So you work for a great company and you make an awesome product that can do some really cool stuff, what’s your next step? Getting your name and brand out to the public and letting everyone know what it is your company can do, how you do it, and how remarkably well your products and services will fulfill an industry niche. But wait! Before you jump into all the technical specs of how many bits, bytes, downhole drill meters or parts per million, remember the golden rule of all writing: keep it simple.

Believe it or not, it’s writing advice that is commonly forgotten in the heat of expressing yourself, especially when you have so much that you want to say. Take a step back and examine that last sentence you wrote: Is it filled with numbers, abbreviations, technical terminology and unfamiliar idioms? If so, then it’s time to peruse a few easy strategies to ensure your text doesn’t become engulfed by baffling technical language.

1. Read it out loud. Does it sound OK coming out of your own mouth? Do the sentences and ideas trip off your tongue naturally, or do you feel yourself pausing as you read to puzzle out the concepts that seemed effortless as you wrote them? Are you out of breath before you finish? If any of these things are true, and the words don’t flow smoothly as you read, it’s a sign that you need to try scaling back a little on the information. If you throw out too many facts, figures, statistics and comments, all at once, the reader will get lost in it very quickly, even if they are familiar with the concepts. Make it easy on your reader and introduce everything in a measured way to ensure a thoughtful and perceptive read.

2. Three letters: SVO, take a hint from the English classes you took when you were young and remind yourself about the common parts of speech and sentence construction; do you have the basic Subject-Verb-Object phrasing? While this construction may seem basic, it assures understanding: “the cat sleeps quietly” may seem boring, but it also makes a lot of sense.

3. Do you need a dictionary? How ’bout Google? If even once you need to look up the meaning of a word you’ve written, then you need to find a simpler way to say what it is you mean. A good strategy is to explain the concept to yourself in print. If your personal explanation strikes a chord in your own mind, try using it directly in your text to clarify all of the concepts.

4. Highlight the industry terms on the screen. How many are there? Is most of your screen taken up with color? Try to keep the level of such vocabulary low, if one sentence or paragraph is crowded with them, spread them out a bit with explanations of their meaning to heighten their impact and lessen the swarm.

5. Can you spell all of the concepts you’ve just put down? Some might claim that spellcheck is ruining our character, but there are advantages to having enough knowledge of your topic that you don’t need any outside help writing about it. Spellcheck is always a good first reviewer of your work, but keep in mind that it won’t catch all of your mistakes (and may introduce a couple), so if you’re having trouble keeping everything straight — and spelled correctly — then you should probably scale back the scope of your final text.

6. Sometimes the best reviewer of what you’ve written is a person with absolutely no knowledge of the subject. If a layperson can read and understand with ease the substance of your content, then you’ve hit a homerun. Imagine the reader of your work as an archeologist or historian who must puzzle out the meaning with only the text at hand; by giving a full and complete explanation of your subject matter you’ve done a thorough job of getting your message out there.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the longest lasting, too many details and confusing words can crowd the field. By using these tips you can make your text undemanding of the reader thus getting across your ideas in a more worthwhile manner.

References:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_of_speech

The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/09/has-spell-check-ruined-us.html

TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/how_simple_ideas_lead_to_scientific_discoveries.html

“You don’t get a second chance at a first impression.” This statement holds true in many regards, including when writing a press release. The first paragraph of your release will either grab the reader’s attention, or make them lose interest and move on. Pull them in to keep reading by including the most pertinent and interesting facts up front.

The following tips will help make your first paragraph memorable, informative, and most importantly, make your audience keep reading:

• Include the most important information first. If a reader has to wait until the end of the release for the facts that they need, you will have already lost them. “Your first paragraph is the most important part of your press release, because it may be your only chance to capture the eyes and attention of media and consumers. You need to explicitly state the name of the company or organization that is announcing news, along with what the nature of that news is. If you fail to do this in the first ‘graph of your release, you run the risk of losing your intended audience right off the bat,” says Mitch Schneider, a Senior Account Executive at Marketwire for almost 7 years, who has also worked in public relations.

• Keep it short. The first paragraph should be no more than 3-5 short sentences. Don’t waste time with drawn out explanations; get down to the basics and save elaborations for the later paragraphs. According to Lori-Ann Harbridge, Senior Editor, who has been at Marketwire for more than 10 years, “It’s important to have all the relevant details of the announcement in the first paragraph of your release. Think WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and WHY. Journalists don’t always have time to read the entire release, so get to the point and make it interesting.”

