writing for PR and Advertising

Timeliness

now is better than later when it comes to the news

Proximity

all news is local

Relevance

how meaningful it is; tie-ins

Impact 

how many are affected 

Consequence

how much does it have an effect on etc.

Prominence

the star power; influencer

Novelty

unique news; or even ironic

Human interest

focusing on the personal, emotional aspects of people's lives and experiences

Conflict

can refer to how conflict itself is a news value, making stories inherently more newsworthy and engaging for audiences due to its focus on tension, controversy, or competing interests (the most important news value)

What are the news values?

timeliness, proximity, relevance, impact, consequence, prominence, novelty, human interest, conflict

What is Public Relations?

The professional maintenance of a favorable public image by an organization; its the state of the relationship between an organization and its publics

What is PR’s value?

To communicate to cultivate healthy relationships and to protect to reputation of the organization and to build brand equity. Its also to create better environment for business, ambassadors for supprt, to manage news cycle, fill news holes, establish media relationships, and to tel your story and advocate for issues

Brand Equity

the value a brand has in people’s minds because of how well it is known, trusted, and liked. 

• Brand or client more equity = more stronger 

  • Build in brand equity and if something happens because you have good equity it wont affect 

  • In case something happens (crisis)

Media Literacy

The ability to critically analyze stories presented in the mass media and to determine their accuracy or credibility

Strategic Plan #1 = Situational Analysis

What is going on with the organization? What is the current climate for business operations? Are there current or past crises or issues to deal with? Consider a S.W.O.T. analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), as well as your challenges for having success

Strategic Plan #2 = Overall Campaign Goal

One overarching goal of what you want to accomplish at the end of the strategic communication campaign; the long-term results that strategic communications can help accomplish (be careful not to overstate)

Strategic Plan #3 = Research

This includes any primary (studies, surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc) research you’d like to conduct before getting started, as well as secondary research you want to collect to help ascertain what’s going on with the organization. Research can also help in the various levels of evaluation of your success at the end of the campaign

Strategic Plan #4 = Key Publics/Target Audience 

The groups you are trying to reach in your campaign, prioritized and identified according to characteristics that will help with strategic planning. For example, demographic and psychographic traits and attitudinal and behavioral tendencies of the public you are delaing with and auidences you are trying to reach 

Strategic Plan #5 = Key Messages

Per those targeted audiences and the key public, what message(s) do you want to convey to them according to your campaign goal and objectives?

Strategic Plan #6 = Campaign Objectives

the more specific “what” you want to accomplish through communications to support your overall campaign goal

Strategic Plan #7 = Strategics/tactics

include the communications “tools” we have at our disposal, from various forms of media to creative ideas on how to bring objectives to fruition. this is the “how” we’re going to accomplish what we want to accomplish through communications

Strategic Plan #8 = Timeline/Timetable

Most campaigns need start and finish dates, or at least an idea of how much time you’ll have to execute your strategic communications before evaluating how you’re doing with accomplishing your goals and objectives. Consider the time you need for research and planning, and then development and execution of your tactics. Sometimes timelines are tied to a deadline, so in this case, you’d work back from that

Strategic Plan #9 = Evaluation

There must be some timing for the campaign to take measures of how it is doing, so strategies and tactics can adjust or change as needed. Evaluation in some public communication campaigns comes in the from of outputs, outcomes, and outgrowths

Strategic Plan #10 = Budget

You need to set financial parameters, how much funding you’ll need and where it might come from, with your compensation factored in

Outputs

did the audience see the message? This is measured by number of placements, impressions and open rates

Outcome

• did the audience do something about it?
  It’s directly connected with what you are asking of your audience. If there was a call to action, did they respond the way you anticipated? If the overall goal is to increase market share, was there an increase in sales?

Outgrowth

• did the audience understand the message?
  This is more difficult to quantify, but a call to action and audience engagement such as shares and click-through rates shows the receiver understood the message enough to do something about it.

