Writing across media

Writing Across MediaSteve Crescenzo & Jim Ylisela

March 15, 2011

COMPETITIONBlogs

You Tube

Magazines

24-hour news cyclePodcasts

Radio

Satellite Radio

iTunes

Twitter

Facebook

Novels Email

Online Shopping

LinkedIn

Conversation

Tivo

Television

Satellite TV

Online Gaming

Phones

Hobbies

Family

Flickr

Sports

Drinking

Performing Arts

Exercise

Newspapers

Presentation of the Big Check

YouTube!

Video of creepy executive

We have to compete by making our stuff better . . . than this

Really, really lousy print

Web sites on crack

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Photos of men who grab their crotches . . .

Horrible initiatives like this . . .

Or this . . . !

Got a story you’d like to have back?

So here’s the deal

• Your audiences are absurdly busy• They need timely information, but also

context and analysis• They want to connect with their leaders—and

with each other• They want the power to choose . . .

They want the power to choose . . .

• What they want to read• When they want to read it• How deep they want to go• How they want to receive it• How they want to interact with it

Corporate vs. Creative

Old way• Top-down

communications• Stiff and formal• Policies and Programs• Old vehicles done the

same old way• Safe content• Formulaic writing

New way• Interactive and

participatory• Conversational• People• A mix of vehicles,

each doing what it does best

• “Risky” (creative) content

• Great storytelling

How do we get there? Writing Across Media

• Evaluate story ideas• Determine the best way to tell them• Match the message to the medium• Write in the appropriate style for each

medium• Integrate communications across channels

How to do it?

• The “news desk” approach– Centralized– Coordinated reporting– Integrated communication

• A filter, not a funnel– What ties to the business goals?– Sometimes, you just say no

News DeskFilter

Executives & Leadership

Must Dos Events Employee Stories

Our Great Ideas

Crises

Audio Video Print Online Face-to-Face Social Media

Content Possibilities

Your Audiences

News Desk functions

Filtering Planning Execution

1. Filtering

• Establish guidelines for content providers– What’s a news story look like? A feature?– What makes a good photo, video or audio?

• What’s your criteria?– Business goals, strategic plan?

• How many story ideas can we generate ourselves?– Beats, regular news meetings, pipeline

Agrium story criteria

• Will it help employees feel like they are part of a unified Agrium?

• Will it help increase employee engagement?• Will it increase awareness and understanding of Agrium’s goals

and objective• Will it make employees proud to work for Agrium?• Will it show how individual employees help Agrium achieve its

goals and objectives?

SaskPower story criteria

• Stories must be directly aligned with 2011 strategic priorities

• Stories must feature the voice of an employee closest to the work

• Images and graphics just as important as content

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What should your guidelines look like?

• List at least three criteria• Tell us a story you’d reject—or tell in a

different way

2. Planning

• What needs to happen? – Who’s doing the story?– What’s the best way to tell it?– What kind of story is it? – What do we want to accomplish?– How can we take out the corporate and put in the

creative?

3. Execution

• Reporting– Direct observation– Interviews– Examples

• Writing– Strongest writing for the best medium

• Integrated communication– Connected, scheduled

7 questions to ask:

• Question #1: Is the story worth doing?– Remember your criteria! – When can you say NO?

The strategy ladder

Business Goal

Communication Goal

Messages

ContentChannel, Audience, Timing & Creative

Measurement

Atlanta hospital

Business Goal

Communication Goal

Messages

ContentChannel, Audience, Timing & Creative

Measurement

Recruit the best employee candidates

Paint a realistic picture of what it’s like to work at the hospital

You need to be strong and dedicated to work here

Emotional videos from actual employees telling their stories and experiences

Web site metrics (clicks, comments, page views, etc). Over time, measure recruitment and employee retention numbers.

7 questions to ask

• Question #2: “What’s the story about?”– Every piece of content is, at its core, about

ONE thing– Write a concise summary about what this

story is about– If you can’t, you’re not ready to tell the story

7 questions to ask

• Question #3: “Why should anyone care about this content?”– In a few words or sentences, sketch out why

anyone would care to read, watch, or listen to this content.

