research by The American Press Institute.

But I’m willing to be flexible. What if, instead of capping heads at eight words, we followed The New York Times’ approach? Let’s write headlines that:

• Average 8 or 9 words
• Never grow longer than 14 words
• Sometimes have as few as four words

Here’s what New York Times headlines look like:

A Coronavirus Epidemic Hit 20,000 Years Ago, New Study Finds

The Internet Eats Up Less Energy Than You Might Think

Alzheimer’s Prediction May Be Found in Writing Tests

How Can I Tell My Mother-in-Law to Buzz Off?

Once Again, the Earth Is Being Wrung Dry

That not only makes your headlines look more inviting, but also allows readers to get your news in a single gulp.

What not to do …

But here’s what PR pros tend to write instead:

Dr. Reed V. Tuckson to Deliver Keynote Address at 2015 Digital Health Summer Summit Co-hosted by Center for Digital Health Innovation at UCSF

Magnetic Materials Market Developing at 8.9% CAGR To 2020 — APAC To Be The Fastest Growing Region Due To High Demand From Electronics & Auto Industry

LIFE TIME FITNESS SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Announces the Investigation of Life Time Fitness, Inc. Over the Proposed Sale of the Company to Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital — LTM

At 23, 26 and 33 words, respectively, these are paragraphs, people!

Solution: If you need all of those details up top, put half your headline in the deck.

Stuffy head?

I recently worked with a PR firm whose headlines were 21% longer than the combined average of three of its top targeted media vehicles.

Instead of stuffing your headline with so many words, why not steal a tip from the Times? Keep release headlines as tight as those you find on the front page of the publication you seek to sway.

Learn more …

Hit the right readability targets with these resources:

• What’s the best press release headline length? Get the ideal length of a release headline in characters including spaces.
• What’s the ideal press release length? Write news releases that get media coverage — and that are worth reading. WWBWD? (What would Business Wire do?)
• What’s the best length for a blog post? Learn how to write social media posts that get read.
• How long should email newsletters be? [Data!] Boost opens, reading and click through rates.

The post How long should a press release headline be? appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Embeddable tooth implants. Batman’s tax bill. Zombie slayers.

Like squeezing together a lump of coal to make a diamond, compression of details condenses fascinating facts into a passage that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Take a tip from these Silver Anvil Award winners, and try compression of details.

Pit that nickel against Nickelodeon

Fleishman-Hillard’s John Armato used that approach for this lead for a press release for H&R Block by Fleishman-Hillard/Kansas City:

For this approach, you choose more than one (and, to be fair, almost always three) examples to make your broader point.

The internet in my tooth …

Marie Hatter uses compression of details for the Cisco blog post “The Internet of Everything Hearts Your Health”:

Internet of Everything? That’s huge! The internet in my tooth? Now we’re talkin’.

Make your audience the lead.

Lisa Gurry brings the world of gaming down to size with a compression of details in the promotion “Your Invitation Has Arrived: Xbox One Ready for Millions of Fans on Nov. 22”:

Xbox One? Too big. Zombie slayers? I’m in.

… Who lived in a shoe.

Mark Zelermyer brought this lead, for Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, home with compression of details:

That’s compression of details.

When does this approach not work? When the details aren’t really details.

In “Extra! Extra! New Cisco Brand Launches Today — Get the Details Here,” writers miss the mark by compressing generics:

TV? Newspaper? Internet? TOO BIG!

To get our attention, bring it down to size.

Next steps

Learn how to get concrete details into your lead.

The post Compress details in your news release lead appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

The internet coffee pot. Word of the year. The Dust Bowl.

Details like these grab attention and help readers see your big idea.

To use this approach, take a tip from William Carlos Williams, and turn ideas into things —like these PRSA Silver Anvil Award-winners do:

Choose one image to stand for the whole.

Marie Hatter chose a single detail to stand for her point atop the Cisco blog post “Internet of Everything“:

So choose an example to stand for the whole.

Internet of Everything? Too big.

Internet coffee pot? Just right.

Binge watching in a detail

Netflix uses the same approach for “Netflix Declares Binge Watching is the New Normal”:

What we think about binge watching? Too broad.

Binge watching as runner-up to word of the year? Just right.

Bringing dirt down to size

PR pros for World Soil Day bring soil health down to earth in their Op/Ed “Soil Conservation: The Next Generation”:

All the soil in all the world? Too big!

