From PR to Native Advertising –and beyond…

With a side trip through grammatical best practice

Bulleted lists

Parallelism (using the same parts of speech)

Capitalization

• For words in between, capitalize all nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns regardless of length; therefore, verbs like is, be and do are also capitalized.

• Capitalize prepositions of four or more letters (like, with, from)

• Capitalize conjunctions of four or more letters (unless, than) as well as if, how, who, and why.

• Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the).

In Titles:

Capitalization

• Proper names

• Companies and organizations

• Languages

• Places and addresses

• Religions

• Nationalities and races

• Holidays

• A noun followed by a number (Channel 2)

• Common nouns (add-on) when used as part of a formal name (Mobile Browsing Add-on)

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General rule:

Punctuation

• Hyphens

Have you met the old book seller?

• Apostrophes

It’s such an amazing deal! The phone’s are free.

• Commas

I went to the store but they were closed so I went home.

"I would like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God”.

• Colons and semi-colons

I brought three things; a toothbrush, a blanket, and a pillow.

Eliminate redundancy

An analysis of communication requirements and provided communication resources will also be performed to identify areas for improvement in communications.

Clear and concise writing – Be a ruthless editor

In the opinion of the manager…

In the manager’s opinion…

The obvious effect of such a range of reference is to assure the audience of the author’s range of learning and intellect.

The wide-ranging references in this talk assure the audience that the author is intelligent and well-read.

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Clear and concise writing – Be a ruthless editor

It is a matter of the gravest possible importance to the health of anyone with a history of a problem with disease of the heart that he or she should avoid the sort of foods with a high percentage of saturated fats.

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Anyone with a history of heart disease should avoid saturated fats.

Use real words

Using the second person

1st person: I / We

3rd person : He / She / It / They

The second person is personal : You (singular and plural)

• Using “you” engages the reader in a way that using the third person does not.

• Consistency of usage:

I enrolled in a fiction-writing workshop for the winter quarter, and you have to complete three stories, each from a different point of view.

Best practice: Don’t switch from one point-of view to another.

Active vs. passive voice

• The entrance exam was failed by over one third of the first year class

• Action on the legislation is being considered by a parliamentary committee

Best practice:

Find the “done by” object. Now switch the position in the sentence to turn the object of the action into the subject.

Subject and verb agreement

Neither the televisions nor the radio works.

but

Neither the television nor the radios work.

Jane’s favourite breakfast is blueberry muffins.

but

Blueberry muffins are Jane’s favourite breakfast.

The whole family is active.

but

The family have met their various obligations.

Problematic pronouns

Subject pronouns: I, you, she, he, we, they

Object pronouns: me, you, her, him, us, them

My mother, my aunt and ____ went to the store.

Can you get concert tickets for my sister and ______

Best practice: myself is a reflexive pronoun

Dangling Modifiers

The busy human resources director interviewed only candidates that had excellent computer skills in the morning.

After separating the participants into groups, Group A was tested.

Best practice: Who did the separating? Group A? Try switching the sentence to

the active voice.

After separating the participants into groups, I tested Group A.

To test the system, the customers were divided into two groups.

To test the system, we divided the customers into two groups.

Run-on sentences

Comma splice:

• Customers can leave the plan, they simply need to indicate their preference at the end of their contract period.

• I love to write my blog, I would do it every day if I could.

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Best practice: Fix a comma splice or a run-on sentence using one of the following options:

A period:

• I love to write my blog. I would do it every day if I could.

A semi-colon:

• I love to write my blog; I would do it every day if I could.

A conjunction

• I love to write my blog, and I would do it every day if I could.

Subordinate clause:

• Because I love to write my blog, I would do it every day if I could.

Unparallel structure

• We talked about the difference in the weather in Toronto in the winter and how hot it is in the summer.

• The movies were enjoyable to watch and discuss.

• The students were unprepared, poorly behaved and disrupted the class.

Best practice: Always use the same parts of speech (e.g. adjectives) throughout

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What does PR do?

• Public Relations will help and organization to:

• Adapt to external and internal changes;

• maintain the status quo;

• create and foster two-way communication;

• change attitudes and behaviour.

What does PR do?

• Educate

• Inform

• Engage

• Manage

• Adapt

Content creation and PR

Some PR-focused goals:

• Boosting awareness and exposure

• Influence and positioning

• Educate audiences

• Thought leadership

• Reputation

• Growing networks and engagement

How do we define Public Relations?

• Public Relations comprises the following elements:

• Unpaid media

• Internal and external communications

• Channel marketing

• No guarantees

• It often supports other marketing initiatives

• Not always positive

• Can create a favourable environment

Media Releases

Media Release Defined

• A media release is a formal one- or two-page document that tells a newsworthy story to the media.

• If your story is of interest, the release may be run in whole or in part. If your story is seen as particularly newsworthy, an editor or reporter may call you for an interview for more information.

Where did everyone go?

Competing against the mass marketers

• Target appropriate editors, reporters and influencers at the appropriate publications

• Build relationships

• Produce well-crafted media releases

• Make personal contact with selected reporters and bloggers

News Values

• Timeliness

• Proximity

• Importance

• Human interest

• Conflict

• Unusualness

• Celebrity

Pitching a story

What is newsworthy?

• One of a kind

• First ever

• Atypical

• Trend

• Unusual application of product or service

• Celebrity participation

• Tale of the underdog

• Money, sex or health

The 5 Ws

• Who?

• What?

• Where?

• When?

• Why/How?

Most Newsworthy Information:Who? What? Where? When? Why or How?

Important details + quote

Other general information

Tip: Answer the 5 Ws in the 1st paragraph if possible

Tip: Use a testimonial instead of a quote in the 2nd paragraph

Tip: Include companybackground information

The Inverted Pyramid: Write like a news article

Elements of a media release

• Headline

• Sub-headline

• Place/date/carrier

• Lead

• Quote / testimonial

• Backgrounder

• Attachments

Content vs. Native Advertising

• Native Advertising (advertorial with a CTA)

• Content Creation (sponsored editorial)

• https://paidpost.nytimes.com/mastercard/the-surprising-cost-of-not-taking-a-vacation.html?_r=0

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/fidelity/#108038fb778b