Author: Tom Unger
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When you receive an assignment, determine the real deadline
We’ve all been there. Your supervisor gives you a writing assignment and sets a deadline for completion. But problems can arise. Sources are hard to reach, don’t get back to you, are ill, or are on vacation. You’re just not able to gather the information you need to finish the piece. You start sweating as…
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Don’t put all your effort into just one story pitch
Public relations professionals can learn a lesson in pitching stories from Major League Baseball pitchers. There isn’t a professional baseball pitcher in the world who would succeed if he only threw curves, or fastballs, or sliders, or changeups. Batters would quickly realize it and be able to hit him. After working decades in media relations…
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When you should not send out a communication
As business communicators, we place a high value on transparency in an organization. Our immediate tendency is to bend over backwards to reveal as much information as possible to our employee audiences about any given topic. But I’m here to tell you that there are at least four scenarios I can think of when it’s…
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Maintaining consistency is a must in your business writing
One of the most common errors I encounter when editing others’ business writing is consistency. Maintaining consistency in your writing is easy to do, but only if you keep it top of mind. Here are a few examples: “We must complete this project by noon,” said Lenny Jones. “The entire organization is depending on us,”…
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Four keys for comms pros to win the trust of senior executives
I had not thought about it much before but when I was asked to speak to a bank’s communications team in Texas recently, I had to reflect on my career and the five regional presidents I served during the many years I worked at a multinational financial services company. The Texas bankers requested I speak…
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Why effective business communications is difficult for some pros
The writing we all did in high school and college is vastly different than the writing we need to produce in the workplace. And yet, some things remain the same. I had an epiphany about this first while editing pieces written by my two children when they were in college and then later while working…
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Studying Olympics coverage can make your pitch a gold medal winner
If you want to successfully pitch news stories, you need to think – and write – like a news reporter. That’s one of the strategies I’ve used during my 30+ year career in public relations to place countless stories. And reading some of the news stories coming out of the current Olympic Games in Tokyo…
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Three tips for successfully navigating the approval process gauntlet
You’ve interviewed multiple sources for that news release, speech or internal communications newsletter article. After you write a great draft, you send it out to your reviewers for approval. And you wait… And you wait… You send out a reminder email. And you wait… And your deadline starts getting closer… What should you do? It’s…
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Transparency a key factor in high impact internal comms
A new client recently asked me to present a virtual workshop on internal communications to its comms team. In preparing my presentation, I came up with five characteristics of what I believe constitute a high impact (high quality) internal communications program. I was delighted to read the new issue of American Banker magazine (April 2021),…
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Capt. Tom’s lesson: your most valuable possession is not fortune, fame
The death of beloved Capt. Tom Moore on Feb. 2 at the age of 100 reminds us that our most valuable possession is not fortune or fame. If you’re not familiar with Capt. Tom, last year this World War II vet and British resident set out to raise 1,000 pounds for the healthcare workers in…
Recent Posts
- When you receive an assignment, determine the real deadline
- Don’t put all your effort into just one story pitch
- When you should not send out a communication
- Maintaining consistency is a must in your business writing
- Four keys for comms pros to win the trust of senior executives
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#Olympics Apple computers Dunkin' Donuts Ebola virus Intel Mad Men Netflix Nike PRSA public relations Roseanne
Comments
I view this blog as an outlet for me as an individual to express my opinions and offer advice about…
Great advice, Unger! It's way too easy to treat writing like a task and move on to the next item…