This is my no. 1 PR career advice for young professionals:
Learn how to write well — and how to write well fast.
Putting things into words is a valuable PR skill. If you know how to write, then there will always be something important for you to do.
Let’s take a closer look:
Make “Writing Speed” Your Slight Edge
If you combine solid writing with speed, nothing will stop you. But how do you get faster at writing? Most people make the mistake of overthinking every word. They carefully build sentence after sentence, slowly.
I recommend another approach:
Get the first draft down, fast. Never worry about the details; that’s what the second and third draft is for. What’s important is to keep going without stopping.
Will your first draft be perfect?
No, it won’t. And that’s fine.
“The first draft of anything is shit.”
— Ernest Hemingway
Revising is best done afterwards. Also, many people can go into a draft and suggest improvements once there’s an actual text to work with. Now, I’m not trying to be mean to copyeditors or proofreaders. Their job is essential. However, they depend on someone brave enough to tackle that empty document.
As soon as you excel at writing fast, you’ll join a small but well-respected club of PR writers. Those who understand the worth of your skill will keep you close. Those who don’t will try to jump in, add or remove a few words here and there — and that’s fine, too.
Be a Multitool for PR Writing
Make sure to learn how to write:
Being solid (and fast!) PR writer will be invaluable both to you and to others. It’ll be the cornerstone of your PR career, even.
You don’t need a lot of industry-specific experience, either. You could listen and ask questions on behalf of the potential readers and put them together with them in mind.
Synthesising what brilliant and more senior colleagues and clients are discussing is valuable. 1Creatives will feel good about themselves when they see their crazy ideas coherently presented; readers will understand what’s going on; your team members will repeatedly ask you to do more of what … Continue reading
How To Improve Your PR Writing Skills
I suggest these considerations for anyone aspiring to become a great PR writer:
1. Write in Stream-of-Consciousness
Don’t stop. Finish your piece. You can always go back and take care of any details later.
2. Embrace Multiple Revisions
Even experienced writers are expected to do countless revisions, so don’t try to write a perfect text in one go.
3. Always Take Notes
Unsure about how to spell a particular word? Or do you need to double-check a source? Add a note and fix it later.
4. Start a Sandbox Blog
For instance, I use this blog to practice writing in English. Since people can see all my mistakes, it pushes me to improve.
5. Be Free and Have Fun
Don’t let any editor put you down. Good editors make you a better writer without feeling bad about yourself.
Please support my blog by sharing it with other PR- and communication professionals. For questions or PR support, contact me via jerry@spinfactory.com.
ANNOTATIONS
| 1 | Creatives will feel good about themselves when they see their crazy ideas coherently presented; readers will understand what’s going on; your team members will repeatedly ask you to do more of what you do so well. |
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