– Find the benefits for the audience!

Would you read this?

7 questions to ask

• Question #4: “What’s the best way to get your readers’ attention? – Remember: We’re NOT their first priority!– How can you beat out Twitter, Facebook, Cosmo,

YouTube and The New York Times?

7 questions to ask

• Question #5: What’s the best channel or channels to tell this story? – Lots of choices these days . . . and they all do

certain things well!

Match the media to the message

• What (Breaking news, announcements, events)– Web, e-mail, text message, video, face-to-face

• Why (Context and understanding)– Print, face-to-face, interactive features

• Who (People, storytelling, interaction)– Web and print, audio/video, blogs and forums

• How (Calls to action, three-way communication)– Social media, web interactivity

Sometimes print works best

• Not everything makes compelling video• Make the best use of the medium

– Design and graphics– Photography– Storytelling

Do you really want this guy on video?

And sometimes print just won’t cut it

Stealth video!

7 questions to ask

• Question #6: “How are you going to report this story?”– Who are your must-have sources?– Who are nice-to-have sources?– Do you need to be on location (“direct

observation”)?– What other information can you get: decks,

memos, etc.?

7 questions to ask

• Question #7: “What is the fact checking process?”– NOT an “Approval Process”– Take ownership of the fact checking process!– You don’t balance the books, accountants don’t

rewrite your content!

Your turn!

• Apply the seven questions to a big topic or major initiative in your organization

Use multimedia to breathe new life into the stories we dread

• The meeting, the old way– Boring narrative– Terrible “action” shots

• The new way– Daily video reports– Audio news show

Make it a radio news report!

Writing for multimedia

• What can video or audio convey that online text or print cannot?– Video: What kind of images will help you tell a

better story?• B-roll• People

– Audio: What kind of sounds will help you tell a better story?

• Nat sound• People

Multimedia story organization

• Approach it like a print or online story– What images/sounds would make a compelling

opening?– What’s the nut graph and how will you introduce

it? (Voice-over/interview subject)– What’s your best close?

• Keep it simple, but go for greatest impact– What’s the shortest way to tell your story without

losing key elements?

Map out your multimedia content

In video and audio

The Case of the Frivolous Photograph

What went wrong?

• How did we wind up with this crappy photo?

• Where did it come from?

• Who wanted it?• What could we have

done better?• What’s the real story?

To the News Desk! Two possible decisions

• It’s only worth a photo . . . So– Take a better photo

• Knowing ahead of time• A little reporting• Set up the image you want, not the one you’re given

– Write a caption that tells a story beyond the photo• Not just what we see, but what it means• Add at least one sentence that gives us something

more• Headline? Photo credit? Links?

Option 2:

• It’s worth greater treatment because . . . – It’s part of a breaking news story – It helps to Illustrate a larger story– It COULD show interesting people doing

interesting things

Let’s rewrite the awards story

• News Desk decides several things: – It’s not a timely story: the award was handed out a

month ago– The print publication is filled with good stuff

already– We’ll do it online– We’d like a feature story, with multimedia and

social media components

Two online writing styles

1 Short, tight and concise, where every word counts• For headlines and summaries and links• For news leads and Twitter

2 Storytelling, anecdotal, focusing on people• Longer stories• Feature stories• Social Media• Multimedia options

Let people choose: Follow the 5-50-5-50 Rule

• 5 Seconds: Write a great headline, SMS text, or link

• 50 Seconds: Write a great summary, lead, or tweet

• 5 Minutes: Read the story, listen to the audio, watch the video

• 50 Minutes: Participate in the conversation, read more, take a poll, rate the content, follow additional links, share, watch an additional video, listen to a longer audio podcast

Let’s rewrite that awards story

• 5-second headline, SMS text, or link

• Tips: – Look for key words– Make every word count– Does it tell what the story is about?– Are you being too cute?

Headline:

• John Smith saves XYZ $14,000, wins Chairman’s Award

Let’s rewrite that awards story

• 50-second summary or tweet

• Tips: – Good writing is about what you leave out, as well

as what you put in– What can wait until the next level?– Pretend this is all they are going to read– Write it out, then edit– Does EVERY word count?

