UNIT 2 NOTES

When you write a letter to your friend, you try to be personal and subjective. On the other hand, you
are impersonal, objective, and direct when you write your project report. Similarly, when you talk to
a friend, you use informal language and casual style. In contrast, you use formal language when you
make an oral presentation. The reason is obvious. You may like to express your feelings, emotions,
and sentiments through a letter or an informal casual conversation, but you are only concerned with
facts when you are writing a technical report or making an oral presentation. This difference of
attitude and approach determines the characteristic features of ‘general style’ and ‘technical style’.

Since ‘style’ is a major consideration in technical communication, we need to look more closely at
the concept of style in technical communication. What is style? Style refers to the way something is
said rather than what is said. For our purposes, style is the distinctive mode or manner of expressing
ideas in language. But what is this distinctive mode or manner of expression? This distinctive manner
may refer to the process of choosing appropriate:

 Words and phrases (formal, informal, technical, and so on)

 Sentence structure (simple, complex, compound, mixed, and so on)
 Sentence type (affi rmative, negative, questions, question tags, and so on)
 Rhetorical devices or discourse writing techniques (description, narration, explanation,
comparison and contrast, and so on)
 Effective logical structure and organisation.

Style in communication depends on several factors. It largely depends on:

 The audience—for example, the same message when addressed to a superior is expressed
more diplomatically and tactfully, but when addressed to subordinates it is more direct and
forceful.
 The communicative context—for example, conveying routine information and making
requests, communicating good or bad news, conveying goodwill or trying to persuade
someone.
 The purpose—for example, the way one conveys good news is not the same as conveying
bad news.

Style could be very formal, as in a technical report or a professional presentation, or very informal,
as in a personal letter or casual conversation. The most effective style is the one that accurately
encodes the thought content of the message into appropriate language. It is important to adopt and
use an appropriate style in order to be effective. Thus, style in technical communication may refer to
the way a person puts words together into sentences, arranges sentences into paragraphs, and
organises paragraphs to frame a piece of writing or an appropriate oral discourse to convey technical
information clearly and accurately. In short, it is the way one speaks or writes when one deals with a
technical or scientific subject.

Style in technical communication is the way one speaks or writes to convey technical information.
PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR is short for "public relations" and refers to the strategic communication from an organization to
the public to maintain or cultivate public image and/or respond to public discourse.

Public relations practice is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
mutual understanding between an organisation and its public

Public relations consists of all forms of planned communication, outwards and inwards, between an
organisation and its publics for the purpose of achieving specific objectives concerning mutual
understanding

There’s an old saying: “Advertising is what you pay for; publicity is what you pray for.”

Unlike advertisers, who tell stories through paid methods, PR professionals tell their stories through
unpaid or earned media.

PRESS RELEASE

One to two-page document that shares breaking news with the public.

Places the most important information first.

The goal of a press release is to grab the attention of the media and to propel your brand into the
spotlight

1. Find a newsworthy angle

The first thing to consider is that this official document is to be sent to targeted members of the
media. In most cases, this will be journalists. What do journalists like? You guessed it, newsworthy
angles. Too often businesses write press releases that are not newsworthy. If the journalist doesn’t
pick up on this, it won’t get coverage.

Before you write and issue a press release, ask yourself “is there value in this story? Is there anything
new? Anything unusual or unexpected about it? Would it be of interest to anyone outside of my
business? Will people care?

2. Know your audience

Like every piece of effective copy, a press release should be written with a target audience in mind.
However, a press release shouldn’t be written for that target audience. They are written for the
media, be it the editor, journalist or broadcaster and they should be tailored to the readership,
viewers and listeners of that publication or programme.

3. Who, What, When, Where and Why

It should be noted that editors of a press release edit from the bottom up. So it is important to
ensure the most essential points are at the top. So, what are the essential points?

Who – The key players, your company and stakeholders. Who does your news affect and who does it
benefit?

What – What is the news based on? Your product, service, event or experience

When – What is the timing of this? Does the time add significance?

Where – Where is this happening?

Why – Why is this important and why should people care?

4. Structure

Press releases are formulaic in nature and are created within a particular set of constraints.

5. Unambiguous headline

As with every piece of copy be it an email, article, newsletter or blog post, the success of your press
release depends at least in part (a big part) on its headline. Press release headlines not only tell the
reader what the story is about, but they are also your sales pitch to the media. Journalists, editors
and broadcasters will use your headline to determine whether the story is even worth reading. If
they don’t click with it, they are likely to bin it.

6. Write in the third person

Like a news story, a press release should be written in the third person. In short, the key thing to
remember is to avoid words like “me,” “we,” and “us”. You will find no “we did this” or “I think that”
written in the body of a good press release. You should imagine that someone else is telling your
story at all times.

7. Include the perfect quote

Quotes are an essential part of your press release, do not let them go to waste. At the end of the
day, they are the only thing that journalists cannot change so make good use of them by throwing in
some strong key messages to strengthen your release.

8. Finishing your press release

So, you’ve come to the end of your press release and its time to tie it all together. In keeping with
the inverted pyramid structure, this is not the time to insert anything of direct importance to your
story. It is time to tie it all together.

Additional information

The end of a press release should provide additional relevant links that support it. If your company
has more information online that readers may find useful, it should be inserted here. The online
nature of the distribution of a press release makes links a handy way to redirect readers to this
information.

Contact section

The most important part of the final section of a press release is to ensure you include your contact
details in a clear and succinct way. If your story is newsworthy, you can expect journalists to want to
get in touch with your company for more information. Make your key people easily contactable by
providing contact details on the press release page itself.

Ensure you provide relevant contact details. For example, if your release is on the innovation of your
business, you may wish to provide the details of your engineering or research team for the media. It
is vital to the success of your press release to include the contact details of the person who will act
as the link between the media and your people. Contact details must include:

The company’s official name

Media departments name and contact information

Office address

Telephone and fax numbers

Email addresses and website address

There you have it, the essential characteristics of an effective press release. Once you have found
your newsworthy angle, it is time to begin the writing process. Do not fret at the pressures of writing
it yourself as we now know that there are plenty of writing services to do this for you. If you do
decide to undertake the creation of your own press release, the next step is to become totally aware
of your audience; the media.

Writing for the media is different but no less demanding. Ensure to stick to the inverted pyramid
structure and to make good use of the 5 W’s. In doing so, remember to remain in this person at all
times, except for the use of quotes. This should remind you nicely of the profound ability of quotes
to strengthen your release.