The Power of PR (or lack of PR) to Move Opinion, Drive Change


Posted by Tom Gable

The head of a large information technology company forwarded a link to a CNN Money story on “Millions of SOPA lobbying bucks gone to waste” and provided a pithy editorial comment:

“The power of PR!”

Definitely. Smart PR strategists can mobilize public opinion through social and traditional media to make statements, move public opinion and change behaviors. In the case of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), CNN reported that “The controversial anti-piracy bills that attracted tens of millions of dollars of lobbying for and against the proposed laws ironically were killed by free publicity.”

The story noted:

“Old media companies spent huge sums of money in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Those opposed — Internet and “new media” companies — lobbied hard and spent gobs too, though far less than their more organized rivals. But Silicon Valley had a trick up its sleeve that trumped the millions of dollars more in lobbying muscle and the more established Washington presence of the old media guard: They reached out directly to their users for free.”

The story goes on to cover how Wikipedia shut down for 24 hours and Google blacked out its logo in protest of the bill. The public upheaval forced Congress to drop the bills, at least for now.

On the flip, side, corporations can be overwhelmed by a lack of PR strategic thinking when they launch a new business initiative with properly considering the consequences of their actions. Two recent examples: Bank of America and its $5 ATM charge and Netflix changing its business model.

NPR nailed the issue the day BofA made its announcement:

“JEFFREY BROWN: Big banks and the question of their profits have been the source of plenty of public anger since the beginning of the financial crisis. Now new fees for consumers are putting them in the spotlight again.”

The Los Angeles Times covered local protests, including the occupation of a branch by protesters. Its story offered a keen observation:

“This frankly is just an incredible marketing and PR debacle,” said Bert Ely, an independent banking analyst. “They roll this thing out with no testing, make it nationwide, it’s higher than anybody else. What kind of reaction do they expect?”

Huffington Post and others covered BofA rolling back the fees, with recalcitrant quotes.

For Netflix, as covered by Gable PR earlier, it started by raising prices by 60 percent and came back two months later to apologize while announcing the split of the company into two. They failed from a strategic planning and PR perspective to think about image as a part of corporate strategy, especially when one has built such a strong brand. They need to do things right and also do the right things.

Bottom line: The power of PR and its flip side – lack of strategic PR thinking – are essential for consideration in any action that can impact brand image and reputation.

 

Worst of Breed — PR Plans, Crisis PR, Releases and More


 

Image Meltdown

Posted by Tom Gable

In reviewing many recent roundups of PR successes and failures from 2011, including egregious abuses of the language, it appeared a new category of analysis might be tried: Worst of Breed.

The concept is to delve into corporate, institutional or other failures to communicate well and identify if their fatal or near-fatal faults are one-time occurrences or could reside in their DNA, to be passed on to future generations. It could be one bad gene, such as at Penn State, or something that may have metastasized, as with the upper echelons at Tokyo Electric Power. Beyond simply covering the big events, can we also ask for help in shining the light of journalistic verisimilitude on other WOB examples in writing, social media, news releases and other communications driving by PR?

This leads to a two minute survey created to seek broad input on WOB examples for future articles in PRSA Tactics and elsewhere and blog posts. Please click through to take the survey, which offers opportunities to provide your own candidates and links to their transgressions.  This includes nominations for the coveted WOB Lifetime Achievement Award.

Thanks, in advance, for the help, and here’s to a super 2012 for the PR profession!

 

The Essential Word List for Lazy PR Writers


Words of Wisdom

Posted by Tom Gable

Media and PR gurus, news organizations, universities, social media sites and others are honing their annual reports on words most hated by the media in PR news releases and words that should be banned in 2012. Rather than wait, Gable PR compiled the following list from many sources including Inc., David Meerman Scott, Ragan, Lake Superior State University and others.

Sadly, some of the profession needs to be put into the slow class since the same words keep showing up (and have since 1999!). The list is in alphabetical order. The words receiving the most mentions over the years are in bold for easy reference. As noted here before, some words such as solutions and leading provider get dropped into news releases unconsciously, somewhat of a verbal tic. Lazy writers tend to rely on industry jargon and hackneyed phrases rather than striving to characterize a company, organization or individual in new ways that go beyond the ordinary.