Public

whether you want them or not they are there (for example protesters)

Market

go get, may or may not be with you (marketing, business)

Audience

gathers , easier to reach because they are already interested (advertising)

Line

The most basic element that comes in all sizes, shapes, and colors. They provide direction and guide the eye to a specific spot on the pages. They can provide contextual meaning as well

Shape

When lines are closed to form a boundary. Can be organic where they lack well-defined edges and appear smoother or can be something abstract like a stick figure

Color

Can create an emphasis on specific areas of your design layout, create moods, and can say something different depending on the connotations of your chosen scheme

Hue

the name of a color in its purest form. For instance cyan, magenta, and green are pure colors

Shade

The addition to black to a hue in order to make a darker version

Tint

The addition of white to a color to make a lighter version

Tone

the addition of grey to make a color muted

Saturation

Refers to the purity of a color when it’s most intense when it’s not mixed with white or black

Primary Colors

Red, yellow, blue are the pure-pigmented colors from which all the other colors are made. no wya to mix any other color to get red, yellow, or blue

Secondary colors

violet, green, and orange are the immediate results of mising two primary colors. red and yellow make organge, blue and red make violet, and yellow and blue make green

Tertiary colors

red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet are the six colors that result from mixing a primary color and a secondary color

Texture

the feel of a surface-smooth, rough, goowy, gloosy, etc. Most graphic designers must visually convey texture by using illusions to suggest how their work might feel if viewers could touch it. Can be created with the use of abstract patterns or organic shapes

Type

refers to the fonts used on the page. Helps set the tone and affects the overall mood of the design.

Space

The distance or area between, around, above, below, and within shapes and forms. Positive dominates the eye and is the focal point while negative comprises the unoccupied areas around the other elements.

Balance

equalizing the weight on both sides of a centered vertical or horizontal axis. Each design has its own visual weight. The heavier the element, the more your eye is drawn to it (symmetrical, asymmetrical)

Hierarchy

A way to visually rank your design elements in order of importance. Good design will direct your eye through every area on the page in priority order.

Resources

•  financial, human, technological, etc. are often out of our control. 

  • For example., A utility depends on revenue from customers to finance communications

On strategy vs off strategy 

Always try to stay on with communications reflective of the plan. Everything you write in the PR and advertising world hopefully, has a strategic component

Tips for writing better

• Challenge “to be” verbs, revise accordingly

• Avoid passive voice, use active voice****

• Challenge modifiers (adjectives and adverbs)****

• Challenge long words

• Challenge prepositional phrases***

• Challenge long sentences (pacing is important)

• Avoid overused expressions (cliches)***

• Avoid placing important words mid-sentence

• Keep focus on the reader

• Employ parallelism****

• Read your sentences aloud (proof and edit thoroughly)

Active voice

• The subject does the action.

• It sounds clear, direct, and strong.

• Structure: Subject → Verb → Object

• The chef cooked the meal. ✅ (The chef is doing the action.)

• She writes a blog every week. ✅

Passive voice

• The subject receives the action.

• It sounds weaker or less direct.

• Structure: Object → Verb → (by Subject)

Challenge modifiers (adjectives and adverbs

adjectives and adverbs that describe the difficulty, intensity, or nature of a challenge. They help make sentences more vivid and precise.

Adjectives = describe the type of challenge (tough, complex, major).

Adverbs = describe how the challenge happens or is dealt with (suddenly, constantly, severely).

Challenge prepositional phrases

A prepositional phrase starts with a preposition (like in, on, for, with, during, because of) and usually ends with a noun or pronoun. It often tells where, when, why, or how something happens.

Example:

• in the morning → “We faced the challenge in the morning.”

• because of the storm → “The team struggled because of the storm.”

Parallelism

means using the same grammatical structure in a sentence to make your writing clear, balanced, and easier to read.

In simple terms: Make sure similar ideas look the same in form.

“She likes hiking, swimming, and biking.”

Plan to write

prep/research, brainstorm, organization/outline, writing first draft, revising, editing, seek approval/feedback, distribution, evaluation

What is social media

• social media usage continues to grow, reaching up to 2.5 hours per day.

