Mr. Media Training

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tim Horan, a media relations professional based in Sydney, Australia. I liked his straightforward approach to message creation, and asked him for permission to share his idea with this blog’s readers.

When I was in primary school, I loved English class. But the one thing I could never understand was the different parts of speech. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, I just didn’t get it.

That was until fifth grade, when my teacher said: “Verbs are doing words, adjectives are describing words.” That was great advice, and I used that lesson throughout the rest of primary and high school.

I’m going to take that advice and use it to help you create a message for your organization. What is your business doing? How is it doing it? That is your message. It’s your chance to start a conversation with an audience about what you have to offer.

Grab a pen and some paper and write your business name at the top. Now write two or three verbs and two or three adjectives that describe your business and tell people what it is doing.

I’ve created an example below to show how easy it is:

Business Name: New Life Gym
Verbs: Encourage, Promote, Help
Adjectives: Healthy, Active, Positive

Now that you have these down on paper, all you have to do is work them into one or two sentences, maybe something like:

New Life Gym promotes a healthy, active lifestyle for members. Our fully trained staff will provide you with the help and encouragement you need to make the positive changes you desire.

That message is short and to the point. It touches on the key aims and strengths of your organization, what you do and how you do it. Keep it simple, and don’t add three words where one is enough.

Getting your message right is key. Whether you are writing a media release, giving an interview or taking out advertising, your message needs to be at the forefront of your media strategy.

Tim Horan is a media relations professional based in Sydney, Australia. He blogs at www.FreeMediaTraining.Net and Tweets at @OzMediaTraining.

Have the best of the blog delivered to your inbox twice per month! Enter your name in the box on the upper right of the blog to join our mailing list.