During a Media Relations Summit several years ago in New York City, a panel of editors from The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and other publications noted that many releases from companies in the same industry have a sad sameness to the language. They suggested that they could take many news releases and pitches received and do a global search-and-replace of one company’s name with that of a competitor and no one would know the difference. Whew.

How to avoid sounding alike? Think solid differentiation and positioning and compelling ideas. Then, run a search for the following words for deletion (and please add your own as comments!):

  • best-of-breed
  • customer-centric
  • cutting edge
  • end-to-end
  • epic
  • excited
  • first mover
  • flexible
  • innovate
  • leader
  • leading
  • leading edge
  • leading provider
  • leverage
  • market leading
  • mission critical
  • new and improved
  • new paradigm
  • next generation
  • outside the box
  • robust
  • scalable
  • seamless
  • solutions
  • state-of-the-art
  • synergy
  • thrilled
  • turnkey
  • unique
  • value-add
  • well-positioned
  • world class

 

 

PR University Panel Shares Secrets of Writing Like a Journalist


Wordsmith at work

Posted by Tom Gable

How to cut through the clutter and connect with the media with powerful stories they can actually use? PR University convened a master class webinar recently to answer the question: “What kind of writer are you? Newsroom vets and PR wordsmiths share power secrets of writing like a journalist in six easy steps.”

The steps outlined by Jon Greer, moderator, were fairly straightforward. The PR pros on the panel then added extensive details to each step. Some of the highlights follow below with guidance from Nancy Brenner, senior vice president, director of media relations, MS&L Global Corporate; Jeff Crilley, president, Real News PR; Rory O’Connor, senior vice president and partner, Fleishman-Hillard; and yours truly, CEO, Gable PR.

Step one: be an internal reporter

Think like a journalist. Train your ears and eyes and find ways to rise above the competition.

Become an investigative reporter. In trying to earn our media coverage, we rely on telling a good story with facts. Can we truly differentiate against the competition? In what ways and can we provide ongoing proof of principle over the next two to three years with real stories, facts and details, not vague words.

Rory said the most important thing PR professionals can deliver is great content. How to connect with your ultimate audience, not your clients?

Nancy said to dig deeper and probe for better stories and anecdotes. She said to track trade organizations and associations in your client’s industries to find supporting data. They often have trend stories that the PR pro can build upon. Tom suggested using government, independent research and other outside studies for validation. In some cases, the PR pro can then provide the journalist with additional sources for improving the depth of the

Jeff said to push back on client who is trying to get too much of a commercial message into the release. Go for the good story and you will get the commercial, he said. Go for the overt commercial message first and you probably won’t get a story. He noted that the media are overwhelmed with added online and social media responsibilities so “do the job of the journalist” and help them tell a good story.

Step two: organize your material

Think of each release as part of a series. He were building image for the long-term. You’re thinking also about how people search for topics. Check what news stories and press releases come up as top candidates in the Google news and other searches. Look for what is they are, and what is not there.

What rises to the top? What is important? What is less important? What is unimportant?

Step three: start writing

To get started, Jon said to start with the first thing you think of; don’t delay or try to be perfect.

Tom recommended starting with a great headline. Think about search engine optimization. Tell your story concisely and with strong words. Read the media you are trying to reach. How would they write the headline? Think about your target audiences and what is important to them. Get creative. How are you going to stand out from the crowd?

In addition the perfect headline and work toward it. Stick to three or four major points and paint big pictures. Go for the most important fact first. Think about the benefits to their readers, viewers or listeners. Think about relevancy to the journalist’s audience. Are you offering any new insights? Can you provide examples, facts, metaphors, quotable quotes and good anecdotes to bring your story to life?

Step four: continue adding useful information

What does the reader or viewer need to know? Look for facts and outside validation. Can you enhance their understanding with government or other data? Can you quote outside sources, such as noted critics, pundits and authors?

Step five: review and revise

Applied the “so what, who cares,” test first. This is a good way to read through copy and see what could be eliminated, edited or enhanced. Will anybody care?

Jon said to set the work aside if you can and reread with a fresh eye after doing something else. Is anything missing? Is everything in the right order? Would a typical reader be confused? Nancy said good editors strive to tighten every sentence. The best reference book to guide you on the way: Elements of Style, by Strunk & White.

On quotes, Tom said to read your material out loud. Are you communicating well with each sentence?  Is your work rife with empty phrases?