The top six inches? Just right.

Go tiny.

For a specific-details lead, choose a part — a tiny part — to illustrate the whole.

The post Use concrete details in your press release lead appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Research shows … that nearly half of commuters text and drive … that one in three patients enters the hospital malnourished … and that 66% of women won’t kiss men with moustaches.

Startling statistics can make a good lead.

Let’s pause and ponder that for a minute too.

Underline “startling.” This doesn’t mean that you can pack your first paragraph with a bunch of boring numbers. But one surprising statistic can set up your PR piece beautifully.

But you don’t have to tell PRSA’s Silver Anvil Award winners. They use statistics to sell their ideas:

From the sad …

AT&T uses startling stats in its release “Nearly Half of Commuters Admit to Texting While Driving”:

And Visa, in this Reading Is Fundamental lead:

… to the sick …

Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition leads with the numbers in its release “Leading Healthcare Organizations Launch Interdisciplinary Partnership: The Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition”:

So does Novartis Animal Health, in this Deramaxx lead:

… to the sublime …

Cisco starts with compelling numbers in its blog post “The Internet of Everything is the New Economy”:

… to the ridiculous.

Gillette uses startling stats in its media alert “Gillette asks Houston couples to ‘Kiss & Tell’ in live national experiment and tell the world their preference — a smooth shaven or stubbled kiss”:

Next steps

Learn to add startling statistics to your next PR lead.

The post Add statistics to your press release lead appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Paint a picture in your lead through description like this, from a Pfizer Animal Health release.

Description makes a great approach for a PR lead. Here, Silver Anvil Award-winning PR pros show how it’s done.

‘Thick with the smell of fast food …’

This lead helped win support for the nation’s first statewide menu labeling law, sponsored by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy:

‘Tongs and spatulas flew …’

PR pros for PAM used description for this Silver Anvil winner:

Most obsolete office …

Xerox relied on description to show what the “most obsolete office” in America looks like in this Silver Anvil-winning press release lead:

Belligerent driving…

Nerves of Steel, a coalition of steel producers, leads by describing belligerent driving in this Silver Anvil-winning release:

Next steps

Learn how to add description to your copy.

The post Set the scene in press release leads appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

One way to pitch a story that reporters want to catch: Start with an anecdotal lead.

Anecdotes make your PR pieces easier to believe, understand and remember. So use an anecdotal lead whenever possible to illustrate your key idea.

As they rounded a bend on the country road …

Take a tip from this Department 56 Silver Anvil Award-winning release lead, and tap the power of storytelling:

Buddy was hit by a car …

And this Deramaxx Silver Anvil Award-winning release lead is one of my favorites. Note the story in the quote:

Tell me a story.

Want to stand out from the crowd of “today announced” and fact pack PR leads? Try storytelling instead.

The post Tell a story in your press release lead appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Journalists spend, on average, less than a minute reading news releases, according to a study by Greentarget. You can reverse-engineer that to less than 200 words.

So how do you write a one-minute release?

I worked with a PR pro in my PR-writing workshop to boil down an 800-word release to 200 words or less with these five steps:

1. Tell what happened in an 8-word headline.

XX earns honors from Institute for Medicaid Innovation

2. Summarize the impact in a short deck. Bonus points for emotional language, like “feed the hungry” instead of “reduce food insecurity.”

Programs fed the hungry, provided street medicine for the homeless

3. Show how your program changed lives in the lead. Try a triad: Summarize three outcomes in quick sentences. Make people the subject of every sentence.

4. Transition to the body in the nut graph.

5. Write a quick list for the body. Keep the focus on people who benefited from your programs, not on the programs themselves. Make it scannable with bold-faced lead-ins:

6. Link to more details in the conclusion.

Would your release be twice as good if it were half as long?

The post Get your story across in 120 seconds or less appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Having trouble nailing that “business casual” tone you’re aiming for? Try reading your message aloud — after a friendly greeting or phrase:

“Good morning, honey! In regard to the subject account mentioned above, please find the enclosed statement.”

“By the way, Bob, let’s figure out how we can leverage our bandwidth to incentivize our team to envision an impactful B2E interface, enterprise-wide. I think we can tee this up as a strategic synergy.”

“Long time, no see! The re-writing of the vocabulary of intemporal Irish heritage is a possible vector for submissions on the condition that this transposition is resolutely anchored in the 21st century through a contemporary lens that absolutely avoids drifting into the vernacular.”