• social media is widely used by all key audiences: customers, employees, press, advocates, investors, etc.

• popular platforms include instagram, youtube, facebook, tiktok, snapchat, and others.

• 94% of journalists use social media.

• current trends in social media:

  1. influencer relevance

  2. importance of media monitoring

  3. focus on video content

  4. use of algorithms

social listening

The process of monitoring and analyzing what people say on social media and other online platforms about a brand, topic, or industry. it helps organizations understand public opinion, track trends, respond to concerns, and improve communication strategies.

in short: it’s listening to online conversations to guide better communication and decision-making.

Social engaging

when a brand, organization, or individual actively interacts with their audience on social media. this includes replying to comments, sharing content, asking questions, running polls, or encouraging discussions.

in short: it’s talking with people online, not just posting content, to build relationships and trust.

Social posting tips

go to experts for help, imitate the best (studying individuals and orgaizations), plan, be timely, build a team, expand, and monitor

How does social media writing differ from mass media writing

Social media writing is fast, casual, and interactive, using a conversational tone to engage specific audiences, while mass media writing is formal, polished, and one-way, aiming to inform or report to a broad public.

What is the nature of how people consume website vs print copy

• Print copy more in depth - read more

• Website - scan 

Search engine optimization

is the practice of improving a website’s visibility on search engines so more people can find it. we care because higher visibility drives more traffic, leads, and engagement. using relevant keywords in content, titles, and descriptions helps search engines understand and rank our pages better.

Layout and design of a website

homepage should be separate and distinguishable, like a book cover and then some. the about page shares your story, history, leadership, mission, vision, role, and industry. products and services, such as a utility’s “facilities and operations,” should be clearly outlined. a landing page serves as an independent page for calls to action and special offers. faq’s cover commonly asked questions or topics to save time for everyone. testimonials and reviews help build credibility. the contact page provides ways for visitors to get in touch and reflects your culture. a digital newsroom or blog shares news and opinions on relevant events and topics. privacy policy and terms & conditions explain visitor data use, cookies, and access. finally, a sitemap helps provide an overview and outline of site navigation.

Writing for audio

you write for the ear, not the eye, so your words must be clear, engaging, and easy to follow

Repetition

you often repeat key points to help listeners remember them

Visualization

describing details that help the audience picture what’s happening in their mind.

Setting the scene

providing context, atmosphere, and sensory details so listeners can fully understand and imagine the story or message.

Cross fade

overlapping of audio or video as one source fades in and the other fades out

close up

A close up shot of something or someone in a video script, often face, hands, or feet

Medium shot

A person shot from the waist up

Long shot

camera view that shows the entire subject (often a person) and a large portion of the surrounding environment.

Why do we monitor/listen to social media post as an organization 

Looking for your brand name and picking out all the social media post where chick fil a is mentioned, Issues that might impact you, Issue related, brand related

Algorithms

sets of rules and formulas that decide what content shows up in a user’s feed and in what order.

Trends in social media

the current ways people interact, share, and consume content online. some key trends include:

1. influencer relevance – people trust recommendations from social media influencers.

2. media monitoring – brands track conversations and feedback online.

3. video content – short-form and live videos are very popular.

4. algorithms – platforms prioritize content based on engagement and user preferences.

Importance in Video

comes from the fact that humans are highly visual learners. videos combine images, movement, sound, and text to grab attention, explain ideas quickly, and make content more memorable.

being visual-driven means that the message relies on strong visuals—like graphics, footage, or animations—to communicate emotions, ideas, and stories more effectively than text alone.

What is a blog?

Informal, informative, and often entertaining form of media that mixes storytelling and expertise

What is a podcast?

An audio file that is streamed or downloaded from the internet and available as a series with new episodes release regularly

Why blogs?

to build relationships with readers, showcase thought leadership and expertise, generate leads, and give human face to organizations

Why podcasts?

inexpensive way to extend brand awareness, builds credibility and relationships, and flexible audiences

What is the average length of a podcast?

43 minutes which is tailored to audience habits