• Make it unique and relatable. Draw your readers in by asking a question, including an anecdote, or aligning your release with a topic that is of personal or public interest to your audience. Tie in your announcement with a current event, hot topic, or make it timely by aligning it with the season or any upcoming holidays. Know your audience and what they are looking for. For example, if you are writing a Features release, your first paragraph should be “timeless” and easy for journalists to reprint word-for-word. Be sure your first paragraph highlights why this news is important to your readers. Above all, make it interesting!

Aside from the headline, the first paragraph of a release is the most important element to either make a journalist or consumer invest their time in reading your news, or disregard it entirely. It should demonstrate why this news is important and unique. All the necessary facts should come first, and any further explanations or secondary information can follow later in the release to support the main details.

Oh, here’s a question for you: One of our readers asked in 10 tips for today’s business bloggers, “But what about how to keep the idea fountain flowing? Any tips for when it’s running a bit dry?”

We’ll have an article covering this topic soon but I wanted to put it out to you- what do you do to keep the ideas flowing?

Include Features Releases in Your Content Marketing Strategy.

Content marketing is hot. It’s a way for organizations, whether large or small, B2B or B2C, to communicate with their customers in a way that doesn’t involve direct selling. By delivering valuable information to your customers you create credibility and trust, and in the process, you earn their loyalty and business.

A features release is an ideal component of a content marketing campaign. Try using a “hub and spoke” approach in which all of your campaign-specific content assets such as white papers, Web content, blog posts and your features release (the spokes) link to a central hub such as a microsite or landing page specific to the campaign.

By including a unique tracking hyperlink in your features release you’re able to identify how much traffic it drives to your landing page in comparison with your other tactics. And on that landing page, which includes a call to action or offer, you can see how many of the people who read your features release take advantage of your offer. That’s a measurement you can apply directly to determining return on investment.

Reach the Right People. Begin by Listening.

How do you know if your features story will appeal to the people you want to attract? Begin by “eavesdropping” in on the social media conversations your customers and target audiences are having with each other. You can learn a lot about their issues, challenges, needs and wants and you might even find new types of audiences for your products or services. There are free and paid monitoring tools to accomplish this such as BlogPulse, SocialMention, Facebook Search and Sysomos. Once you’re armed with this intelligence you’re ready to translate your messages into a features story that addresses the general themes under discussion. You’re also in a position to join in and contribute to the most pertinent of those social media conversations and, when appropriate, include a link to your features release to support your points.

As with any online content asset, make sure you incorporate relevant keywords in your features release so it will appear at the top of search engine results pages when your target audiences are searching for those topics. 

When you make your features release part of your content marketing strategy you multiply its potential reach many times over through print and online newspapers, magazines, broadcast outlets and websites – many with audiences that number in the millions.  Here are two examples: 

• EmpowHER Offers Resources to Help Women Manage Holiday Stress
• Fall Gardening Is Easier Than Ever
  

Features Themes for 2012: Now Is the Time to Plan

Marketwire just published its new 2012 Features Calendar that includes topics and copy deadlines found on 2012 media editorial calendars. Take a moment to check it out. You’ll find great ideas for timely topics that you can align with the products and services your organization offers. Put on your creative hat to find a new, interesting slant.  Perhaps you can write a how-to features story to educate people about your industry. Or you could describe how your organization solved a particular problem or addressed a need. Again, align this content around what interests people who might be potential buyers for your products or services. Remember to keep your angle interesting and content timeless to boost your chances of media publication. There’s no limit to the possibilities. 

Be sure to read these related posts about maximizing the impact of your online content:

• Ask the Expert: 5 great tips on how to create content and conversations, courtesy of Rebecca Lieb
• The 5 Ws of successful website content
• 4 ways to rethink how we measure our content marketing ROI

Here are a few ways to catch a blogger’s attention:

Research.  Know who you’re pitching to. Don’t assume that, because you Googled “medical blogger,” the first link for a medical blogger appearing at the top of a search engine results page is the best person to pitch. Always research individual bloggers, read some of their posts and review the feedback they receive.

