PR pros need to write more like (gasp) copywriters!

While PR pros have been trained to emulate journalists in their writing, things are changing and the tables have turned. Now, at least when writing headlines, we need to start writing like sales copywriters.

It’s no secret that audiences are bombarded with messages these days. Bombarded. We naturally look for ways to parse, sort and filter information to determine what’s important and immediate. In many cases, we do this based on a single line of text: the subject of an e-mail, the post title in our RSS reader or the headline of a press release or news story. You could write the grandest, juiciest and most interesting press release ever, but if a reporter never opens the attachment, does it really matter?

If a press release falls in the forest…