Also, edit for jargon. Tom said some words, such as solutions, seemingly get dropped into news releases unconsciously, somewhat of a verbal tic. Lazy writers sprinkle the releases with jargon rather than striving to develop well-crafted, creative and compelling ideas that capture the personality of the company, its points of differentiation and the defining factors what it is offering.

On complex stories, Rory said to tell the story to friends. Have a dialogue. They will often find the holes.

Step six: work with an editor

Edit for both style and content. Is the story well told? Rory shares his copy with another former journalist at this firm. If you don’t have internal talent, turn to a friend or colleague on the outside. The outside viewpoint can sometimes be very helpful. Nancy said PR pros sometimes get too close to details of a story and produce jargon or “inside baseball” types of copy.

Nancy suggested writing for readers on smart phones, which is where more people are getting their news every day. Plan for a shorter word count, including shorter headlines. Can you edit your headline into a bright subject line?

Tom said an editor from the Wall Street Journal who made his copy significantly better said to never fall in love with your prose. Don’t take editing personally. Think about the final product. Is it really going to communicate with the audience – the ultimate test of good writing.

Real values, mission, organizational culture drive crisis PR – a collection of case histories


New Road Ahead

Posted by Tom Gable

The Wall Street Journal covered the Penn State crisis and Jason Gay, who usually lights up the fun side of sports, writes that they are dealing with much deeper institutional issues than simply getting on the gridiron and starting the healing process. Questions remain. He asks for answers. But beyond that discovery process, any institution, individual or organization under fire needs to speak to evoking change, what it will look like in the future and how it will make a difference in all that it does.

This brief preamble leads to providing links to six posts in the past 18 months on different elements of crisis PR, case histories and a few recommendations on steps to take at every level – from the corporate suite to the Twittersphere and blogosphere. As noted in the headline: real values, mission, organizational culture drive crisis PR. Get it right internally, then tell the world.

 

Social Media, PR, Clients and Disclosure: Tips for Keeping on the Right Side of the Law


Fully Disclosed

Posted by Tom Gable

PR firms are often the driving force behind helping clients build buzz, brand identity and even sales volume through promotional blogging and tweeting, Facebook pages, product reviews, restaurant and hotel tips and more. Beyond advancing the art of social media, firms need to ensure that they are equally up to speed on FTC guidelines or face possible legal action, according to two lawyers from Davis & Gilbert, New York, during a presentation to a quarterly meeting of IPREX recently in Toronto.

The lawyers, Michael Lasky and Gary Kibel, told the PR pros from more than 40 firms on three continents that the FTC has continued to update its guidelines about bloggers and others being truthful and reliable.

“And this isn’t just a feel good; it’s a legal requirement,” said Lasky, who chairs the PR practice at D&G. He provided a handout that summarized the FTC guidelines, including this summary:

“The Guides have been updated to ensure truth in all media, including blogs, social networking sites, and other new media. The basic principles of the Guides remain the same — endorsements must be truthful and not misleading and if there is a connection between the endorser and the marketer that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, that connection should be disclosed.”

Clients and their PR firms can be held liable for unsubstantiated claims, so Lasky and Kibel stressed that PR firms need policies and procedures about expectations for proper behavior on both the agency and client side of the equation. This includes working with third parties, such as hiring people to blog and tweet about a company and its stock price, services or products, or take negative shots at its competition as well.

The lawyers provided an example in one of their publications about complaints being filed against Ann Taylor for giving gifts to bloggers and asking them to blog about an event. The FTC found that several bloggers posted about the event without disclosing the gifts. No action was taken because Ann Taylor had created a written policy stating that it would not issue gifts to bloggers without first instructing them they must disclose the gifts. There was a sign at the event instructing bloggers to disclose the gifts if they posted about the event. Case closed.

Lasky and Kibel outlined several top blogging practices clients and their PR firms should follow:

  1. Have a policy.
  2. For bloggers, be forthright — disclose any material connection.
  3. For clients and their agencies, monitor their bloggers to make sure they make the necessary disclosures. If you see something misleading, unsubstantiated or not reported accurately, take action.
  4. In hiring a blog service, companies and their agencies must provide guidance and training about the necessary disclosure.
  5. Employees of the marketing or its PR firms should clearly disclose relationships. Such as PR firms blogging about a product from a client.
  6. Even street team members who get consideration (reward points, etc.) for their work must disclose the details.
  7. When celebrities are paid, they must disclose (Lasky and Kibel provided the example of Armstrong Williams, commentator, who was hired by a PR firm to promote the “No Child Left Behind” program on CNN).
  8. Have spokespeople go through extensive media training to ensure they understand the disclosures.
  9. On level of disclosure, analyze the audience.
  10. You don’t know it all. Seek legal assistance.