Get Personal.  Get to know the blogger. Don’t pitch to a blogger just because you want him or her to write about what you pitch. You should also be a fan of the blogger, get familiar with his or her work, likes and dislikes, and subscribe to the blog. Pitching becomes a little easier when you add a personal touch such as “I agree with your post about …”

Don’t Beat Around the Bush.  Get to the point. Journalists don’t want to read long pitches or emails and neither do bloggers.

Don’t Drop Email Bombs.  Once you’ve emailed your pitch, don’t overwhelm bloggers with incessant follow-up. Everyone is bombarded by emails and sending an email every day or following up too soon can make a blogger ignore you. Give them time and bloggers will reply to you when they have read your email and let you know what they think.

Make it Clear Why a Blogger Should Respond.  Everyone wants to know what’s in it for them. If bloggers don’t feel that what you’re pitching them is worth their time or they’re not getting something in return, they’re more likely not to respond.

Follow these tips and a blogger can become your best ally in getting your organization’s messages across to your target online audiences. Just as you wouldn’t ignore key news outlets in your public relations strategy, blogs are a necessary and natural extension of your PR program. In fact, depending on your product or service, blogs often attract far greater numbers of engaged readers than do mainstream media.

Learn more about blogger relations and the best ways to navigate traditional and social media.  Download Marketwire’s free 6-chapter eBook, ”Mastering Audience Engagement.”

Check out the Sysomos blog for articles and insights into social media monitoring and analytics.

I’ll save the technicalities for another day (or take a look at my visual interpretation). Instead, here are a few SEO best practices for journalists and PR pros:

1. Include your keywords in the title and title tag, if possible.
   Your headline is the first thing that search engines look at to determine relevancy. If your article is “tips for traveling to Europe with children,” that could be a title in and of itself. Certain root keywords – like “travel,” “jobs” and “recipes” – are hard to rank for if used by themselves because so many other websites want to rank for the same keywords. Try to be as specific as possible in order to lessen the chance of your competitors appearing on the same search results. 
2. Include your keywords in the ALT-Tag of images.
   For SEO, images can function just like words, so it’s in your best interest to make them searchable and associate them with the same keywords that you inserted in your headline (if applicable). Another added benefit:  ALT-Tags will indicate those keywords in case the image fails to load properly. Keeping with the example above, if you included a photograph with you copy, be sure the ALT tag of your photo is descriptive and keyword-relevant. Instead of “filename123.jpg,” a more effective alternative might be “family vacation Venice Italy.”
3. When location is a primary consideration, insert keywords and include links that are specific to that area.
   Any location-specific content should be reflected in the keywords for your article or release in order to maintain the integrity of your SEO tactics and to increase your chances that your content will be found in search results. Let’s say you’re writing a review on a new hotel. The Los Angeles location just opened and the corporate headquarters is in New York. Which location do you use as a keyword? For SEO purposes, you use “Los Angeles” (to be exact, “new Los Angeles hotel”) simply because that’s what your article is focusing on and that’s what your readers will search for. The same goes for phone numbers, addresses and any other location-specific information.
4. Turn your keywords into anchor text for links.
   Throughout your article, sprinkle your keywords, but make them link-able to enhance SEO. 
5. Make your content shareable.
   Search engines also pay attention to how shareable your content is:  Links, tabs, icons and buttons that lead your readers to further engagement with them.

No matter what your content is about, writing with good SEO practices will help your articles to be found by new readers and ranked within search engine results. SEO and good writing often go hand-in-hand anyway. Many journalists already have an affinity for SEO because they write with keywords and phrases in mind. But they also have to concentrate on the “focal points” of their story to maintain relevancy for the audiences that they write for. The science of SEO can only take content so far; it’s got to be a good story that is of interest to your target audiences for it to be effective and meaningful to them. So, write for SEO, but always keep the reader in mind.

Related articles:

• From the Editor’s Desk: How to write SEO-catchy headlines
• Ask the Expert: Julie Wildhaber of Yahoo! gives journalists some tips on search engine visibility

Although the film focuses on The New York Times, it suggests that many of the general issues that the Times is experiencing are also taking their toll on other print-based publications: declines in advertising and subscriptions, massive lay-offs, the advent of social media, the shifting role of journalists, etc. To personify the publication, the filmmakers honed in on David Carr, a reputable journalist with a checkered past who covers the media industry for the Times. He contends that “…media is a technology business. Changes in technology affect changes in media,” but is hard-pressed to relent to the growing opinion that “the newspaper is dead.”

