Ann Wylie’s blog of writing tips

How to come up with a brand story

‘How we make it’ and 4 other ways to find a brand narrative

The other day, my wasband came home with a bottle of Kelt — not his usual cognac.… Read the full article

Why write a multi-deck headline?

Because it’s the best-read element on the page

Decks — those one-sentence summaries under the headline — do the heavy lifting on webpages.

Indeed, according to The Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack III study of reader behavior:

95% of webpage visitors read all or part of the deck.

… Read the full article

When to use a bulleted list

6 reasons to list lists

Lists comprise some of history’s most memorable content — from Moses’ 10 Commandments to Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, from Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits to Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues.… Read the full article

Example of a human-interest story about members

Let people stand for your association, bill or industry

Promoting an association, union, society or other members-only group? Use members to demonstrate the benefits of membership.… Read the full article

Use employees for human-interest feature stories [Examples!]

Let people stand for your principles

America’s executives spend more time crafting their company’s mission, vision and values statements than our Founding Fathers spent writing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.… Read the full article

Check out these human-interest stories [Examples!]

Let customers, clients, kids & more make your point for you

When Allstate Foundation launched a teen-driving summit to help reduce the number of teenagers killed in car crashes, the company’s PR pros started the press release like this:

Seventeen-year-old Lauren Hashiguchi of Beaverton, Ore.,

… Read the full article