In another case, an agency was hired to endorse a client’s gaming application. Its people gave the game high ratings. The agency failed to disclose that it received a percentage of sales of the games as compensation.

Disclosure can be as simple as adding parenthetical notes in the copy (“Company X gave me this product to try.” “Product Y was sent to me by the manufacturer.” “Wineries whose names are preceded by an asterisk * provided samples.” “Agency Z is providing blogging and other services for Client A.”).

Some use hash tags in their tweets and Facebook posts, such as #ad, #paid and #sponsored.

Bottom line: disclose, and have the disclosure displayed where it can be easily found. The lawyers said trouble awaits when the disclosure is buried three levels deep on a website.

Looking for a Job in PR? Gable PR Has Tips for Getting Resumes Read, Advancing Toward an Offer


Standing Out

Posted by Tom Gable

In reviewing more than 200 resumes in the past month for account coordinator positions at Gable PR, our team struggled mightily at times to determine if a candidate should advance to the next round – a phone interview. Those making it through the phone interview then met with team members. The finalists took timed writing tests.

Our team, including those with experience at other agencies and on the client side, wondered if new entrants to the work force weren’t given much guidance in school or otherwise on solid approaches. As a public service to help future applicants to any PR job, the Gable PR team put together this short guide to things they liked or didn’t during the hiring process.

Likes:

  • On subject lines in email, grab our attention. Do something to stand-out. Be clever. Show personality (most don’t). Let us know why you’re a great candidate rather than simply “responding to AE advertisement.”
  • Have a focused, relevant cover letter, including some enthusiasm for the position and evidence you looked at the agency’s website and know something about the business. Highlight what you learned in your PR or news internships and how it applies to the agency.
  • Put the cover letter in body of the email to make it easier for the team to read.
  • Attach a resume with your name as the file name (more than half of the submissions are just called “resume,” which means we have to give it a new name if we like what’s there. We cover this on our Contact Us page).
  • Provide references and writing samples if you have them.
  • Include a photo (but not from a bar, the beach, or the group photo from Facebook, etc.)
  • During initial phone interviews or in-person interviews, be honest. Let us know about your passions/interests, long/short term goals and areas where you know you need to improve. If you are more interested in other fields such as advertising, HR, web design or other discipline and not PR, please let us know before we go to the next step with an interview.
  • Dress neatly and professionally for the in-person interview.
  • Bring clip folders of college and internship work to the interview; good writing samples help candidates rise to the top (Gable PR also has a timed writing tests for the finalists).
  • Ask questions beyond “what’s a typical day like?” Take an interest in the company you may work for. Do background research on company history, current and past clients, awards, honors, individual achievements and if any team members have LinkedIn recommendations. Our favorite candidates treat an interview like an interactive dialogue and are genuinely excited. They show their personalities, including senses of humor and willingness to debate issues.
  • Agency teams hit it off best with candidates who are thinking of PR as a long-term career choice and are excited about the profession.
  • PR is a team sport, so think about how you would fit into this team and contribute to its success.
  • Fast follow up with a thank you email or card.

Dislikes:

  • Common shortcomings: misspelled words in the subject line (including the name of the agency!); no copy in the cover email; vague introductory copy (obviously being sent to different categories of potential employers); misuse of words (“I will attribute my skills” to the agency instead of contribute); misspellings in the resume (we get a lot of these from people who list “detail oriented” as one of their key attributes.
  • Interviewee showing up in jeans, too casual in attire; for women, chipped fingernails; for men, sloppy clothing, unkempt look, wrinkled clothes (we need to know our future colleague can meet with clients and the media and come across as professional; this doesn’t require an expensive wardrobe; neat, clean, thoughtful in choice of attire).
  • Showing up without a resume or samples. No follow-up email or thank you note. The combination shows a lack of interest and demonstrates that you are missing an incredibly valuable trait in PR: preparing diligently for every meeting where you need to make an impression (client, media, potential employer!).
  • A disinterest in news, writing and the media.
  • Not being able to match your interests, skill sets and preferred career path to the position. Having an interest in human resources or advertising or sales may be fine for another interview. But we are looking for passionate potential PR team members. Tell us how your skill sets and drive are going to get results for our clients and help build our agency.
  • On skill sets and experience: no PR or journalism in school; no relevant internships.
  • Most common bad answer to why you want to get into PR: “I really like people!”