50-second summary, update, tweet

• John Smith, senior manager in software solutions, was awarded the Chairman’s Award on January 14th for his cross-functional efforts to implement the companywide cost-cutting initiative, resulting in a $14,000 savings.

• WRONG!

Use it to add more critical information to the story!

50-second summary, update, tweet

• John Smith saves XYZ $14,000, Wins Chairman’s Award

• Innovative approach to software development yields big savings and a more efficient system

Write it out . . . Then chop it

Let’s rewrite the awards story

• 5 minutes: Feature story approach

• Tips: – Go for an anecdotal lead: tell a story about an

actual human being!– Get a great quote up there early in the story– Follow the Wall Street Journal formula

Wall Street Journal formula

• Paragraph 1: An anecdote, of a person, a place, illustrative of the bigger point

• Paragraph 2: More detail to continue the story• Paragraph 3: A quote to complete the tale• Paragraph 4: The nut graf, to give us the larger

picture and point to where we’ll go next

Layering

• Write a grabby headline and a good summary lead to get me to click

• After I’m in, choose the best lead for the story• Then add links and interactivity

Headlines and blurbs

Quote and nut graph

Paragraph One:

• John Smith had a decision to make. He could do things the established way, the safe way, and it would cost $14,000. Or, he could try something different and possibly save the company some money. But it could also blow up in his face.

Paragraph Two

• Smith decided to take a chance. Rather than tie two widgets together with wire, he linked them using Silly Putty. The result? A $14,000 savings for the company . . . And a Chairman’s Award for Smith.

Paragraph Three

• “You get to a point sometimes where you know there’s a better way of doing things, but doing it differently is a scary proposition,” says Smith, a senior software developer. “But at some point, if we want this company to succeed, people have to start pulling the trigger.”

Paragraph 4: The “Nut” Graph

• Smith’s ability to pull the trigger and save the company money earned him The Chairman’s Award, an annual reward given to 10 employees who “have demonstrated innovative problem solving that have helped the company meet and exceed its operational goals.” Other winners include . . .

50 minutes: Let’s rewrite the awards story as a blog

Blog tips:• Convey emotion: Be useful, controversial,

insightful, entertaining• Make it personal . . . but also tied to the

organization’s objectives• Strive for three-way communication: Ask for

comments and prompt conversation• Choose topics that encourage feedback

A business blog formula

• Start with something personal about yourself: “I’ve never been much of a risk taker.”

• Move to the business at hand: “That’s why I’ve always respected the people who win Chairman’s Awards.”

A business blog formula

• Give an example: “Guys like John Smith are my heroes. He could have gone the safe route and nobody would have said a word”

• Ask people for their stories: “I want to hear from other heroes. Who else out there took a chance. Maybe it paid off, maybe it didn’t. I’d like to hear about it either way.”

Let’s rewrite the awards story

• 50 minutes: A video sidebar

• Tips: – Ask questions that will draw out emotional

answers– Get them to reveal their passion– Get to the person behind the story

Video questions for John Smith

• “What did it feel like when you knew you were taking a huge chance in an effort to save the company money?”

• “Were you scared? Were you nervous? What if it failed?

• “What would you tell other people who might find themselves in the same situation?

Integrated communications

Same story, multiple channels, on a schedule that makes sense

The Case of the Inert Initiative

What did the News Desk decide?

• A feature story online: focusing on actual people

• Multimedia sidebar

• Interaction

• Three-way communication

Crescenzo Communications, Inc.

Standard Chartered Bank

• Major initiative: Sponsoring the Liverpool Football Club– Executive message—Tell employees first– Interactivity—Get people involved– Video—Take us there

Announcement from the top

Our man on the scene!

Let’s hear from you

• Tell us the new way you’ll approach a topic, writing across media

Questions?

• Steve Crescenzo (Write)– [email protected]– @crescenzo

• Jim Ylisela (Rewrite)– [email protected]– @jpyjr

www.writeandrewriteblog.com@write_rewrite