Thrive Public Relations knows the importance of written communication and what it can do for an organization. Being able to write an effective message that resonates with a target audience is an essential skill for a public relations team. Thrive PR strives for effective communication in all the pieces it creates for Youth Oasis and tailors each message to the medium and audience it is intended for to make the best impact.
Written communication is used inside and outside of an organization, to connect with and relay information to everyone who is affected by it, including; employees, volunteers, the community, and the press. As Youth Oasis’s public relations team, Thrive creates messages for everyone the organization wants to reach and uses different techniques for each audience and medium used to relay that message.
For reaching Youth Oasis’s community, Thrive uses social media. This platform is unique in practices compared to other forms of communication because it is about getting the message out in a little words as possible. Thrive takes the advice of Robert Wynne from Forbes when using social media and tries to be brief and not boring. By doing this the message is more likely to be read because people don’t want to sort through a paragraph of information to find what is relative to them, they want it as quickly as possible in this medium.
To reach Youth Oasis’s employees and volunteers, Thrive has to focus on creating an in-house newsletter structure that can be used repeatedly and can be updated with the current news of Youth Oasis. As Thrive begins setting up the structure and writing the newsletters for Youth Oasis, it keeps in mind that a newsletter relays important news to the employees and volunteers of the organization. The PRNews Blog advises not to force big news out of small news. Thrive makes sure that the information going out to employees and volunteers is information that is needed to be known. As The PRNews Blog suggests, if you hype up information as a big story and it turns out not to be, credibility will be lost and the value of future messages will be diminished. As the communication team for Youth Oasis, Thrive distinguishes and writes about newsworthy information and communicates it at appropriate times.
Thrive also reaches out to the press on Youth Oasis’s behalf by creating press releases. When communicating with the media, Thrive knows it’s important to follow a specific structure and certain rules. One rule, stated by the PRSA forum PRSAY, is not to use jargon when writing. Using jargon only makes it harder for the media to understand the story that is trying to be relayed. Thrive uses the proper structure and omits jargon from press releases sent to the media to reduce confusion and create a clear message.
Although the message structure may vary with each platform, public relations writing makes sure each message is consistent with the core value of the organization. George N. Root calls this continuity and states that it is a “public relations practice to make sure a company sends a single and consistent message.” Throughout all messages, Thrive keeps in mind the core mission statement of the organization and makes sure each message reflects it.
Blog written by Meredith Kisow, writing director
Sources:
Faith, Goumas. (2014, May 02). Friday Five: Perfect Your PR Writing. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://prsay.prsa.org/index.php/2014/05/02/friday-five-perfect-your-pr-writing/
George, Root III. (n.d.). Importance of Written Communication in Public Relations Practice. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-written-communication-public-relations-practice-11316.html
Robert, Wynne. (2014, April 28). Winning Social Media Strategies For Public Relations. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/04/28/winning-social-media-strategies-for-public-relations/
Tony, Silber. (2013, May 28). Tips From a Reporter on Great PR Writing. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://www.prnewsonline.com/prnewsblog/index.php/2013/05/28/tips-from-a-reporter-on-great-pr-writing/
Sources:
Faith, Goumas. (2014, May 02). Friday Five: Perfect Your PR Writing. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://prsay.prsa.org/index.php/2014/05/02/friday-five-perfect-your-pr-writing/
George, Root III. (n.d.). Importance of Written Communication in Public Relations Practice. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-written-communication-public-relations-practice-11316.html
Robert, Wynne. (2014, April 28). Winning Social Media Strategies For Public Relations. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/04/28/winning-social-media-strategies-for-public-relations/
Tony, Silber. (2013, May 28). Tips From a Reporter on Great PR Writing. Retrieved October 05, 2015. http://www.prnewsonline.com/prnewsblog/index.php/2013/05/28/tips-from-a-reporter-on-great-pr-writing/