 

 

Eight Easy Ways to Damage Your Brand Image, Lose 1 Million Customers and $8 Billion in Market Cap the Netflix Way


Blowing up the Brand

Posted by Tom Gable

Recent analysts reports, coverage in the major media and the Twittersphere are being less than kind to Netflix and its two recent corporate announcements: raising prices by 60 percent; and coming back two months later to apologize while announcing the split of the company into two (Netflix and Qwikster). In looking at it from a strategic planning and PR perspective, the best companies incorporate image as a part of corporate strategy, especially when one has built such a strong brand. They do things right and also do the right things. Netflix appears to have advanced toward bursting its own brand bubble through eight easy steps:

  • Raised prices seemingly without much consideration for the existing customer base, its needs, wants, expectations
  • Went for a big number rather than incremental increases
  • Provided a rationale that didn’t ring true and made many long-term customers feel betrayed by the brand
  • Did it all top down and one-way in a CEO voice rather than human voice
  • Didn’t join the conversation; didn’t use social media to actively engage its many audiences
  • Waited a couple of months to apologize and then do it with an amazing lack of sincerity
  • Seemingly as an afterthought, changed a successful business model to confuse customers, analysts, and the stock market
  • Gave competitors openings to attack, reposition the company, declare pricing advantages

And if you are really successful, here’s what you can expect: 50 percent drop in stock price and market capitalization, enmity versus admiration, lack of support in the financial community (buy and sell side analysts), a zillion Twitter and Facebook comments, a Hitler meme or two, and confusion among consumers on how to order and from whom when you split the company, create a new brand name and dilute the brand image.

David Pogue, columnist for The New York Times, parsed the apology:

“Ah. O.K., good. We’ve seen this movie before. Corporation bumbles, apologizes, makes things right. Business schools take note. Life goes on. But this time, Mr. Hastings did not follow the formula. He only pretended to. He goes on to say that the new higher prices will stick — and, worse, Netflix is about to break off its DVD-by-mail feature into a completely separate entity, called Qwikster.”

The PR and marketing blogs offered good insights.  Mr. Media Training cited six reasons why the apology failed.  Liz Goodgold, of Redfirebranding, provided four ideas Netflix should have used before going down the primrose path to greater profits.

In summary, another NYT story delved into the reasons for raising prices (to generate more income for acquiring content from the major studies for streaming). The “self-inflicted” wounds could have been avoided with better planning for an integrated and strategic evolution of what were in actuality major change initiatives at Netflix.

Crisis PR by Candlelight


Romance not included

Posted by Tom Gable

When power went out in our office at about 3:45 p.m. on Sept. 8, we assumed it was the building, or a local substation, which had trouble before. We quickly learned it was a massive outage stretching from Arizona to San Diego and Orange County into Baja California. At 4 p.m., the Gable PR team was alerted by text messages and emails from one of our clients, a major wireless carrier, that emergency response teams were being mobilized on the ground and virtually to deal with whatever issues arose.

We participated in the first client call at 4:30 and would monitor almost every hour into the night. The virtual response team used processes honed in preparing for hurricanes, such as Irene, to keep San Diegans connected. The backup generators and battery systems deployed as designed when the blackout hit. The network experienced a surge in congestion as San Diegans turned to their cell phones to find out what was happening, locate relatives and friends and deal with the complex issues of having no electricity. The tremendous surge in demand resulted in heavy congestion on the network.

The client response team had anticipated this potential pressure on the backup systems and within thirty minutes of the outage had mobilized its service fleets, technicians and other resources and dispatched them to priority sites throughout the county. Since they weren’t sure how long the outage would last, the team secured extra generators from throughout Southern California as additional backup, plus a fleet of fuel trucks to keep them running.

As client emergency response teams and technicians worked around the clock to restore service, the regional PR team asked Gable PR help in creating statements for the media. They wanted to go on record before the nightly news on local television stations, even though the stations might not be broadcasting and the region could still be without power to watch TV.

