News in the headline, the reasons behind it in the deck
One way to avoid repeating yourself in your news headline and deck: Answer “What happened?” in the headline and “Why?” in the deck.
These USA Today headlines demonstrate this approach. I include the leads here to give you more context for the story.
| What happened? | Taliban attacks spur calls for troops |
| Why? | Enemy undeterred despite airstrikes |
| Lead | A shortage of ground troops in Afghanistan has led the Pentagon to significantly intensify its air campaign in the first half of the year to the highest levels since 2003 to fight the resurgence of the Taliban. |
| What happened? | Kidney stone cases could heat up |
| Why? | Global warming cited as culprit |
| Lead | Global warming could trigger a rise in kidney stones, resulting in 1.6 million new cases by 2050, University of Texas researchers warned Monday. |
| What happened? | Vacant shipping containers given new life on land |
| Why? | Steel boxes being reused as building blocks for eco-friendly, affordable housing |
| Lead | An outside-the-box idea has some architects and home buyers turning to inside-the-box eco-friendly, affordable housing that uses as building blocks the 8-by-40-foot steel containers often left vacant at seaports. |
How can you reach nonreaders with PR copy?
People skim 67% of news, according to a recent Harris Poll. Just 19% read news word-by-word.
So how can you craft PR pieces that get the word out to flippers and skippers?
Find out at NOT Your Father’s PR Writing — our PR-writing workshop.
There, you’ll learn to make the most of the hot spot in your headline … get found with Ann’s simple SEO techniques and tools … and make your message more skimmable with the palm of your hand.
Plus: Learn to make your PR message 47% more usable by adding a few simple elements.
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