Get a friend to read stuff
Guy Clapperton MCIPR
The media trainer that helps you avoid being misquoted, misunderstood or misrepresented. My team will ensure you get value out of speaking to the press.
You know what undermines people? Getting their fundamental skills wrong in public. I had a little rant about this the other day; Ia third level connection marketing themselves as a copywriter and sending out a message of tips that "will help you alot". That was in the opening sentence.
"A lot" is two words. It's not important on social media or texting and nobody wants to be "that guy" who picks it up. It's perfectly comprehensible, I get that.
However, if you want to attract new clients and your craft is writing, it's worth ensuring that your first sentence doesn't tell your prospects that you have a slender grasp on where words stop and start.
The twist in the end is that the writer's name may well indicate that English is not their first language. They may not have realised that "alot" is going to undermine the excellent points they were making. And that's why you need someone else to look at this stuff.
Except this tip sheet, which I'm writing in isolation at home. I will spot any typos 20 seconds after hitting "send". Again.
Regards
Guy
Tell me less because I won't remember more
Last week's video tip was about being economical and not throwing all of your knowledge into every press interview:
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Paid v earned media
To Germany next week for a media training session with a new client. I'm looking forward to it. One thing the PR team has mentioned is that one of the delegates was extremely pleased with a recent piece of media coverage but didn't seem to realise it was a "sponsored" article - in other words the company paid for it.
This is one of those things that seems like second nature to journalists and PR people but not all executives get it. A colleague was once media training someone and the chief executive said journalists would write about his company if he paid them so he didn't need training. Well, yes, there are those paid-for opportunities and of course you stay in control when they arise; the readers will pay more attention to those articles not marked "advertorial" or a variant of that word, though. And those are the ones you don't get to vet prior to publication - your only option is to be prepared for press interviews and that takes practice - and of course training.
Hear me on a podcast
Tomorrow sees the release of a podcast I recorded for A3 Communications on why media training is important and of course I share a number of stories about it. Enjoy!
Get in touch
Do you or (for my PR colleagues) your clients need help from a senior journalist when it comes to being ready for interviews? My team and I will work with you on camera or off, in a studio or not as required. Why not contact me on LinkedIn and we can arrange an initial chat to see how we can help.
The media trainer that helps you avoid being misquoted, misunderstood or misrepresented. My team will ensure you get value out of speaking to the press.
2 个月And you can stare at it for some time, mysteriously unable to see the error! It’s no big deal unless, as in the example I’m quoting, you’re selling your prowess as a writer in the badly written post.
Public Relations Specialist, Media Relations, Animations
2 个月Always get another pair of eyes on it if you can. The amount of things with apostrophes in plurals continues to wow. You see it on TV ads all the time - how many people has that been past and no one spotted it. It looks amateur.