So, for the first time since writing on classic Olivetti manual typewriter in the Saigon Bureau of Stars and Stripes during a wartime blackout, I composed by candlelight. This time, I had the benefit of laptop computing. I monitored the regular update calls by the emergency response team on a landline and gathered color for future reports. The local utility warned that the blackout could last a day or two. To ensure our client was on record as early as possible, a draft statement entered the approval chain (PR, technical, legal, etc.) by 9 p.m. By 10:15 p.m. it had been approved and distributed via email to regional media, with follow up calls to the daily newspapers to see if anything else was needed.

Fortunately, power started being restored by 11:15 p.m. in some areas. My power kicked in at 1:15 a.m. The county was almost 100 percent restored by 6:00 a.m. We drafted copy points on the details of the emergency recovery effort and began responding to media queries by 9 a.m.

We had switched to the cloud from our own server, so could access client and agency files via the Internet, including media lists (we had been without email before for three days when a flood knocked out power to the substation serving our office).  Now, for a couple of lessons learned:

  • Whether you are on the cloud or not, have backup copies of media lists on your laptop, or home system, or both; plus printed copies
  • Use landline phones (I used the fax line phone)
  • Text don’t call on your cell phone
  • Have at least one extra laptop battery (or a second laptop)
  • Have a battery-operated radio to monitor news, disaster reports
  • Keep a detailed chronology and save your copy after every sentence
  • Have printed copies of media lists at home and office
  • Know the email addresses the media use for breaking news (e.g. cops@nctimes.com; breaking@uniontrib.com; desk@kfmb.com)
  • Use a hashtag for Tweeting about the incident (#sdblackout)
  • From a standard disaster preparedness standpoint, have flashlights, extra batteries and even camping lanterns for light
  • Drink lots of water
  • And have a good bottle of wine handy to sip late into the evening

 

Making Headlines and Subject Lines Shine (and Getting Your PR Stories Read!)


Getting their ear

Posted by Tom Gable

How to break through the clutter and connect with your PR story when shrinking news staffs among most media have resulted in writers and editors being besieged with hundreds of pitches a day? A quick survey of some of the most-besieged journalists provides two simple guidelines: get creative with headlines and subject lines.

Headlines and subject lines need to excite, entice and entertain. For headlines, the best grab the editor’s attention in a short amount of space and lure him or her into a story. The headlines create evocative thoughts and images.

For subject lines, the creative PR professional and writer need to think like a combination of Stephen Spielberg, James Cameron and Stephen King using Twitter. What can be packed into 10 words or less? Can you communicate bigger ideas on why the story is important? What has changed? Can you pose a provocative question?

Whether for headlines or subject lines, a few good tricks are to look for communicating: cause and effect (the new technology will increase productivity 50 percent or more), before and after comparisons (from getting winded on one flight of stairs to running marathons), interesting contrasts (Surfing scientists hold board meetings – the suits are all wet; Soccer mom launches tech support service for others) and the unusual (Air Force sergeant gets bachelor’s degree from Afghan combat zone).

Here are some quick tips for writing better headlines.

  1. Read the media you are trying to reach and see how they write headlines and organize their stories
  2. Think about the ultimate target audience – the readers – and what’s important to them
  3. What’s the news (breaking, feature, investigative, opinion)?
  4. Can you get creative and stand out from the crowd?
  5. What style can that embody (fact-based, humorous, the ever-present pun, positioning and visionary, provocative, diplomatic)?
  6. What are the top three to four facts and impressions you want to leave with the writer and ultimately your audiences?
  7. Be a stickler for AP style

Beyond the bigger ideas are the details to consider in writing headlines:

  • Brainstorm on key words and tags to use for search engine optimization
  • Use a two-line headline and two-line subheadline wherever possible to make it easy for the reader and search engines to put it into context
  • Have the client name in the first line wherever possible
  • Use active verbs
  • Have complete thoughts on each line
  • Have logical line breaks and balanced lines as best possible, as you see in the media you are trying to reach
  • Be smart about punctuation (including commas, semicolons and dashes)
  • Use the “So What, Who Cares?” test to see if you’ve got it right
  • Read the headline and subheadline aloud and see if it flows
  • Edit, edit, edit!