32-Year-Old PR Writing Tips That Are Still True

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When I read the article David Ogilvy’s 10 tips for clear, concise writing on PR Daily, I felt inspired. It is pretty impressive that he wrote these ten tips for his employees 32 years ago and every single one is still astoundingly true. I guess it just goes to show you how important they are for good PR writing.

I agreed with all of them (except the first one since I’ve never heard of that book, although I’m sure it’s great), but I had a few favorites — mostly because they served as reminders to the areas I personally need to improve on. Here are my two favorites and why:

  • “7. Never send a letter or memo the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning—and then edit it.” Lately, I have got in the habit of doing homework/projects in the evening. On numerous occasions, I find a mistake the next day. Working at the end of the day when my mind is tired is not as efficient as the morning, but I don’t have time to finish everything in the morning. I loved this tip because it reminded me that while I sometimes have to work in the evening, I should be editing the next day when my mind is clearer.
  • “4. Never use jargon words like ‘reconceptualize’, ‘demassification’, ‘attitudinally’, ‘judgmentally’. They are all hallmarks of pretense.” After reading this, I couldn’t help but chuckle thinking that I haven’t written something without using a thesaurus since… high school probably. I don’t think I regularly use any of the examples or comparable words, but I was reminded to use simple words over big words when I can, which I definitely need to work on.

Now for a few writing tips from me:

  1. Write somewhere quiet. Let your brain focus only on the task at hand.
  2. Think about your message from start to finish before you pick up a pen or start typing.
  3. If you’re feeling intimidated by a writing assignment, pour yourself a generous glass of wine and dive into it.
  4. Save your writing as you go. Hit “command S” after every paragraph. Discovering that the thing you spent three hours on last night didn’t save will ruin a good chunk of your day, guaranteed.
  5. If you can’t decide if a sentence sounds good or not, it doesn’t.
  6. When proofreading, read it out loud. Twice.
  7. When you finish writing something really great, go eat something really great.

So maybe they’re a bit less technical than David Ogilvy’s, but I like to follow them!

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