Sep 07, 2018 Categories: Public Relations & Marketing Tags: Business Development, Communications, Marketing, PR
Dear Communicators:
We were chatting recently when we thought how awesome it would be if companies stopped using cloying buzzwords in their communications.
We get that when your company is a market leader offering customers a revolutionary end-to-end solution, you want to move the needle with the media and show why your products and services are the tip of the spear.
But reporters and editors can smell hype from a mile away, and no reporter wants to be accused of drinking the Kool-Aid.
So when you write press releases, brochures, annual reports and/or other content, you have to play it straight—regardless of the media channel. You need to drill down, and show how the product suite will be transformative in the market ecosystem.
You may even want to promote your new product or service as a real game changer and tout the impact it will have on core competencies.
But if you communicate information that’s less than accurate—or can’t stop using superlative terms when more mundane ones will do—reporters and other stakeholders will cry foul and the company’s reputation will suffer.
Journalists and reporters are inundated with poorly written press releases, of course. But they’re still willing to give your writing the benefit of the doubt.
And when it comes to writing in clear, concise and easy-to-understand language, you need to be proactive.
Don’t say you haven’t got the bandwidth or if you devote more time to written communications you’ll get behind the curve regarding your social media postings.
The fact of the matter is PR pros need to be break down the silos and reach out to other departments—such as finance, product development—that can bolster written communications.
At the end of the day, cliché-free writing is the coin of the realm for PR pros.