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Rev Up Readership Use presentation copy — headlines, decks, subheads, cutlines and callouts — to reach flippers and skimmers by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc. Well-written presentation copy — headlines, decks, subheads, cutlines and callouts — fills three essential roles in communications. They can: Draw readers into the copy, pointing out interesting facts that can transform otherwise non-readers into readers. Break up the copy, making it easier to read and, therefore, encouraging readership. Summarize the key ideas for flippers and skimmers and reinforce those ideas for readers. To make the most of the most important words in your publications, Websites and press releases, follow these tips: Draw readers in Headline hierarchy grabs readers' attention and pulls them into the text. This approach works on the premise that it takes two headlines — a headline and its companion deck (a.k.a. subhead or summary blurb) — to do the two jobs you need to accomplish in your title. That is: 1) Grab readers' attention in the headline. The headline's job is to attract readers, to get them to pause and consider reading the piece. Tell the story.  "New survey tracks industry trends" doesn't help readers much. Instead, entice readers with the most intriguing trend the survey revealed. "Software industry doubling employment," maybe. Your news headline should communicate the nut of the story. It should give your readers the gist of the piece so they understand the point, even if they don't read the story Avoid label heads, or those that classify the topic but don't say anything about it. "Chemical Update," for example, isn't a headline, it's a label. So is "Profit Sharing." And "Disposable air filters." News headlines need at least two things: a noun and a verb. Skip the buzzwords. If you've crammed "strategic," "value-added," "proactive," "solution" and "core competencies" into your headline, it's a bad headline. 2) Pull readers into the copy with the deck. The headline may grab readers' attention. But it takes a well-written deck to convince people to actually read the story. Make your decks more effective with these techniques: Don't repeat words. A deck is an extension of the headline. It should expand on the headline, not duplicate it. Avoid using the same or similar words. Write a full sentence. Capitalize your deck as you would a sentence. However, don't include a period. Keep it short. Aim for 14 words or fewer for clarity. Break up the copy One technique for making sure even a long story looks easy to read is to use Edmund Arnold's dollar-bill test. Arnold, a journalist and design consultant for more than 50 years, said that no chunk of copy should stretch longer than and wider than a dollar bill. To keep copy chunks short and easy to read, break up the copy with such graphic devices as: Subheads Bullets Pull-out quotes Bold-face lead-ins Cut lines Illustrations Photographs Boxes Sidebars Passing the dollar-bill test has a side benefit: It gives your piece multiple points of entry — or lots of places where a scanner can dip into the text. Reach flippers and skimmers Sixty per cent of today's media audiences are illiterate, according to Professors John Merrill and Ralph Lowenstein of the University of Missouri. Either those audience members are functionally illiterate, which means they can't read, or they're alliterate, which means they're not word oriented. They won’t read your piece, no matter how well you write it. But you can still communicate to them — through presentation copy. The trick is to encapsulate your key points into the headline, deck, subheads, cut lines or captions, and callouts or pullout quotes. Rev Up Readership Want to draw readers into the copy, make your piece more accessible — even reach flippers and skimmers who won't read your text, no matter what you do? Join Ann Wylie at PRSA's "Revving Up Readership" teleseminar on August 18, 2005. To register or to get more information, contact Genevieve DeLaurier at 212/460-1408 or visit http://www.prsa.org. About the author Ann Wylie runs a company called Wylie Communications Inc. Ann works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. To learn more about her training, consulting or writing and editing services, contact Ann at 816/502-7894 or ann@WylieComm.com. Get a FREE subscription to Ann's e-mail newsletter at http://www.wyliecomm.com. TOP