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Your Fingers Are Not Too Fat
The following is a guest post from colleague Chris Sewell (@mydeadlyballoon) – Content Director, brand voice guru and all around good bloke @wsseattle.
I was 15-years old when I first picked up the guitar. And like, I don’t know… 19 or 20 before I set it down for more than a few minutes at a time. I played that thing constantly. Hours and hours of memorizing finger positions, fumbling over chords and willing my helpless, weakling, runt-of-the-litter pinky finger to “man up” and stop holding the other fingers back. It took time. But eventually, I got to a point where I knew what I was doing.
Years later, I’d see friends take up the instrument, only to surrender forever after just a week or two, saying things like, “I’m not musically inclined” or “my fingers are too fat.” They couldn’t play immediately, so clearly it was a physical shortcoming or lack of some mystical, natural-born talent that stood between them and rock-guitar god immortality.
A lot of people believe that writing is like playing a musical instrument. It’s just one of those talents you either have or you don’t. And many people who have the potential to be good writers shy away from it rather than put in the time and effort needed to get better.
There’s a huge emphasis on storytelling in our industry right now. And I firmly believe that the best written, best told stories are the ones that will cut through the noise and get people to take notice. So, to grab attention and hold it, it’s important that everyone improve their writing skills.
Here are a handful of things you should think about:
- Avoid buzzwords and jargon. Always.
- Don’t try to prove you can write well by using big, fancy words you wouldn’t use in conversation. Keep it simple.
- Write the way people talk. If what you’ve written feels awkward to you, it is. Change it to something that feels more natural.
- Never underestimate the power of a good lead/lede. If you can’t hook someone from the start, you’ll lose them and they won’t stick around to see how your piece ends.
- Don’t fake it. If you don’t understand what you’re writing about, your reader won’t either. Have a solid grasp on what you’re communicating.
- Come up with a headline that piques curiosity. [See above].
- Don’t overload your sentences with numbers and stats. A 2010 study on numbers in sentences found that some 62% of readers spent 2/3 of their time over a 6 month period… Zzzzzz.
- Spelling and grammar matter. If you don’t know the basics, learn ‘em.
- Don’t get discouraged. Writing is a very personal thing, and the editing process can give the ego a beat down. Don’t take it personally.
- Write every day.
Writing is hard. And making it look easy is even harder. But, like anything, it takes time to improve. So, put in the effort. Whether you think you’re a natural or not, good writing is in you. Your fingers are not too fat.
Image courtesy of Alex Cheek.
Time for PR to Push the Innovation Envelope
I can’t think of a more exciting industry to be in at the moment.
8 years since I first stepped foot into a PR agency and my parents still can’t put a finger on what exactly I do for a living. They’re smart folks, it’s not their fault. My job and this industry is constantly evolving.
8 years ago, I, like nearly all of my colleagues, drafted messaging frameworks, wrote press releases, pitched stories and created brochures, simple websites or other marketing materials for clients to help tell their story and drive actionable outcomes. These elements are of course still part of the mix, but it’s becoming less of a primary reason that clients are hiring agencies.
In particular, the days of hiring PR agencies to solely serve as “arms and legs” or extra support resources are limited. Clients want your brain power. They want creative ideas. The want innovative ideas that challenge the norm. They want trusted consultation from specialists that live, breathe, study and adopt communications trends. Fast technology advancements are enabling us all to drum up new ways of connecting with target audiences. It’s up to us as an industry to capitalize on effective ways to maximize these connections.
The end impact?
Titles aside, the point is that old PR agency models are changing fast and for good reason. PR agencies now walk into new business pitches against ad agencies, niche social media agencies, marketing shops and everything in between. PR agencies are still often best positioned for integrated communications work as we’ve always been the core behind the message and carrying that message from start to finish. In addition, any good PR agency is chalk full of a mixed bag of specialists these days. People who understand the convergence of owned, earned and paid integrated strategies.
What needs to happen?
You better start pulling the right people into your agency. If you’re hiring junior staff just to fill a perceived “doer” role, you’re doing a disservice to that individual. In today’s world, it’s not enough to just be a “doer”. You better be a doer and a creator. When I look back, I started at an agency where I worked for a senior account executive. From there, I moved on to working for a digital strategy director and my current boss is an executive creative director. Huh? A creative director? Yup, and I love it. I still work at a PR agency but it gives you a sense of how agency models are evolving and diversifying.
Each and every day, I challenge myself and my team to push the learning envelope. To constantly stay ahead of the curve. To not just study PR and marketing trends, but design trends as well. We may not all be graphic designers, but we know the critical importance of building and executing strategies with a keen mindset around user experience and design perception. Together, we work to infuse the same mentality into our colleagues – to always push beyond the status quo and think bigger, better and broader. We don’t just “do”, we create – all the time.
In today’s PR industry, the sky truly is the limit. For any college student looking to crack into PR, I’d encourage you to be prepared for a challenging career that is going to start rewarding proactive thinking and creativity more than ever. Be prepared to do, but know that your ultimate value stems from being able to create. If you think you have what it takes, let’s chat, we may have a seat open for you.