“Hi, everyone! I’m so glad you could make this meeting today. We’re going to discuss a very important topic — how we can redefine B2C partnerships, target collaborative infomediaries, harness 24/365 Web services, engage plug-and-play e-commerce, drive proactive models, scale robust experiences and engage transparent models so we can facilitate out-of-the-box ROI. Who’s with me?!”

“Hey, did you hear? This position & objectives are a new addition to the stable of existing Global Lubricant Solutions (GLS) functions. The role participates in the development of the ChevronTexaco Global Lubricants Innovation Solutions Vision and drives cultural change with associated front-end strategies and concepts that eventually become customer-facing differentiable Integrated Solutions.”

I call this the “Hey, did you hear?” test. If your copy sounds like the adults in a Charlie Brown special — “Wah Wah Wah Wah” — after a simple greeting or phrase, chances are, your copy is too stiff, bureaucratic and jargon-filled.

Fix it.

____

Gobbledygook courtesy of: Golden Bull-winning direct mail letter from the Crafts Council of Ireland

Web Economy Bullshit Generator

A job opening announcement at Chevron, published in The Chicago Sun-Times

Hey, did you hear? Is your tone conversational? Then you’re on the right track.

The post Use a conversational writing style in press releases appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

It’s counterintuitive, but true: The product is never the topic. The program is never the topic. The plan is never the topic. The topic is never the topic.

The reader is always the topic.

Here’s how six PR pros made the reader the topic in their PRSA Silver Anvil Award-winning campaigns.

Use the ‘Y word.’

The easiest way to write about the reader, in PR as well as in other pieces, is to use the magic word: You. That’s what PR pros did for these award-winning leads:

Use the imperative voice.

Here’s another approach to leading with the reader: Use the imperative voice.

We learned in third grade to call the imperative voice the command voice. And it can be a command: Do the dishes. Make your bed. Clean your room.

When we use it, though, it’s the invitation voice: Grab a spade … prepare your senses … dig a little … learn a lot.

Use a placeholder for ‘you.’

I actually prefer to avoid you and the imperative voice in media relations pieces. For one thing, who’s you — the reporter or the end reader? For another, I still like to retain an objective, third-person voice in PR pieces.

The solution? A placeholder for you: Community members. New drivers. Farmers throughout the state. Teens who commit to safe driving.

That’s how these Silver Anvil award-winners set up their stories:

Put the end user first.

Sometimes, the topic is just one or two members of the reading community. In this case, start with a placeholder for you anyway. Here, instead of leading with CHS Energy or its Tanks of Thanks rewards program, brilliant PR pros lead with the award winners:

Want reader interest? Take a tip from these Silver Anvil winners and write about the reader and the reader’s needs, not about “us and our stuff.”

The post Try second person for press release leads [Examples!] appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

When I was editor of an executive magazine, I received dozens of press releases every day.

This was back in the day when releases moved on paper, so I read them over the trash can, giving myself just a few seconds from the time I picked the release up off the stack to the time it hit the circular file.

In that time, I could usually read five words of the lead. The five words I read most often?

XYZ Company today announces that …

Announces what?

I’ll never know; your release is already in the trash.

If you have something to announce, announce it! Don’t announce that you’re announcing it. Remember, the press release itself is the announcement.

Get to the verb quicker.

“A story should be a verb, not a noun,” says Byron Dobell, former editor of Esquire and American Heritage.

One problem with announcement leads is that they make the verb “announce” the story.

Another problem is that they upload the story with nouns. It’s never really “XYZ Company today announces that …,” after all. It’s:

XYZ Company, the leading maker of petroleum-based pet-feeding solutions and a division of ABC Conglomerate, today announces that …

Whatever verb comes after the “that” is the real story:

• Announces that … we’re launching a new product.
• Announces that … we’re taking this position on an issue.
• Announces that … we’re making a hostile takeover bid for Google.

In these announcements, the verbs “launch,” “take” and “make” are the real stories. So one way to check the strength of your lead is to count the number of words that come before these verbs. The more words, the further you’re delaying the story.

Drop ‘today announced.’

I’m not the only communicator who’s bored by “today announced” leads.

Internet World’s “Blah, blah, blah” column used to excerpt and annotate the worst releases the editors had received that month. My favorite:

The annotation:

Don’t wear your readers out. If you have news to announce, announce it.

The post Avoid announcements in press release leads appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..