I caught a great article in Forbes that gives some PR context to the research conducted by Pew about the changing media landscape. Latest statistics I have read are still putting the PR pro to reporter ratio at 4:1, so some of this information is in line with that. Perhaps, more surprising to me is how few of the general public even realize the changes happening right in front of them.
Hopefully, this marvelous infograph that accompanied the article will shed some light on things for that 60% who claim to know nothing about the financial struggles of the media industry. Because I am led to believe that they may also know nothing about the effects those finances have on the content seen in the news.
Comm major and science lover... not necessarily a natural combo. However, as industries merge professions of art and science are more closely linked all the time. People are asking 'Why?' and the response 'Because I said so' doesn't really fly in a professional setting.
I've been bogged down in churning out articles, and releases and pitches and ad copy and blog posts and social media posts... and lists, lately. Assignments come in and I send them out, Monday through Friday. Sometimes as professional communicators, we forget how valuable our capabilities as wordsmiths are to the clients, brands, customers we serve. For a great majority of us, writing, crafting the perfect message, acting as a Thesaurus to friends, it comes very easily and naturally. In this way, it can be easy to lose sight of how the things we are communicating truly affect other people. Not to mention, there are constant challenges to the validity in the entire profession for lack of proven research. Reminder: writing is not necessarily something everyone can do.
Right? I mean, just because you have been pouring over a brilliant, yet simple, video script for weeks that will be lucky to get a couple hundred views, while the effortless, script-less Harlem Shake phenomenon is commandeering YouTube, does not mean that your video script does not provide value.
Can anyone really say why something so silly was considered a viral, marketing success? I doubt the inventors of the Harlem Shake had any idea, but in reflection a marketer can give you reasons why the simple video resonated with people. A notion that is somewhat foreign to more scientific professions, often, we work based on feeling, on invoking emotion, on moving people toward an action. But, there isn't always a lot of hard fact or methodically proven reasoning for every word.
So, a professional communicator can feel as though there is a lack of real value in writing, whether it is a simple letter or a full-blown ad campaign, it can be very subjective. Or maybe a client strips you of the value by re-writing everything you so expertly composed.
Next time, back that sentence up with scientific research! That's right, use of the word 'because' can be scientifically proven to be the right word. This very interesting article, 7 Scientifically-Backed Copywriting Tips, will tell you how.
Get your gusto back this week, my fellow writers. And, if you have writer's block and are not sick to death of the Harlem Shake, I recommend the Charlie Brown version at the start of this Top Ten Countdown.
