December 21, 2011
The Essential Word List for Lazy PR Writers
Posted on the Authentic PR Counsel blog on December 19th by Tom Gable
Media and PR gurus, news organizations, universities, social media sites and others are honing their annual reports on words most hated by the media in PR news releases and words that should be banned in 2012. Rather than wait, Gable PR compiled the following list from many sources including Inc., David Meerman Scott, Ragan, Lake Superior State University and others.
Sadly, some of the profession needs to be put into the slow class since the same words keep showing up (and have since 1999!). The list is in alphabetical order. The words receiving the most mentions over the years are in bold for easy reference. As noted here before, some words such as solutions and leading provider get dropped into news releases unconsciously, somewhat of a verbal tic. Lazy writers tend to rely on industry jargon and hackneyed phrases rather than striving to characterize a company, organization or individual in new ways that go beyond the ordinary.
During a Media Relations Summit several years ago in New York City, a panel of editors from The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and other publications noted that many releases from companies in the same industry have a sad sameness to the language. They suggested that they could take many news releases and pitches received and do a global search-and-replace of one company’s name with that of a competitor and no one would know the difference. Whew.
How to avoid sounding alike? Think solid differentiation and positioning and compelling ideas. Then, run a search for the following words for deletion (and please add your own as comments!):
- best-of-breed
- customer-centric
- cutting edge
- end-to-end
- epic
- excited
- first mover
- flexible
- innovate
- leader
- leading
- leading edge
- leading provider
- leverage
- market leading
- mission critical
- new and improved
- new paradigm
- next generation
- outside the box
- robust
- scalable
- seamless
- solutions
- state-of-the-art
- synergy
- thrilled
- turnkey
- unique
- value-add
- well-positioned
- world class
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A Video Conversation with J Public Relations Managing Partner Sarah Evans
Sarah Evans, managing partner at J Public Relations, recently sat down with Media Training Worldwide's "Inside Communications with Mike Bako" host Mike Bako at Inside Communication's studio in Midtown Manhattan to discuss her firm's continuous success with specializing in luxury and hospitality brands and how she's kept clients in business during tough economic times.
2/21/2012
Posted by Tom Gable
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A large feature story and several photos of Jessie Gwidt, shown here demonstrating how to make garden art, helped boost registrations for The Port Washington Garden Club
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To Link To Post: http://bit.ly/yhaDG0
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2/17/2012
[Originally posted on PRWeek.]
I was recently in a car accident, arguably one of life’s most awful experiences. In this instance, I was pretty lucky, walking away without a scratch. The car wasn’t quite as lucky.
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A new study from the University of Buffalo has shown that, compared to egotistical bosses, humble bosses: 1) lead by example, 2) admit their mistakes and 3) recognize their followers' strengths.
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Who is Mitt Romney?
Voiceover from Romney 'I was a severely conservative Republican.'
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Comments
Excited about this well positioned, state of the art column
Tom, this world class read is a must for all best of breed, market leading practitioners. To ensure a new paradigm in cutting edge and seamless solutions by the next generation, we must think outside the box and leverage your unique, state of the art advice. I'm thrilled to endorse this robust, mission critical column by a leader in our field. It is simply epic.
agree and ADD...
"Impact"...grossly overused & misused
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