Abstract
William Thompson, University of Louisville, and Nicholas Browning, Indiana University, have developed a student-friendly guide to teach persuasive writing for public relations work. The text is geared toward those in schools of journalism and communication who aim to write for the industry, but it would lend itself nicely to schools of marketing and advertising as well.
The text puts most of its emphasis in the analysis stage before beginning the writing process, an often underappreciated step by students. As the authors repeat throughout the book, “Think first, write second.” What is approachable about this text is it visually shows the process; the pages are filled with graphs, models, and samples—at least one every page or so—showing students how the analysis step looks when executed. As such, the text is nicely designed. So nice it earned an American Inhouse Design Award in 2022 for its high-resolution images and color scheme that keep the pages lively for undergraduates.
As the authors note in their promotional video on the publisher’s website, they hope that by seeing the analysis step, students can learn to replicate it again and again in the field. I agree that repetition is useful for sophomore and junior PR students. And, for senior PR students (and even graduate students with minimal communication backgrounds), professors adopting this text will appreciate the last section in the book that provides 10 management-level scenarios and follow-up writing assignments.
Once students are ready to write, the text provides more than enough guidance, not just effectively, but persuasively, which is how PR writing courses aim to distinguish themselves from journalism courses students may have already taken. The entirety of Chapter 6 is dedicated to the lede (i.e., the first sentence) and emphasizes how vital it is for students to write in a way that is memorable for their audience. The chapter hones in on what the authors call “the audience-centered process” where students learn to match their writing structure with their reader’s engagement.
Overall, the chapters push students to think of their audience by focusing on what motivates all of us as human beings generally. The text shines in the areas of social media, advertising, and media relations especially. A favorite section of mine teaches students to write audio advertising by guiding students to “create a visual with sound,” which is an applicable skill for a student generation with a proclivity toward podcasting.
Notably, the book also covers internal communications, which PR students ought to be equipped to write for. Internal communications, particularly the developing industry interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, showcases how the most ready of PR students will be those who can write for HR-oriented outcomes.
The authors clearly care about word choice in how they title each chapter. And that translates to modeling for students the importance of word choice when writing persuasively. This is most evident in their final chapter aptly titled, “Say Something, Then Be Ready for Anything.” One notable section in this chapter addresses how to deliver social media messages. Importantly, students learn how to battle misperceptions and think critically about the impact of likes and shares. A case study within this chapter explores the popularity of the @Wendys Twitter account and its unusual approach to engagement. While most brands on social media are, as the authors put, “tepid,” Wendy’s is very much not, and screenshots of their tweets help students think about the ramifications of engagement, for better or worse. This section also offers several examples of contentious plays with rival engagement, in this case @McDonalds.
While the text offers plenty of theoretical frameworks to back up various writing decisions, it does not overemphasize theory. The eyes of my nontraditional students already employed in PR agencies can sometimes glaze over when discussing theory as they have witnessed some impracticability of using “theory” on a day-to-day basis in their own agencies. This text more smoothly connects theory to action and is likely to be more palatable for professional students and perhaps graduate students in applied strategic communication programs.
In my graduate strategic communications course, we recently discussed the importance of developing a personal library of management reference materials to keep on hand for PR careers. Pieces to include can range from handbooks and how-to manuals to old case studies that can be accessible in the cloud or within reach in your writing space. This is one such text students should hold onto throughout their careers. The authors genuinely communicate their passion for persuasive writing, and students will appreciate the approachability of the applied assignments.
