To Improve Your Writing, Think Like a Reader
- isabelpapp2028
- Oct 21
- 3 min read
The old j-school adage is a great way to refine your PR strategy and bring in more compelling content for pitches, social media and commentary. It's a 3-second trick that industry leaders use constantly to refine their writing.
By: Isabel Papp, MMM Editorial Team
It’s hard to know what readers want.
Social media has obliterated attention spans, trends shift constantly, and, in PR, it feels difficult to know what will stick.
The key actually comes from a newsroom strategy, but it's just as relevant when applied to PR. It’s simple: think like a reader. By employing certain strategies, you get to connect with your audience much easier. Through slight changes, pitches can come across much richer and resonate with your readers– and journalists as well.
Ask yourself what you would want to see or know
Start by thinking about which multimedia mediums you're going to be using and how they play in. Should there be a press conference? Do you already have images? Visuals are extremely important to pitching any idea, and it helps the reader quickly grasp your brand and product.
Having a variety of images also gives you and your pitch more weight, not only because there is more material to work with, but because it shows that you have a clear vision for what the pitch is going to develop into.
The next step is to anticipate your reader’s questions. If you researched your topic well, you should be pretty well-versed on it by now. Your reader isn’t! You need to remember that moving forward. Assuming that your reader knows the ins and outs of any given topic is a long shot, so you have to be sure to explain it through your writing and your interviews without talking (or writing) down to them.
Your readers are curious, so be sure to take note of interesting things during your research. What helped round out your understanding? Chances are, your readers want to know the same things you did, so incorporating details goes a long way.
Remember how you felt when you just started learning about the topic, and engaging with those same questions will make your reader feel like you understand them.
Finally, we think about where the audience for the story will be and share it in a way that will reach them.
This step definitely feels the most daunting; no one can be everywhere at once. But by paying attention over time to optics; taking advantage of analytics features on the platforms you use, and investing more time and energy into the ones with the greatest yield you can prioritize engagement by meeting your readers where they are - and more will come.
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Hearing advice isn't particularly helpful if it doesn't come with the resources to put it into action. Below we go over some of the infrastructure that helped our firm embody this advice across all levels.
Embodiment Practice: Living the Lessons