The proof is in the pudding. In a South by Southwest (SXSW) panel discussion, Gawker, an aggregated news source, said that, in not so many words, traditional outlets like The New York Times are a thing of the past. As a telling rebuttal, Carr showed the audience what Gawker’s home page would look like if not for those “old-school” publications: one with gaping holes with little to no content.

Ouch.

As the internet surpasses print as our main news source, the Times is but one of many media icons struggling to stay relevant and solvent. To that end, the Times created a paywall, gating much of its online content – a risky move, to be sure. But, by year’s end, the Times may have 350,000 paying subscribers for its electronic edition, a year after the paywall’s debut.

Admittedly, I still flip through entire editions of printed newspapers (yes, even the Sports section) because I learn things that aren’t in the sections that I would normally refer to online. As current and future generations become more and more reliant on electronic and mobile devices, hard-copy editions may follow the way of the dinosaur. However, full integration probably won’t happen until my 6-year-old niece is married with kids. So, The New York Times and other traditional outlets will live on, but maybe not in print format.

Here are some other takeaways from my teammates:

• “Regardless of the number of aggregated online sites that gain momentum or the number of social channels that give rise to citizen journalism, traditional media is still an integral part of carrying messages to the masses.  As David Carr noted at the beginning of the movie, social channels are just new platforms for which they (journalists) need to be accountable.  Would The Huffington Post or Newser have succeeded without The New York Times?”
• “What the movie brought home for me was this question: If ‘everyone’ on the internet today is a publisher and Twitter is the go-to source for breaking news, where does that leave the trained, passionate, in-the-trenches investigative reporter – and us as a society? Journalists can fall in with the ranks of bloggers and tweet along with the rest of us. But, is that heeding their deep-down call to expose the truth and promote justice?”
• “The juxtaposition of the personalities and journalistic practices personify much of what’s true about the state of media today, as analog and digital news attempt to co-exist, and a business model based on advertising revenue and paid subscription crumble in the face of blogging, Twitter and YouTube. Watching the movie was much like sitting front-row at a prize fight between the heavyweight champion of the world and a brash new challenger.”
• “The moral of the story for me focused on perseverance. The New York Times is clearly an iconic figure in American publishing history, but it was incredible to see what happened when their position was jeopardized. Countless other goliaths toppled in the industry around them while it stood strong. It looked (and continues to look) diversity in the eye and is still around to talk about it. The fighting spirit of the Times can be harnessed in many other organizations and industries as they face doubt – their own or from others — but simply rolling over will not suffice.”
• “As I watched the movie, I was struck by how traditional media has been so radically altered and impacted by the internet, and by the choices people make to acquire information. I thought back to the ‘60s when the media was considered the fourth branch of government; when they had a noble calling: To investigate fairly and comprehensively to ensure fairness and equality, while maintaining an egalitarian America that, as the movie suggests, has since faded. Will we ever miss investigative journalism and the need for deeper meaning about what happens in our society? Time will tell if our dependence on quick and easy access to information — without a moral purpose or compass — will make us less compassionate and more detached.”
• “I was disappointed that the movie did not focus more on traditional versus online journalism. Page One: Inside The New York Times is to journalism what An Inconvenient Truth was to global warming.  We all know doom is ahead for traditional media because of the rise and importance of online journalism, but it’s far from being dead.”
• “The movie provided a behind-the-scenes look at the ‘Page 1’ meetings where editors discuss the topics that should appear on the front of the paper. It gave us a sense of what goes into the decision-making process and what power plays are involved, how stories are generated and how editors and writers interact.”

