Forward Podcast #9 :: Writing with Matthew Stibbe
Forward Podcast 9 will be looking at writing - which is probably the most critical skill for young PR pros to develop. Our guests for this podcast is Matthew Stibbe from the Bad Language blog.
Matthew is Writer-in-chief at Articulate Marketing and his blog is a funny and lively read on the joys and challenges of being a professional writer.
To begin the podcast, Marcel Goldstein, a Senior Vice-President at Ogilvy PR Worldwide and author of the 21st Century Public Relations blog, briefly explains why it is important for us to focus on our writing skills.
Matthew then shares some practical advice on how we can improve our writing and comments on the state of writing in the PR industry as a whole.
Towards the end of our conversation Matthew mentions the measurement of PR effectiveness by column inches. It is worth pointing out that the use of column inches and AVE’s to measure PR is a flawed model, and there is a common misconception that this is how PR is measured. Young PR professionals looking to learn more about measurement and evaluation should visit the measurement page at the New PR Wiki, the Institute for PR or KD Paine’s PR Measurement Blog.
Show Notes
00:13: Podcast introduction.
02:08: Marcel Goldstein explains why writing is a critical skill for young PR pros.
04:47: Paull introduces Matthew Stibbe and asks him to outline his writing history and explain how he developed his passion for writing.
08:10: Matthew shares some general strategies for young writers to improve their writing. His first point is to ’see what works for you’.
09:30: Matthew’s second piece of advice - have a look at what some other people suggest and see if it works for you. Suggests The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto, Writing to Deadline by Don Murray and On Writing by Steven King.
12:18: Matthew’s third tip - read, read, read, read, read.
13:18: Matthew’s fourth tip - focus on proofreading.
15:26: Matthew’s final tip - a couple of pieces of technical advice: focus on your lead, use shorter sentences and words, find a simple way to explain something by pretending you’re at the pub having a beer.
18:57: Paull asks Matthew how young PR professionals can help improve the standard of writing in our profession.
20:43: Matthew outlines what he thinks goes wrong with PR writing. His advice: Don’t let pieces of writing be written by committee and write from the perspective of the journalist and the reader, not your client.
23:40: Matthew rallies against hype-words, jargon and ‘Franken-quoting’.
29:37: Paull concludes the podcast.
Forward Podcast News
Forward Podcast listeners are encouraged to submit audio comments answering the question ‘Why are you proud of PR?’ for use in a future Forward Podcast. To submit a comment either email an mp3 file to Paull at young.paull (at) gmail.com or leave a voicemail on his skype account (skype name paull.young).
Answer the question however you wish, there are no right or wrong answers - we’re interested in what you think, and we’d love to hear some more young voices on the Forward podcast!
Please keep the comments down to less than five minutes, if you’ve got any questions about this either leave a comment below or email Paull.
Forward #9 - Writing with Matthew Stibbe [30:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (997)
[…] Paull from Forward Blog interviewed me for a podcast which was published today. The subject is about writing in general, and for PR professionals in particular. It was fun. […]
Pingback by Bad Language / My first podcast interview — September 1, 2006 @ 1:28 am
This is by far the best podcast to date. Wonderful and incredibly useful stuff in here.
Very astute advice from Matthew Stibbe, who is great at what he does and gives free writing-improvement advice often on his blog.
Great stuff. Thanks guys.
Comment by Owen Lystrup — September 1, 2006 @ 12:55 pm
Cheers Owen.
Writing skills are something we all need to develop - but it’s hard to work out exactly the best way to do that.
I think Matthew’s advice here is really useful, I took a lot from it personally.
Comment by Paull Young — September 1, 2006 @ 6:17 pm
Thanks Owen and Matthew.
As a translator who does a lot of MarCom work for companies, this podcast was a great reminder of the importance of getting back to basics in writing (short sentences, avoiding jargon, evidence instead of hype). I also loved Matthew’s comments about “translating” Microsoft-speak into English. I knew that translators were also writers, and now I know the opposite is true, too!
Comment by Sara Freitas-Maltaverne — September 5, 2006 @ 1:24 am
[…] I thoroughly enjoyed the last podcast, Forward Podcast #9 with Matthew Stibb from the Bad Language Blog. A new favorite of mine, I’m subscribed. Matthew’s no-nonsense attitude and dry humor make the podcast worth a listen. His writing vocation and open frustration with PR people makes his blog worth the read. Good lessons for PR folk, there. Besides, in that podcast he used such great words that I think have really fallen by the wayside in the English language; words like “dismal,” “lexicon,” and “turgid.” Real ear candy. […]
Pingback by Forward Frivolity « Observations of Public Relations — September 15, 2006 @ 5:50 am
[…] This was one of the first times I’ve been the subject of a lengthy interview. It was a lot of fun, but a very different experience. I’m used to thinking and writing about this stuff - but it’s rare for me to talk about it. Matthew Stibbe recently told me that he finds when he is the subject of an interview (because he is so used to asking the questions) he suffers from verbal diarreah. Well… ditto. […]
Pingback by Young PR » Blog Archive » Talking PR Blogging on G’day World — September 26, 2006 @ 11:39 pm