There are different styles of writing for types of publications. If, for example, you want your article to be more of a news story, then the journalist style of writing is best. Basically, you need to answer the who, what, where, when, and why questions in your article. Your lead or first paragraph should address most of these questions in a style that captures the reader’s attention. The paragraphs that follow support the lead paragraph with important details. The remaining paragraphs provide less important details. There is no concluding paragraph. Sentences should generally be 20 words or less. Most paragraphs should have only two or three sentences. You probably have a number of good examples in your local newspaper. Rather than hard news articles, look at “feature articles” or “soft news” as a source for inspiration.
If your article is more advertising than news, there are different guidelines–basically less is more. Use type size and graphics/photos to draw attention to your article. Focus on a single idea and keep it simple. Short sentences and short paragraphs. In advertising, one normally does not try to explain the product or service, the purpose is to get a customer to try your product once. The quality of the product and the type of experience in purchasing the product are important for repeat purchases. Advertising takes on a secondary role of reminding the customer what a good product he or she got. Look through magazines or trade publications for examples appropriate to your needs.
A third type of writing is the fact sheet or specification sheet. Here the purpose is to explain the use of your product and provide important details about performance capabilities and product limitations. For example, if you were to write a fact sheet for a digital camera, you would need to provide product details about the resolution, simple and advanced features, size, weight, etc. If you were writing ad copy for the same product, you would more likely write about the picture-taking experience and the emotional impact of taking artistically impressive images. For examples of fact sheets, you can go to the Internet and check out what retailers say about the products they sell. Some product descriptions are minimalist; others list specifications, features, and sometimes comparisons with competing products.
Regardless of the type of writing, one of the most important elements to be aware of is your target audience. Knowing your target audience may help you decide on where to publish and the method of distribution. For example, a candidate for office who focuses on registered voters may decide that a mailer to likely voters is a better use of campaign money than a newspaper ad that is circulated to a general audience, a large number of whom are not voters. Taking this example a step further, the candidate may have different mailer each designed for specific groups of registered voters with messages tailored to each group. The direct mailer to senior citizens would have different message points than a mailer to families of school-aged children. Therefore, write to your target audience and put your article in places that can be seen by your target audience.
[Dennis Mobley, APR contributed to this post]