Of course, these opinions, including my own, may well do a 180 as new technologies disrupt those that were once disruptive. Although insecurity has pervaded the media industry well before “internet” became a household word, The New York Times and other traditional outlets are still here – and, hopefully, here to stay as they will undoubtedly continue to reinvent themselves to forge new paths, cross unchartered territory and, yes, avoid the same fate as the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Related articles:

• From the Editor’s Desk: Revisiting journalistic code of ethics
• From the Editor’s Desk: 5 essential social media tools for journalists

In light of the events that unfolded at News of the World, one must wonder what happened to the ethics of some journalists. In a world that creates and is driven by non-stop news, a code of ethics has never been more important than it is today. Whether you’re a seasoned journalist or a J-school student, here are a few guidelines to help keep you on the straight and narrow:

1. Tell the truth.
   These days, the truth can be a gray area. However, the pursuit of truth is one of the main tenets that inspire and guide journalists to provide the public with as complete a picture as possible.
2. Be honest.
   Truth and honesty go hand in hand. But, based on the News of the World scandal, they were “interpreted” differently – or just blatantly ignored. Honesty covers a wide range of practices and should be prevalent throughout the journalistic process so that your credibility will never be questioned.
3. Be upfront.
   Readers are extremely savvy. They want to know that your articles are as transparent as possible – without jeopardizing the privacy of others. They want to understand your process so that they can determine whether to trust you – or trash you. The Online Journalism Reviewsays:“Tell your readers how you got your information, and what factors influenced your decision to publish it…Don’t hide whom you work for, or where the money to support your site comes from.”
4. Maintain objectivity.
   In other words, tell both sides of the story and avoid conflicts of interest (i.e., no gifts, money or any form of payment).
5. Distinguish between news and opinion.
   Objectivity can be thrown out if your article is an op-ed piece. However, in the spirit of “being upfront,” it should be clearly stated that you’re voicing your personal opinion rather than providing factual content.

There are other codes, but the ones above provide a general journalistic standard that speaks to the nature of what journalists do, what is expected from them and how they should conduct themselves, no matter what company they end up working for.

There is a silver lining as we put the News of the World situation behind us. Hopefully, journalistic standards and codes of ethics are being re-examined and reinforced throughout the world’s media organizations.

Here are a few social media tools that you can use to enhance your own journalistic processes:

(1)    Facebook + Journalists
Facebook provides journalists with ways to make use of Facebook pages – from distributing content to establishing your own brand.

(2)    Muck Rack
You might have heard of a little thing called Twitter? Muck Rack is Twitter for journalists.

(3)    Sysomos
If you think you’re ahead of the game by actively participating in social media, you’re not ahead of it – you’re merely in it. Sysomos is a social media monitoring and sentiment analysis tool that can give you greater insights into the stories you’re working on and the audiences who consume them.

(4)    Storify
Storify allows you to create stories based on existing social media mentions. Grab the specific sources that are relevant to your piece, notify them to encourage further outreach and collaborate with other “editors.”

(5)    EtherPad
Through EtherPad, multiple people can review and edit your draft at the same time with changes instantly reflected. 

Social media might seem daunting to wrap your head around, if it means more than creating a Facebook and/or Twitter account. But, there are plenty of tools out there to help you manage and take advantage of all that it has to offer.

Related articles:

• 10 tips for creating smart and engaging content: Marketwire eBook
• You.com: Storytelling at its best takes social media To Infinity and Beyond
• From the Editor’s Desk: An introduction to interactive journalism

Or is that, “colors,” flavor,” and “neighbor”?  It depends on whether or not your English, Canadian or American.

Most of us are all-too familiar with those red squiggly lines that appearing under words in text documents and email when we use U’s or  S’s (in words that have more than one correct spelling), and when we type words like “organize” or “labour.” What are some of the differences between “Commonweath English” and American English?  

Commonwealth English tends to stick rather closely to its European roots, maintaining its Latin and Greek suffixes. It almost always uses -our, -re, and –ise, whereas American English uses -or, -er, and -ize word-endings. But it doesn’t stop there. British English also uses definite articles with several institutional nouns that its American counterpart doesn’t:  “A sick patient is in hospital” (UK) versus “…in the hospital” (USA).

And although the nuances between British and American English don’t stop at the written word, they do become less about the language, more about the region and are often quite humourous. For example, in Britain, a mechanic might look under your bonnet to ensure all’s well, but in North America, a mechanic usually bends over the hood of your car to check things out.

 A Canadian is most likely to call their winter head-gear a “toque” while their American neighbours are more inclined to call it a “knit or wool hat.” Same with pop/soda and chocolate bar/candy bar: It all depends on where you live.

Related articles:

• From the Editor’s Desk: Commonly confused words — Just one letter can make all the difference
• From the Editor’s Desk: How to avoid the most time-honored mistakes when writing a press release